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This wasn’t how I wanted this weekend to go. Not for my guests, not for me, and especially not for Alexis. I wanted to impress her.

I dragged a hand through my hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how today got so messed up.”

“It’s okay,” she said, sliding her hands into her pockets.

“When will you be back?” I asked.

“I’m not going.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “You’re not going with your friends?”

“I’m not very happy with them right now. I’m going to stay and help you clean up.”

I was happy I was getting time with her, but I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. I can do the sweeper thingy.”

“The broom?” I looked at her, amused.

Her cheeks got a little pink. “Yeah. That’s what I meant.”

I studied her for a second. “Do you know how to sweep?”

She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away from me. “I…I don’t clean my own house, Daniel. I’ve never done it before.”

“You’ve never cleaned?”

She looked embarrassed. “No. Not really. No.”

I blinked at her.

“I mean, I load the dishwasher. I put clothes in the laundry basket—”

“Can you do laundry?”

She paused a moment before shaking her head.

I don’t know why, but this made me feel about two hundred thousand times better.

She crossed her arms. “Don’t make fun of me—”

“I’m not.”

“You’re smiling.”

“I’m smiling because this entire weekend has made me feel like I suck at everything and it’s nice to know that maybe you suck at things too.”

She snorted. “Daniel, you’re good at everything. Trust me.”

“Yeah, well, sex stuff doesn’t count.”

“Uh, it actually does. And I’m not just talking about sex stuff. Your woodworking, your cooking.”

Those things didn’t really feel equal to a medical degree, but I’d take them. At this point I needed all the help I could get.

“You don’t have to clean,” I said. “Just hang out with me.”

But she shook her head. “I want to help. Would you show me?”