Coming Back Home

Chapter 41

I got home from work that night and was seriously considering the thought of looking for another job.

On the one hand, I hadn't been at this job very long, and I knew it wouldn't look great for me to leave already; but on the other, I felt like I had to get the hell out of there. Seeing Natalie every day after everything that had happened was making me absolutely miserable.

I changed out of my work clothes and was pacing around my apartment, weighing the pros and cons of starting another job search. Did I really want to do this? I still wasn't sure.

A knock at the door stopped my pacing, and I felt my pulse quicken. I hated that Kyle had made me this nervous every time someone came to my door.

I walked over and slowly opened it, trying to peek out before it was open all of the way. I was surprised to see a distraught looking Natalie standing there.

"Natalie?" I gave her a confused look.

"Hi," she said, "please don't quit your job, okay? I'll - I'll quit if you want me to, let me leave, just - you don't leave."

She was rambling, and I struggled to keep up.

"Okay slow down," I said as I held my hands up to her, "you heard me talking about that today?"

"Yeah, I - I did," she said, still sounding frantic, "can I come in?"

"I'm um, I'm not sure if that's a great idea Natalie," I said.

"Mads please, just give me a minute," she pleaded.

"Yeah alright," I stepped aside and let her in the door.

"You can't leave that job," she started in again, "not because of me, or us, or all of this shit."

Now Natalie was the one pacing back and forth as I tried to figure out what was going through her mind.

"Natalie, calm down," I said as I watched her, "me leaving might be the best thing for both of us at this point."

She immediately stopped and looked over at me.

"No, no it wouldn't be," she said as she shook her head.

"Why not?" I asked her, "we've both been tiptoeing around each other and spending every day being miserable."

"Because I - " she started to say something but stopped and put her hands on her head.

I had never seen her like this before.

"Okay fuck I can't do this any more," she said as she let her hands fall to her side.

"Natalie what are you - " I tried to ask, but she cut me off.

"Kyle told me that he would leave you alone if I stopped seeing you," she blurted out, "I - I had to try, I wanted him to stop."

"He - what?" I stood there with my jaw hanging open, still not sure if I'd heard her right.

"The night when I went back to get my things before I came over here, he - he had gotten into my apartment somehow and he stopped me before I came back here," she explained.

My eyes widened as I listened to what she was saying.

"He was in your fucking apartment?" I asked.

"Yeah, I don't know how he got in, and it's probably going to be bad for both of us that I'm telling you this because he said not to tell anyone and that he would know if I didn't break things off with you," she said breathlessly.

"Holy shit Natalie," I said.

She was still rambling and I felt like she was trying to say everything that she needed to before she lost her courage.