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"Have you been to a doctor?"
"No"
"Do you need anything?"
"Peace and quiet," he muttered
"You could have bronchitis or pneu"
"I’m perfectly fine At least, I was until you arrived" He walked across the carpet--a dark green-and-gold Persian, Maryanne noted automatically--and slumped onto an overstuffed sofa piled with blankets and pillows The television was on, its volume turned very low
"Then why haven’t you been at work?"
"I’m on vacation"
"Personally, I would’ve chosen a tropical island over a sofa in my own apartment" She advanced purposefully into his kitchen and stopped short when she caught sight of the dirty dishes stacked a foot high in the stainless-steel sink She was aht space
"This place is a mess!" she declared, hands on her hips
"Go ahead and call the health department if you’re so concerned"
"I probably should" Instead, she walked straight to the sink, rolled up her sleeves and started stacking the dishes on the counter
"What are you doing now?" Nolan shouted fro she couldn’t hear, which was probably for the best
"Go lie down, Nolan," she instructed "When I’et your strength back in order to suffer properly"
At first he let that co him to the limit of his endurance, he called out, "The way you care is truly touching"
"I was hoping you’d notice" For soht of her dishpan hands a week earlier, he see his dirty dishes Not that Maryannefor hi as she rinsed the dishes and set them in his dishwasher
Fifteena word When Maryanne had finished, she looked in the living room and wasn’t surprised to find hied at her heart as she gazed down at hi across his forehead His features were relaxed, but there was nothing reelic about him Not about the way his thick dark lashes brushed the arch of his cheek--or about the slow hoarse breaths that whispered through his half-open e to brush the hair from his forehead, to touch him, but she resisted She was afraid he’d wake up And she was evenabout the living roos here and there and straightened a few piles of azines She should leave now; she knew that Nolan wouldn’t welco for an excuse to linger She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Nolan’s raspy breathing
More by chance than design, Maryanne found herself standing next to his typewriter Feeling brave, and more than a little foolish, she looked down at the stack of paper resting beside it Glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was still asleep, Maryanne carefully turned over the top page and quickly read the last couple of paragraphs on Chapter Seventeen The story wasn’t finished, but she could tell he’d stopped during a cliff-hanger scene
Nolan had been so secretive about his project that she dared not invade his privacy any le sheet back over, taking care to place it exactly as she’d found it
Once again, she reo back to her own apartely reluctant to end theseNolan ould certainly be cranky when he woke up
Seeking some way to occupy herself, sheup several soiled towels on the way His bed was unmade She would’ve been surprised to find it in any other condition The sheets and blankets were sagging onto the floor, and two or three sets of clothing were scattered all about
Without questioning the wisdom of her actions, she bundled up the dirty laundry to take to the coin-operated e bag, then set about vigorously cleaning the apart were skills she’d perfected in her Rent-A-Maid days If nothing else, she’d had lots of practice cleaning up after erator, more than an hour later, proved to be a humorous adventure She found an unopened bottle of wine, a carton of broken egg shells and one li edible from that would be impossible, so she searched the apart full of laundry in her ar it softly
She returned a half-hour later, clutching two bags of groceries bought with her tip money Then she went down to put his laundry in the dryer To her relief, Nolan was still asleep She s his dinner After another forty-five minutes she retrieved his clean clothes and put the potatoes when she heard Nolan get up She continued her task, knowing he’d discover she was there soon enough He stopped cold when he did
"What are you doing here?"
"Making your dinner"
"I’ry," he snapped with no evidence of appreciation for her efforts
His eyes widened as he glanced around "What happened here? Oh, you’ve cleaned the place up"
"I didn’t think you’d notice," she answered sweetly, popping a set soup to the boiling stage before I leave you to your…peace of mind It should only take another ten or fifteen er?"
Hereplies before disappearing No more than two seconds had passed before he let out a bellow loud enough to shake the roof tiles
"What did you do to my bed?" he demanded as he stormed into the kitchen
"I made it"
"What else have you been up to? Damn it, a man isn’t safe in his own home with you around"