Page 28 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
That made me smile and shake my head, but like hell was I ready to let go of him.
After how upset and hurt Winter had been this last night, I was sure he’d be mad at me. So this was certainly a million times better.
Still, I felt guilty when I thought about the look on his face when he’d found out I used to be a detective. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Win. I never, ever, ever meant to. It’s the last thing I want.”
He gave me a squeeze. “It’s alright, lovey. I understand why you didn’t tell me.” He kissed the side of my head, then leanedback, breaking the hug but not fully letting me go. “Do you want to watch that episode now? Then we can cook together?”
“Sure, but you don’t have to help me cook. I don’t mind doing it.”
He bussed my cheek. “I think it’ll be fun to help.”
I shrugged. “Sounds like a plan.”
We snuggled in on the couch with our animals around and on top of us, and I leaned into his warmth, wishing I could keep him by my side always.
After our episode, we went into the kitchen. I got out all the ingredients for a nice vegetable lo mein and sighed when I found yet another bag of marshmallows open in my pantry. What the hell? Over the last several days, I’d found several open bags of large marshmallows.
Could it be one of the animals getting into them? But… how? And when? They’d have to open the pantry door to even get to them.
Could it be me in the middle of the night, sleepwalking? I mean, I’d never sleepwalked before, but maybe I’d started now?
That was ridiculous. I was thirty-three years old. Surely I would’ve known before now if I was walking around the house in my sleep.
I stared at Winter, who was searching the fridge for something.
Hm.
The main difference between now and before the Big Marshmallow Mystery was… him.
Maybe Win loved marshmallows and kept sneaking them and was just really bad at closing the bag up.
“You know…” I dropped the open bag in the trash when I felt how hard the marshmallows were. “I keep a ton of chip clips on the fridge on the side since they’re magnetic.” I pointed to said chip clips.
Winter stared at me like I had three heads. “Um… okay.” He sounded like he thought I was crazy, but that was fine. Better that than me accusing him of being a marshmallow thief.
I shrugged. “In case you ever need one.”
“I… knew they were there already.” He let out a small chuckle. “But thanks… I think.”
That made me smile at him and shake my head as I grabbed an ingredient I needed and asked him, “So how’d it go with your boss?”
I glanced at him over the top of the refrigerator door and caught his grimace. “Not great.”
“What do you mean? What happened?”
He sighed and took the veggies from me to place them on the counter. “He got really pissed, tried to pretend I couldn’t quit at all, then got even more pissed when I insisted, and he fired me.”
My nose scrunched up. “How can he fire you if you already quit?”
He waved me off. “It’s Derrick Geddie. He’s an idiot. I honestly don’t know how he’s kept that business afloat all these years. I truly think it’s mostly Gracie—the receptionist’s—doing.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that. What an ass.”
He snorted. “Tell me about it. He even said he wouldn’t write me a recommendation letter or anything.”
“Wow. You’ve worked for him for over ten years, right?”
“Yep. He’s a dick. I’m not even surprised by his reaction.”
