Maybe that’s what I’ll get him. He can look down and be reminded of plumbing parts. Ha!
I’ve creamed together the butter and sugar and am about to add the eggs when that chime dings again. The man sets my teeth on edge.
Liam: Oh, and no need to bring anything. Pick you up at 5:45?
Quite presumptive of the man to assume Iwouldbring anything and also presumptive to believe I would show up empty-handed to a family dinner.
My mom—though she wasn’t a homemaker like her own mother—loves to bake and cook. She’s a wonderful entertainer and passed her skills down to us. She said we needed to have the skills it took to take care of ourselves.
Strider too. While he’s never gotten married, he could give my grandma and my mom a run for their money with some of the more complex recipes. His is the only soufflé that never falls… So unfair. Then again, he had more sick days out of school and had more time with her in the kitchen. That’s unfair in a whole different way.
I chill the dough and head into the bathroom for a long soak and a shave.
Another ding sets my teeth on edge, but I know just what to do. Finding my phone, I find my oldest and most extensive Madonna playlist and hit go, and turn the volume up, and switch my phone onto do not disturb.
Take that, Liam Murphy.
18
madonna ramifications
Liam
It’s obvious the woman who woke up today is still the one spitting piss and vinegar. She’s also into pushing my boundaries. I can’t be sure since there are no cameras in her private spaces, but I don’t doubt she’s turned the speaker directly at our joined wall.
It’s better than the emo version I had yesterday. But I do question why it is I made two rules about rules of all things and failed to consider the Madonna ramifications.
And I’m not dealing with any more rules, so it would take forty-five days for me to change the forty-five-day rule itself, and then we’d have rule changes ad nauseum every single time she wanted to implement something new.
I could always take the no sex rule off the table.
But, in actuality, that’s the only one that must be on the list. It’s imperative that remains.
That is the single guardrail on the steep, narrow way of the cliffside we’re traversing. The moment that comes down, all bets are off—and all the other rules are shot to hell. Not because I would ever insult her intelligence or violate her boundaries or anything like that, but because it’s the only one guarding her heart. It’s for her protection. It’s to ensure I don’t brutalize her or cause pain worse than that of the fucktards who started this whole mess.
I’m no player. I don’t want the high score. But I have no cluehow to do relationships. More to the point, I have no idea how to walk away from someone for whom sex means something.
One-night stands are just that… One night. A little fun. A lot of pleasure. But they don’t mean anything.
And I won’t hurt the plucky girl next door. She’s tender and kind and deserves better than a man who gets on, gets off, and gets gone.
Therefore, I’m stuck with Madonna.
Or… I could let myself into her house and kill the damned speakers.
How offended would she be if I just handled that shit? A little or moderate? I’m willing to take that chance. Lorien in the fasteners section? I like that version, even if she’s pithy and spicy. I’m less willing to courtherwrath because that Lorien makes me hard.
The decision is made when “Lucky Star” vibrates the walls of my house.
Making my way to her place, I let myself in with the key. A quick peek in her kitchen confirms what the cameras showed and what I tried so kindly to thwart. She’s attempting to bake.
Her phone is face up on the kitchen counter. I unlock it with the code she told me she wanted on the front door lock. It’s how I programmed myself in yesterday. I disable Bluetooth, turn the volume all the way down so I’m not stuck with it all to myself, and find the device she has it paired to, quickly disconnecting that speaker. I’ll find it later. In the meantime, I’ve made things just bad enough that it’ll take some time for the biochemist to find the problems.
Material Girl problem solved.
“What in the world?”
I’m almost out the door when I’m stopped dead in my tracks.
