reached out to you last night after I passed out.”
“She did. Said you were so tired she didn’t feel comfortable sending you home. I agreed. Always knew she had a sensible head on her shoulders.”
Will smiled.
“Did you make up?”
“Yeah.” They hadn’t gotten to the conversation he’d really wanted to have about their relationship, but they’d made some headway. “For some reason she was willing to forgive me for being an idiot.”
“Maybe she’s not so sensible after all.”
“Hey.”
His dad chuckled. “You heading home?”
“Soon. I’ve got to do my Walk of Shame first.”
“Sounds fun. I’m on the road to the Donovan project.” Frank said, referencing a new house flip they’d purchased the week before. “Ryan is off this morning, so there’s some other guy from Ordinem watching the house. Gareth is having breakfast with Katie. She’s looking forward to seeing you.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing her too. I barely got to spend any time with her yesterday.”
“Yeah, well.”
“Yeah. I’ll let you go. Thanks for staying with Katie last night.”
“Any time. Chat with you later.”
Will disconnected the call and sat up. His gaze fell on the life-size cardboard cutout of Elvis standing in one corner of the room. Jasmine had told him about May’s obsession with The King. The cutout gave him the impulse to say, “Thank you…thank you very much,” in the iconic Elvis voice…an impulse he barely resisted.
He climbed out of bed, stretched, and looked around for his clothes. At some point, Jasmine had neatly folded them and put them on top of the dresser across from the bed. As he pulled on his T-shirt, the fresh scent of detergent reached him.
She had washed his clothes.
It provoked a grin as he finished dressing. He tucked the note she had written into his pocket and unlocked his phone to compose a text to her.
Thanks for taking such good care of me last night. Missed you this morning. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
There was plenty more he wanted to say to her, but a text wasn’t going to fly for that. He tucked his phone into his pocket and opened the door. Jasmine’s cat sat between him and the bathroom. Her green eyes narrowed as though questioning why he was standing there and what nefarious thing he’d done with Jasmine.
“I’m going to win you over one of these days,” he vowed.
She rose onto all fours, gave him a haughty flick of her tail, and made a low mewling sound implying she would shred him limb from limb before she edged toward the stairs and loped down them.
The behavior so reminded him of Jasmine that he chuckled as he stepped into the bathroom. While he was in there, he found a packaged toothbrush on the counter, one of the freebies that dentist’s offices gave away to their patients. He opened it and used it with the toothpaste someone had also left out.
As a Walk of Shame went, this one really wasn’t so bad.
When he got downstairs, he saw May sleeping under a fluffy blanket on the sofa and Danny sitting at the breakfast bar in front of a half-eaten muffin and a cup of coffee. The scent of the coffee made Will’s brain sit up and beg, but Danny turned and gave him a once-over that had him suddenly eager to duck out. He debated if it was worth trying to make small talk to get a hit of caffeine.
“Help yourself,” Danny whispered, seeing Will’s glance toward the coffee pot.
“I’ve got to get going,” he hedged in an equally quiet voice. “Traffic isn’t getting any better and, well…”
“This is really awkward?” Danny offered.
“That,” Will said, pointing at him. “But thanks.”
Danny held up a finger and climbed off his stool. He went into the kitchen, opened a cabinet, and pulled down an insulated tumbler. Guessing what he was doing, Will put his discomfort to the side and headed to the kitchen as Danny added coffee to the tumbler.
“Cream?” Danny asked.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Once the coffee was doctored to Will’s liking, Danny handed it over. “You can just give the cup to Jazzy the next time you see her,” he said. “I’m glad you two worked things out.”
“Me too. Thanks. And please thank May for me for taking the couch last night.”
“Will do.”
As he stepped outside into the already stifling humidity, Will looked across the street at Steamy Beans. He wanted to see Jasmine and thank her in person, but knew she’d be slammed at this time of day. After a brief internal debate, he decided not