Page 57 of Callahan

“I’ll take that,” I said with a fake smile as I plucked the bag from Adam’s hand and headed toward the kitchen.

I purposefully avoided the space on the counter where Adam had deposited me while we made out. It needed to be cleaned, preferably with bleach.

Too bad I couldn’t bleach the humiliating memory from my brain.

Adam’s voice was quiet when he asked, “Can I help?”

“Yeah, you can grab the plates and silverware while I wipe the counter down.”

He grinned as he opened several cupboards until he found the one with the plates.

“It doesn’t look dirty.”

“It needs to be disinfected. You never know what germs are lurking there, waiting to make you sick.”

“I’m willing to risk it.”

I gave him a tight smile as I poured soap on the dishrag. “Bless your heart. That’s not what you said earlier.”

“What the hell is going on?” Brian snarled.

Adam and I replied in unison, “Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You just blessed his heart; that’s not nothing.”

****

Adam

I’d served with enough southern Marines to know that “bless your heart,” was a politer way of saying, “fuck you”. But I’d never been on the receiving end of having my heart blessed.

“We had a little disagreement earlier,” I replied to Brian while keeping my gaze fixed on Lainey’s face.

“What about?”

Shit.

I racked my brain trying to think of something we could have argued about.

Lainey kept it simple as she finished wiping the counter, then hung the rag over the faucet.

“None of your business.”

Brian accepted her response without argument, just asked, “Well, are you guys going to work it out, or…?”

I was kind of wondering that myself and cocked my head to convey my unspoken question.

She looked me up and down with a scowl on her face, then finally said, “Hard to say.”

“Come on,” I said quietly. “I said I was sorry.”

Lainey wasn’t moved, so I teased with a grin as I unfolded the top of the brown paper bag and pulled out a crinkly, white paper bag with the eggrolls, “I even brought you extra eggrolls.”

“Those are for us!” Brian chimed in from the living room where he was bouncing Conor in his arms.

“Actually, Pam said they were for me, so I could try them. But I’m willing to offer them as a peace offering if it’ll get me back in Lainey’s good graces.”

She shook her head and pulled forks from a drawer while I finished unpacking our food from the bag.

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