Chapter 1 Continued

"Honey, why do you keep looking at your hand and smiling?" Claire asked me, looking a bit worried, and I gently pushed her hair back as a sign of affection and told her, "Honey, I am just reminiscing about how I got a wonderful wife." And then there was the smile, which I will kill a person for.

She is so adorably cute, and then she said, "Ah, stop it!" and lightly punched me. This was just the kind of interaction that keeps me going in the day. Now it was time for dinner, and she made chicken plus mashed potatoes, a weird combination, I know, but I specifically requested it. She is just making them amazingly well.

However, as she was about to serve me the food, I heard a knock at the door, and I picked myself up from the table. I really did not want to; also, who could this be at such an ungodly hour? After a lot of curses to the person on the other side of the door, I grabbed the handle of the door and opened it. In front of my eyes, there was a girl about 23, so almost the same age as me and Claire, and she had a really worried expression, and she asked hurriedly, "Mister, is Ms. Claire here? Please tell me it...."

And then there was a tear forming on her face. I was so taken aback that I immediately called for Claire, "Claire! Claire!" and then Claire came in, hurried towards the door, and she saw the girl at the door, and with a look that resembled someone who was prepared for any situation, asked, "Horace, what happened to you? Scratch that; come inside."

Then the girl, who I know is named Horace, came inside our house. She took her shoes off, and Claire helped her sit on the living room's couch. She sat down with tears in her eyes. I don't know why, but I might be an asshole, but she did not look like a damsel in distress or anything; she looked like she was acting.

"So what happened, Horace?" Claire asked her patiently, and then Horace replied, "Ms. Claire, the guys at the Succor Center, they kicked me out, and now I have nowhere to go." and she kept crying. God, the new couch was being ruined. This is not happening, I mentioned to Claire with my eyes to kick Horace out.

She looked at me with her surprised eyes and asked Horace, "If you don't have a place to sleep tonight, you can always sleep here. Don't worry about it. Would you like to have some dinner?"

And Horace nodded; of course that bitch nodded. I don't know why, but she looks extremely fake to me in a way I cannot explain. Then the dining table, which was made for two people, now had a third guest, and Claire made me sit on the floor. This pissed me further, but my earlier signal about kicking Horace out made Claire furious, so I did not say anything more.

And thus we finished our dinner. Now the time was for sleeping arrangements. We only had one bedroom in the house; it was something we were used to, but with Horace here, it complicated things. Claire looked at me and signaled to me that she wanted to talk in private. She told Horace, "Horace dear, I need to talk to my hubby here about sleeping arrangements; can you give us a second?"

And thus I and Claire went into the kitchen to have this chat. Claire immediately opened with, "Bryon, can you take the couch, please?" and I was furious with this question and told Claire that by saying, "Claire, honey, no, that is not happening. She is our guest; she can take the couch."