I finished my coffee and Flynn finished his breakfast. He finally looked at me, as though remembering that I was still there. He frowned. “You’re in your robe,” he said.
“Uh, well yeah, I just got up,” I pointed out.
“It’s cold out. You’ll freeze,” he stated, confusing me.
“Am I going somewhere?” I asked, chuckling.
“It’s time for Murphy’s walk. I thought you’d like to come too. I have to leave for work in twenty minutes but I always walk Murphy first. It would be nice if you came too.”
I got to my feet and put my coffee mug in the sink. “Sure, let me get changed really quick.”
“You should wash that mug. It doesn’t go in the sink. You wash it then put it on the drying rack,” Flynn pointed out.
I gritted my teeth, trying not to get annoyed by Flynn’s idiosyncrasies. I was intimately familiar with his odd habits and need for order and consistency. But I had lived alone for my entire life. I wasn’t the sort of person used to sharing my space with someone.
My one experience with having a roommate involved listening to Dania having sex in the next room. Needless to say that particular living arrangement hadn’t lasted long.
I had known that living with Flynn would take some getting used to. Neither of us were the type to be flexible. Flynn even more so.
So I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, reminding myself silently that it wasn’t a big deal to wash the mug. It’s what Flynn was used to. This was our first full day together. I couldn’t expect us to miraculously know how to merge our lives already.
I put the now clean mug on the drying rack and wiped my hands on the towel.
Flynn made a noise in his throat and I looked up at him. “Something wrong?” I asked, keeping my voice even.
“Use a paper towel to wipe your hands. They’re over there,” he said, pointing to the roll of paper towels on the windowsill.
This is only the first day, Ellie,I reminded myself.
“Okay, I’ll do that next time, okay?”
I retreated to the bedroom and closed the door.
I hurriedly put on a pair of jeans and a sweater. I ran a brush through my hair and then walked back out into the hallway, knowing how impatient Flynn would be to keep to his schedule.
He handed me a pair of gloves and a wool hat. They weren’t mine but I noticed they were my size.
“I knew you wouldn’t have any. I don’t want you to be cold,” Flynn told me as though it weren’t a big deal.
I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him toward me. “I love you, you know that right?” I whispered just before kissing him.
“You haven’t brushed your teeth,” Flynn commented, though his cheeks were an adorable shade of red when he pulled back.
I wasn’t embarrassed by his bluntness. “Nope, I haven’t. Sorry. I just wanted to kiss you. I hope that’s okay.”
Flynn looped Murphy’s collar around his neck and attached the leash. He stood back up and reached out to take my hand. “I like it when you kiss me. Even if you have bad breath and you haven’t showered.”
I shook my head, not able to stop myself from laughing.
“Was that funny? I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Flynn said, walking out the door with Murphy, holding it open as I walked through, for once not letting it slam in my face.
I squeezed his fingers, though it was difficult under the layer of fabric from the gloves. “I just appreciate your honesty, Flynn,” I told him, meaning it.
The day was cold and crisp. There was a layer of frost on everything, the grass crunching beneath our feet as we walked through the yard. Flynn kept Murphy on his leash as we headed into the woods behind his house. He navigated us toward a well-worn path that I recognized as the same one I had taken during a drunken night many years ago. A night that ended up here, with Flynn.
Murphy strained against his leash, wanting to chase a squirrel that ran in front of us. Flynn still held my hand, though it was hard keeping up with him. He was used to ambling through he woods. I however, was not.
I stumbled on a tree root and Flynn turned around when I brought us to a sudden stop.
