Page 393 of The Black Trilogy

CHAPTER 35

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, crisp, clear start to a delightful Sunday. I stood on Black’s balcony with a cup of coffee, leaning forward over the stone balustrade. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I didn’t have a hangover.

Happy days.

I took a deep breath of cool air then looked up sharply as I heard a noise from above. I was just in time to see Ryan leap the five-foot gap between Tia’s balcony and the one outside the bedroom he was allegedly sleeping in.

“You’d better be keeping your clothes on,” I yelled.

He grinned over the edge and gave me a cheeky salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

Well, Tia could do worse. I went back inside to find the love of my life sprawled naked on the bed.

“Poor baby, did I wear you out?” I asked.

“Mmm hmm.”

“Do you want breakfast?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Any preferences?”

“Bacon roll.”

So he could still speak English then, just about.

Downstairs in the kitchen, a small group of zombies had gathered around the coffee machine, worshipping it like a shrine to sobriety.

“Are y’all auditioning as extras for Dawn of the Dead?” I asked.

Nothing. Only grunts.

I rummaged through the fridge and got the bacon out, then found some ready-to-bake baguettes in a cupboard. Those would do. Surely even I couldn’t mess up cooking part-baked bread?

Nick wandered in as I shoved them into the oven.

“I need to get to the office. Has anybody got spare socks I can borrow?”

“I bought you two new packets last week,” Bradley said.

“Yeah, I know, but I think I wore those, and I can’t find any clean ones.”

“There’s this thing called a washing machine...”

“I can’t find that either.”

“Nicky, why don’t you get a housekeeper?” I asked. “Your whole house is a tip.”

“Maybe I should. At least then I’d have socks.”

“Is that a definite yes?”

“I guess.”

“Great. Bradley, can you find Nick a housekeeper? He’ll never manage it by himself.”

“Sure, I’ll start looking for candidates. This’ll be awesome.” Bradley already had his iPad out, hangover forgotten. “I won’t need to keep buying socks and boxers and shirts every week. Somewhere in Nick’s house, there’s a black hole they disappear into.”

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