With both my hands filled with grocery bags, I curse under my breath as I attempt to lift the heavy weight high enough to reach the button for the elevator. I probably should’ve left some of the bags behind, but since that would mean making another trip to my car and back, there is no way I was going to do that. Once I hit the button, I quickly step onto the elevator with my hand still up when the doors open and hit the button for the third floor, sighing in relief as my arm lowers, taking some of the weight off my wrist.

When the doors open again, I step off and walk down the carpeted hall to our door and kick the bottom with my foot, hoping Eli will hear and come help. A useless endeavor, since he didn’t even hear his phone when I called him earlier as I was pulling into the parking garage, hoping he would come meet me and help lug our groceries upstairs. With no response, I set all the bags down on the floor, dig out my key, and unlock the door. When I push it open, Dolly—Eli’s teacup poodle—runs out to greet me with happy little yips of excitement.

“Hi, baby.” I scoop her up and hold her against my chest as I carry her inside. Scanning the living room, I don’t see Eli, but I can hear him in the bedroom, talking loudly, so I know without a doubt he’s on his X-Box. He’s also most likely wearing his headphones, hence why he didn’t hear his phone ringing or me pounding on the door.

Tucking away my annoyance, I place Dolly in her pen so she can’t get out of the apartment, because chasing her down the halls is never fun, then go back to the door and gather the bags. It doesn’t take me long to get everything inside, but the task of putting everything away is a different story. Eli is particular about where things go, so I can’t just shove crap into the cupboards. Instead, I have to open boxes of crackers or bags of chips and put them in their see-through containers and line up the cans so you can see the labels.

While I’m putting his beer away in the fridge, I hear the door to the bedroom open and look over the top of the island to watch him appear, wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt—the same thing he had on this morning before I left for work.