Page 69 of Outside The Wire

“No reason,” I answered with just a little too much cheer in my voice. I really shouldn’t be this happy. I hadn’t even gone to sleep yet, and not even eight hours ago, I was nearly in tears because my eyes were gritty from staring at a screen for so long.

“Ugh, it’s…snowy.”

“And?”

“And…there’s a lot of it.”

I rolled my eyes at her less-than-descriptive description. “Wow, thank you for that. Are you able to leave?”

“Are you asking if I’m coming in to work today?”

“Yep.”

“Then no.”

“Okay!”

She was silent for a minute. “Why are you so happy to close the shop? Wait…are you with Asher?”

“Maaaybe.”

“That’s a yes. Did you finally have sex?”

“Possibly.”

“Ugh, I’m telling you, vomit is on the way up my throat.”

Mr. Fluffington jumped up on the counter, reminding me he wanted his Greenies, meowing as he rubbed against me.

“Wait, why do I hear a cat in the background? Where are you?”

“That was Mr. Fluffington.”

“You’re—Ew! You did it at work? That’s so gross! I’ll never be able to go back there again!”

“Relax, we did it on the floor,” I said as I walked over to the pantry and grabbed the Greenies.

“That’s even worse. What if there are stains? What if I step where you were? I’ll be tormented for the rest of my life by being where you were screwing. It’ll be like watching the replay or something.”

“I’m not even sure that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense to you. I told you, Holly. I told you not to bring this into my life. I told you!”

“Well, it’s my shop,” I said, giving Mr. Fluffington a rubdown. “Besides, everything will look like new. You’ll never know where we were.”

“Oh, I’ll know. It’ll be like that ghost radar shit. I’ll be able to detect it.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“That’s what you think. Ugh, I can’t believe this is my life.”

“Well, you should thank me. I sent you home early last night. If I hadn’t, you’d be stuck here with me, and then you’d witness me with Asher.”

“You would have done it in front of me?” she gasped.

“No, I meant the mushy gushy stuff you hate,” I chuckled.

I grabbed two mugs and poured the coffee, then grabbed some creamer and sugar. I was going to need it to stay awake this morning.

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