“She probably loved my apartment,” I said dryly. “I always cleaned before she came.”
Bas laughed.
“Well, it was weird! Like, thanks for the help, but my mother would kill me if I trashed the place and expected someone else to clean it up.”
“Kind of defeats the purpose,” he pointed out.
“I’d totally hire a cleaning lady again,” I said, taking a bite of my food. Damn, it was good. “It was nice to have someone doing the deep cleaning for me. Like behind the toilet. I don’t want to put my face down that close to the bowl so I can reach the dust bunnies behind it, you know?”
“You clean the toilet first,” he informed me. “Then when you have to get down close, you know it’s already been disinfected.”
“Still a hard no,” I argued. “I mean, I’ll do it if I have to, but I really don’t want to.”
“I hate doin’ laundry,” Bas said. “Washing, drying, folding, putting it all away just to use it again and start the whole process over. If I hired anything out, it would be that.”
“Laundry’s relaxing,” I argued. “You can just put a show on and then fold while you’re watching. Throw it in the washer, go do something else. Move it to the dryer, go do something else. So easy.”
“I miss doin’ laundry at the house,” he said, reaching for his beer. “This place doesn’t have a washer and dryer, so I’ve been goin’ to the laundromat.”
“Okay, that’s a pain in the ass.”
“Tell me about it. Takes a lot less time, though. Those machines are huge, so I only ever have to do one load.”
“I used to love the laundromat when I was a kid. We always had a washer and dryer, but whenever we’d go camping, we’d have to wash the sleeping bags at the laundromat, and they had a pinball machine. My mom would bring like ten dollars in quarters just to keep me occupied while we waited.”
“Did you guys go camping a lot?”
“Usually at least once during the summer,” I replied. “But sometimes we’d bring our sleeping bags over to my grandparents’ house, and all of us kids would sleep in tents outside.”
“Dragon and Brenna’s?”
“Yep. Since we were on club grounds, we could act like we were camping, but they could sleep inside in their bed.” I smiled. “The perks of living in a gated compound.”
“With guards,” he added. “Have they always lived in that house?”
I nodded. “When my grandma moved home with Aunt Trix, they moved in there, and then Grandpa moved in with them. My dad grew up in that house.”
“Isn’t Trix Dragon’s?” he asked in confusion.
“Yeah, she is. It’s a long, convoluted story.”
“Worked out in the end.”
“Yep, it did. They ended up having my dad and lived happily ever after.”
“You want more?” Bas asked the minute I’d finished my last bite.
“No thanks, I’m full.” I set my feet on the floor to take my bowl to the sink but stayed put when he took the bowl out of my hand.
“I’ll bring it in.”
“I can clean up after myself,” I told him as he walked across the room.
“Drink your beer and relax,” he ordered.
“I’ve been relaxing all day,” I complained, picking up my beer. “I’m starting to go stir-crazy.”
“No news on the job search?”
