The Dry Cleaner

Chapter 38

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He kept his promise and tried his hardest to make it up to her but she gave him a hard time. She wouldn't let him get the east way out. He took her out for dinner every Friday night, had pizza with her on Tuesdays at her apartment, took her out on Saturday, went to church with her on Sunday. He bought her loads of gifts, from roses to chocolate bars to jewellery, shoes and bags and he loved watching her open the small wrapped gifts with a wide smile on her face.

It had been a month now and things had returned to the comfortable way they were before. She still hadn't gotten a job despite searching and she was in a desperate state. He noticed that and that was why he decided to do one thing that he was positive would make her happy and employed again. He bought another store for her, had it fully renovated and got all the legal contracts that gave her full ownership.

"Where are we going?" She asked after they walked out of the restaurant they were in into the busy streets of New York hand in hand and a beautiful sunny Saturday.

"We're just taking a walk sweetheart," he said smiling at her and making her heart skip a beat. He always had that effect on her.

They walked hand in hand making small conversation and he would often just stare at her, study her beautiful features and smile at himself for his lucky he was to have her.

The began walking on the block where his final destination was and she didn't have a clue what was going on. He told her to look around the streets and to look at the new stores. They stopped right in front of the store. It was big , with clean windows that ran from the ceiling giving you a clear view of the well furnished waiting area and reception.

"Look, I think this is a new dry cleaners," she said pointing inside.

"Do you want to enter?" He asked before pulling her into the warm store.

He watched as she walked around, felt the couches, touched the walls and the large mahogany counter, study the to and try to look at the back room.

"You can go check it out if you want," he said and saw excitement flash in her eyes as she walked to the back where there were four rooms.The first was the lounge furnished with black leather couches, red wallpaper with beautiful patterns on it, a large coffee table and a plasma TV hanging from the wall. The second was a changing room that doubled as the bathroom. The third was the large laundry area with several large washing machines, neatly arranged laundry baskets on one end, hangers and a rail on another, in short a dry cleaners best dream.

Finally, the office that was up stairs. To say that it was beautifully breathtaking would be an understatement. It had a wide window giving a clear view of the nearby park and the beautiful green trees that lined the paths. It had a beautifully carved table and a leather chair just behind. The colour scheme was perfect, the ceiling was beige and the walls were painted mint blue making the room even brighter. There were a few pictures on the wall already, one of them was her favourite quote by Oscar Wilde.

"This place is beautiful," she said turning to look at him. " I wonder why no one is here."

She saw a cheeky smile appear on his face as he approached her, his hands behind his back. "What?" She asked in an odd tone.

"I'm glad that you like this place. Trust me it wasn't easy getting it together and making sure that you would like it." he said.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused about what he was talking about.

"I mean that this place my dear, is yours," he said handing her a keychain that had several keys.

She was still confused," What do you mean that this place is mine?"

"I mean that I bought it renovated it and put everything that you would need and its yours. I did this for you, its yours," he said putting her hand on her shoulders.

Then her brain processed what he had said and she wore the widest smile ever and began jumping up and down before burying her head in his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him thanking him a million times.He kissed her forehead when he let go.

"Why did you do this?" She asked.

"Because I love you Keyna. And I hate seeing you sad and I know that I'm the worst man alive for taking away your laundry store from you and I know that this store is not as good as that one but I just wanted to get you a place for you to do your thing and be happy again. I'm sorry for what I did Keyna," he said.

She looked into his captivating brown orbs and saw the sincerity in them.
"Malcolm you didn't have to do all of this but thank you. Thank you very much you don't know what a gesture like this means to me. And yes its not like the one before," she said and looked at him frown," that's because its better,"she said drawing him in for a kiss.

They left the store later that evening after finishing the Chinese they had ordered and he dropped her and walked her to her apartment. She kissed him goodnight and then left.

It was a warm, bright sunny Tuesday morning. She got out of her bed, showered getting into navy blue jeans and a loose fitting blue cotton shirt. She slipped on sneakers before getting out of the room. She tied her hair in a messy bun before grabbing her phone, her keys and a large box that was lying in her coffee table before heading to her store.

She still hadn't found a name for it but decided that she would work on it later. She had talked to Malcolm last night and he had suggested some names all that were horrible to her.

She arrived parking her car and getting out and opening the door. She went up to her office where she placed the box before going down stairs where Ashley and Troy were.

"He got you this," was all Troy said. He still didn't like Malcolm.

They sat and talked for a while before the two returned to their respective work places to work their last shift before coming to work for Keyna.

She went back to her office and unpacked the few things that were in her box to make the office more cosy when her phone rang. She looked at the screen, it was an unknown number and she picked it up.

"Hello how may I help you?" She said.
"Its me," she heard.
"Who exactly is this?" She asked.
"Oh baby, how could you forget me. After everything we had you forget me," she heard a slightly familiar voice say.
"I'm sorry I think you have the wrong number," she said.
"No I don't Keyna. This is the right number," she heard the voice say again and she was shocked that the person knew her name.

She started breathing heavily.
"Oh don't be afraid sweet Keyna, I won't hurt you," the voice said before she heard a small chuckle and then the line went blank.

She stared at the number before sitting down and cursing at what she had realised. There was only one possible person that it could be. Patrick.

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Hey so we're almost at the end of the book just wanted to let you know.

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