Love's Fate (Love Trilogy #1) by Tracey Smith Page B

Katherine. Every slender brunette with long hair caught my attention if only momentarily. But as soon as I saw that it wasn’t her I lost all interest. I realized that none of those women would have ever caught my attention had I never seen her. It’s as if my heart knew that it belonged to her even before I did. Until that first night in the coffee shop no woman was of any interest to me, and now only she was. My heart came alive the first time I saw her, and now it only beat for her. But I continued moving forward.
    I started the fall semester at the Art Institute and decided it would be easier to find an apartment closer to campus. I had been able to buy a broken down old truck, but the less I had to use it the better. I was lucky that only a few months into the semester an apartment in walking distance to the campus became available. Charlie offered to help me move.
    “I don’t remember you having this much stuff when we lived together.” Charlie complained looking at the tower of boxes in my small apartment.
    “Me neither” I laughed.
    I wondered how much of it could be left behind and not missed. I was not looking forward to the multiple trips across town to relocate it all. I hated moving.
    “Where do you want to start?” Charlie asked clapping his hands together. “Big furniture or boxes?”
    “Let’s get the big stuff out of the way.” I suggested and we began loading my truck.
    I only had a few large pieces of furniture: a bed, couch, dresser and my art easel. We were able to fit it all in one load. It was a short trip across town and we unloaded the truck in front of my new apartment building.
    I had been told that students mostly occupied this building due to its close proximity to the Art Institute. The only reason I was able to get an apartment this time of year was because some guy had dropped out.
    I was relieved that we had been able to get all the furniture over in one trip. One more would probably get all the boxes. My mood was beginning to brighten as I realized this might not take all day.
    My lighter mood quickly darkened when I saw the Out of Order sign hung across the elevator doors. My apartment was on the 3rd floor!
    “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Charlie muttered noting the sign.
    “Maybe we should just leave the furniture down here and run back to get the boxes.” He suggested.
    “Do you think anyone would mind?” I didn’t want to make a bad first impression with my new neighbors.
    “It’ll be fine” he assured me. “Looks like that old hallway over there is just a dead end, we can leave the stuff there and it shouldn’t be in anybody’s way. Besides we won’t be long”
    I looked down the short hallway and saw that there were no doors. The hallway did continue around a bend but I couldn’t imagine anyone’s room being down there. So we moved everything into the hallway and went back for the load of boxes.
    When we got back with the truck full of boxes we began lugging them up the stairs first. After 5 trips up the three flights of stairs the boxes finally filled my new apartment. I was already exhausted and dreaded the long trip with the larger pieces of furniture.
    “How about we just get the bed up here tonight?”  Charlie suggested mirroring my thoughts.
    “Works for me” I panted trying to catch my breath.
    We moved the bed upstairs with great effort and I gladly collapsed on it as soon as it hit the floor.
    “I’m almost tempted to move the couch up here just so I can crash on it and not have to drive home. I’m exhausted!” Charlie exclaimed.
    I laughed but didn’t move from my position face down on the bed. He promised to come back in the morning to help me with the rest. I was asleep before he was out the door.
    Charlie woke me early the next morning and my muscles protested as I pulled myself out of bed. I was practically sleep walking as I followed Charlie down the stairs.
    “Oops, I guess someone did mind”
    Charlie’s strange comment woke