Chapter Thirty-Two
A dam brushed Rocket’s hair?” Carley asks, her voice inflected with disbelief.
“Uh-huh,” I say, visualizing the tender moment between man and dog right before I texted her.
“Rocket let Adam brush his hair?”
“Rocket must be his angle. Did I mention he baked dog treats too?” And fed me one.
After I witnessed Adam grooming a blissed-out Rocket, I had to escape the apartment.
I packed an overnight bag and let myself into Carley’s studio in Hell’s Kitchen using the spare key she gave me in case of an emergency.
I binged Ted Lasso , the most stress-free show ever, from the comfort of her suede green sofa until she came home from the theater.
I’m catching her up on everything now, desperate for her advice.
Carley, who’s been talking to me from behind the built-in bookshelves designed to separate her tiny bedroom from her living room and kitchen space while changing out of her work clothes, joins me on the couch, now wearing a pink T-shirt with designs of makeup brushes on it and black drawstring shorts. “What do you mean by angle?”
“He’s trying to get into Marcia’s good graces through the dog.”
Carley frowns and cocks her head from side to side. “But he’s already in her good graces. And isn’t he supposed to be proving to you that he deserves to stay?”
“Yes. Maybe? I don’t know!” I rest my elbows on her dark wood coffee table and bury my head in my hands, questioning what I got myself into with this competition. “This was such a bad idea,” I mumble.
There’s no way Adam is going to play fair, although I’m not sure what playing fair even means. Our only rule was that Marcia wouldn’t get hurt in the process.
Carley pats my back. “I’m sure it’s not. We just need to strategize.”
I sit up and rub my nose. “I did. I got up early to scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush!”
Carley’s eyebrows shoot up. “Why do I have a feeling it didn’t work out the way you wanted?”
I pout. “It didn’t. First Adam ‘slipped’ and then Marcia said it was a waste of effort.” And now I can’t get “It’s the Hard Knock Life” out of my head.
She touches a finger to her lips. “Was Adam okay?”
“He was fine! He faked it for Marcia’s sympathy.” The devious side of Adam took me by surprise. What’s worse is that it’s kind of hot.
“Aah. The grandson card… another angle.” She crinkles her nose. “But wait. Back it up a second. Who’s the judge of this battle, Marcia or Adam?”
I sigh. “With any luck, Marcia will never even know about it, but essentially, we’re all the judges.
Marcia already told Adam to start thinking about his next steps, so his goal is to convince me that I should be the one to move, not him.
My goal is to be so wonderful that even if Adam proves to me that he’s not a flake and I agree not to renew my lease, Marcia vetoes the decision. ”
Carley gets up and walks to the refrigerator. Looking at me over her shoulder, she says, “So now Adam is a flake? I thought you liked him.” She returns to the couch with half a bottle of white wine and two glasses.
I empty the bottle evenly into them. “I do like him, and I respect his desire to be a good grandson, but he can do that without kicking me out of house and home! I don’t think he knows what he wants.
His track record for sticking things out is not great.
I came up with this idea to buy time. I’m hoping he’ll change his mind and prove me right. ”
“I get it.” She takes a sip of wine. “So does this mean you won’t be sleeping with him again?”
I slump against her enormous soft-pink heart-shaped throw pillow.
“Sadly, yes. I can’t afford the distraction.
But you should have seen the way he took off his apron.
It was like a striptease. And there’s no way he didn’t know what he was doing when he bent down and practically shook his ass in my face.
” I finish off half the contents of my wine in one gulp.
She nods. “Sex. Another angle.” Her lips curl into a slow smile.
My heart thumps. I know that look. “What are you thinking?”
“Hear me out.” She stands and paces the multicolor area rug in front of the couch.
“Who says Adam is the only one who can use his sex appeal to distract the enemy? You want him and he knows it and is using it to throw you off your game. But he also wants you. Maybe he thinks you’re too sweet to use it against him, but he’s forgetting one vital piece of the puzzle. ” She stops pacing and faces me.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “What’s that?”
She grins. “Me. I’m a bad influence.”
I chuckle. “I sort of like where you’re going with this, but let’s not lose sight of the goal. It’s not a battle of the sexes. This is all for Marcia… to prove we’re the better roommate for Marcia .”
Carley flumps back on the couch. “Of course that’s part of it, but don’t pretend you also don’t love living in a luxury apartment building that you don’t have to share with three other people for less than $1000 a month.”
I dip my chin, unable to deny this. Even if I found another roommate using the RoomBridge app, the apartment probably wouldn’t be as conveniently located within walking distance from the library and school.
And it might not have perks like a private bathroom, so many streaming channels, and a dishwasher.
But appreciating all these extras doesn’t make me a bad person.
And Marcia is my absolute favorite part of the package!
“I also think it would be fun to tease slash torture Adam. Fun for you, of course. But fun for me secondhand.”
I look up at her. “What are you suggesting exactly?”
“It’s simple really. You should absolutely focus on Marcia but do it while wearing sexy clothes or as few clothes as possible to make Adam sweat. Tit for tat.” She shimmies her chest. “Pun intended.”
I grin. This could be fun, but there’s one problem. “I’m kind of at a loss for how to focus on Marcia in the first place. I think I’m a pretty great roommate as it is.”
“You are.” She stands again. “But there must be something else you can do to make her life easier that you haven’t thought of.”
I bite my lip. “The one place I’m lacking is the kitchen. Whenever we eat together, Marcia does the cooking and I just set the table and help her wash the dishes.”
“That’s it then.”
I grimace. “But I’m an awful cook!”
Carley grins. “Girl, you are so lucky I love you because I’m an amazing cook.”