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“If we go through with it, it’ll just be sex,” Harper said.
Isla smiled. “That’s what you think.”
Chapter 6
Milo picked up Mr. Shultz for his doctor appointment. His family had taken his car keys away recently and paid Milo to bring him to all his appointments. Milo liked the old man and enjoyed their time together on the days when Mr. Shultz wasn’t cranky about the neighborhood kids playing on his lawn.
Mr. Shultz shuffled out with his walker. His tan pants were hitched up over his belly button and secured in place by a black leather belt. His light blue short-sleeve shirt was tucked in, and he had three pens in his pocket.
Milo got out of the car to help him down the front steps. He made it about halfway up the lawn when Mr. Shultz stopped him with a glare.
“If I needed your help, I’d ask for it,” he grumbled.
“Good thing I wasn’t offering my help.”
Milo stayed in place but was on alert in case Mr. Shultz toppled down the steps. He was a speed demon on solid ground, it was the stairs that worried Milo. His balance wasn’t as good as it once was.
Mr. Shultz managed the stairs with no problem and Milo hurried to the car, opening the passenger door for him. “I don’t need you opening doors for me. I’m not your girlfriend.”
“And thank God for that,” Milo said.
“How is that girlfriend of yours?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“The tall one with the brown hair. Does the painting.”
“Harper? She isn’t my girlfriend.”
“You live together.”
“We’re roommates.”
‘You’re always out together, and you help her with her art classes.”
“She’s my best friend.”
Mr. Shultz glanced at him. “Sounds like a girlfriend to me.”
“It’s not that complicated.”
“You live with a girl who’s not your girlfriend and she’s just your friend, but you go out together. I don’t know. That sounds pretty darn complicated to me.”
When he put it that way, it did, but he and Harper weren’t complicated at all. His relationship with Harper was the least complicated thing in his life.
“Why don’t we get in the car,” Milo said.
“In other words, you want me to shut up.”
“You said it, not me.”
“Back in my day we didn’t live with girls we didn’t intend to marry.” Mr. Shultz eased into the passenger seat, and Milo folded up his walker.
“Luckily, this is the twenty-first century, and nobody follows those rules anymore.” Milo shut the door as Mr. Shultz sighed and plopped his wrinkled hands into his lap.
Milo got in the driver’s seat and headed out. Mr. Shultz’s appointment took longer than expected, and Milo passed the time by texting Harper memes about roommate expectations vs reality. She was home, working on the glasses for Sofia’s graduation. He should’ve commissioned her to make commemorative shot glasses for his party. Not that he needed them or had ever given out favors at the end, but it would’ve given Harper more business. More business meant more money and one step closer to her opening a brick and mortar.
Next year, if she was still saving, he’d ask her. Though, he hoped she wouldn’t see right through him and refuse, knowing he was only doing it so he could give her money. He’d have to be sneakier just like with the business cards. He hoped they’d generate enough business for her that by the time she discovered what he did, she wouldn’t be mad. He crossed imaginary fingers and sent up a silent prayer.
