She tiptoed to the couch. “What are you doing out here?”
Her brother’s torso sprang upright on the couch. “Daisy’s sleeping with Lily.” She could practically hear the clench in his jaw.
“Wait. Why isn’t Daisy out here? And why aren’t you sleeping with Lily?”
He huffed and scrubbed his hand over his beard. “We’re pretty sure Daisy’s allergic to dogs now that Archer’s been here a while, and the congestion’s keeping her awake. She’s decided sleeping out here is scary—something about the trees through the windows. So I offered to swap.”
“How long?”
“Going on a couple of nights now,” he sighed.
“But I thought …” Coincidentally, it had been a few nights since she’d heard the distinctive coitus noises through the walls. She began pacing the width of the couch. “Gage, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—look, why don’t you sleep in Daisy’s bed and I’ll sleep out here?”
A night-light glowed in the kitchen, reflecting pinpoints in his eyes. “Uh, nice of you to offer, Sar, but it really doesn’t get me any closer to sleeping with Lily.”
“Oh. Right.”
Well, shit. He looked dejected as hell. Or maybe he was exhausted from sleeping on the too-small couch. And it was Sarah’s fault. Not only had she insinuated herself and her allergy-inducing dog into their tiny house, but now she was the reason they slept separately. Guilt pinched her.
“I know what you’re thinking, Sar, and Lily will not tolerate you sleeping on the couch, so just march your ass back to bed and go to sleep,” he grumbled before flopping back down and hitting his head on the armrest. “Fuck!”
Milk forgotten, she turned for the bedroom, feeling like a class-A heel. Then she stopped and pivoted. “Gage?”
“Mmph?”
“Um, so I got this offer from Quinn …”
Gage shot upright again. “What the hell? In the middle of all this, he’s putting the moves on you?”
“No, no, that’s not it. What I meant was, he wants to hire me to take care of his mom on a live-in basis. I guess he hasn’t been able to hold on to caregivers, and now with COVID …”
He seemed to calm down. “Right. It’s gotta be near impossible to hire someone.”
“Exactly. So …”
“That might not be a bad idea, Sar.”
Her brother was actually going along with this wackadoodle idea? “I thought you said you’d kill him if he laid a hand on me.”
Even in the gloom, she could see Gage appraising her. “Who says he’s going to try anything? Quinn likes them young and dumb anyway, and you’re neither.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“What I meant was, you’re what? Five years older than he is? He likes them just old enough so they can drink legally, and like I said, he goes for the stupid ones. You’re not stupid, Sar.”
“And this guy is your friend why?”
He chuckled. “From a guy’s perspective, he’s got his good points. Most of the time he thinks things through. He’d do anything for his friends. He’d be the first guy I’d call after T.J. if I was in trouble because he’d drop everything.”
“So you’d be okay with me living with him and his mom? Temporarily?”
“It’s up to you, but yeah, if that’s what you want. Then when Lil and I move into the new place, you can move back.”
Whoa! The idea sounded so reasonable when her brother sussed it out. Maybe she’d been letting her emotions run roughshod over her and cloud her judgment. “All right, Bro. I’ll think about it.”
Sleep remained at bay that night, but she finally came to a conclusion that would solve everyone’s problems. Well, almost everyone. And five happy people out of six was way better than none out of six.
Quinn lay on top of his covers without a stitch on, yet he still couldn’t cool off enough to fall back asleep. Slumber was as elusive as a unicorn. His buzzing phone surprised him, but more surprising was the name on his caller ID at 4:12 in the morning. Should he answer Psycho Sunshine’s call? Was she drunk or high and looking to entertain herself by chewing him another asshole?
Yeah, not in the mood for her vitriol.
He stuffed the phone under his covers to shut it up. Several seconds after the vibration stopped, a text chimed.
Goddamn, what does this woman want?
He told himself he was a dumbass for giving in to his curiosity, that it wouldn’t help him get to sleep, yet he hauled the phone to his face. A poke at the screen, and the little bubble with her message was crystal clear. And it shocked the hell out of him.
If the caregiver offer’s still open, I’m in.
Wiping his eyes, he looked again. The message hadn’t changed. He fumbled as he tapped out an answer.
Quinn: You are seriously texting me at four in the morning to tell me you’ve changed your mind about taking care of my mother?
Sarah: Give Sparky a gold star. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.
Quinn shook his head. When can you start? Shit, he hadn’t meant for that to come across all eager-beaver. She’d get the wrong idea that he wanted to hire her after all. Except he did want to hire her. Well, he didn’t want to hire her, but he needed to hire her. He’d run out of choices. And somewhere along the way, he’d gotten on board with the crazy idea that Sarah as a caregiver could work—maybe because facing his mother’s constant gimlet eye as she fumed at him was a less attractive alternative.
“Better to be plastered against a hard place or spread eagle across a rock?” he mused aloud.As he thumbed his response, he half expected to A) never hear from Sarah Sunshine again or B) have her tell him to go fuck himself. His mind hadn’t caught up to scenario C yet, which was exactly what she hit him with: I’ll be over at eight.
Quinn: As in 4 hrs?
Sarah: Exactly. Archer and me. Does that work for you?
Numbly, he typed two little letters and hit send before he could reconsider. OK.
He sat up,
