“You were leaving crazy notes in my house. You threatened my dog.”
“I had to! You ruined my life!” he screams. “We were supposed to date, then you left me for a high-value man who’s going to break your heart. He’s not going to treat you right.”
“Dude, you live with your mom, which, you know, no judgment—it’s rough out there—but you’re unemployed, and you’re stealing my underwear.”
“I was selling them online. And your socks,” he adds. “I needed the money.”
“You did it?” Crawford sounds suspicious as the neighbor’s son cries noisily on the pavement.
“Please don’t tell my mom. She already found out I lied to her about having a job.”
“Just take him to my mountain lodge. I made a horrible mistake and bought a mini pig. Now it’s eight hundred pounds and always hungry.”
“We’re taking him to the police station.”
“I plead the Fifth!” Logan shrieks.
“Sure, buddy. I have your confession on camera.”
I takethe broom from Winnie and finish sweeping up the spilled laundry beads. Then I open up a bottle of wine.
“Red? White?” I ask her.
“Is the white cold?”
“Perfectly chilled.” I uncork the bottle. “You want some charcuterie?”
“Always.”
It’s so simple, the domestic bliss.
Winnie hums along softly to the music on the record player.
I lean in and kiss the top of her hair. “I just told the hotel manager to keep your houseguests for another night.”
“Good.” She snuggles into the blankets and pulls me down for another kiss. “Now I finally get you all to myself.”
“In your lair,” I joke.
“Yes, mine’s better than yours. I have cheese and bread.”
I feed her a slice of soft cheese on a cracker.
“Yum, this is good.”
“Made from sheep I bought. Was going to knit things. I don’t know why—it’s not like I have the attention span for it.”
I feed her another cracker.
“I think the sheep started making milk so that I didn’t ship them back to Australia. They are kind of cute, though. And I’m going to take Fidget out there, see if we can’t get her moving a little bit.”
“My border collie will finally herd sheep. We should order pizza to celebrate. It’s like all my problems are solved.”
“Yep. The end.”
“The end, huh?” Winnie wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me noisily.
“The—”Kiss.“End!”Kiss.She tastes sweet like the wine.
