“They know I’m a firefighter, right?” I asked.
Megan laughed. “Somehow Dad keeps forgetting you’re a firefighter and keeps referring to you as a cop and Mom… She just doesn’t care. I think it
helps her to blame someone for Brent’s conviction. And next to me, you’re the easiest target.”
“Well, like you said, their opinion doesn’t matter as long as you know who I am,” I said.
“Exactly.” Megan nodded, kissing me softly on the cheek.
We entered our apartment, and I saw Megan’s smile as she took in the view. We were on the eleventh floor, which gave us a beautiful view of the city. It was peaceful and picturesque, and it fit Megan’s personality. Neither one of us had ever lived in a place this nice before.
We had no couch and no real chairs. What we did have was a thick blanket that was spread on the floor in front of our balcony. We kept the blinds drawn most of the time and though the kitchen was not fully stocked, we kept a few things here so that we had something to eat in an emergency. Most often we just brought food home and had little picnics on the blanket.
The one thing that our new apartment did have was a television. We moved our TV from the old apartment to this one; it was sort of our little initiation ceremony, and we also loved watching movies before falling asleep.
“How about dessert?” Megan asked as she turned to me from the view.
“How could I resist.” I smiled, pulling her towards me and pushing up her blouse.
Megan laughed and smacked my hands away. “I didn’t mean sex,” she said. “I meant actual dessert.”
“Sounds boring in comparison.”
She shook her head at me. “There’s a pint of ice cream in the fridge. How about we unpack some boxes and then have some rocky road?”
“Boxes?” I asked in confusion. “What boxes?”
“I finished work early yesterday, remember?” Megan said. “And I brought a box or two over from the old place. I figure it will make the final move easier.”
“What did you bring?”
“It’s just a box of our clothes.”
“Clothes,” I said, suddenly alert.
“Yes.” Megan nodded, shooting me a questioning look. “Why?”
“Nothing.”
“You look strange.”
“No, I don’t.”
“And you sound strange too.”
“No, I don’t.”
Megan frowned at me. “Phil, is there something going on?”
“Of course not,” I said casually. “In fact, I think you should put your feet up and relax, and I’ll unpack.”
“You hate doing that stuff.”
“I’ll make an exception in this case,” I said, as I rushed towards the box I spied in the corner.
“You are being so weird,” Megan said, shaking her head at me. “But since I really want ice cream, I’ll just go along with this.”
I smiled and started looking through the clothes in the box. My blue blazer was in there. I knew because I had come home yesterday and noticed that it was missing. Except I was so tired, and Megan was already asleep, so I had just put it out of my head and slipped into bed beside her. Now I needed to get to that damn blazer before she did.