Free Livvie's Song by Sharlene MacLaren

won’t leave us high and dry,” she muttered under her breath.
    “What’s that?”
    “Never mind. Would you like to see the apartment upstairs?”
    “I thought you’d never ask.”
    “Don’t get your hopes up. It’s nothing much to look at.”
    “Does it have a bed?” he asked, untying the strings of the apron Joe had insisted he wear. My, he was a giant of a man!
    “Well, of course!”
    “Then, I’ll be happier than a dog with the biggest bone in the world.” He chuckled softly.
    And she couldn’t help but return the faintest smile.
    ***
    The stairway to the second and third floors was located just outside the back door of the restaurant. Olivia explained that he could access it either through the back door or from outside, through the narrow alleyway on the side of the building. This was how the partygoers accessed the third floor on Saturday nights. Will had heard that those events gathered good-sized crowds, and Joe had recommended he check them out. He just might.
    As they climbed the stairs, Olivia reached inside her pocket and pulled out two sets of keys, each dangling from a short chain, and handed him one. When they reached the second-floor landing, she held up the largest key of her own set. “Use this one to unlock the outside door.” To demonstrate, she pushed on the door, which squeaked and creaked as it opened, and led him into a dimly lit hallway. “The only ones with keys besides you are my boys and me.” To his left was a door, which he figured led to her apartment, since it was adorned with two colorful drawings that had the signatures “Alex” and “Nate” scribbled in the lower left-hand corners. To his right was another door, and at the end of the hall was yet another.
    Olivia opened the unlocked door to his immediate right. “This is just a small storage room,” she explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
    He peeked inside. A window on the far wall revealed a two-story building next door, and another window overlooking the alley ushered in enough light for him to see a mishmash of chairs, a couple of rickety tables, precarious-looking stacks of crates and boxes, a cluster of fishing poles propped in a dark corner, and a few baskets overflowing with assorted Christmas decorations—strings of lights, tinsel, and some gaudy ornaments. A lightbulb with a long, dangling chain was affixed to the ceiling in the middle of the room.
    Without further explanation, Olivia closed the door and nodded in the direction of the end of the hall. “That’s your apartment. Your other key opens the door. I’ll show you around, if you’d like.”
    “That’d be nice,” he said, meaning it, as it would give him a whiff of her flowery scent now and again. Mrs. Olivia Beckman might be testy and tough, but she was feminine to the core.
    Just like he’d done at the Dixie Hotel, Will rubbed his thumb along the rough metal edge of the key, feeling almost giddy. He’d gone more than ten years without unlocking a door. Now, he had a job, a place to live, and a key of his own. What more could a man possibly need?
    The key worked like a charm. Will pushed open the door and stepped aside to allow Olivia to enter first. Then, he followed her inside and saw the tiny kitchen and the cramped living area beyond it. She’d said that the apartment was “nothing much to look at,” but to someone who’d spent the past ten years sleeping on a narrow cot in a cell behind locked bars, this place looked like a castle. Sure, it had some peeling plaster and a stain on the ceiling, probably caused by a leak, and could probably use a fresh paint job and a little sprucing up, but what did he care? This was home, and all he wanted to do was slump into the ancient-looking sofa with the popped spring, prop his feet up on the dilapidated footstool, and read a good book while breathing in the blissful air of freedom. He knew that he’d probably have little time for reading, but the mere thought of it was enough for now.
    Of