Page 26 of The Reluctant Roommate

“Don’t be. I haven’t talked about it much. Just to Fi, Lula, and now you. No one likes to admit they’re plain careless, but that’s the only way I can see it.”

“Too trusting, maybe. But not careless.”

“Thank you.” Heidi slumped back on the couch, her anger draining away like dishwater. “I’m sure your previous girlfriends never screwed you over like that.”

“Since I started working at…my current job, I haven’t dated anyone for longer than a few weeks. Certainly, there’s been no one I got that close with.”

Maybe that was part of the reason Morgan was so protective of her space—she hadn’t had to share it. “Relationships weren’t a priority for you?”

Morgan’s shoulder lifted. “I was building my career. And I guess I’m picky.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” Heidi yawned. “Maybe it’s the hike, or the wine, or maybe it’s too much oversharing, but I’m suddenly really tired. I just want to curl up with a book in that amazingly comfortable bed upstairs.” She yawned again, and her feet hit the floor with a thump. “I’ll just clean up the kitchen. Can’t leave the mess.”

“We’ll do it together.”

Heidi’s smile lifted. “If you’re sure?”

Together, they went back out to the kitchen. Even to Heidi’s eyes, it looked like there’d been an explosion in a processing plant. She’d never been a tidy cook—Fiona was right when she’d said Heidi would have to work hard to achieve Morgan’s standards of neatness—but this was next level, even for her. Cilantro leaves and stalks drifted over the counter, a few clung to the white tiles. A puddle of soy sauce decorated the stovetop, and cashew nuts were scattered across the floor from when she’d dropped the packet.

The tray she’d grilled the chicken on had congealed fat and blobs of the sauce on it. Heidi sighed—that would need soaking.

She snuck a glance at Morgan. Her lips were pressed together, her expression one of annoyance.

So much for their accord of a couple of minutes ago.

Heidi scraped the burned bits from the tray into the bin, recapped the soy, put a clip on the bag of cashews, and stacked the plates for the dishwasher.

Morgan hadn’t moved. Was she just going to stand there and watch?

“You really go to town when you cook,” Morgan said at last. She found a cloth and started wiping down the tiles. Her forehead creased as she rubbed at the place where a soy sauce splash darkened the grout. “I hope this will come off.”

“Bleach,” Heidi said.

“That weakens the grout.” Morgan rinsed the cloth and rubbed again.

To Heidi’s eye, the grout was as brilliant white and unmarked as the rest of the wall, but she bit her lip and concentrated on loading the dishwasher.

Morgan stepped back. “I think I got it.” When Heidi moved away to wipe the stove, Morgan crouched and rearranged the dishwasher so that the large plates were at the back.

Really. Heidi huffed. A dishwasher worked the same, no matter the order. Still, it was Morgan’s house, and she’d had fair warning of how persnickety she was before she’d moved in. She could hardly whinge about it now.

She took a last look around the kitchen. Apart from the grill pan soaking on the counter, all seemed clean. “I’m off to bed. I really enjoyed today—and sharing it with you.”

Morgan looked up from the dishwasher. “Me too. Sleep well, Heidi.”

“You too.” She found her water bottle and filled it from the faucet before heading for bed.

Chapter 15

B Minus

The twoa.m. night demons perched on Morgan’s shoulders again, chattering in her ears about what a failure she was, how even an intern shouldn’t have made the mistake that had cost her her career. How she was unemployable. She’d lose the house. Lose her car. Lose her parents’ respect. Lose the few friends she had.

She turned over and punched her pillow to get it to sit how she liked it. Counted backward from five hundred in threes, and then again in sevens. Tried the four-seven-eight breathing pattern her mom swore by, even tried counting sheep jumping a gate.

Nothing worked. It never did.

It was still only 2:34a.m. She got out of bed, pushed her feet into fluffy slippers and pulled on a cozy top over her pajamas and went downstairs for a cup of herbal tea. That never worked either, but at least it gave her something to do with her hands as she stared mindlessly at bad TV.