“Yes. Want me to get wine or something? Do you have any?”
“No, we drank the last bottle I had.”
“I can run out and get some.”
“Why did you rent me a room?” Larissa asked, dropping the ground beef into the pan and turning it on.
“You’re going to season that, right?”
“Harlow, do you want to take over cooking dinner?”
“Yes, obviously,” she replied, moving around Larissa and letting her hand skate along Larissa’s lower back, trying not to think about how good it felt to be in the kitchen with her like this, cooking dinner together like they were a couple and she’d just gotten home from work. “And I wanted you to have a professional place where you could conduct your interviews. They have water and coffee and stuff.”
“You rented it?”
“Yeah.”
“Harlow, I don’t want you spending money on this.”
“I didn’t,” she lied as she added salt and pepper to the ground beef to start. “Samantha gave it to me for free. She has an employee discount thing that she hasn’t used.”
“And she just gave you a month for free?”
“All I have to do is write some review online about how great the place is and mention that she’s the best, and we’re good. I’ll do that when we finish.” She lifted the spoon from the sauce and took a taste. “Jar?”
“No, I made homemade pasta sauce,” Larissa said sarcastically. “Who do you think I am?”
“A woman in her mid-thirties who cannot cook,” she replied. “And is it okay? We don’t have to use the library now, and you don’t have to try to find an office on campus.”
“It was a great idea, yeah. Thank you for thinking about it. So, howisSamantha?”
“Good, I think. We didn’t talk long. I’m adding garlic to this.” She pointed to the sauce. “And to this.” She pointed to the meat.
“Go for it. You’re the chef,” Larissa replied.
“I’m a decent cook. You’re just a terrible cook, so you think decent cooks are chefs.”
“I’m good at other things,” Larissa argued. “I’m great at loading the dishwasher, and I run a good vacuum.”
Harlow laughed and said, “Yes, you do. Other things, too. You use a mean coaster.”
“I only use the nice coasters. I throw the mean ones on the floor I just vacuumed.”
Harlow’s laughter continued as she grabbed minced garlic from the refrigerator.
“And sex,” Larissa added.
Harlow nearly dropped the tiny glass jar she had just grabbed and said, “I’m sorry. What?”
“I’ve been told I’m good at sex.”
“You… have?” she stuttered as she opened the minced garlic.
“Yeah, a few times.”
“A few…”
Harlow accidentally tipped the jar over the ground beef, and the oil from the garlic went in first, causing the pan to sizzle. Then, a massive amount of garlic dumped out of the jar and into the pan.
