Page 51 of Boyfriend of the Hour
God.
“When would you like to move in?” he asked.
I thought about the breakroom waiting for me. If I played my cards right, I would only have to spend a few more nights there. “Does this weekend work?”
Nathan nodded. “I have to work tomorrow, but on Saturday, I can help you bring things up.”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me. I won’t have much, and my family will probably help too.” I grinned, considering one more thing. “Get ready for your second lesson, Dr. Hunt. With the Zolas, it’s all about trial by fire. And unfortunately for you, my sisters take no prisoners.”
TEN
SISTERS IN ORDER OF MOST TO LEAST ANNOYING (TODAY)
#1 Lea. Again
At exactly 9:14 in the morning, I was trying to unlock the door to apartment 8F with shaky fingers.
It was my fourth try. Only because I had the peanut gallery in the form of Lea, Kate, and Mike lurking behind me like ghouls and commenting the entire time.
“Does it have a chain?” Lea asked. “Maybe he needs to come unlock it.”
“Of course, it has a chain,” I said. “Every door has a chain lock.”
“No one needs to use a chain in a place like this,” Kate put in. “It’s too fancy for petty larceny. Try your key again. Do you want me to try?”
“I got it!” I snapped. “Stop harping, and just let me do it.”
“Why does he need a roommate again?” Mike wondered as he shifted a box of random books and art supplies from one hip to the other.
He peered around the hall with the same distrustful expression he gave everything that wasn’t from Belmont. Mybrother-in-law was nothing if not a creature of habit. I honestly thought he had worn the same pair of jeans and rotating T-shirts since he had met Lea literally twenty years ago. Which…good for him. If, at forty, I can fit into the clothes I wore at twenty, I’ll be over the freaking moon.
“Everyone needs a roommate in New York City,” I said. “Even doctors. It’s one of the most expensive places in the world. You know all know this.”
“I know somethin’,” Mike muttered.
I finally got the deadbolt to turn. “What does that even mean?”
Before he could answer, the door opened, and I fell into the arms of my new roommate.
“Hey,” I said, somehow suddenly breathless.
Nathan peered down at me through his glasses, and Ithoughthis full mouth twitched. “Hello.”
God, he smelled good. Like soap and water and just a hint of coffee.
Nathan helped me stand upright, then took the heavy duffel bag I had slung over my shoulder without asking. “You shouldn’t be carrying things this heavy with your bad knee.”
“Well, you know what they say,” I replied. “No rest for the…” I tapped my mouth, now wondering how that saying actually ended.
“Weary?” Nathan suggested.
“It’s wicked,” Lea called behind me while the word “wicked” literally echoed around the tiled interior of the building. “Originally a proverb from the Bible.”
Nathan and I both turned to face her.
“It is?” he asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Don’t,” I warned my sister. “Nathan, let me introduce you to some of my family. That’s my sister Kate, my brother-in-lawMike, and the one giving us a Sunday school lesson is Lea. You can ignore her.”
