“Hm?” My eyes slowly opened. Miller was fully dressed, his threadbare winter coat and all.
I slowly sat up in bed. “Should I drive you to work? That way I can use the car to explore and look for a job today.”
“No.”
I laughed. “What do you mean no? I want to see what’s around here. And I need a job to pull my weight.”
“I’d rather show you around myself. All you need to do today is sign up for online classes so you can start on Monday. Unless you’re already signed up?”
I had most definitely not been taking stupid high school classes online while I was in California. Was it that obvious? “I’m not taking two more years of dumb online classes. I’ll just take the GED test.”
“Pretty sure 17-year-olds have to take high school classes. Isn’t the GED thing for adults?”
I pressed my lips together. “I am an adult. Besides, I’m not even Brooklyn anymore. I’m Jane. And Jane is 21. Which means Jane can take the GED.”
Miller raised his eyebrow at me. “Whatever you want to do. But focus on that instead of thinking about getting a job. I’ve got us.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss against my lips. “I’ll be back sometime after lunch.”
“Okay.” I watched him walk out of the bedroom and then I glanced at the alarm clock. It was only 6 am. It was tempting to go back to sleep, but I was feeling restless. I guess I needed to figure out how to take that test online. Or maybe I could take it at the local high school. I pulled on a few layers of Miller’s clothes and wandered out into the hall.
There was a wooden desk in the living room with a laptop on it. I sat down and pressed the power button. A box popped up, prompting me for the password.
Crap.Miller had forgotten to tell me the password to his computer. I took a few guesses. His birthday?No.My birthday?No.What was I supposed to do all day?
I leaned back in the chair, looking around the room.
I had too much pent-up energy. What I really wanted to do was go for a run. But that wasn’t exactly a possibility with all the snow.
I stood up and peered out the window. Yup, it was definitely still too snowy. I stepped back and looked around the living room. I wanted tonight to be perfect. Miller was a very organized person. But he wasn’t a huge believer in sweeping. I knew exactly what I could do today.
After searching a few closets I found some cleaning supplies. Most people probably wished there was a mop. But I actually preferred mopping with a sponge and my hands. I wasn’t sure why. I grabbed the big bucket in the corner and rolled up the sleeves of Miller’s hoodie I was borrowing. He’d come home and be so surprised with all I’d gotten done.
***
I’d dusted, swept, mopped, and scrubbed until my arms were sore. I’d cleaned everywhere important. The only places I hadn’t gotten to were the two spare bedrooms. Miller never exactly told me to make myself feel like I was at home. But I was pretty sure it was implied when I said I was staying for good.
I wiped my sleeve against the glass of the picture frame and placed it on the end of the mantle. The stone fireplace was beautiful, and I was well aware that my cheap picture frame didn’t quite belong. But it was my favorite picture of my mom and me. We were dancing around our yellow kitchen, cheesing at the camera. She was so full of life.
The kitchen timer started going off. I stepped away from the picture before I could get emotional. I hurried into the kitchen and opened the oven. Miller’s pantry was scarce. But he had plenty of flour and sugar. There were eggs in the fridge too. It had been a really long time since I’d baked something. I’d been trying to cut back on sweets around my uncle because I was worried about his weight. I’d been worried I’d lose him too.
My hand paused around the spatula. It was weird when I was alone. Like the sadness had nowhere to go but right to my heart.If I stayed busy, it was easy to keep my demons at bay. That’s probably why I was fond of having two jobs, not zero.
But the smell of fresh cookies made me shake the thought away. Miller would be home any minute. And I wanted him to walk into a clean house with freshly baked cookies.
I pulled out the tray and moved the cookies to a cooling rack.
I turned off the oven and just stood there, fidgeting with my hands. Now that it was after lunch, I was nervous. Did he mean like…right after lunch? Or more like 3 o’clock? Or maybe after lunch meant right before dinner. Would he be back by 5?
God, I was a nervous wreck. And it had nothing to do with not knowing the exact time he was coming back. Yesterday he’d told me he’d stop by the store after work. The store meant condoms. And condoms meant we’d be having sex.
Maybe I wasn’t nervous at all. I think I was just excited. I’d always had a bad time differentiating between the two. I needed to check my makeup again.
I hurried back into the bedroom and walked into the bathroom. I’d put on mascara earlier, just in case he was coming home early. But that was pretty much the only makeup I ever wore. My face was tanned from the sun. And the mascara made my eyes pop.
But I didn’t exactly look sexy. I looked down at my outfit. And by that I mean…Miller’s outfit. I was wearing one of his sweatshirts and a pair of his sweatpants. All my clothes were ridiculouslycold for this weather. But there had to be something sexier than this.
I started rummaging through Miller’s drawers. Maybe I could find one of his old dress shirts he used to wear for work. Wearing just that and my underwear was sexy, right? That was a thing girls did in movies. They made it work.
But I couldn’t find any of his dress shirts. All I could find was a warm flannel button-up. Surely it looked amazing on him. But the sexy lumberjack vibe wasn’t exactly what I was going for. Anything was better than what I was wearing though. This was our first time. It was supposed to be special.
