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“I don’t have anybody living here now,” she said, “so clearly, I don’t need the money that much. Utilities, OK, though the excess will be hardly anything. A few more loads of laundry and maybe a couple more hours of heat a day, and I’ll bet that you’ll be arm-wrestling me to shovel my snow.”
“Nah,” he said. “Just getting up early to shovel it before you can. There’s also a dog deposit.”
“Bacon’s going to be in my semi-furnished attic,” she said. “I’d betmoremoney that you’ll be putting in that dog door, and he weighs about ten pounds and doesn’t seem very destructive.”
“He is of his lamb,” Janey said.
“He is not,” Troy said. “He doesn’t chew itup.He just chews it because chewing is comfortable.”
“Twelve hundred,” Beckett said. “And that’s my final offer.”
“OK,” she said. “Including utilities. That’smyfinal offer. Take it or leave it. And we split the groceries—including shopping for them—and the cooking and cleaning.”
“Done,” he said. “Two-thirds me, on the grocery cost. If you make the cookies.”
“And if I put tampons on the list,” she said, “or anything else involving bodily functions, you have to buy them. I’m not making a special trip because you’re squeamish.”
Janey opened her mouth, then didn’t seem to know what to do with it. As for Beckett, he was grinning again. “No worries. I’m familiar with female biology.”
“I can help,” Troy said, “if you show me how, Quinn. I like your cookies very much. Dad isn’t very good at cooking, and I don’t know how, except things like pouring cereal, but Janey and me know how to help clean. I can do the vacuum and empty the wastebaskets, and I’m very good at dusting, if you have one of those dusters with the long stick so I can reach up high.”
“You can’t do the vacuum well enough,” Janey said. “You’re too little.Iknow how to do the vacuum, though. And the toilets, too, and the bath. Dad says everybody should know how to clean a bathroom, but Troy’s too little. He doesn’t know how to be careful about the chemicals, and he probably can’t open the bottle.”
“Yes, I could,” Troy said. “Except Dad won’t let me. But I’ve watched heaps, so I could learn.”
“Sounds like we’ll be a good team,” Quinn said. “Saturday morning’s my cleaning day. I like to do it early and get it out of the way. I also do my big laundry on Saturday, and I go to the grocery store after my Gentle Swim lessons.” Surprising nobody. “If you all help clean, we could make it a party.”
“How can cleaning be a party?” Janey asked. “It’scleaning.Mum used to do cleaning, mostly, but now we all have to.”
“Yep,” Quinn said, “and you still will, because nobody’s getting a maid in this deal, and I like a clean house. There used to be mice in the basement, and they didn’t always stay in the basement, either. Nothing like opening your silverware drawer and seeing mouse poop. I’m not doingthatagain.”
“What if Alexis or Violet wants to sleep over, though?” Janey asked. “I’ve only slept over once, but Alexis says it’s always Friday or Saturday night, because it can’t be a school night. What if she’s here?”
“Then Alexis or Violet can join the cleaning party,” Quinn said.
“I don’t think they’ll want to,” Janey said.
“Then they can sleep over at somebody else’s house,” Quinn said.
“Wait,” Beckett said. Somewhat belatedly, but this thing was like watching a tennis match. “No sleeping over. We’re not taking over Quinn’s house. And we’ll do the grocery shopping, Quinn. Saturday after cleaning and Troy’s swim lesson. That works.”
“ButDad,”Janey said. “If Alexis is here—”
“She hasn’t slept over so far,” Beckett said. “Why would she be doing it in the next two months?”
Janey sighed. “Because you’re a man?”
He blinked. “I’m a man? Well, obviously, but—”
“Excuse me,” Janey said, “predators?”
“Predators?”He couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Well,” Quinn said, “we can ease her mom’s mind there, I guess. Because of course you can have a guest, and so can Troy. Why would I care? As long as they help with the cleaning, because I’m discovering I’ve got a thing about housing freeloaders. You can start right now by helping me put these dishes in the dishwasher.”
They got up to do it, and she said, while scrubbing out the soup pot with her usual brisk efficiency, “On the plus side, I like to make waffles or pancakes with bacon and fruit after my long run on Sunday morning.”
“And cookies!” Troy said.
