Page 25 of The Reluctant Roommate

Morgan stood and took their plates out to the kitchen. “I’ll clean up. You cooked.”

“We can do it together.” Heidi yawned. “In a minute.”

“Or ten. Let’s finish our wine first.”

“The wine is worthy of appreciation.” On the rare occasions she had a glass of wine after her shift, it was cheap red that Robert offered her, from a bottle that had been open too long. She picked up her glass and went over to the couch.

Morgan joined her, sitting on one end, her feet neatly crossed at the ankles.

Heidi hooked up one knee and faced her. “We could watch a movie. If we can agree on one.”

“We need popcorn and treats for that.” Morgan pushed her hair back behind her ears. “I have microwave popcorn. What do you like to watch?”

“Most anything except gore and horror. Nothing scary. The heart of a chicken beats under these layers of fleece. You?”

“I like thrillers, action movies, period drama. Rom-coms if they’re not too cheesy.”

“The cheese is what makes them wonderful.” Heidi pulled her other leg onto the couch and peered at Morgan over both knees. “Cheese makes the world go around—both in rom-coms and on pasta. Or just sliced off the block.”

“Your cardiologist may not agree.”

Heidi stuck out her tongue. “How old do you think I am? Denver’s altitude may be killing me slowly, but I don’t think I need a heart health check yet.” She tilted her head. “You’re not laughing. Do you have a cardiologist?”

Morgan stared down at her lap. “No. Not yet. But chances are I’ll need one in the future. There’s a lot of family history. Mom, Dad—their parents too. That’s why I try to eat healthy most of the time.”

“I’m sorry. That was a tasteless joke of mine.” She reached out a hand and rested it on Morgan’s arm, and her thumb drifted across her skin. “Health isn’t a laughing matter.” Her thumb stilled on Morgan’s forearm. Neither, it seemed, was touching her roomie. Morgan’s skin was soft, supple, as if she bathed daily in the finest moisturizer. No blemishes from too-hot chip pans, no web of scars from beating her way through a Queensland rainforest, no sun damage despite the fierce Colorado sun. Morgan’s skin was…perfect. And it was under her thumb, and all Heidi wanted to do was smooth her palms up to Morgan’s elbows, then down again, reveling in the softness and perfection of it.

She’d stopped her small caress, and now Morgan was staring at her, one eyebrow lifted in question.

Heat flared in Heidi’s cheeks, and she removed her hand. “Sorry, I kinda zoned out for a second there thinking about what a dickhead I was.”

“That’s okay. You had no way of knowing. We all have family history that affects us in some way.”

“My family has the lack-of-tact gene. It’s hereditary, and I think I got a double dose. My brother Jake missed out; the rest of us have the open-mouth-insert-foot skill, just like me.”

“How many siblings?”

“Five. Jake’s the oldest, I’m the youngest. In the middle are the twins and Fiona. I’m closest to Fi. They’re all still in Australia. I’m the one who flew farthest from the nest, and that’s only because my girlfriend…” She took a breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. No need to dump on you.”

“Talk about it if you want. I thought you didn’t have a girlfriend?”

“I don’t. Not anymore. And after Serena, I may never have another—by choice.” Heidi drained the last of her wine. “?Come home to California with me,’ she said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ she said. ‘America’s a great place,’ she said. We wanted to be together; she wanted to go home. She helped me get a green card. It wasn’t easy to get, so naïve me thought it meant she really cared—that she was willing to go to all that trouble. We planned on moving back and forth between here and Australia before settling on one or the other. We’d had two years together in Australia by then—she’d leave every three months, return a month later. A couple of months ago, we came to California, where her family are.” Heidi hunched her shoulders.

“And then I accidentally left my banking app open, and she transferred most of my bank balance to her account. The bank won’t do anything—they say because the transaction was made when I was logged into the app, I must have done it. The policecan’t do anything either. And, no, I don’t know where she is right now.” She tightened her lips.

Heidi glanced up. Morgan sat with a frozen expression, her hand suspended in the air, as if unsure whether to reach for her wine or for Heidi. To comfort or chastise? Heidi was hoping for the comfort.

“You’re probably thinking that a Grade-A idiot like me shouldn’t be in your house. You’re certainly wondering if I’ve got enough money for rent—I have, so you can stop worrying about that. And while I’m obviously a naïve sort of clown, to be fair, I loved her. I thought she loved me. And people in love trust each other—at least I do.”

“I’m sorry.” Morgan’s hand completed its move and settled on Heidi’s thigh and squeezed gently. “She’s a criminal. Maybe only an opportunistic one, but still a thief. I hope you’re able to find her somehow.”

“I hope so too. Even if I don’t get the money back, I want to look her in the eye and make her squirm, feel as bad as I do. Maybe then I’ll stoop to her level and make off with her wallet—who knows? Or I may rise to a higher plane and tell her graciously that I forgive her.”

Morgan laughed. “I can’t see you doing either, actually. More likely, you’ll find a clever way to get your money back.”

“If you think of one, please tell me, as I haven’t a clue. Plus, she’s an American citizen; I’m only a green card holder, and, as I’m learning, I have to keep on the straight and narrow. So, until I come up with something clever—by which time Serena will probably have moved to Ecuador—I’ll keep working hard and saving harder and see if I want to stay here now that the love I came for has fucked off.”

Morgan squeezed Heidi’s thigh again. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I’m sorry I made you relive it all again.”