Chapter 5 - Simon
“Blair?” I say her name, but she is staring ahead of her as though she’s in a trance.
“Blair?” I say again.
She blinks rapidly, licks her lips, and takes a deep breath. “Mm?” she mumbles.
“You were a million miles away. Are you okay? Are you hungry?”
“Did we really just get married? Was that real?”
“Come on, I’ll get you something to eat,” I sigh softly, reaching my hand toward her. But she steps back, shaking her head slowly. “I’m not hungry,” she says. “I’m tired.”
She doesn’t look tired, but I assume it’s more about her needing time to process everyone on her own.
“I’ll show you to your room,” I say, gesturing with a tilt of my head for her to follow me.
She nods once, her brows furrowed. “I don’t have anything here,” she says.
“We’ll get you some new things this week.”
“Can’t I go back to my apartment? All my things are there,” she asks.
“You can’t, Blair. It’s not safe. Not for a while.”
“But just to fetch…”
“It’s notsafe!” I snarl too harshly, immediately regretting my tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap like that. You need to understand this. Your apartment isn’t safe. Your work isn’t safe. For a week or two, you need to lie low and stay indoors, out of sight.”
Blair bites her bottom lip and says nothing more as she follows me through to the upstairs rooms. I take her to the bedroom closest to mine, right across the hallway. I would have her in my bed if I thought I could get away with it, but I’ve already pushed her enough for one night.
“You’ll find everything you need in the private bathroom through that door. In the closet, there will be something to sleep in. It’s all new. I like to keep things stocked and in order, in case I have someone who needs to stay over. I like to plan ahead.”
“Girlfriends?” she asks, furrowing her brows.
“No, not…I don’t bring girls to my home…I mean, I don’t… No, it’s for my sister if she needs to stay over or something,” I trip over my words a little, pushing my hand through my hair.
“You have a sister?” She sounds relieved to find this out.
“Yes, I have a sister and brothers.”
Blair walks into the room, brushing her fingers over the duvet.
“Will you be okay in here?” I ask gently, still toying with the idea of inviting her to share my room. “I’m right across the hallway if you need anything,” I add.
“This room is almost bigger than my whole apartment,” she whispers to herself.
I wait, standing in the doorway, reluctant to leave her.
She turns, realizing I’m still there. “This is lovely, thank you. I will be fine here,” she says politely.
A tight smile stretches over my face. “Goodnight, Blair, sleep well.”
“Goodnight,” she replies.
***
In the morning, Blair calls in to work and explains that she has a family emergency involving an aunt who lives out of the city. She says she has to go away for a while and isn’t sure when she’ll be back, but it will be about two weeks. Brandon isn’t pleased by the idea of running the place on his own, I gather from the one-sided conversation I listen to. But by the end of the call, she lets out a sigh of relief and places her phone on the kitchen counter. “He really doesn’t like dealing with the customers,” she explains with a shrug, “but he’ll be okay, it’s not like we get a ton of people coming through there every day.”