May Time Never Take You (May You Never Series)

BEFORE | Charleston, 2017

My apartment was on the seventh floor of the Sergeant Jasper, a brown, brick apartment tower not far from Broad Street and the rest of downtown in Charleston, South Carolina.

Inconspicuous to look at, but not unheard of. A few crimes of interest happened on that location, but nothing that gave me any fret of wanting to live there.

I parked the Jeep a good distance from the front door, away from the crowd of other parked vehicles. While storm clouds masked the moon and threatened some possible rain, I had nowhere to go for the entire weekend and was keen to remain indoors until Monday. 

I gathered my purse, dropped my phone and keys into it, and hurried against the wind picking up to get inside before the clouds broke.

The ground floor of the Sergeant Jasper had a recently polished white tile floor, and an old wood podium off to one side. A security guard woman stood behind it, as if to give a speech. She nodded in my direction shortly to acknowledge me, but with an eyebrow cocked with interest. It was a curious look, like she knew my face but I was having a hard time remembering her.

I should have known in that strange moment that it was a warning.

I met Mrs. Rhodes, the building's evening manager, on the way to the elevators. She was a lean woman, with high cheekbones and currently with a shade of orange lipstick, a shade too off for her skin tone and made her lips look like plastic.

She was friendly, though, and had let me rent my apartment on a cash deposit and no background check fee. I didn't think she bothered with a background check for a Midwestern girl fresh from a university with a degree in International Relations. Nerds didn't generally have a criminal history. 

Mrs. Rhodes put her hand out as way to stop me before hitting the elevator button. "Just a minute! Clara!" she said.

I paused, and when her lips twitched without any further words, I urged her. "Is something wrong?"

The corners of her mouth tried to work their way up into a smile, but faltered. "I...thought you might like to hear about this new bronzer I got in the mail. It might do good to get some color into those cheeks."

Mrs. Rhodes often ordered her makeup at discount via the Internet, which is how the shades of color could vary so widely day to day.

"I'm actually kind of tired," I said. "Is Rubio upstairs?" I asked this because she knew precisely who entered her building and where people were. She got the job by being the best busy-body nosy neighbor in the building.

"Yes..." she said, her tone dropping to a squeak.

She never liked Rubio. I'd fallen in love with him on date three. He was the perfection of three hours of the gym every morning, had the tongue of a viper, and the seduction powers of chocolate.

Okay, maybe it was lust and not love, but I liked to think love was working its way into the middle of it.

Mrs. Rhodes backed away slowly, her lower lip pouting.

My puzzlement continued after I entered the elevator and turned, finding the security guard had come out from behind her podium with that same eyebrow cocked, watching as the doors closed.

I blinked back at my reflection in the shiny surface of the elevator doors. The slouchy gray sweater I wore, and the black skinny jeans were clean. My hair was inside a clip, creating a small bun for my medium length dark hair. It wasn't completely askew from the wind. My lipstick was perfection. Had I looked upset and they had some concern as to my temperament? Their odd behavior set my brain into a blur of questions.