Trout gets off me and starts hopping up and down on her front paws.
“Trout, sit,” Clementine says.
Trout looks back at her, then at me again.Then she sits, slowly, her tail thumping the porch, staring at me like she has to tell me somethingreally urgent.
Clementine waits about three seconds.Trout picks up one front paw at a time and moves them, like she’s fidgeting.
“Okay!”Clementine says, and Trout jumps to her feet and rams herself against my legs.
“Atta girl,” I say, bending down and thumping Trout hard.She wags her tail and throws her head back, clearly enjoying this.
“Do I get a greeting?”Clementine asks, leaning against the door frame.“I promise I’m wagging my tail on the inside.”
I laugh, leaning over Trout, and give Clementine a long hello kiss.
“Welcome to your temporary lodgings,” she says.
I step around Trout and walk inside, the dog close on my heels.I look around, realizing I’ve never actually been in Clementine’s house before.
“Mandy, Lucy, and I had a house meeting about you,” she says, keeping her voice low.“You get your own shelf in the fridge and we’re charging you rent after two weeks.”
“Fair,” I say.
She stops, then glances toward the living room, craning her neck around the corner.Then she pulls me back, out of sight, and whispers.
“Literally half the meeting was about the toilet seat,” she says.“For the love ofGod, please put it down.Please.They’ll murder you in your sleep.”
I laugh quietly and kiss her, lowering my duffel bag to the floor.I grab her hips and pull her against me, her body soft and yielding.
“I’m serious,” she says.
“I’m looking at a couple places this weekend,” I say.“And I promise not to horrify your roommates while I’m here.I wasn’t raised by wolves.”
She kisses me again, her body pressed against mine, and I’m glad I’m wearing jeans.
I’m just staying with Clementine and her roommates until I find a place.It’s not like I can just move in with her and her roommates, and even though I thought about suggesting we look for a place together, I know she doesn’t want to move quite that fast.
“I’ll give you a tour in a few minutes,” she says, pulling away.“There’s rules about which soap you can use in the shower.”
“Am I gonna have to take notes?”I ask.
Clementine laughs.
“Probably,” she says, and tugs on a belt loop with one finger.“But I’ll try to make it worth your while.”
“You could start now,” I murmur.
“Mandy and Lucy are in the living room,” she says.“Probably wondering what thefuckis taking us so long.”
“We could take longer.”
She doesn’t answer, just kisses me one more time, then grabs my hand and pulls me along.
“C’mon,” she says.
ChapterForty-One
Clementine
