Page 17 of Suddenly Dating
“And the pool,” she added, lest he think they were going to halve that, too.
“And the pool. You can have the living room during the day, and I can have it during the afternoon and evening.”
Leave it to a man to assign himself prime time. “So I’m supposed to stay in my room at night?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to be confined to my room like I’ve been grounded. I like to watch TV at night.”
Handsome Harry’s brows dipped disapprovingly. “You watch TV?”
Lola stopped her whisking. “Oh, I’m sorry, does that make me a troglodyte?”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t have time for TV.”
How anyone could not have time forScandalorGame of Throneswas beyond Lola, but boy, didn’t Handsome Harry look a little superior right now. “I’m not giving up the only TV in the house,” she said, and turned around so she didn’t have to see his fat smug face. She shoved oven mitts on her hands and opened the oven door.
“Something smells good,” he said.
“You must mean this,” she said, holding up her pan. “Moussaka, party of one.”
Interestingly, Smug Handsome Harry looked very longingly at her pan. He wasn’t so superior now, was he? Lola made sure to put the pan on the trivets just beneath his nose. “When will you be doingyourcooking?” she asked. “Just so I know theground rules,” she added, making air quotes.
“I don’t cook.”
“No TV. No cooking. Wow, you must have the most fun ever. So what do you do with yourself? Open up cans of soup and then whittle all evening?”
“Trust me, I have plenty to do,” he said, as if she couldn’t possibly understand how important and complex his life was.
That could very well be, but this was a hungry man staring at her. So Lola scraped off a dollop of mashed potatoes from her dish, put it in her mouth, and with a moan, closed her eyes. “Oh my God, I think this is some of the best moussaka I’ve ever made.” She opened her eyes and smiled.
“Funny,” he said. He looked like he was working very hard not to lick his lips. “Anyway, back to our arrangement. You can have the evening in the living room if that’s what you want. But I get the office.”
Perfect. The office was in the far corner of the house, as far from her as he could possibly be. She hoped he spent all his time in there. “Knock yourself out,” she said.
“One last thing,” he said. “I think we should respect each other’s space by, you know... tidying up after ourselves.”
Lola picked up a spatula, holding it for a moment for full effect before she shoved it into the moussaka. “Whatever you say, Harry.”
His eyes narrowed slightly with her even slighter sarcastic tone.“Thanks.”
He watched as she heaped a generous serving of the moussaka onto a plate. She pretended to ignore him as she heaped salad onto the plate, too. She picked up her plate and her wine, looked at him, and asked, “Anything else? Maybe we could stick a corkboard up by the front door to leave each other messages. Sort of like a dorm room.”
He gave her a withering look. “I think I’ll just tell you whatever I need to tell you.IfI need to tell you anything.”
“Okay. Well, if that’s all, roomie, I guess it’s my time in the kitchen right now.”
He looked startled. And a little sad as he looked at her moussaka. “Have at it,” he said as he slid off the stool. He padded back across the living area.
She was going to have at it, all right. Lola put her plate on the dining room table, grabbed a fork and her phone, and sat down to eat. Her phone lit up as she was deciding if she’d put too much nutmeg in the dish. It was a text from Casey.
How is life in the land of snobby rich people?
Lola put her fork down and texted back:Who said all rich people are snobby? Anyhoo, so far so good. You wouldn’t believe how sweet this lake house is. Very high-end. But a recent sign of vermin.
Vermin! Call an exterminator. But call me first. Right now. I have news.
Lola punched in her sister’s number. “Whaddup?” she asked through a mouth full of moussaka when Casey answered.
