Page 410 of Dark Love

Especially with pizza to look forward to—

What happened to my bed?

Everything is different from the purple stripe sheets to the purple and pink quilt I made with my grandmother when I was sixteen.

What happened to my bed?

My phone beeps.

Vex: Ready for me to come up? The pizza is here.

He’s done so much more than just order a pizza.

Me: Sure. Can I help carry anything up?

Vex: Nope. I’ve got it.

Now what do I do? There aren’t enough chairs in the reading nook to eat together. Plus, the television is over here.

This is silly. I’m a mature woman. I climb up onto the bed and fold my legs under me.

Vex doesn’t make me wait long. He had to have everything set up before climbing the stairs.

How in the world did he carry all that up without dropping something? I don’t eat much up here because of all the stairs. It’s just not worth the effort to carry it up, but he makes it look so easy. “Hey.”

“Feeling any better?”

I actually am. “Yes, thank you for… um… everything.”

“The sheets are in the dryer, and I folded your blankets on top of the machine. It’s odd that the laundry room is on the first floor.” He sets another beer and my tea down on his nightstand.

“Um, there’s one here too. It’s in a closet in the bathroom.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” He takes a big beach towel off the top of the stack of things balanced in the other hand and sets it on the bed.

“All the other floors have a laundry chute so that I don’t need to carry anything down.” Whoever designed this place was smart about that. “What’s the towel for?”

“The pizza box.”

Duh. Of course. After the big deal I made about him lying on the bed in his street clothes, Vex was thoughtful enough to protect it. He takes another one out of a bag and sets it on the spot he was lying before.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re an incredibly sweet man?”

Vex laughs. “No.”

Chicken Soup

Vex

“Is the whole storyline to this movie things blowing up?” Dahlia takes another garlic knot out of the container.

“Mostly. Action movies aren’t really known for complex plotlines.” I take a sip of my beer and try to watch the television instead of staring at the woman sitting next to me.

How can I find a woman with wet hair and unicorn pajamas on sexier than any woman I’ve ever seen?

“Do you like to watch things blow up?”

Her voice is too soft. I shift my gaze to her, finding furrowed brows and a half-eaten garlic knot hovering in the air. Dahlia isn’t talking about the movies. She’s asking about my life.

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