The Arrangement

“It’s totally okay.”

Burke’s eyes softened. They were full of understanding now. He stared back into mine, and I let both sides of my mouth curl into a grin.

“Actually,” I said, letting out a long sigh of gratification. “That was more than okay.”

Twenty

KAYLEEN

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

Marcy sat across from me, pushing a pair of french fries through a whole sea of ketchup. She was looking down into my phone. Scrolling through my photos with the causal, no-nonsense informality only reserved for the best of friends.

“And these are your roommates.”

“Yes.”

“All three of them.”

“Yes.”

I felt a little ashamed at our disconnect; we usually met once or twice a week for lunch or coffee. In this case I hadn’t seen her for about a month, maybe even a little more.

And she knew nothing about my new life… only that I’d moved.

“Kayleen, they’re gorgeous!”

I sipped nervously at my chocolate malt, while the rest of the diner swirled around us. It was a greasy little place, but they made great shakes and ice cream floats. Their onion rings weren’t bad either.

“Look at this guy,” she said, holding up a photo of Chase. “He’s perfect!”

“I know.”

“And this one here… the tall one. Oh my God, Kayleen.”

“Nathan.”

“He’s got no shirt on in any of these pics.”

I laughed. “He hardly wears one, actually. He surfs. Drives pretty far to reach his favorite beach, just about every morning.”

“And you live with them,” she said, scrolling some more. “All three. These guys, right here. In this fucking house…”

She was flipping through pics of the house now; of the kitchen, the gallery, the sunroom. Even some artsy-looking photos of the atrium, which I’d taken at cool upward angles to include the flawless blue sky.

“And you’re cooking for them?”

“I’ve been prepping for them for months now,” I explained. “But yes, now I’m in their live-in cook.”

“So they have money and muscles.”

I stirred at my malt, slowly nodding. “Sort of, yeah.”

The last few weeks had been nothing short of crazy. A whirlwind of adjustment, of settling in, and of getting into a good, solid routine.

And of course, jumping from bed to bed.

It had taken me this long to balance my outside work with my in-house duties, all while maintaining a day-by-day calendar of the guys’ writing schedules. I was a part-time cook and a full-time girlfriend. A small business owner, driving all over the valley, trying to make ends meet.