When I got to the kitchen there was a note on the counter addressed to me.

Mina,

I checked in on you but didn’t want to disturb you since you were deep into it. I was going to ask if you’d like to go to Helsinki with me, but I’m guessing from what Wes and you both had to say that school needs to be a priority right now.

Maybe next time.

I don’t want to add to whatever stress you are under, so if there’s anything I can do to make it better, just let me know. I should be back in a week, maybe sooner. Call me anytime or text, whatever works for you.

Tucker

Considering I had no clue when he’d be working or not, I didn’t even bother to think about calling. Besides, what would we even talk about? It’s not like we were friends. We were married, for convenience’s sake, and hadn’t spent more than a couple hours together since the wedding. I tucked his note away in my room and then got busy making myself a late dinner.

Two days passed since Tucker left, and the apartment was eerily quiet. I had only ever lived in my family’s home, minus that one disastrous attempt at living in the dorm my freshman year of college. I was used to the noises other people made. The quiet nearly drove me crazy until I learned to leave the television running quietly in the background.

For some reason, that wasn’t working today though. My brain was all over the place and not on the manuscript that was in front of me. I wasn’t normally a coffee drinker but had been known to dabble in the bean juice from time to time when I needed a little caffeine boost. Considering there weren’t any other options in stock at Casa Tucker, it was the only choice of caffeine available to me.

At least, it had been a choice before I brewed a cup and realized there was no sugar in the entire apartment. Seriously? Who doesn’t have sugar, artificial sweetener, or even honey? I growled out my frustration before snatching up the keys, the cup of disgustingly black coffee, and marching over to the apartment across the hall. Granted, I wasn’t hopeful that Wes would be home on a Saturday, but if there was a God in heaven, he would finally find it in his heart to look out for me. I just knew it.

I knocked.

No answer.

I knocked again, because I’m stubborn, and I could have sworn I heard the elevator earlier that morning, which meant someone had to be in the apartment.

It took a moment, but then the door swung open. Not entirely to my surprise, there was a beautiful woman on the other side of the door. She had honey colored hair piled on top of her head in what might have been a messy bun two hours ago, but now looked like far too many pieces were trying to escape to make that effortless yet put together look. Her warm, brown eyes glittered as if she was about to let me in on a joke and to make matters worse, she was obviously very comfortable in Wes’s apartment considering she was wearing worn out yoga pants and a sweatshirt that had seen better days.