Rule No. 1: No Romance (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 10

When Joane asked me to take care of her kids for a little while, I expected it to be... for a little while — I surely wasn't expecting to sleep with all three of them, Joane included, on the same bed. And I definitely wasn't expecting to have to rush through the morning, helping Joane dress the kids for school.

"How do you do this every morning?" I groan as I watch her strap them in their toddler car seats. "And you're never late, that's impressive."

"Finally some appreciation, thank you."

"Thank you, for convincing me once and for all that kids aren't for me."

"Don't say that, they love you and you're great with them," Joane chuckles, finally done strapping them in. "I'll take them to school, you can go on ahead."

"I'll wait for you at the cafe down the street to the office, I'm in desperate need of caffeine," I say, muttering the last sentence as I walk to my car.

"Order me a latte," I can hear her shouting from the other side of the parking lot, I simply wave my hand silently acknowledging her words.

It didn't take her long to meet me at the cafe, I'd say 10 minutes which was about the time it took me to order and wait for our coffee, and then find us a table to sit in. We still have about 20 minutes to spare, on any other day I'd be rushing to the office to finish work ahead of time but after yesterday, extra work might as well be the last thing I want to be doing.

"Hey," Joane says, sitting in front of me.

"Hi," I mumble, sliding the coffee cup to her.

"You're in such a good mood today," she jokes, accepting the coffee.

"Well, I do enjoy a good night of sleep, it's crucial to get me in a good mood. Definitely not one where I have 3 people kicking me and stealing my blanket — but also, why would you need a blanket when you're being sandwiched," I say, peering at her as I take a sip of my coffee, an amused smile on her lips. "Why are your hands so cold?" I blurt out without much thought.

"Huh?"

"Your hands are always cold, I have noticed that before but yesterday... You should really check if you have iron deficiency."

"I have been taking supplements" she chuckles with a furrowed brow. "I haven't had cold hands for a while now," she completes, touching my arm, a rather normal amount of warmth radiating from her hands.

So I did imagine it after all.

I hum, not really knowing why I asked it in the first place or what to say next. "Is Mark fully out of the house now?"

"Yeah, he still has a few things that he has to move out but he has already rented an apartment that he'll be staying in starting today, it's closer to his office, he seems pretty happy about that," she says, obviously noticing the sudden change in the course of the conversation but just going with it. "Don't worry, you won't need to stay with the kids again."

"I thought he wasn't very happy about the divorce."

"He's happy that now he'll be able to sleep with as many women as he wants but every respected man has a family, that's what he isn't happy about — he wants the best of both worlds."

"That sums up about 80% of marriages, couples that hate each other but put up with it because of their reputation — are you still obsessed with getting me married?"

"It can't be that high."

"It can... or perhaps not, I made that number up," I say, clicking my tongue. "But it doesn't matter, you see this everywhere."