Page 41 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

"Okay. So you want to hold it loosely in your dominant hand. Mine happens to be my right, but it works both ways. You just let it rest in your palm so that you can use your thumb to click the skip recap option before it disappears.”

“And... ?”

“Then you click skip opening credits too, or even better, you use the home button to get to Roku’s home screen and do a run-through of all your options, see? Then you want to jump into each app take a quick peek, and move on.” He began to demonstrate by clicking back into Hulu live and clicking in and out of networks.

“But... wait. Slow down. I can’t tell what those programs even are. How do you know whether you want to see something or not when you fly by so fast?”

“Superior male reasoning power. And intellect.”

“Oh, really?”

“Absolutely. For example...” He flicked to a new channel, offering his rationale as he went. “Okay. This is obviously a commercial. My first glimpse tells me it’s a feminine hygiene product. Which means whatever this show is I’m not the target audience.”

“But what about—”

“Ditto for toilet bowl cleaners, and rom-com movie trailers."

“What do you stop for?”

Matt skidded to a halt on the Braves game. “Good question. I give a full two seconds to all sporting events.” He watched Max Fried strike out James McCann and then clicked in and out of several other sports channels before continuing. “I’ll wait up to five seconds if Fried is pitching, assuming I haven’t already decided to watch the whole game.”

“What’s the longest you stop?”

“Well, this is an art, not a science, so I could be a little bit off. But my longest stop is generally ten to fifteen seconds, max.”

“And those kinds of stops are reserved for...”

“Generally? Scantily clad women. Or women I wish were scantily clad.”

He landed back onThe Bachelor, clicked “Next Episode” and then expertly clicked through “Skip Recap” and “Skip Opening Credits”. “Do you get the idea?”

Olivia closed her eyes and shook her head ruefully. “Oh, I’ve got it all right. We’re talking commitment free TV. Jump in, gather general impressions, and move on to the next thing. Sort of like your strategy for dealing with the opposite sex.”

“You don’t pull a whole lot of punches, do you?” He glanced at the screen as the date card was handed to a room full of hopeful women, decided he’d rather surf some more, and resumed clicking through the show icons randomly.

“No, I don’t pull punches, and I can’t say I’m particularly interested in your approach to television. I don’t watch much, but when I do I actually like to watch what I’m watching.”

Matt smiled. “Some people just don’t have a light enough touch with the remote. I guess you’re either born with it or you’re not.”

“Some people are not only born with it, they’re full of it.”

“All right. But don’t say I didn’t try to educate you.”

Matt laughed and handed her the remote. “I have to go over a few things for tonight, and then I’m going to see what kind of meal I can put together. You ready to wash dishes for your supper?”

“And analyze you to boot. Just let me know when you want me to set the table.”

Ten minutes later, when he looked up from his work, she’d put the remote down on the coffee table. But now, instead of hiding behind her books and notes, she was stretched out on the sofa avidly watching a rose ceremony in full swing. And if the look on her face was any indication, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

It appeared that the lovely Dr. Moore was far more open to new experiences than Matt had suspected.

Which might make it time for lesson number two.

Chapter Fourteen

Olivia changed her clothes before dinner. She also freshened her makeup, fluffed her hair, and dabbed perfume on every available scrap of skin—blatant acts of primping that both amused and horrified her. Unfortunately, amusement and horror weren’t the only contradictory responses fighting for dominance within her.

She felt oddly relaxed but totally on edge. She was warm and liquid one moment and paralyzed by uncertainty the next. Extreme sensations bombarded her at every turn and left her feeling decidedly... not herself.

---