“That’s a good thing though, right?” Willa asked, sounding confused.
“Well, it would be, if he hadn’t left straight after.”
“Back up. So he made you come but didn’t get himself off?”
“Nope. Didn’t even try. And believe me when I say I was ready for whatever he wanted. But he just put my clothes back on me and walked away.”
“I’m confused.”
“So am I. And then this morning he came in and kissed me on the forehead. Kissed. Me. On. The. Forehead. So get unconfused and help me figure this out. Because the more I think about it, the more I think I might just be really bad in bed. Not that we were in bed. Or even got to any part where I could reciprocate. He put me in such a state, I don’t think I was doing much else but moaning and trying to get him to permanently fuse himself to my body.”
“You like him.”
“I’ll admit I’m in lust. Serious, all consuming, won’t-let-me-think-of-anything-else lust.”
Now she was laughing, making me narrow my eyes.
“This is not a laughing matter. Stop it,” I said, my voice clipped. Did she not see how serious this was? “Don’t you understand that the future of my vagina is on the line?”
She laughed even harder, and I heard the phone drop. I guess we were done with our conversation. Not that she was much help.
I hung up and got out of bed. At my bedroom door, I listened for noise but when the house stayed quiet, I ventured out of the room. I didn’t know how to take what happened last night and this morning. And until I could dissect every single thing, I wasn’t ready to face Mason.
It looked like he’d left right after he came into my room. The coffee machine was cold and the dishes sat on the counter next to the dishwasher.
He was a great cook but created a mess equal to none whenever he so much as made a cup of coffee. If we were actual roommates, I would have told him to clean up after himself on the first day. But since he was doing me a favor—no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it—I bit my tongue.
I let Loki back inside and made a cup of coffee. Then I proceeded to mummify myself with a blanket and sat on the couch on the porch outside. Loki was sitting in front of me, waiting to see if I would let him come up as well. And of course I would, because why would I say no to my own personal heater?
I patted the space next to me and before I had a chance to say okay, he was curled up on the cushion, head on my lap. I think I was going to steal Loki and take him with me when I left. And maybe I’d also take one of the puppies. Speaking of which, I should go and see if they were all right.
I sipped my coffee, loving the peace and quiet. The farm was in the perfect spot, not too far from Humptulips, but still removed enough to afford privacy.
The mountains loomed in the distance, the view breathtaking on a clear day like today. This was truly heaven on earth.
I wondered why Mason bought the farm. He didn’t strike me as a lavender farmer. And where did he get the money to buy it? It couldn’t have been cheap. There was a lot of land surrounding it, and the house and barn were massive. Even though the house still needed some work, it was solid, and the necessary improvements mostly cosmetic.
When my mug was empty, I put it in the dishwasher and turned it on. My next stop was the barn, where I played with the puppies and tried to get my sweatshirt back from the baby goat. My attempts were unsuccessful, and I lost a shoe when I went inside the stall. I gave up when the little demon tried to eat my hair.
Loki followed me around, his tail wagging, his tongue lolling. I made sure to tell him how gorgeous he was and petted him in between escaping the demon baby goat and playing with the puppies.
It was midmorning when I went back inside the house and started looking for a vacuum. After opening a few closets and a door that led to the basement, I found an old dusty vacuum in the storage space underneath the stairs. It still worked, and I went through the whole house—except the basement—which I would snoop around in later.
I had to empty the vacuum catchment out twice, and it was a pain to get the heavy old giant up the stairs one-handed, but I was determined and refused to sit around another day and do nothing. Especially not with Mason on my mind. Being idle wouldn’t lead to anything good. My arm was healing well, and I was ready to stop being a patient and instead start pulling my weight again.
After I took a late lunch break with Loki, I searched for a mop and bucket. I eventually found them in the laundry that was sitting just off the kitchen. The room was oversized and had a new washing machine and dryer, but it was also filled with at least a month’s worth of dirty clothes. I rolled my eyes, wondering how many clothes the man-child had that he didn’t have to do any laundry for so long.
So I added laundry to my to-do list and put on a load before I started mopping the floors. The house was dusty from the renovations, and I had to change the water three times. But once I was done, it smelled fresh and I hadn’t once thought about jumping Mason—or little Mason—as soon as he walked through the door.
Okay, that was a lie, maybe I thought about it once when I was waiting for the bucket to fill with water. And when I mopped the living room. And then again when I wiped down the kitchen. Okay fine, it was three times. But no more than that.
The washing was done, and I hung it up outside and put in another load. It was nearly dinnertime and getting dark, but Mason hadn’t turned up yet. I wondered if I should start on dinner. I was pretty good at making mac and cheese. Or I could order pizza.
I ended up doing neither, instead I turned on the TV and watched the news. It was past eight when the front door opened and Mason walked through. I was starving and cranky and nearly cried in relief when I spotted the takeout bags in his hand.
He was sorting through the mail when he walked in, then looked up when he heard me get up from the couch.
“Please tell me you’re going to share that food,” I said, my eyes on the bags. The smell told me it was Chinese and my mouth started watering.
