The Imperfect Marriage novel · Chapter 4 of 24
Chapter 4: One Bed
The Stenbeck house sat at the far end of Park Point, a long sandbar with Lake Superior on one side and the harbor on the other.
It was white clapboard and old, with a wraparound porch and a view of the ore docks.
Pru gave me the tour in six minutes, talking the whole time.
"Kitchen. Dining room nobody uses. My room. Ross's room. My son's room, he's at his dad's this week. Don't touch the thermostat, it bites."
"Where's my room?" I said.
"Oh," said Pru, a little too brightly. "That's the thing."
She opened a door at the top of the stairs.
It was a big bedroom with a window seat, a wall of books, and one very large bed.
My overnight bag sat on the quilt.
"The housekeeper will come Monday," Pru said. "She talks. She talks to the whole lakeshore. If she finds two bedrooms used, the whole lakeshore knows by dinner."
"The couch exists," I said.
"The couch is covered in my son's Lego. It is not safe."
She kissed my cheek and left, humming.
I stood in the doorway until Ross came up the stairs with a stack of towels.
He stopped.
"She moved your bag."
"She moved my bag."
"I'll take the couch."
"It's full of Lego."
"Then I'll take the floor."
"You're thirty-seven and you got a back brace for Christmas."
"Who told you that?"
"Pru told me at the courthouse."
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the bed.
"It's a big bed," I said. "We could use pillows."
An hour later we had built a wall of six pillows down the middle of the mattress, with a folded blanket along the top for reinforcement.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Imperfect Marriage from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 3 · All chapters · Chapter 5 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend