Page 42 of Never Kiss Your Brother's Best Friend

Chapter eighteen

STERLING

I've spent the entire day cleaning. I know. What an exciting way to spend a Saturday.

This time last week, Peter and I were out on the lake. After what seemed like a never-ending chat, we finally did some fishing, and it was a successful outing.

We were baited for catfish and Peter caught a whopper, over twelve pounds. I got one a little under four. It was much easier to catch something when we weren’t jabbering nonstop. We came back to my place to fry them up. It was a relaxing afternoon on the deck, just like old times.

Thankfully, we only talked sports for the rest of the day. No more inquisitions.

But as I take note of my current situation, blue rubber gloves on my hands, holding onto a toilet scrubber, it strikes me that today isn’t quite as enjoyable.

I keep a pretty clean house in general, but deep cleaning is not really my thing, unless I’ve got something on my mind. Then my Mr. Clean mode kicks into overdrive so I don’t have to think about whatever’s got me weighed down.

Four hours in, I’ve found tons of things that have gone missing in my house. I’m up to eight random single socks found in various locations, in the old standby behind the dryer, but also in all sorts of other places.

There was one under the stove and a few others in the couch cushions. A couple more fell between my nightstand and the bed, but the most unusual was the lone survivor lurking in the pantry, where it had inexplicably joined forces with the canned goods.

Why I took off one sock while searching for a snack I’ll never know. It begs the question, what kind of day could I have been having?

There have also been some good finds, like the extra set of car keys that have been lost for months. For unknown reasons, they were in a measuring cup.

And finally, I found the living room remote control in a shoe in my closet. I’ve been watching TV in my bedroom for weeks. Given my obvious absentmindedness, I’m not sure how I run a successful clinic.

Oh well. We’ll take the treasure hunt finds as a win. I need one. I finally heard from Emma this morning, but her text was all business. She ignored my comment about the other night and just went right into the progress she’s made with the project.

Don’t get me wrong. It was all good news. She already hired a band for the concert and Zoe found a great location for the silent auction. The raffle in the town square next weekend is a go. We moved it ahead of the concert.

Seems like Emma put all of her focus on the project over the last few days, which is great, but we’re supposed to be doing this together.

She said she and the girls are going to gather donated items for the raffle next week, so I didn’t need to worry about it. So much for spending lots of time together on the project.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond, but I didn’t want to make things any more awkward, so I thanked her for her efforts and didn’t mention anything personal.

But I’ve been thinking about her all day. And when I’m not thinking about her, I’m thinking about Peter and our dinner tonight. Man, that family is dominating my head space.

Everything is really coming together for the shelter project, though, so I should be happy and I am. On cue, Buddy ambles over. He isn’t so sure about the cleaning stuff I’ve been toting around so he’s been keeping his distance.

But now that I’m taking a break on the couch, he’s instantly by my side. It’s great to see him fully healed at this point. He loves the lake. We spend every morning by the water and he frolics up and down the shoreline.

“You like it here boy, don’t ya?”

Buddy’s tail starts thumping at the sound of his name, then he sprints off to find his ball. Emma was right. I have enjoyed having him here.

There it is again, invasion of my head space. I can’t stop it no matter what I do.

Fold some laundry, think of Emma and how good she smells.

Drink a cup of coffee, think of Emma and when we are at "Perk & Pour."

Make some lunch, think of Emma and takeout. You get the picture.

And now it’s time to get ready for dinner with Peter. Yippee.

No, it’s going to be fine. He’s my best friend and we’re just gonna have a nice dinner together. Maybe he didn’t even see the kiss and I’m being paranoid.

Let’s go with that because my dishpan hands are begging me to put an end to all the housework for the day.

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