Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

7| New Normals

Whoever said apartment hunting was a walk in the park deserved to be taken outside and beaten with a stick. Repeatedly. 

"So tell me, Ms. Lovette, are you married?" 

Here we fucking go again. "No. Not married." Just stupid, apparently. I should have said yes. Yes, that I was married. Married and pregnant. Maybe that would have made this creep back off. 

This was my last option on the list of places I could afford to rent. It was a tiny studio that was being rented out privately by the owner. It barely had a kitchen, and the bathroom was... Yeah. This place shouldn't even be suitable to live in. 

"That's perfect," the creep said in an even creepier voice if that were possible. "I'm single myself. Maybe if you end up staying here, we can get to know each other better. Seeing as I will be doing routine checkups, of course." When he ran his eyes ran over my body, it took all my energy not to hurl. He glanced at the application form I filled out when I got here. "And regarding the lack of proof of income, I'm sure we can come up with—"

Yeah, I wasn't going to let him finish that sentence. I pulled my phone out of my pocket like it was vibrating. "Oh, sorry. I need to take this. I'm just going to step outside and answer it." 

Putting the phone to my ear, I walked outside and thanked God or whoever was responsible for keeping this man in the apartment. Once I breathed fresh French air again, I took off down the block until I got to the next street. 

While I made my way towards La Rose De Baguette, I tried to convince myself that this was still a good idea. That coming here—okay, running—to Paris was a reasonable way to cope with the unbearable grief that my mom was gone. It had to still be a good idea. Because if it wasn't, then I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. 

Going back to New York and my small circle of close friends who were probably freaking out because they loved me so much was something I wasn't ready for. The whole reason I came here was because the caring was just...too much. 

There was going to be a time and a place when I was going to actually need them. But that time and place wasn't going to be here until I stopped running and was able to catch my breath. Basically, never at this point. The added stress from the fact that I was probably going to be homeless in a foreign country didn't necessarily help with the whole breathing thing. If anything, it just made matters worse. 

But there was one upside to all this...the pastries at my now favorite cafe. Dealing with all of this stuff basically turned me into a stress eater. I barely looked at myself in the mirror anymore because I was terrified that I gained wait and looked fat now. That and I just didn't care what I looked like at this point. 

When I finally got to the cafe, I was relieved to see that my usual table was empty. When you go to the same place every day over a period of two weeks, sitting at the same table and ordering the same thing, you start settling into a routine. 

New routines. New habits. New Normals. 

And after my failed and awkward apartment hunting this morning, I could use a little of my new normal. 

The manager, Henri, that I've come to know walked up to my table a few minutes after I sat down. "Ms. Lovette, so good to see you again. Your usual order?" 

I returned his smile and realized it was the first time I smiled at all today. "Hey, Henri. Yes. My usual order please." He started to walk away and I held up my hand to stop him. "Actually, do you mind brining out the—"

"Both Danish's at once?"

I laughed. For the past two weeks I ordered one Danish and one cup coffee. Then I always ended up wanting another Danish and many refills of coffee. This really was my new normal if he could read me that well. "Yes, please."