1 Hot Scheming Mess by Lucy Carol Page A

it was August. It was easy to get by in lightweight clothing in warm weather, making it easier to pack a lot of stuff.
    As her toe pushed aside a spare blanket on the floor, a little baby zombie peeked out from underneath. The t-shirt that ExBoy had come looking for. She picked it up and noticed ExBoy’s scent still on it. She buried her face in it for a moment. There was something about his natural scent that reminded her of the forest and the deep shadows under heavy tree growth.
    Clearly he was attracted to her, too, but his behavior around her was confusing. A friendly smile one minute, lost in some uncomfortable thought the next. Maybe he was as unsure about her as she was about him. Whatever it was, the effect was that she never felt relaxed around him.
    He was an artist with a flair for writing. But his art was comic book monsters, and he wrote horror stories. In particular, he loved zombies. He thought zombies were fascinating, scary, cool, and funny all at the same time. And though she didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other for the horror genre, it bothered her that he wouldn’t talk about it, about something that meant a lot to him. Spenser had called him mysterious and brooding, but to Madison he was more like Dark Peter Pan.
    She regretted how hard she had been on him lately. It wasn’t his fault that her life was a mess. She looked at the silly t-shirt and remembered him wearing it when his arms were around her, his face seeking hers as she giggled and turned her head side to side, playing hard to kiss. Her giggles turned to giggling screams as he settled for her neck, and her ticklishness took over. Playful wrestling took them down to the bare carpet in her new apartment. Then as stronger urges came on, they had torn off their shirts just as other friends knocked on the door, arriving to help with moving in.
    Conflicted, she pulled her shirt back on, and ran to open the door. But he hadn’t put his shirt back on, and finished the move that hot July day with his shirt off, giving her a knowing smile whenever he caught her looking at him.
    Maybe she should pick up where they had left off that day. Sample the bait. Just a little? She stuffed the baby zombie t-shirt into the pillowcase to wash it with the rest of the laundry.
    She went back into the living room and emptied out the tote bag. She carefully placed the fabric and the papers from the metal box into the tote, and although it seemed stupid, she added the cardboard tucked along the sides, which remained flat from all the years of being stored that way.
    She then put the contents that had been in the tote bag into the metal box. If anyone were to open that metal box now, they would find a watercolor paint set, little paint brushes, a storybook, a balloon pump, a bag of long skinny balloons, her magic wand with the rhinestone star on the end, and fairy wings. The contents from the metal box and the tote bag had officially been switched. Last of all, she closed the lid on the metal box and jammed it back in place. It seemed just as rusted closed as before.
    She stacked several of her unpacked moving boxes by the living room window, then put the metal box on top. She pulled the blinds open so that from the parking lot, if anyone were really trying, they would be able to spot the metal box through the window. If anyone had seen her running out of Grandpa’s house, they would have seen her clutching the box like her life depended on it. And if they had followed her and were watching, they would likely stick around and wait for her to drive away before entering her apartment to get the box. She hoped.
    Carrying the tote, her purse, and the pillowcase of laundry, she left her apartment and headed into the outer hallway.
    She stopped at Toonie’s door and knocked. After a moment she knew Toonie must be looking at her through the peephole before opening the door. She didn’t know how to compose her face for the peephole because she didn’t truly