Half A Million For A Girlfriend, Both Men Belong To Me novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Rowan, At Last

Rowan lived in a brick townhouse by the river with almost nothing in it.

There was one lamp lit in the front room, a long table, and a hall shelf with a single object on it.

It was the leash, coiled, with the blank brass tag facing out.

"You kept it," I said.

"It's evidence." He took my coat. "Of what, I haven't decided."

He was in shirtsleeves, with the cuffs turned back twice, and I had never seen his forearms.

I had a sudden, unprofessional interest in his forearms.

"I made dinner," he said.

The dinner was on the long table, on a white cloth, with a printed menu card beside each plate.

Pasta, it said. Salad. Bread (purchased).

"You printed a menu."

"I wanted it to be clear what was happening."

"It's spaghetti."

"It is the only thing I can make that does not set off an alarm. I had heard your mother's opinion of alarms."

I laughed so suddenly that I had to put my hand over my mouth.

He watched me do it, very still.

Something at the corner of his mouth moved, which Beckett had told me was a rare event.

We ate.

He asked me questions the way he asked everything, one at a time, and waited for the whole answer.

What did I want to do after Calloway.

Why economics.

What was the first thing I ever sold.

"Lemonade," I said. "I charged a dollar for a cup and two dollars to sit in the shade."

"Did people pay?"

"Everyone sat in the shade."

He put his fork down.

"Abigail," he said. "I'd like to say something, and I'd like you not to bill me for it."

"No promises."

"Beckett gets the mornings." He said it evenly, looking at the tablecloth. "I know about the envelope. I know about the hoodie. He gets a rate card with no money on it."

"Rowan."

"I get a receipt. I wrote you a receipt for an hour, and I was grateful for it. I have spent three months being grateful for receipts."

The lamp ticked.

"You pay for the hour," I said slowly, "because you've never once asked for it."

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