Page 14 of Come Back to Bed
I’m talented?
“How do you know I’m talented?”
We reach our floor, and instead of answering me, like a normal properly socialized human being, he says: “I’ll talk to you later, I gotta walk Daisy.”
Daisy is shuffling around inside the apartment, making a “yarf” noise, and sounds like she’s going a little nuts. I couldn’t hear her doing it a few seconds ago, so she probably heard him and got excited. Or…maybe she heard me and got excited?! It’s a possibility. A girl can dream.
When he opens the door, I get a glimpse of her. She jumps at Matt’s legs, snorting and snuffling, but then she sees me, and she looks so happy.
“Hi Daisy!”
Matt pulls her inside, mumbling that he has to get the leash on her, then shuts the door.
“Bye, asshole,” I mutter.
“Later, weirdo,” he says from just behind the door.
* * *
About forty minutes later, I’m in my sweatpants and T-shirt, about to make popcorn for dinner, when I hear a knock at my door.
“It’s Daisy,” says Matt. “And dessert.”
“What?!” I whisper to myself, as I shuffle over to the door, barefoot. “Hang on,” I say. I fiddle with the deadbolt and yank the door open. There’s something going on with the door hinge and it always takes a few seconds to open and shut my door now.
“The door sticks,” I explain to him.
“You should get that fixed.”
“Ya think?”
“How long has it been like that?”
“A few weeks, I don’t know.”
“That’s really dangerous. What if there’s a fire and you have to get out in a hurry?”
“I told Marco about it, but he has a knee issue right now. It’s hard for him to get to our floor.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
He walks in past me, carrying Daisy and two takeout bags.
“No, please, come in.”
Daisy is licking her lips and wiggling her entire body at me.
“Hi baby! Hello beautiful girl!”
Matt rolls his eyes as he unleashes her and puts her on the floor. He looks surprised that she is so happy to see me. I sit down on the floor, cross-legged, so she can wiggle around on me.
“I brought you a gluten-free carrot cake. To thank you for earlier.” He places the smaller brown bag on my coffee table and strolls around the living room.
“Earlier? You mean when you called me ‘Babe’ and put your arms around me instead of just being a dick to that lady?”
“Yeah. So where do you do your painting?”
“Oh, I just get into my time machine and travel back to college. I’ve been too busy to do any paintings of my own since I became an assistant. I mean, I do sketches and sometimes little watercolors.”
