Up as usual at the crack of dawn, Andrew trudged to the
bathroom, almost forgetting to close the door behind him
before he spotted Sara's bangles on the counter next to
the sink. Reaching over, he shut the door and locked it.
Fifteen minutes later, he was showered, clean-shaven, and
ready to go, except he didn't have to be at the church
until four-thirty that afternoon. Unplugging his phone
from an outlet in his room, he brought it with him into
the kitchen, transferred Sara's clothes that she had
washed the night before into the dryer and poured himself
some coffee. He sat on a barstool, debated throwing a
sweatshirt on over his plain, blue, short-sleeved T-
shirt to ward off the chill, but started scrolling
through his email instead.
His eyes, however, kept drifting over to Sara, out like a
light on the sofa sleeper.
While most of her was wrapped in the blankets like a
human burrito, with the sun starting to break through the
bare branches of the ancient oak tree blocking the
expansive bay window, he could see her face quite
plainly.
Without all that the heavy dark makeup, he noted, she
looked younger.
And kinda sweet, actually.
But then again, she wasn't talking.
Still, he was glad he invited her to stay the night
before.
But what about tonight? And tomorrow night? And the night
after that?
While he mulled the possibilities, she rolled over and
stretched, arching her back and groaning as she did.
Resuming her curled-up burrito pose, she opened her eyes
and mumbled, "How long have you been sitting there?"
Looking at his watch, he admitted, "About a minute. Or
five. Maybe ten." His cheeks suddenly felt a lot warmer.
With a loud yawn, she sat up. "I slept so good." Patting
the thin mattress with her hand, she added, "So comfy."
The words hung in the air between them.
Sarcasm before coffee. Great.
Still, the sight of her in his pajama top seemed to
lobotomize him. All he could do by way of a reply was
nod.
With a shrug, she added, "Seriously, on a sleeper sofa—
who knew?"
Snap out of it.
With no small amount of effort, he turned and glanced at
the dryer. "Your clothes should be ready in about twenty
minutes."
At that, Sara took a deep breath and yanked the covers
back, revealing two impossibly long bare legs as she
flung her feet to the floor.
Knowing full well that the sudden blast of heat he felt
was not delivered by way of the gilded vents along the
floorboards, Andrew got up to check the thermostat on the
wall next to the upright piano anyway, mumbling, "Gotta
love old buildings."