Page 73 of Mr. Infuriating

Besides, if she were still upstairs, she probably wouldn’t hear me knocking anyway.

I rapped on the wood as I opened the door and loudly called out, “Knock knock!”

She poked her head around the corner, and I noticed a bucket on the floor.

“Hey! You’re back! I’ll be out in a sec, I’m just finishing mopping the kitchen.”

“Take your time. I just wanted to let you know I was here. Derrick should be here any minute; he was going to stop and get a cup of coffee first.”

When Derrick had told me he was swinging by Starbucks on his way to Gretchen’s, I’d groaned, “God, I’m an asshole. You’re doing me a favor; I should have thought to bring you one.”

“Eh, how could you know I hadn’t already stopped?”

“I’ll buy you lunch.”

He shook his head as he sat in the driver’s seat of his Cayman. “I gotta get to work after this. We’ve got a delivery coming.”

“Raincheck?”

“You know it.”

But that meant we wouldn’t get all the cabinets delivered today. Which I wasn’t exactly mad about.

Seeing Gretchen doing something as mundane as mopping the floor made me smile. I hoped to catch more of those moments.

I paused with my hand on the doorknob leading to her garage.

“So, I’m going to have to bring the final delivery over tomorrow, if that’s okay? Derrick has to get to work after we get these unloaded.”

“Oh, um, sure? I can give you the garage code.”

No, that’s not going to work.

“Or I could just come by after work. Maybe we could grab dinner?”

She offered me a sad smile.

“Gabe… we talked about this.”

“It’s just dinner. You gotta eat, right?”

She stared at me for a beat then her shoulders dropped as she let out a sigh.

“There’s something I haven’t told you…”

That sounded ominous, and I held my breath as I waited for her to continue.

I was startled by a loud knock at the door behind me.

When I opened the door, Derrick was wearing a big grin, with a tray of coffees in his hand, and he gleefully proclaimed, “Caffeine delivery!”

He offered a cup to Gretchen, spurring her to come into the mud room.

“Oh my god, thank you!” She closed her eyes as she took a long sip. “So good.”

Her eyes flew open, and she continued, “I probably should be the one buyingyoucoffee.”

Derrick grinned at me. “I’m racking up coffee IOUs today.”

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