Page 24 of The Last Straw

“That’s not a bet. That’s whitewashing the fact that you don’t want to do dinner for a week. So why don’t I save us both some time, and just offer to do that anyway?”

“Sure, okay...since you offered,” Wyrick said.

“I suppose that starts tonight?” Charlie asked.

“I’m good with that,” Wyrick said.

He laughed. “Do you have a preference?”

“No. I’m fine with whatever floats your boat,” she said.

“Well, that would be water...if I had a boat to float,” he muttered. “I’m going to see what we have in the freezer.”

“I bought groceries yesterday. There are lots of choices.”

He sighed. “Yeah, right. Anyway...since you’ve already launched another war, why don’t you go get into something comfy and put your feet up. I’m going to change, then I’ll just be in the galley of that boat, making your dinner.”

“Whining does not become you,” Wyrick said, then picked up what was left of her pop and candy and left the office, heading down the hall to take the elevator up to her room, while Charlie chose the other way and jogged up the stairs.

Wyrick exited the elevator just as Charlie appeared at the head of the landing. They paused, staring at each other from separate ends of the hall, and then Wyrick suddenly crammed the last bite of chocolate into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it as she screwed down the lid on her Pepsi.

Charlie saw the look on her face, and knew almost instantly what she was about to do.

“You haven’t got a chance in hell,” he shouted and started running, just as she bolted toward him.

Their bedrooms were in the middle of the hall and directly across from each other. Now the race was on to see who could get inside first.

Wyrick knew it was going to be close. She was fast, but so was Charlie, and his legs were long. Really long. She had the Pepsi in one hand, swinging it as she ran, and Charlie was laughing at her as they came closer and closer. Then all of a sudden he was in his room, slamming the door behind him.

“Dammit!” Wyrick shouted.

She was paused in the hall, gasping for breath and thinking she was severely out of shape, when the Pepsi she’d been running with suddenly blew. She screamed, both in shock and dismay as the lid hit the ceiling, then came down at her feet as carbonated cola spewed everywhere.

Charlie heard what sounded like a shot, and then the scream, and panicked. He turned and yanked the door open, ready to do battle, then saw her standing in the hall, the empty Pepsi bottle still in her hand, and what had been left of it now dripping from her face, and her clothes and the wall.

Awash with relief, he grinned.

“Shut your damn door,” Wyrick said.

He did, but by then he was laughing.

She looked down at herself. What a freaking mess.

But she’d made Charlie laugh again. Her good deed for the day.

She went into her room, changed into old clothes, then headed downstairs to get cleaning supplies. She had walls to wash down, and a floor to mop.

Charlie was changing out of what he’d worn to work when his cell phone rang. He glanced at caller ID and then sighed.

Special Agent Raines.

And this is why he hadn’t made that bet.

He sat down on the side of his bed, guessing that Raines was losing his mind over what Wyrick had just done.

“Hello.”

“What the fucking hell is Wyrick thinking?”

---