“No, around the corner. I would have walked, but then we’d have to walk back with your bag to my place and I figured you didn’t want to do that.”
“You could have said something this morning when we were running,” she said, laughing.
Both of them were up bright and early, meeting on the path by his place, then him running with her back to her place, him finishing on his own.
“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” he said. “And I’ve got a few of them for you.”
“You do?” she said. “Now I’m excited. Come in. I’m just packing. You didn’t say what we were doing tonight.”
“Going to the island,” he said.
“Oh,” she said, frowning. “Are we doing something with your family?”
“Nope. We are staying at my parents’ house by ourselves and no more questions. You’ll find out when we get there.”
She sighed. “Okay. Well, one more question, do I need to pack any special clothing?”
“No. We won’t be leaving the house.”
She pursed her lips. He could see she was biting her tongue to not ask more. “Let me show you around. Not really much to see. Your primary suite is about the size of my entire apartment.”
They were in her living room, a single couch against a wall, the TV on a stand across from it, a small table and four chairs took up more space going to the kitchen on one wall. The basic, skinny fridge, tiny dishwasher, and equally tiny stove and oven, a few upper cabinets and a long one-cabinet pantry.
He’d passed the bathroom when he walked in. Didn’t need to look in to see it’d be a tub unit with a single vanity.
“If this works, then it does,” he said. “Lots of people have a studio smaller than this. At least you have separation to your bed.”
“I do,” she said. “Behind the wall, but it’s only a dividing wall there, no door or anything.”
He went to the entryway thinking it was a hall, but it wasn’t. You went right into her room, the bed against the wall, the closet on the other side giving her maybe two feet to get out of bed to get her stuff. A tiny dresser stuffed in the corner at the foot of the bed turned sideways.
There was a bag on the bed, the one she always filled with clothing for the weekend.
“This is tight,” he said.
“I know. It requires being very organized and neat. On the bright side, it doesn’t take me long to clean the place.”
He smiled while she threw her clothes in the bag, then picked it up and put it on the table, went into the bathroom and grabbed what she needed there. She’d been keeping a spare of everything at his place. Things he’d picked up for her so she didn’t have to bring them back and forth.
“You can start leaving some clothes at my place. If it’d make it easier for you. It’s only weekends.”
Because she still wouldn’t stay during the week, not comfortable with them going into work at the same time or leaving together.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Positive. I know you said you never lived with anyone before, but did you keep things at his place?”
“No,” she said. “He hadn’t wanted that. It always was just his place where I stayed.”
She said it as if it hadn’t bothered her, but he knew otherwise.
Or maybe it was because he’d feel that way.
In the few months he’d been with Nora, he had things she liked there. Foods, toiletries. Anything he could think of so she felt at ease.
Putting her clothing there, even if it was only shorts and T-shirts, was a convenience for them both. Not only that, but also a way for her to come easier, quicker, and more often last minute.
“Don’t think of it that way with me,” he said. “Do you?”
