“I’ll start looking for a place at the end of February.”
“Fine with me. You can stay longer than that.”
“I need a binder.”
“Then let’s go get you a binder,” he said.
“I think that’s the only thing that could make me feel better.”
She bought four binders, three of them with flowers and one of them with a squirrel, and she was pretty happy with that. As far as her happiness scale could go.
“What are they all for?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet. It never hurts to have backup binders.”
He chuckled. “If you say so.”
“Maybe I’ll make a binder for you. Oh! I’ll help you organize things.”
“My house is organized,” he said.
She couldn’t deny that for a bachelor pad it was pretty neat. And that was especially impressive now that she had the knowledge he didn’t bring women back there. So it wasn’t really for anyone but him.
It was something they’d never discussed before so she had assumed that there was a level of cleanliness that was performative.
“You are fairly organized.”
“I can’t have you coming to my house if it looks like a total mess. You would lose all respect for me.Andyou wouldn’t visit.”
“What?”
It sounded almost as if he was saying it was for her. And that was difficult for her to wrap her head around. More than difficult. It was impossible.
“I fear your judgment,” he said.
“I don’t judge you,” she said.
“You generally don’t,” he replied. “But I like to be on good behavior so that it never gets to a place where you might.”
“My mind is blown by this.”
“Glad that I can still surprise you.”
“Well, if you need help with anything...”
“Do you hear yourself right now?”
“You keep asking me that.”
“Because I’m not sure you do. I don’t need you to do anything for me.”
She huffed. Then she thought about the binders. “Maybe I can use a binder to figure out how to be more like you.”
“Well, first of all,” he said, “I wouldn’t use a binder.”
“I need a binder. If there’s going to be chaos it has to be controlled.”
“What exactly are you talking about here?”
