Jonah leaned on the railing of his balcony, watching the moving van pull into the parking lot below him. A dark sedan, in desperate need of washing, drew up beside it as the men from the van got out. One went behind the van, raising the door. While he took out a dolly, the second man walked to the car.
From his viewpoint, six stories up, all Jonah could really tell about the car’s owner was the fact his hair was going gray, and in desperate need of cutting. He appeared to be on the tall side—at least compared to the mover he was talking with.
“New blood for the ladies,” Jonah murmured when the man walked toward the back entrance of the building. From where he stood, he lost track of the man at that point, but suspected he’d unlocked the door and then put the doorstop under it to keep it open. Meanwhile, the movers began taking furniture from the van.
The first items were a dark blue sofa, two chairs sitting on it, and an armchair that matched the sofa, all of which were placed on the dolly and rolled into the building. A good ten minutes later, the movers returned. After watching them put a dining table, its top wrapped in bunting, on the dolly, along with several boxes, Jonah decided he had better things to do than stand there observing the whole van being emptied and went inside.
When he got to his desk he turned on his computer to go online. His email was, as usual, half spam, which he deleted. Then he opened the mail from his sister, Sophie, to catch up on what was going on with family—hers and theirs—since she was the only one of his siblings who kept in touch. She had taken over doing so after their mother had died two years before, soon after the death of their father.
“She couldn’t live without him,” Sophie said at the time, and Jonah knew it was true. His parents had adored each other. He often wondered if he would ever find that kind of love. “Not likely,” he whispered, while replying to her mail.
He wouldn’t be thinking about it at all except the next piece of email was from his ex, Collin, who was fifteen years his junior. They had broken up over a year ago when Jonah decided—among other things—their age difference was too great. Collin, at thirty-nine, had not wanted to admit he was getting older and spent much of his free time at the gym, “Keeping the body in shape,” as he put it. Jonah had gone with him on occasion and was somewhat appalled at how Collin had shown off in front of the other patrons. When he commented about it, Collin shrugged, telling Jonah he could get the same admiring looks if he’d take better care of himself.
“I did take care of myself. I still do, damn it.” Jonah ran his hand through his gray-brown hair—another bone of contention with Collin, who had wanted him to dye it to cover the gray.
After reading the mail from Collin, Jonah shook his head in disgust. No,he typed in reply, I am not going to loan you one red cent. You still owe me more than enough from when we were together
Unfortunately, as far as he was concerned, he knew thatwas the real reason Collin had fought so hard to keep them from breaking up. Jonah had money, due to an inheritance from his grandfather and because he owned a real estate business which focused primarily on the sale of expensive homes to wealthy clients. As far as Jonah was concerned, money was only important as a means to live comfortably, so he had been willing to loan some to Collin—until it got to the point Collin seemed to think paying it back wasn’t necessary, because of their relationship. The last time Jonah had pointed out Collin needed to start repaying him—only to have his words ignored—it had been the final straw. Jonah told him in no uncertain terms they were finished and severed all ties with his younger lover.
Now, somewhat maliciously, he ended his reply to Collin’s email by saying, I’m no longer your personal banker. Find a new sugar daddy. After clicking Send, he settled down to the business of answering to emails from clients.
* * * *
Byron stood to one side of the room as the movers put the last of the bedroom furniture in place. Most of the living and dining room furniture was already set up, except for the bookshelves. Those he had to put together first. His desk and the ready-made bookshelves were in the smaller bedroom, which he planned on using for his study.
