The Landlord

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

We walked along the sidewalk filled with people, next to the road filled with vehicles. We passed all types of name-brand stores, cute boutiques, diners, and candy shops. It had that lively energy I missed. Yet, that overwhelming sense I got before returned too. Staring up at the tall buildings, the crowded and loud landscape, it felt claustrophobic. Even the shops we went into felt small and crammed.

Though I loved to shop, I didn't buy much, and didn't plan to. Embarrassingly, unlike when I was wealthy, I didn't have a lot to spend. So, we cut our shopping short (not like Blake minded) and just continued walking the streets. Weirdly, that was fun enough. We rode a trolley around, visited a cool science museum, and I forced Blake to drive through a parking garage – something he shockingly has never done.

Seeing his nervousness about the parking garage was priceless. It wasn't often I was the one showing him new things. It also wasn't often I had the chance to see him out of his comfort zone. The moment he drove into the large cement structure, he immediately put on the brakes at the base of the of first incline.

"What are you doing? You have to go up the ramp, you'll have more cars coming in behind you!" I said, already getting a kick out of this.

Tense, he gestured sharply ahead at the incline. "I'm in a big truck, it's steep, narrow, the ceiling is low, and you want me going up that thing?!"

"Damn right. That's how these work."

"The top is going to hit, it's going to fucking hit Ruth," he mumbled, sitting forward to focus as he pressed the gas.

"I promise it's not." It actually looked like it might; the level above was rather low for his truck.

Thankfully, we made it up the ramp successfully. Funny enough, he was still tense, slowly driving past all the parked cars. I was smiling the whole time, unable to help myself. God, it was so cute, seeing him on edge like this.

"Now what? All the spaces are taken up," he said, looking around the huge lot of parked vehicles. "There is hardly any space to even drive."

"Jesus, calm down, we are fine," I scoffed amusingly. "We just keep going up until we find a spot."

"I don't see how this is funny."

"It's funny because it's rare to see you out of your comfort zone."

"Remind me to show you how to hunt this fall," he smirked, eyes scanning ahead of us. After turning out of the last lane of parked cars, he hit his brakes again. "Another ramp?"

Throwing my head back with a laugh, I gestured around us. "Please tell me how else you expected to go up? By elevator?"

"That would be more ideal."

By the time we reached the next level (which took a million years thanks to his slow nervous ass), the lot wasn't nearly as crowded. It only half full of vehicles, meaning the other half was empty spaces – and pure relief for my tense driver desperate for a break.

Gunning the truck to the empty side, parking in the wide open area, he slumped back into his seat. "Holy god," he breathed. "This was worse than those annoying fucking circle things that are all over."

He was too funny. "The round-a-bouts?"

"Yes, and the name is just as stupid," he hummed in amusement.

I found it both entertaining and interesting to learn what he knew about the city and what he didn't. The man did grow up in a city like me, but he didn't go on grand trips to large metropolitan areas like I had. Plus, it's been so long since he's been in an environment like this, it was foreign to him. At least he was a good sport about everything.