Room-maid(91)

So I waited until the day after New Year’s Day, knowing that Tyler would be at work, and went at noon to his place.

Gerald didn’t stop me, just waved, and I felt a sigh of relief that he hadn’t been told not to let me up.

When I got upstairs, Pigeon was waiting for me, her tail happily wagging. Seeing her broke my heart all over again. I was so happy that she was okay and back to her old self, but I was going to be leaving her once more. I crouched down to pet her and tell her what a good girl she was.

“Madison?”

I straightened back up. Tyler was here. Surprised as I was, I drank in the sight of him. His hair was ruffled and there were dark bags under his eyes. As if he hadn’t slept.

He was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“I’m sorry.” My words were little more than a whisper. “I thought you’d be at work.”

He walked into the living room, his arms folded, and went to stand by the couch. “That would be a little strange, considering I don’t have a job anymore.”

“What? You quit?”

“Right after you walked away at the party. No matter what your mother says, I didn’t know. I never would have been involved with some scheme like that. I never would have hurt you that way. And for them to lie and claim that I was? That’s not someone I want to be working for. So I quit.”

He’d quit his job for me. My throat started to ache as my eyes welled up. “But what about your mom?” He needed that job to take care of her.

“I called her and told her things had to change. That I wasn’t going to be in investments any longer and was going to one of those boot camps for coding and, as a result, would be making a fraction of what I’m making now. Her lifestyle’s going to have to change pretty radically. She wasn’t happy about it.”

“That’s not hard to imagine.” I was so proud of him for standing up for himself, for following his dreams. For not letting his mother take advantage of him any longer.

We stood there, neither one of us sure what to say. I pointed at the Christmas tree. “You didn’t open your presents.”

“It wasn’t Christmas without you.” He said it in a way that tore my heart up all over again. “Do you want to open them now?”

“Okay.”

Not sure where this was going or what I should be doing, I sat on the floor next to the tree. He sat with me and Pigeon came to settle herself between us. “This is the one I got for Pigeon.” I handed it to him.

He showed it to her, but she yawned her disinterest. So he opened it, carefully, as if he didn’t want to rip it. “A pigeon?” he asked in delight.

“A girly pink pigeon. With a bow. I thought she might like it.”

Tyler handed it to her and she put it between her paws, laying her head on top of it. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.

I handed him the photo book next. He opened it and looked at the title. It was the same hashtag he used in his Instagram posts, #ohtheplacesyoullgo. He gave me a look of confusion as he began to turn pages. He laughed when he saw the pictures, flipping through each carefully until he got to the final one. He grinned with delight when he saw the Pokémon-filled one.

“I thought when you finally get to take Pigeon to all these places, you might like to catch some Pokémon while you’re there,” I said when he stayed silent.

He nodded, clearing his throat. “I love it.”

It was so close to I love you that for a second I couldn’t breathe. I forced myself to start sucking in oxygen and handed him the envelope. When he pulled out the check, he furrowed his eyebrows at me. “What’s this?”

“It was what I was able to save up this month thanks to your budgeting advice. I wanted to start paying rent.”

“Does that mean—” Then he shook his head, as if he’d caught himself before he could say more. Instead he picked up the lighter package and handed it to me. “Here.”

I opened it up and it was a purple T-shirt that said TEAM TYSON on it. “Thank you?”

He let out a chuckle, understanding that I didn’t get it. “When we put up the tree, we decided we made a great team? Tyson is our names put together. Tyler and Madison.”

Oh. That sent little pink arrows into my heart. It was both thoughtful and adorable. “Thank you.”

Then he handed me the heavier package, and after I tore off the paper, I found a label maker. Just like the one Delia had. The one I’d offhandedly mentioned wanting. I never would have thought he’d even noticed, let alone made some mental note and then bought me one. “I love it. I can’t believe you remembered.”

“Of course I did. You’re important to me. You, not your family. I don’t care who your parents are. I hope you know that.”

“I do. My mom, she’s vicious, you know? She knew exactly what to say and do to get me to doubt you. And I did. And I’m so sorry for that.”

He reached out and grabbed my hands and I nearly cried out from how wonderful it felt to be touching him again.

I wanted him to have the full picture of where I’d been coming from. “Not that it’s an excuse, but I had also talked to Oksana that morning.”

“Oksana?”

I nodded. “She stopped by specifically to see me. She said all these terrible things about you. That you weren’t a good guy and were ruthless and ambitious, and it stuck in my head.”