“Alright,” I said. “Where are we starting?”
She pointed at the far wall. “I left off there before the weekend, so I’d like to pick up from the same spot and then, when that’s done, we can start with the second coat.”
I nodded, already starting to double back to the door. “Sounds good. I’ll go grab the rollers I brought if you’ll roll out the sheeting.”
“Already way ahead of you,” she teased, lifting a roll of plastic sheeting out of a storage container.
By the time I got back, she’d covered the floor in front of the wall and trays of rosy-hued paint were waiting. I handed over a new roller, then got to work myself, finding the edge of the hangover fading as I got into the rhythm of things.
I was just about to comment on how well we worked together when a paint can tipped over. I wasn’t sure how it had happened, but a slightthunksounded from near my foot, and when I looked down, the paint was spreading across the protective plastic sheet.
“Fuck,” I muttered, immediately bending over to lift it upright and getting paint all over my hand in the process.
Raquel had frozen beside me, but I saw a smile on her lips when I spun to face her. “Well, at least you got it before it all escaped.”
“Yeah, but how’d it fall over in the first place?” I asked, genuinely confused.
She arched an eyebrow at me, amusement lighting up those gray eyes as she stared me down. “How doyouthink it happened?”
“It wasn’t me,” I protested, showing her my paint-covered hand. “I was just involved in the rescue operation.”
She burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking with it. She ducked her head and clamped her hand over her mouth. I felt my eyes widen as I looked at her, realizing she actually thought it had been my fault.
“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “It fell over out of nowhere. Clearly, you have a ghost.”
“A ghost?” She was still laughing, forcing the words out before she glanced up at me. “You kicked it.”
“Did not.”
“Did.” She shook her head. “It’s okay, Theo. Seriously. I bought enough of this stuff to paint the whole house with it. You can’t help being clumsy.”
I put my hands up, ready to protest my innocence again, but when I took a step back, I put my shoe directly into the spill and the resulting squelch echoed through the room. Raquel’s eyes flew wide open and she doubled over laughing.
“You’re making it worse,” I groaned, glancing down at my foot right in the middle of the puddle and letting out a deep sigh. “As if the hangover wasn’t bad enough.”
“Maybe you should just stop moving,” she suggested between giggles. “I told you that you should’ve been suffering at home.”
“You seem really happy about all this,” I observed lightly, glancing down at the puddle again as an idea started taking shape in my mind. “How would you feel if it was you?”
“Probably not great, but it’s not me, so…” She trailed off when she realized I was holding my paint-covered hand out toward her. “Theo. No.”
I took a step forward, finally lifting my foot out of the paint but then reaching down to swipe some of it from the side of my shoe onto my fingers. “What?”
“Don’t.” She took a step back, humor still shining brightly in her eyes, but there was suspicion in them now too. “You wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know that.” I moved my hand closer to her arm. “What if I just want to give you a little squeeze? To apologize for the spill.”
“No apologies necessary.” She grabbed a paintbrush off the nearby tray. “I’m armed. If you do it, so will I.”
We stared at each other for only a second, then simultaneously lunged. The brush hit my shoulder, paint smearing across my shirt. I caught her wrist in my hand, rubbing a generous dollop of paint across her skin.
She gasped, then shrieked with laughter. She wrenched her arm out of my grip and took off running. I followed immediately, quickly catching up since there were no obstacles in sight. A loud yelp came out of her when I smeared a streak of paint across that strip of her lower back that had been driving me nuts since I’d gotten here.
“Theo!” she yelled.
“What?” I asked innocently, already retreating. “We’re even now.”
“No, we’re not. You got me twice.”
