Page 91 of On the Double

“Not between us,” I corrected. “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I’m not sure you want to know.”

“Because you think I can’t handle it?”

Or maybe I didn’t want to face what he would think of me when he found out. “Because…I’m not ready to talk about it. But I promise that when I am, you’ll be the first and probably the only person I tell.”

He sighed, dropping his head back on the couch. “I hate this.”

“I know.”

He rolled his head to face me. “Are you going to Edu’s tonight?”

I shook my head. “No plans to.”

“Movie night?”

“I could go for that,” I grinned, even though I felt like going to sleep and ignoring my life. I hadn’t gotten any of my chores done yesterday since I left when I was supposed to be here. “But I need to put in laundry first or you’ll have to smell me for a week.”

“I’m used to that,” he teased.

I pulled myself off the couch, then went into my bedroom and gathered all my laundry. There was more than one load to do, which just made me tired thinking about it. After putting one load in, I showered to get the smell of work off me, and as soon as I was done, Oliver took his shower.

There was nothing in the house to eat, so I sat down with a full container of Oreos and a glass of milk.

“I hope you’re planning on sharing that with me,” Oliver muttered as he walked into the room, drying his hair with a towel.

“I hadn’t planned on it.”

“Not cooking tonight, squirt?”

“Why is it my job to cook?”

“Because you’re the woman.”

“And?”

He shot me a funny look. “And women cook. It’s a thing.”

“It’s only a thing for married couples, and I’m pretty sure it’s not even a thing anymore. Men do just as much of the household chores as the women.”

I knew he was just teasing me, but I liked our little debates. He flopped down on the couch and snatched one of my cookies, dunking it in my milk.

“Hey! That’s my milk. It’s contaminated now!”

He shoved the cookie in his mouth, mumbling around the food. “How can it be contaminated? We share the same DNA.”

“So? That doesn’t mean you dunk your fingers in my milk!”

“It was like a centimeter of my flesh. I’m sure you can handle that.”

I scoffed at the ridiculousness of his statement. “And that centimeter doesn’t carry any germs?”

“I just took a shower,” he said incredulously.

“Yeah? And what did you do in the shower? You were in there for a really long time.”

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