Tongue Tied

Chapter 38

Come Tuesday morning, Alec and I were just beginning the massive chore of unpacking. The movers had just finished unloading around ten a.m. and I was already exhausted from the drive across the country to Seattle. Organizing my new apartment was the last thing I wanted to busy myself with after almost four days of driving. Luckily, the weather had been mostly cooperative and we'd only had about six borderline heart attacks, typically when one of the moving trucks would round a corner too quickly. By the time we reached Seattle, I felt like a zombie. I wanted nothing more than to put the world on hold and sleep for three weeks. Instead, I'd been roped into helping Alec find his two measly boxes of Christmas decorations.

The perk to both of us renting from Icon was how easy it was to go back and forth to each other's apartments. It was nice to not have to get in my car and meet up at some place where no one would recognize us, or get the stink eye from Mrs. Anderson every time I wanted to see Alec. Now all I had to do was walk down the hall.

So far, the only things unpacked in my apartment were the pieces of furniture that the movers had set up for me, and one box of dishes and mugs in the kitchen. I had yet to determine where the boxes with my clothing were located and Alec had brought it to my attention that about half of my boxes had ended up in his apartment, and vice versa. Unpacking sounded like it was going to be a lot more complicated than usual.

"We made it. Finally," I yawned into the phone.

I'd decided to call Carlie so she wouldn't send the FBI to make sure I'd survived the move. She'd texted me asking for location updates three times a day, every day, and she'd even called me to help me stay awake when we were driving through Montana on a snowy night. I should've napped more between drives. Lesson learned.

"Thank God!" Carlie chimed. "I was about to gather up a search party to go fish you guys out of a snowbank or something ridiculous like that!"

"I'm fine. We're fine," I laughed halfheartedly.

"How is Seattle?"

I glanced out the living room windows at the skyline in the distance. It was a dark, dreary day. Freezing rain had been coming down for the last two hours.

"It's living up to its reputation," I yawned again.

"Girl, you need to get some sleep!" Carlie laughed. "How 'bout I take off a couple days next week and come visit you? I can help you unpack and we can have a girls' night and watch Magic Mike and binge eat chocolate ice cream."

"This is why I love you," I nodded lazily, wiping the sleep from my eyes.

We talked for a few more minutes until Alec knocked on the door and I told Carlie I was going to take a much needed nap and then probably down half a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

"It's open!" I called from the couch, unwilling to budge.

Alec strolled in with a box labeled "kitchen." He set it on my counter and got to work.

"What are you doing?" I asked sleepily.

"I found your coffee maker," was all he said.

A few minutes later, I was handed a coffee mug with Santa's face on it, and Alec was draping a quilt over me. I sipped my coffee, overjoyed by the comfort of the warm liquid soothing my body and the hint of peppermint extract taking away some of my sleepiness.

I smiled at Alec, watching him as he sat cross-legged on the opposite end of the couch. His hair was a mess. He had dark circles under his eyes, probably just as exhausted as me. I wanted to pull him down next to me and spend the rest of the day wrapped up in his arms, sleeping.