Hope blooms inside my chest. Then I squash it just as quickly. Even if Rissa is willing to forgive me, there's something I need to do first before we can be together. Right now, I'm a risk factor and she doesn't need another one of those in her life.
Which means that I'll have to leave her for a little while.
"Did you hear me?" She gives me that sassy look I love and then pokes me again. "You scared me, Finn. I can't be scared like that anymore."
"It will never happen again. You have my word on that. I’ll see you tomorrow." I turn to go before she has a chance to change her mind.
"What do you mean tomorrow? I haven’t done my work for today so I’ll see you there in an hour."
She turns and runs back to the house. I get in the car with a big grin on my face. Even though I know I have to leave her, I plan on enjoying all the time with her I can get before then.
* * * * *
When Rissa opens the door, she’s so overladen with bags that she doesn’t even see me at first. She’s wearing jeans and a soft lemon colored sweater. Her wild red curls are still bound up in that messy knot on top of her head that instantly makes me want to pull it down.
And in that moment, my heart speeds up and my whole body seems to sing. Just seeing her makes me happy but I try to tamp down my reaction. Things are still precarious after what happened this morning and I don’t want to drive her away.
Just the thought makes me feel weak. I’ve had years to plan the things I would say to her, how I’d make her regret leaving me. But in all my planning the one thing I didn't plan on was falling for her again.
And now I’m caught up in her spell, just like a teenage boy with a crush.
When Rissa finally drops the mess of bags she’s holding, she looks over to the kitchen. When she finally notices me, she lets out a little squeak of surprise.
“Finn! Were you waiting on me to get here?” The subtle pink in her cheeks betrays that she’s not entirely comfortable being around me just yet.
"I wanted to catch you before you started. I need you downstairs today."
She grabs her supplies and follows behind dutifully as I walk out into the hallway and then lock up behind us.
"What do you need me to do downstairs?"
"I need you to do a final clean on Apartment 2A."
"Oh." She falls silent and then looks over at me again. "Any reason?"
"The building manager called and asked if we could change the move-in date for a certain tenant. He'll be moving in tonight."
We get on the elevator and ride down to the second floor. "I've designated this floor for everyone with disabilities because there is a ramp going down to the first floor. I don't want anyone trapped in the event of an emergency."
"That's smart."
I open the door to the unit with my key and usher her in. "It just needs a last minute check to make sure it's presentable. The tenant should be here soon."
She walks around the room, and then leans down to peer closely at the counters. "This looks like it was just cleaned."
Was it? I think back over the schedule she'd shown me for the last week. I must have gotten the units mixed up. Not that it really matters since I was just using this last minute cleaning as an excuse.
Rissa frowns at me then disappears into the back of the unit. She goes into each bedroom and then comes back out into the hall. I avoid her eyes and eventually she disappears into the bathroom. When she comes back out, she crosses her arms. "This place is completely clean. Why are we really here?"
The doorbell rings. Rissa jumps and looks around.
I let out a sigh of relief, grateful for the interruption. "The new tenant must be here."
I open the door and usher the two men on the other side in. One is the building manager I hired a few months ago and the other must be the newest tenant. As he passes, his gait is only slightly uneven. I would never know he wears a prosthesis if I hadn't read his file.
The building manager shakes my hand and then introduces us. After assuring him that I'll take things from here, I turn back to my newest tenant.
"Rissa, I'd like to introduce Major Clark Halliwell. Major, this is Marissa Blake. She works here getting the apartments ready for move-in."
He shakes her hand. "Well, I can see you've done a great job."
Rissa beams at the compliment. "Thank you. Welcome to the building."
While the other man walks around and explores the apartment, Rissa comes up at my elbow. “Did you do this just so I don’t have to come up to your place again?”
I don't even have to answer that question. She's always been clever so I don't try to pretend. “You should never have to be afraid, Rissa."
Major Halliwell turns from where he stands at the window. “I want to thank you for this Mr. Marshall. This is much more than I was expecting.”
I switch my cane to my left hand and extend my right hand to shake. “No, thank you for your years of service. We’ll leave now so you can get settled.”
Rissa follows me out into the hallway. We walk in companionable silence. As we pass one of the other units, she pokes her head in to check on her crew.
“They’ve made a lot of progress,” I remark. And they have. I never could have guessed when I hired Rissa that this entire floor would be ready so fast.
“Yeah, they have. I have some of the best crews out there. I always choose the ones that really want it. The ones that others turn down because they have a disability or because they have children. So many people think that these things slow you down on the job but those same things also make my crew more determined. I remember how hard it was for my mom. She got fired from so many jobs because she needed to be there for me when I got sick. I promised myself that one day I would be the boss and that I would never be like that.”