“Good.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Then congratulations, Kayla. You passed.”
Her eyes flicked from his face to the phone and back.
“Passed what?”
“My test.”
“What test?”
He unlocked the screen and laid the phone flat on the counter between them.
“Whether you’re ready to live with roommates.”
Kayla looked down. Then she snatched the phone up.
I couldn’t see what was on it from where I stood. But I watched the color climb her throat, flood her cheeks, and burn all the way to her hairline until she was red as a stop sign.
“What the hell is this?”
“Three rooms for rent,” Andrew said evenly. “All within twenty minutes of here.”
She swiped. Swiped again.
“You can’t do this, Andrew!”
“I found three listings. That’s all I did.”
“You’ve been apartment hunting for me?”
“Room hunting.”
“You can’t throw me out!”
“I’m not.”
She spun toward me, clutching the towel with one hand and his phone with the other.
“Amanda. Are you really going to let your husband kick me out of your house?”
“He isn’t kicking you out,” I said quietly. “But ‘temporary’ has to end somewhere.”
“Because I wore a towel?”
I slid the toast off the hot pan before it could burn, buying myself a second to steady my voice.
“Because I asked you not to do something in my home, and you decided I had to prove my reason was good enough before you’d listen.”
She hitched the towel tighter under her arm.
“So this is a punishment.”
“No. If I wanted to punish you, I’d have let you keep eating Andrew’s cereal. He buys the awful kind.”
Andrew pointed at me without looking up.
“Uncalled for.”
Kayla didn’t laugh. Her chin was trembling now.
“My heart is broken, Amanda. I have no money. I don’t even have a job.”
“I know.”
