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Huh? This was not the direction thisto her bedroo turned into sudden thirst As if he read her mind, he walked out of the room and toward the kitchen A rush of water, then he re-appeared, glass in hand

"Drink this," he said kindly, not sitting next to her as she'd hoped What had gone wrong? What had she said?

"Who texted you?" she asked after gulping down the water Exhaustion began to seep in, but she fought it Not now!

"Krysta"

Oh, she was going to kill that woman

"What did she say?" Lydia's voice carowl, and Matt flinched Good If Krysta had just cockblocked them, she was –

He slid his phone out of his pocket and flashed it at her

Madge will e the text read

"Oh, God!" Lydia groaned in anguish "Way to kill off every single sexual drop in me, Grandma"

"I think that was the point"

The rooh Lydia stood and swayed a bit, Matt rushing to help her "I'm really tired," she said, reluctant to ads surprised her, and he s her walk to her bedroom

A very different walk than the one she'd envisioned o

In her room, he pointed to her dresser "Get dressed in your pajalass of water for the " As he stepped out, he kissed the top of her head "You'll need it," he chuckled

Pulling off her skirt, she rooted around her top drawer for granny panties and put those on, plus her favorite penguin-covered flannel Pjs, her feet grateful to be released froht was shot, and some part of her had slipped out of desire to an acceptance that, oh, soht as she slid between the cool sheets, her cheek loving the pillow's downy luxury

Barely noticing Matt when he came back in, her last ertips on her forehead

On his way out, she heard hiht

Who was perfor the macarena in the apartment above hers? Wait – there was no apartment above her She and Grandma lived on the top floor So, the jackhammer, the bum bum bum bum bumpa-bumpa-bumpa bump in her brain was in her brain and not really outside Someone appeared to have sneaked into her hoht and sprayed her mouth with cotton balls As she peeled her eyelids open, her fingers prying the flesh apart, the sun attacked her with all the violence of a provoked porcupine and she realized that she was just waking up in the

In bed, in her favorite jammies, shoes off and placed neatly under her bed She could see the little pieces of purple leather fro down One of her grandhans was thrown over her – quite neatly, in fact – squared perfectly with the bed She , and frootten up to have any water or to do anything to otten ho back The bar, the dancing, her hands on Matt, the way – oh, God! Maybe the Earth would s her whole and suck her in Would that take away the blinding pain? Even o to work this ht? She felt under the afghan quickly and located her panties They were on Whew! It hadn’t been that bad Lydia relaxed her shoulders, her body sinking into the soft mattress It relieved the pain for about three seconds and then it caht noere three Advil, a giant glass of water, and a cup of coffee

Water was right there, next to the bed Drunk off her ass and she remembered to do that? Not her style Greedy for the liquid, she sucked it down, and then re ahead to her hangover A small, shy smile covered her lips

No one else was here Grandma was at Ed's house She was co to help her, it had to be her The downside of being single

As she slid her legs over the side of the bed and rolled her head back on the bed, she lay prone, feet flat on the floor, arer her solar plexus and abs to curl her body up, to change blood pressure, to recover physically enough to even begin to plan out how she would nal to her belly to encourage her ar that last Cos? And at 9 each, she wasn’t exactly rolling in it now 27 for a headache Not a bargain Worst deal ever – because she felt as if she had made a deal with the Devil himself: Matt Jones A deal that took away her respect, her professionalism, and a little chink of her heart because as she felt for her panties again in a panic – oh good, they were there – the next thought hy are they still there? Why wasn’t she good enough to sleep with last night?

She propped herself up on her hands, pal within seconds fro down She had very little head control but she needed to acquire it And so, deterht her a long ti is, if you wait long enough, it will go away If she waited long enough perhaps Matt Jones would go away But oh, how she didn’t him to