You Will Remember Me by Hannah McKinnon (best sales books of all time txt) 📕

“Don’t tell me they’ve turned you into a Cubs fan?”

He chuckled. “You know my heart will forever belong to the Orioles, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, that’s for sure. Actually, before I came here for the final negotiations I’d already decided if I got the job it would mean a permanent move for me.”

It took a while to reach the depths of my messy brain, but Sam’s message finally got there. “You’re selling your house? But you love this area. It’s where you grew up.”

“I know, but things...well, they change. I’m getting older, the amount of travel really is insane. Between us, there’s talk of our HQ relocating to California, in which case I’ll be closer to my daughter. There’s no point keeping a place on the East Coast I’ll never get to anymore.”

I closed my eyes, pressed the phone to my ear. “I guess you’ve made up your mind then, haven’t you? And I suppose you need me to clear out Jack’s things?”

“There’s no rush,” he said quickly. “I’ll put it on the market within the next month or so and have the place staged professionally. The apartment above the garage is a huge selling feature, apparently.”

“But what about Jack?”

“Like I said, there’s no rush—”

“But he’s not going to be very happy when he comes back and finds you’ve sold the place, is he?”

“Oh, sweetheart...”

The sympathy in his voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I knew that tone, the veterinarian had used it when I was eight, and our dog, a fluffy, happy-go-lucky Collie we’d named Pebbles had got run over. I’d insisted she’d be fine, the vet should operate. Neither the doctor nor my parents had agreed.

“You don’t think he’s coming home,” I said, my voice a few degrees cooler.

Sam let out a breath. “I want to believe it, truly, but it’s been almost a week...”

“Fine. I’ll get his things. Make the place all nice and tidy so you get the maximum amount of dough seeing as that’s what’s most important to you.” My words were glacial now, and I hoped they cut him as deep as I meant them to.

“Please, Lily, you don’t need to do anything yet, I—”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. I’ll take everything to my place and when Jack gets back, he’ll stay with me. And, Sam?”

“Yes?” he whispered.

“Fuck you for giving up on him.”

I silenced his protests by hanging up, and when he called back, I switched off my phone. Fueled by anger, I abandoned my quest for pointless food, picked up a roll of packing tape and asked the store clerk for their entire collection of empty boxes.

Once I got to Jack’s apartment my anger and frustrations had subsided a little, but not enough for me to change my mind about collecting his things. If I didn’t do it now, and as more and more days passed, I wasn’t sure when I’d find the nerve.

As I walked up the stairs with a few boxes in my hands, I stopped midway. Jack’s front door was ajar.

I threw the boxes over the banister, ignoring them as they crashed to the ground, and took the rest of the steps two at a time.

“Jack,” I shouted, bursting into the apartment.

I was met with complete silence, and it took my brain a while to click into gear and process what my eyes were seeing as I walked through the hallway. Jack’s things strewn across the floor. Clothes and shoes, pillows and bedding, utensils and broken glass. It looked like a tornado had torn through the place. Get out, my brain screamed at me. Get out now!

I backed away, my feet sliding across the floorboards as they tried to gain traction. Someone had been in here, gone through all of Jack’s things. Had they already left? What if they were behind me, coming back up the stairs? There was no noise aside from the beating of my heart, but that didn’t mean I was alone. I retreated to the front door. Once outside, I leaped down the stairs and pulled out my phone, dialing Heron and whispering a silent thank-you when she picked up after one ring.

“Someone broke into Jack’s apartment,” I blurted before she had a chance to say more than hello, and as I relayed what I’d seen upstairs, she told me to make sure I was safe, and they’d be right over. A car arrived within a few minutes, lights flashing, sirens blaring, and Heron ordered me in no uncertain terms to stay outside while she, Stevens and the team secured the area. I stayed on the sidelines, watching the officers from a distance, shivering. It didn’t take long for them to confirm there was nobody in the apartment. Whoever had broken in was gone.

“Could you follow me, please?” Stevens said, approaching me after what felt like hours. “It would be helpful to know if anything’s missing.”

I nodded and silently followed him back up the stairs, my throat running dry, my pulse beating in my neck from the mere thought a stranger had been here not long ago. Jack’s possessions were still in total disarray, and as my fear changed to anger, I had to work hard to keep it in check as we moved from room to room and I took in the carnage. I knew the cash from the cookie tin hadn’t been stolen because I’d taken it home with me, and from what I could tell, Jack’s clothes were all accounted for, and there wasn’t anything missing from his bedroom or the kitchen. The bathroom never had much in it anyway, and the small TV he’d bought secondhand had been left untouched on the cabinet in the living room.

I looked around, almost as if it were the first time I’d visited, a tingling sensation settling somewhere in the middle of my spine. If I’d noticed it before, I hadn’t paid much attention, or perhaps brushed the