A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3)(41)

“The last thing I needed was my mom getting a firmer toe-hold into my stuff. Can you imagine explaining to her why you completely redecorated?” William looked at me.

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Precisely. Anything is better than what I have, except for nothing at all. So if you do the bare minimum, it’ll still be much better than current.”

“But still not quite good enough,” Lump said with a smirk.

“Speaking of toe-holds,” Gladis said, changing the subject. “I hear Adam was happy to see Jessica go.”

“Now, that ain’t fair—“ Adam said as Lump and I laughed. “There are things I’ll miss.”

“Like what?” I doubted it was true. “All you did was glare at me for a week solid.”

“Well, like the coffee service, for one.”

“Coffee service?” Lump asked, quirking her eyebrow at me.

I shrugged—I didn’t know what he was talking about, either.

“I got out of the shower about when Jess was going in—different showers Willie.” William snorted. “She’d pass me in the kitchen, hair every which way, her eyes more closed than open, and she’d had me a cup of coffee. First day it had cream and sugar, which I drank because I was surprised she weren’t yellin’ at me for somethin’—I didn’t wanna go messin’ that up. Second day it was black, like I like. And she bought good tastin’ coffee, too. Six out of seven days she’d hand me a cup, first thing.”

“What about the seventh day?” Gladis asked.

“Betsy got there first. Snooze ya loose on that one. Jess has one cup to hand out and one to drink, then shower. Every day.”

“I trained her well.” William puffed up and made a shoe of checking his nails.

“Yeah right. You can’t train a cat,” Adam shot back.

“Why do you think she made the first day with cream and sugar?”

“You programmed me well, not trained,” I amended.

Adam smiled and shook his head. “I guess you can train a cat.”

“Program Adam; as in robot.”

“Another thing is the cooking," Adam went on. "She made me dinner every night—“

“I was bored. He wouldn’t let me go out,” I interjected.

“Every night a different meal. And plenty to go around. All fresh. I was eatin’ like a king!”

“I made him clean up,” I moderated.

“She’s a good cook when she wants to be,” William said, squeezing my knee.

“Thank you Lady and Gladis for helping me learn those few months.” I laughed. I hadn’t forgotten my roots. After William snubbed me all I did was work out and learn to cook. Well, let’s be honest, I learned how to read and follow directions (recipes).

“And the last thing, the biggest thing, I’ll miss is the nights when Jess, Betz and I would all just hang out in the living room together, chatting and watchin’ TV. No going out, no need to get all snazzed up, nothin’. Just hanging out. Same as when we was all here, with Gladis and Lady. Except, less alcohol and more TV.”

“One thing I won’t miss is how often that damn TV was on,” I said dryly. It was seriously on every second Adam was home, if he was in front of it or not.

“Yeah, I certainly won’t miss her makin’ me eat at the dinner table,” Adam conceded.

“What did you think about the intrusion?” Gladis asked Lump.

Lump shrugged. “I mean, it’s Jess. She does cook a mean meal. And she makes Adam jump around, so that’s funny.” She shrugged again. “I don’t know. It’s Jess. She’s a quiet roommate. She wasn’t really an intrusion.”

“I would have loved to be a fly on the wall.” William smirked. “Betsy doesn’t push Adam around all that much, but if I know Jessica, she was pushing at every single thing Adam said, even if he was agreeing, just to see what she could get away with it.”

“Yes! How do you deal with it, Willie? Damned exhausting!” Adam sighed.

William laughed. “It’s easy once you learn the tells. Plus, it keeps it interesting.”

“I don’t know about interesting, but I had to eat my Wheaties in the morning!” Adam sighed again, totally put-out. “That’s another thing I’ll miss. The fresh fruit bowls. Or the fruit smoothies. First day I helped myself—“

“And ate all my breakfast!” I interrupted.

Adam laughed. “Well, she handed me coffee, I thought she was making me breakfast, too. Second day she set aside a portion for me. Healthy, but a good start. Willie’s got you trained right, girl!”

“Ask William what he does to coincide with my programming…” I gave Lump a smug look.

“I make eggs and hash browns to offset her fruit and coffee,” William said as if he were reciting a confession. “But I started the practice.”

To Adam’s groan I said, “It’s true. He did start it. He was already making the eggs and hash browns, so I let him dictate what I needed to contribute.”

“Well, thanks Willie—it was a hotel in the mornings for a week.”

“Do you want her to move in forever?” Lump asked, eyeing Adam. Thank God I could tell she was just trying to get his goat.