Going Up - Now On Amazon

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next day the lawyer came by and went through the contract with me. I felt a lot more comfortable with the entire thing once he went through it with me. Explaining the seclusion clause didn’t mean I was trapped inside a building 24/7, I could still go out and visit friends. It still took me almost 2 weeks to sign it. My money was beginning to run short again and I the time had come to make a decision.

When I finally called DJ he seemed genuinely happy to hear from me.

“Sarah! I was hoping we’d hear from you”

“Oh, yeah. I just had a lot of thinking to do” I replied honestly.

“Did you make a decision?” He asked, his voice confident, like he already knew the answer.

“I signed it DJ. When do we start?” I replied, trying to match his confidence, but I failed to hit the mark. I sounded more like an over excited school girl.

“Well, we have an apartment all set up for you, I was kind of running on the idea you’d say yes. If you’d like we can move you in there this week”

I frowned, wishing I didn’t have to leave here. It had been amazing living somewhere that felt like a home rather than a house. The idea of moving was the only thing that had been stopping me from signing earlier, if I’d have told Janie that though she would have told me not to be ridiculous. So I’d channelled her, and then forced myself to sign it.

“Oh okay, that soon?” I questioned

“The sooner you can start focusing on solely on your music the better Sarah.” DJ answered without skipping a beat.

He was right. Just like I’d decided to focus on me, I had to focus on music and being here, even though Nick wasn’t here, I was distracted by him at every turn. Especially when I sat on my bed and my thoughts would slowly but surely gravitate to the night we’d made love together here.

DJ and I agreed that I would wait until the others returned from work, then I’d have one of them bring me to meet him at the apartment complex at 7pm. We hung up the call a little while after and I walked into my room and began to clean and pack up my bedroom. Once all my clothing was packed into the tatty suitcase I checked under the bed to make sure I hadn’t dropped any paper or rubbish down there. Aimlessly I threw my hand around under the bed searching, something cold and brushed against the warmth of my wrist. I brought my hand back and grabbed the item with my hand then pulled it out. It was a silver watch, one that I hadn’t seen before and I wondered where it had come from. I turned it over and noticed an inscription.

Dear Nick,

So long &Thanks for all the fish

Andrea

 

So it was Nick’s watch. He must have dropped it when he’d been here last.

I smiled at the inscription, who ever had given it to him had a sense of humour and good taste in literature. I’d read the Ultimate hitchhikers guide to the galaxy in high school, its satirical humour had struck a chord with me. Still a small part of me felt a little guilty that some other woman felt close enough to farewell Nick with such a luxurious gift, and such a cheeky goodbye.

Nick hadn’t noticed the watch missing yet, or if he had, he hadn’t asked about it. Although I’d seen him wearing three different watches in the time I’d known him so it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t realised yet.