“Must have been bad sex.”
“That or he kept pissing her off by not leaving her alone.” I caught the twitch of his lips out of the corner of my eye. “She’ll get away with it, too, because she’s going to claim insanity by way of premenstrual syndrome.”
“Is that a genuine defense?”
“Oh, yes. It’s happened before.” I finally met his gaze. “A woman killed her husband and blamed her PMS.”
“Noted,” he said, nodding slowly. “Sounds like something my mother would say.”
“Well.” I turned back to my laptop. “And me.”
“Doubly noted. Is that my cue to leave you alone?”
“Depends. Do you like being alive?”
“Rather fond of it, yes.”
“Would you like to continue being alive?”
“I’d prefer it to the alternative.”
“Then, yes. Please leave me alone so I may write.”
He pushed off the desk and grabbed my phone. “I’m taking that, then.”
My jaw dropped as I looked at him. “You’re taking my phone?”
“Adelaide, when I walked in here, you weren’t writing. I know as soon as I leave, you’ll pick it back up again.” He waved it. “I’m doing you a favour. I’m being supportive.”
I stared at him. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Mhm.” He leaned over and gave me a slow, easy kiss that sent tingles to the very tips of my toes. “You can have this back in one hour.”
“That’s rude.” I pouted as he grinned and backed up, complete with a smear of dark red lipstick just below his lower lip. “Alex, you’ve got—”
“Write!” He turned and stalked towards the door.
“But you’ve got—”
Mrs. Anderson appeared in the doorway, and her sudden appearance made Alex stop short. “Ah, Alexander,” she said brightly. “Olympia is in the kitchen trying to talk Mrs. Bell into baking her cookies. I’m not quite over the last baking adventure in the kitchen.”
I covered a laugh with a cough, and Mrs. Anderson glanced over his shoulder at me.
“Adelaide,” she acknowledged me.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Anderson,” I replied brightly. “How are you today?”
“I shall be much better if Olympia doesn’t get hold of the flour again.”
“Understandable.”
“I’m going, I’m going.” Alex held up his hands, then turned to me with the lipstick still very visible and waved the phone. “One hour, Adelaide.”
Mrs. Anderson stepped to the side for Alex to pass her. Before he disappeared, she said, “Alexander, are you aware that you have lipstick on your mouth?”
I grimaced.
He raised his hand to his mouth and swiped his fingers across it, then looked down at them and sighed.
“I’d wash your face before you go in the kitchen, lest anyone else ask questions you don’t want to answer,” Mrs. Anderson continued. “Especially since it happens to match the colour our Adelaide is currently wearing.”
I propped my elbow on the desk and rested my chin on my hand, using my fingers to cover my mouth.
“A bit late for that, dear,” Mrs. Anderson said to me.
Yes.
It was, wasn’t it?
Alex glanced at me and headed in the direction of the bathroom instead of the kitchen, slipping my phone in his pocket on his way.
Well, if you asked me, that was what he got for making off with my phone.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I said, eyeing Mrs. Anderson.
She set a little wooden cleaning caddy on top of one of the desks on the other side of the room and pulled out a duster and a can of polish, moving to a clear table. “It never is,” she said, spraying the polish on the table. “If it’s not what it looks like, you won’t mind me asking what it is, then, will you?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but what came out was a big, fat nothing.
That’s it.
I had nothing.
Nada.
Absolutely blinking zero.
She turned her head and smiled at me. “That’s what I thought.”
Oh, no.
This wasn’t good.
I pushed back my chair and stood up, walking over to her. “You won’t tell anyone what you saw, will you?”
“My dear,” Mrs. Anderson said, turning to face me with a smile. “You’re both adults. What the two of you do is none of my business, nor is it anyone else’s unless you wish it to be.”
“Thank you.”
“But some advice? Avoid the problem by not wearing lipstick.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Noted. In my defense, I didn’t expect him to come in. I was working.”
“Really? As far as I can see, if he’s not with Olympia or working, he’s near you.” She sprayed another table and started wiping. “I’d always expect him to come in from here on out.”
Oh.
Well.
All right, then.
“I’ll remember that.”
“You do that.” She grabbed another duster and threw it at me. “Now, start dusting.”
***
After I finally got my phone back, I text my sister to tell her I was coming for our birthday. Eva had been nothing short of absolutely ecstatic about the news, while I couldn’t help but worry that I was taking advantage of mine and Alexander’s newfound relationship.