Page 66 of Little Sunshine

I neared the doorway before halting.

It smelled like Ash and sweat and…

Never mind, way too personal.

The next door was ajar, and my foot accidentally pushed it all the way open before my eyes widened.

An arcade.

He has a whole freaking arcade in his house.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t a whole one, but it was still a lot. I was pretty sure every video game console in existence lined the shelf below yet another big screen TV. In addition, the room had pool, ping pong, and foosball tables, along with a wall of older arcade games.

I chalked it up to Ash being a gamer, but when I walked around the couch, I found something else.

A toy box.

One packed with cars, trains, a few baby dolls, and a huge collection of figures from some popular dog cartoon. None of it was older stuff that would lead me to believe it was childhood toys he’d kept for the future.

Which added another question to the ones already bouncing around my head.

Does Ash have kids?

Since it was none of my business, I forced it from my head as I moved on with my mission.

Unfortunately, in all my wandering, there was nothing to clean. Nothing in need of a wipe down. Not even some freaking dusty blinds.

I tried to devise a new plan to earn my stay because my housekeeping abilities wouldn’t cut it in the already immaculate house. I wasn’t much of a cook unless it was microwaving a crappy frozen dinner. I definitely wasn’t making fancy cake or edible meatloaf. Hell, even the sandwich Ash had made me for lunch was better than anything I’d ever made.

That left me with a whole lotta nothing. My daily life was cleaning a shitty hotel, taking a bus home to eat a small dinner, and then falling asleep before the sun had fully set.

Not having friends or family to stay with is bad enough… Realizing my only skill is cleaning up after other people is even worse.

With embarrassment and depression warring for top spot in my head, I returned to my temporary room. I might not have been able to pay, but I could at least stay out of Ash’s way.

He’d certainly been doing a good job of it all afternoon. I hadn’t seen or heard him once during my exploring. It was a safe bet he was in one of the closed rooms, which wasn’t fair to him. He shouldn’t have to hide away in his own house just because I’d come to him, turning my problem into his.

I showered again—only slightly soaking the bathroom floor that time—before stepping into the bedroom while wrapped in a towel. The pajama set I’d left on the side table was gone. A new purple set was on the bed.

And right next to it was yet another ice pack for my face.

Shit. Not just did I fail at cleaning for him, I actually added more work.

For all I knew, a housekeeper was ninjaing around the house, always two steps ahead of me. But that wasn’t much better. I didn’t want to add to someone else’s workload since I knew how exhausting that job was.

Stellar work, Mila.

Chapter 9

Hold Yourself Together

ASH

Lifting my hand, I tapped my knuckles against the closed bedroom door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door to see Mila sitting at the end of my bed with the TV on. The sight of that would’ve hit me in the dick had it not been for the expression on her face when she aimed her gaze my way.

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