Page 71 of You've Got Hate Mail
For my sanity, she has to go.
13
THE PRE-BREAKFAST CLUB
Cricket
To my utter surprise,Heath asks me to watch Lavender while he’s showering Monday morning.
We’ve avoided each other since the thing in that building with the things I don’t like talking or thinking about.
Or possibly it’s just been me doing the avoiding.
I’ve heard he was busy inspecting all of the property’s unused buildings and delivering some other bad news to Mabel and also out acquiring more supplies for fixing up the mother-in-law house and taking Lav to a friend’s birthday party.
The single moms probably hit on him.
He probably has a girlfriend and just doesn’t talk about it.
Or possibly he’s one of those men who will only have one great love in his lifetime and he hides his grief well in the interest of being strong for his daughter, which is soswoon.
No, Cricket. No swoon.
I’ve muzzled myself multiple times to keep from asking anyone here if it’s normal for new residents to get a crush on the single dad.
If I don’t say it out loud, then I’m not really feeling it.
That’s the pep talk I’m giving myself as I knock softly at the upper door to the staircase early Monday morning.
Heath opens it like he was standing there waiting, which he probably was, since I texted him that I was on my way up.
He’s in a black T-shirt and gray sweatpants, and his brown hair is disheveled and his stubble is extra stubbly and his green eyes still have a sleepy quality that, when combined with the way he smells like warm cotton, suggests he was in bed when I texted him.
I didn’t hear any footsteps before I texted that I was up and ready, so he probably was.
I keep my eyes trained on the bridge of his nose.
“Reporting for duty,” I whisper.
I actually showered this morning, and my hair’s still damp.
“You hear her yet?” he murmurs.
I shake my head.
“Found raw hamburger in her bedroom last night.”
So that explains why he texted.
He has a real problem.
“Mm, protein.”Mm, protein? Oh my god, Cricket,stop talking.
“It was still cold, so there’s that.”
“Do you want me to ask Mabel what we can do?”
“Already did, but if Pip can sneak Lav food with six other adults in the house, we’re fighting a losing battle.”
