Page 259 of The Bonus

Wait…what?

“Do you two know each other?” I ask.

“No,” Deb replies, all breathy.

Mark rushes forward and picks up her hand. “I’m Mark.”

“Goodness.” Deb lets out a flustered giggle. “Hello, Mark. I’m Deb.”

“Hello, Deb.” He smiles all sexy like, her hand still in his.

What the…?

“Ahem….” I clear my throat. “Don’t want to interrupt your little moment here.”

They step back from each other guiltily.

“Apologies,” Mark stammers. “I have to get back to work.” He goes to walk out the front door and then stops halfway there and turns and walks out the back door.

Debbie stares after him as if she’s just seen a ghost.

“What in the world?” I whisper.

“That was bizarre.” She looks at me. “Right?”

“Did you forget that you’re married?”

“Fuck, for a second there, I did.” She holds her temples. “Good god, he’s ridiculously hot.” She shakes her head as she tries to reclaim her focus. “I’ve never had a physical reaction to anyone like that before.”

I widen my eyes. “Married,” I mouth.

“I know, I know.” She hugs me. “How are you, anyway?”

“I have so much to tell you,” I whisper, excited.

“Great.” She puts her arm around me and we walk toward the kitchen. “Let’s put some coffee on.”

“You are fucking kidding me!” Gabriel’s voice bellows through the house.

“What’s going on?” Deb panics.

“Internet keeps dropping out.” I roll my eyes as I get the cups out. “Ignore him. We certainly do.”

“And then Colin said that she told on him but she didn’t tell on him,” Lucia says as she sits on the kitchen counter.

“Right,” Gabriel replies. “Then what did you do?” This is multitasking at its best, he’s taking a YouTube cooking lesson on his iPad, talking to Lucia and cooking dinner at the same time.

“So I told him to go away.”

“Uh-huh.” He pretends to listen as he focuses on his cooking lesson and chops the chicken.

I smile as I watch the two of them.

“Anyway, so Colin was so cross that he pushed Benjamin over.”

“What happened then?” Gabriel picks up the iPad to watch closer, I’m sure he has no idea what Lucia is even saying.

“Well, we didn’t play with him.”

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