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“Let’s get you some food.”
Frenchie gobbled up his kibble, then looked at Milo. “That’s all you get.” He sat at the table. “Come on, motivation. You can’t sit here all night listening to the rain.” He stood and went to the parlor. The gray walls looked great, and the white moldings along the ceiling and the floor would look fantastic. He went to the fireplace. The most productive thing he could do was finish sanding it so it would be ready to paint.
Milo spent the next several hours prepping the wood, taking a half-hour off to eat a sandwich. He finished at eleven and stood back to look at it.
“Perfect.” Frenchie came up and sat next to him. “What do you think?” Frenchie barked once.
Milo showered and went to bed, looking forward to seeing Wilda in the morning. He scowled at the ceiling. “Dude, why are you obsessing? Wilda is… It’s never going to happen.”
The phone ringing woke him, and he grumbled, then picked it up to see who it was. “Rachel.” He answered. “Hey. Why, why, why?”
“I’m sorry. It’s important.”
Milo checked the time. “Midnight important?”
“Yes. There’s a…don’t be mad.”
“Just tell me.”
“There’s a giant…no exaggeration…ginormous spider in my bathroom.”
Milo tugged on his blankets. “You woke me up for a spider?”
“I know. I’m pathetic. But…it’s so big, and you know how I feel about spiders.”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
“I want…” She sighed. “I’m being selfish.”
“A little bit, yeah.”
“I’ll close the bathroom door and the bedroom door and sleep in the living room. Or maybe I’ll go get a motel for the night.”
“Rachel!”
“I hate spiders.”
Milo groaned. “Where is this ginormous spider?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Where in the bathroom?”
“In the tub, just hanging out and mocking me.”
“Wow.”
“Will you come kill it in the morning?”
He sat up. “I’ll be there in thirty.”
“Really? You don’t need to.”
“You wouldn’t have called me if you didn’t think I’d come kill it for you tonight.”
“You’re the best friend ever.”
“I know. You owe me big time for this.”
