Pretending not to notice, I gave him a slight smile and complimented him again on dinner. “This tastes great. Thank you for cooking. Do you have a favorite food? I can put it on the next shopping list.” For a change, I kept my thoughts to myself.
He watched me for another minute as I ate. I tried not to let my face show anything I felt, tucking away the disappointment and annoyance. It didn’t do any good to feel either toward him. But it sure made it hard to enjoy the food. I pushed a few bites around on my plate before he finally uncrossed his arms and picked his fork back up to start eating again.
“Actually,” I continued, “let’s keep a shopping list on my dresser. When you think of something, you can add to it so I know what to get without guessing.” Maybe writing fell into the talking category and I’d be out of luck there too.
I ate the majority of the food on my plate and then brought it to the sink. Not wanting to risk him going back to his fur just yet, I grabbed my messenger bag and sat at the table to work on homework while he finished his meal. I usually did homework the day it was assigned, leaving the bigger projects and in-depth studying for the weekend if needed.
“If you want, when you’re done, we can watch a movie,” I offered.
He shrugged and moved to clean up his plate. I hopped up to help, but he motioned me back to the table pointing to the open book. Resuming my seat, I read while listening to him move about the kitchen as he put everything away.
While he washed the stove, I packed up my homework for the night. He wiped down the table and I hovered with my bag over my shoulder. I did not want to leave him to put it away and give him the opportunity to change again. When he had everything clean and the dishrag rinsed, he walked into the living room. I followed him and sat on the couch.
He bent to the cabinet below the TV and picked the movie for the night. A suspense.
“If I scream again when Rachel comes home, no laughing,” I said, curling on the couch waiting for him to start the movie.
The window behind the couch rattled as a strong wind blew. Wind pushed its way through, making the curtains move slightly. Considering where I lived, it seemed pointless to dread the cold, but I did. Soon I would probably start considering wearing snow pants just to walk to the car. Giving the fluttering curtain one last glare, I turned my attention toward the movie as Clay settled next to me.
This time, I didn’t feel so nervous and actually concentrated on the movie. Clay never twitched, but I jumped twice within the first ten minutes.
By the time the movie ended, the wind really howled outside and the temperature in the room had dropped to the point that I’d run to get a hoodie during a suspenseful scene. Thankfully, Clay didn’t pause the movie for me.
Sitting on my fingers in an effort to warm them, I couldn’t wait until the first. I still had a long way to go until we turned on the heat.
“Hey Clay,” I said suddenly inspired by an idea. I sprang from the couch and moved toward the kitchen. “Do you like cookies?” I could bake cookies to heat the house and Rachel couldn’t scold me for turning on the heat.
Rummaging through the cupboard, I saw we didn’t have any of the main ingredients. No sugar of any kind or flour. “Shoot,” I grumbled.
Having a good memory made it easy to recall my checking account and what I could and couldn’t afford. I’d splurged buying Clay clothes, something I considered a necessity. Along with many of the other unplanned expenses, it set me behind in my budget. Keeping the heat off longer would help make some of it up. But that meant no splurging on ingredients to bake cookies to warm the house either.
I closed the doors and turned to tell him the disappointing news. Instead of staying in the living room as I thought, he stood right behind me. All that came out was a strangled ‘gah’. He flashed a smile so wide that I saw teeth and couldn’t help but smile back. “Har-har. I told you no suspense movies. Life is scary enough without them. Oh, and false alarm on the cookies. We’re missing some main ingredients.”
He picked up my car keys, dangling them in front of me.
“It’s tempting, but unless I want to get a part-time job, I can’t afford to keep spending the money I’ve saved. I’ve got to stick to the budget so it lasts through til spring. If we can manage to keep the heat off until November, I should have cookie money for Christmas. That’s when cookies are best anyhow. I’ll just need to start wearing more clothes inside.”
Taking the keys from him, I put them back in the dish on the counter. When I turned, Clay wasn’t looking at me, but off to the side. I tried following his gaze, but he didn’t seem to be looking at anything. Shrugging, I left him to his own thoughts.