It ended up about three feet high, two feet wide, and a foot deep with four shelves for Tria to house her books. It wasn’t pretty by anyone’s standards, but the paint brightened it up, and it would at least do the job for which it was made.
“I think it turned out all right,” I said, tapping the back of one of the shelves with my fingers. “It seems to be pretty much dry now, too.”
“Are you going to carry it home?” she asked.
“Not much of an option there,” I said with a crooked smile.
“How about you put it in the back of my car and I drive you?” the cook suggested. “I’m done here until this evening. I have the time.”
“Really? That would be sweet! Thanks!”
I put some newspaper down on the back seat of Stacy’s beat up old Ford and placed the bookshelf on top of it. I climbed into the passenger seat of the musty smelling car and rolled down the window.
“So tell me about this roommate,” Stacy said as soon as the car started moving. “What’s her name?”
“Tria,” I replied.
“Is she pretty?” Stacy asked.
I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“And do you like her?”
“For Christ’s sake,” I growled. “How many times do I have to tell people it’s not like that?”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as she pulled out into the street.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “It’s just that everyone keeps assuming I’m doing her.”
“I didn’t assume anything,” Stacy stated. “I just asked if you liked her.”
I huffed out my nose.
“You did make her a bookcase,” she pointed out. “You must not hate her.”
“I like her fine,” I replied.
“Well, tell me about her, then.”
I reached up and scratched the back of my neck.
“She’s smart,” I said. “She’s studying economics.”
When I didn’t say anything else, Stacy prompted me for more.
“She’s a great cook. You’d like that,” I told her.
“You don’t eat my cooking so much anymore. I noticed that.”
I laughed.
“That would make living with someone easier,” she said with a nod. She turned the wheel and headed down the street and around the block. “Have you ever had a roommate before?”
“Not really,” I replied with a shrug. “I mean, I lived with Yolanda for a couple weeks when I was kicked out of my apartment, but that was temporary, ya know?”
“That’s when you first started working for Dordy, right? When you first started fighting?”