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“Go on upstairs,” Justin said when they reached the apartment building. “I’ll carry this stuff up.”
“I’ll help.”
Justin shuffled through the bags and handed her several of the light ones, and then he tied the handles of two bags together and laid them over Sam’s back, who seemed very proud to be carrying part of the load. Carly trudged up the stairs and unlocked her door. Sam bolted inside and went straight to his water bowl, lapping eagerly.
Carly smacked her forehead. “Oh, Sam, I’m sorry! I should have thought to take along some water for you.”
“What’s wrong?” Justin asked, a huge mass of shopping bags dangling from each hand.
“He was thirsty!” Carly pulled another bottle of water from the case on her counter and poured it into his bowl. Sam wagged his tail and gave her hand a lick of thanks.
“Carly, it’s okay. He was fine.”
“I’m so inconsiderate!” Maybe it was the combined stress of the day, or maybe she hadn’t cried out all of her tears on the bridge. Whatever it was, Carly felt like she was an inch or so away from collapsing into a blubbering mess.
“Stop,” Justin said, and his voice was so calm and firm, she felt a little foolish. Her embarrassment actually helped to get herself under control. She didn’t want Justin to think she was a flake. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. He was fine. Now, come here and help me put some of this stuff away. I don’t know where you put things, but I imagine there’s some alphabetizing involved.”
Carly flushed a little, but she was able to give him a small smile. “It makes things easier to find.”
“I’m sure it does. I’m more of a shove-things-around-and-swear-until-you-find-it kind of guy.” He started opening bags and placing the items on the counter. Carly smiled at him, though his back was to her and he couldn’t see it. She appreciated his attempts to lighten the situation with humor. A few days ago, she never would have imagined the scary-looking Biker Guy could be so kind.
She tried for a joke of her own. “It’s not your fault. You’re a man, and you didn’t evolve to be able to find things.”
“Okay, I’ve gotta hear the explanation for this.” Justin crossed his arms and leaned back against the refrigerator while Carly put away the canned food. He smiled at her in encouragement.
“It’s simple, really. Our brains developed in different ways because of the different tasks we had. Men just had to run around, find something to bash over the head, and drag back to camp as food, while women had to remember where the berry bushes and fruit trees were. So, we women ended up with a better visual memory, and you guys ended up standing in front of the refrigerator, yelling, ‘Honey, where’s the ketchup?’”
“That is an interesting theory.” Justin chuckled and scratched his chin. “Another theory is we don’t want to waste time looking for stuff, so we yell to ask you where it is since you’re the one who probably put it away.”
Carly closed the cupboard doors as she tried to smother a grin. “You’d rather be thought of as lazy, than accept women have superior brains?”
“Ah, but we men are better at bashing things.”
“Conceded.” Carly went over to the line of bags along the wall that contained the drugs and guns—an awful-sounding combination. “Where do you want to put this stuff?”
“Do you have a spare bedroom?”
“Yeah, it’s down the hall, second door to the right.” Justin hauled it all into the bedroom, except for the bag he brought back with the explanation that it contained her girl stuff. Carly snatched it from him with a bit of a blush and took it into the bathroom. There, she stared with longing at the toilet. She really had to pee, but what could she do?
She opened the door. “Um, Justin, could you come here for a moment?”
He stepped up to the door. “Yes?”
“There’s no way to make my toilet work.” Carly bit her lip. “Any suggestions?”
“Since I suppose using a bucket is out of the question, I’ll walk down to the creek and get a few buckets of water you can use for flushing.”
Carly beamed at him. “Thank you! Hey, where have you—” She stopped. “Never mind.”
Justin laughed as he headed out the apartment door.
Carly thought about it while he was gone and came to a decision as he came through the door, carrying two large pails of water.
“Justin?”
“Yeah?” He put both buckets in the bathroom and took off the lid of her toilet tank.
“I was thinking you could stay in the spare room if you wanted. You don’t have to sleep out in the hall.”
