You've been cerved.

Inez

Inez almost dropped a box of chubby ceramic angels (and a lone baby Jesus in porcelain) when she saw her secret boyfriend Andersen and her housemate Tamra both climb out of Andersen's truck in the parking lot of the Faith Brigade consignment shop.

"What — how — did — ?" Inez gave Andersen a worried look as soon as he opened the door.

"Calm down, Inez. Tamra knows, but only her...I think," Andersen looked down at Tamra.

"I doubt Claire was paying attention. You could always ask - Claire called you what? Seven times in the car?" Tamra pulled a statue out of Inez's box and inspected it. "Jesus, Inez, you have a thing for the O'Malleys - your loyalty to Claire and didn't you date one of Andersen's older brothers in high school? Not Liam - the other one. How are there so many of you?" Tamra asked Andersen accusingly.

Andersen closed the door and grinned. "It's cuz us O'Malley's are so charismatic."

Tamra rolled her eyes so hard Inez worried she'd hurt her head.

"Andersen, could you give me a hand, please? It's actually quite heavy," Inez indicated the box.

Andersen snatched the box from Inez. "Where do you want these, my lady?" He asked. His phone buzzed in his back pocket, but he ignored it.

Tamra hefted the statue in her hand. "Do you know the Bible actually describes cherubs as having four wings? And seraphim, well, they're terrifying! According to the Bible, they have six wings and I think several faces of like humans AND animals like lions and cows and stuff..."

"Thank you, Tamra. As always, very interesting," Inez led Andersen to the front window and began rearranging the original display of back-to-school paraphernalia.

"It's hard to tell angels from demons if you read the source material is my point," Tamra explained, following them.

Andersen set the box down and began handing angels to Inez as she pointed to them. His phone started buzzing again.

Inez scolded, "Andersen, you need to call Claire back!" She used the porcelain Jesus to emphasize her point, waving it in the direction of his back pocket.

"She's only going to yell at me and tell me to do stuff," Andersen whined. "She missed a career as an Army drill sergeant, my sister....She and my mom." He said the last sentence wistfully.

"From what I read the Army is not a nice place for women. I saw this documentary on Netflix — " Tamra began just as Inez tossed an angel at her.

Tamra caught the angel, but only barely. "Whoa! Careful!"

"Put that angel by the register, would you please, Tamra?" Inez turned and started to arrange the remaining ceramic angels around the baby Jesus. The baby Jesuses were always purchased first, in her experience, but only if they were front and centre.

When Tamra returned from her errand, Inez and Andersen were sharing an intimate moment just out of sight of the window. Inez caught Tamra's look of disgust as Andersen's lips made his way down Inez's neck.

Sucking in a breath, Inez called out, "so let's talk rent then!" She disentangled her limbs from Andersen.

"Huh?" Andersen looked cute but slightly stupid.

Inez laughed. "Tamra's excited to pay less for her room now that you're moving in."

Andersen brightened and turned to Tamra. "Ah yes, you have the big room right now, right? With an adjoining bathroom."

"Which I'll keep," Tamra agreed. "But how much are you going to contribute, Andersen? I mean, are you even employed?"

"Tamra!" Inez gasped.