“Nope. Not having that. Come on. You had your pity-party time. It’s time to get up,” Greta says as she yanks the covers off me.

“Greta!” I screech, trying unsuccessfully to grab the covers from her.

I begrudgingly open my eyes and blink as I wait for my vision to adjust to the light.

“Come on, up you go,” she encourages as she hands me a coffee from Elisha’s. I accept it and push myself up to lean against the headboard of the bed.

“How about we clean?” she suggests.

“Huh?” I ask.

“OK, I clean, and you get your studying done,” she clarifies.

“I turned in my last paper a week ago,” I state.

“Don’t you have that last class to take?” she asks in confusion.

I nod. “Yep. But it hasn’t started yet.” Greta knows this, or she should. I certainly talk about school enough.

“Right,” she says with a sigh.

“Greta, why are you here?” I ask as I take a sip of coffee.

She sits down next to me. “I was worried about you. It’s not like you to run away from things,” she admits as she pats my leg.

I slouch and look down at my coffee. She’s not wrong. I have many faults but giving up is not one of them.

“Let’s give the kitchen a thorough cleaning. That’ll make you feel better,” she encourages as she crawls out of bed and holds out her hand for me.

I accept it, knowing full well that she won’t go away until I humor her. We walk into the kitchen, and I see that she already has cleaning materials sitting out on the counter.

I set my coffee down and we begin to clean in silence.

I’m scrubbing the sink when she stops and turns to me. “Is it going to be weird with me seeing Lorenzo?” she asks.

I frown. “No. Why?”

She gives me a sad smile. “I just…I don’t want things to be awkward for you.”

“They won’t. I like Lorenzo. He’s a nice man,” I assure her as I begin to scrub again but stop and turn back to her.

“So, are you like, serious?”

She laughs. “Well, I spent the last two nights with him, so…” She trails off.

“Greta!” I say with a laugh.

She throws her sponge at me. “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean my lady bits have shriveled up and fallen off.”

I start laughing and she starts laughing. I don’t know why I find her answer so hilarious, but I can’t stop laughing. Tears stream down my cheeks as I fall to the floor in laughter. She joins me, and eventually, we pull ourselves together.

“Is he…good?” I ask because I can’t help myself. Some sick part of me wants to imagine what Chase and I would be like in fifty years.

She grins and gives me a wink. “A lady never tells.”

“Greta! You aren’t a lady,” I say with a giggle.

“Eleanor Nadine Foster! You are such a brat!” she says while laughing.