Page 57 of The System

“You live on evidence and proof. Where’s your evidence and proof that she’s leaving?”

Carina laughed again and said, “Well, she packed her bags in a huff last night, and she wasn’t there in the morning. I saw her put her luggage in her car and drive off. She also stole all the food I bought for her from the kitchen, so I think that’s a pretty big piece of evidence.”

“Wait. You were buying her food, too?” Kieran laughed.

“Yes. I figured if I paid for her groceries at first that she’d have more money to get an apartment with it, but she kept staying.”

“Who wouldn’t? If you were buying my groceries and paying my bills, I’d stick around, too.”

Carina smiled, liking the sound of Kieran sticking around.

“I’ve learned my lesson, and she’s finally gone. I have my guest room back. Well, kind of. Her bed is still there, so she needs to come back and pick that up.”

“Oh, she still lives there, then.” Kieran laughed again.

“Shut up,” Carina said, laughing, too. “Maybe I should just offer to keep it instead and pay her for it so that she stays away. It’s a used mattress and a cheap bedframe; it can’t be worth that much.”

“If you don’t want to risk her coming back, that might not be a bad idea. Text me when you get home and check it out. If she’s there again, you have to tell me. It’ll make me laugh, and I could use more laughter right about now.”

“My pain is funny to you?” she teased.

“I’d hardly call this pain; more annoyance than anything. Oh,” Keiran paused, seemingly realizing something. “Unless… You’re…”

“Unless I’m what?”

“Dating again. Or, if you want to date again, but she’s always around, so you can’t.”

“Oh, right,” Carina replied. “Yeah, I guess there’s that.”

“That wasn’t your primary reason for wanting her gone?”

“No, my bank account was the primary reason. But I also don’t like sneaking around my own house just to avoid someone who seemed to always be there and was making no attempt to do anything to improve her life by getting a reliable job and a place of her own to live.”

“Well, that’s good now: you don’t have to worry about sneaking around with someone anymore. I just noticed how she treated me when I was there. Clearly, she wasn’t a fan of you having a woman over, even though you and I are just friends.”

“New sort-of-weird friends?” Carina teased.

“How else would you describe us?”

Oh, Carina had some ideas of how she wished she could describe them, but she couldn’t say those out loud.

“Two people who met because of a difficult situation but are trying to make the most of it and become friends who might actually still be friends when this is all over, if you don’t hate me for the outcome.”

“I won’t hate you, Carina. I know you’re just doing your job. This isn’t your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either.”

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t stop the guilt for not being there for her.”

“Hey, who’s older?” Carina asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Huh?”

“You or Marin? You’re giving off real big-sister vibes, and she’s kind of giving off real baby-in-the-family vibes.”

Kieran laughed and said, “Honestly, I hadn’t thought about that. I guess we’ll probably never know, huh?”

CHAPTER 18

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