"Absolutely."
"We can handle this."
"No question."
"I'm going to turn around now," she announces. "So youcan... undress.”
"Good plan."
She spins to face the wall. I hear her take a breath—quick, sharp, not the slow exhale of someone who's calm.
I strip to my boxers, climb onto the table, and pull the sheet to my waist.
“Clear,” I say. My voice comes out rougher than I intended.
She turns back. Sees me shirtless and freezes for a full beat too long. I watch her eyes travel the width of my shoulders before she catches herself and snaps her gaze to the ceiling like it personally offended her.
“Right. My turn. Look away, West. Lookaway.” I hear her fumbling with buttons. “Just give me a second to—oh, come on.”
Fabric rustles. Something thumps softly against the floor.
“Stupid—”
“Need help?” I ask, neutral. Professional. Heroically restrained.
“No!” she blurts. “I’ve got it. I am a grown woman who can undress herself. I’ve been doing it for years. Decades, even—” She pauses. “Well. Not decades. That makes me sound ancient, but—”
There’s a sharppop.
“Ha!” she says triumphantly. “There. See!”
I start to shift—on command, pure reflex, nothing more—adjusting my shoulder on the table.
“No, no, no,” she says quickly. “Sorry! Donotturn around. Nothing to see here. Situation fully under control.”
“Okay, okay, I’m not looking. Understood. Holding position. Standing down.” I stare fixedly at the ceiling.
“Good. Excellent. Keep doing that.” More rustling. “Because this is all very dignified and normal and—okay. Okay.”
The table creaks as she climbs up.
“I’m… situated,” she announces. “Everyone’s decent. Crisis averted.”
“Glad to hear it,” I say.
Silence settles.
Then, quieter: “You can breathe again now.”
I let out a slow exhale I didn’t realize I was holding.
I risk a glance.
She's face-down, sheet covering from mid-back, shoulders bare and golden in the dim light. Her hair's piled on topof her head, exposing the curve of her neck. The spot just below her ear where I pressed my mouth last night.
I clench my hands into fists.
Not now. Don’t go there.
