Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

He was definitely not a pro at this.

His movements were awkward, sure, but the real kicker was his method of squeezing dish soap on each and every bowl and plate. Under Roseanne's bewildered gaze, he looked up with an innocent expression and asked, "Isn't this how it's done?" Roseanne was speechless.

"If you don't mind, maybe you could show me?" Corley cleared his throat. "Back when I lived abroad, I usually only used a couple of dishes at a time, so I'd just put a little soap on each..."

"There's really no set way to do dishes, and there's more than one way to use dish soap. It varies from person to person. The main thing is to get the dishes clean. However..."

She shifted gears, "From a conservation standpoint, it might be better to squirt some soap into the water, dissolve it, and then use a sponge to wash everything. Rinse with clean water afterward, dry them off, and you're set."

"Is that how it's done..." Corley listened and followed her instructions.

Just as he was about to dissolve the dish soap in water, Roseanne suddenly spoke up -

"Wait!"

Corley stopped.

"Use hot water."

"Oh, right!"

After cleaning up, the two lingered for a bit before noticing it was getting late. They said their goodbyes to Madeleine.

Corley: "I drove here. Need a lift?"

The subway had stopped running by that hour.

to play coy. "Thanks, that'd

in

me 'senior' or just Corley. Or you could

"Sure thing, Mr. Sullivan."

doing this

habit, I guess.

call me whatever you

he'd make her willingly change how she addressed

...

later,

at the entrance to

"You're not going home?"

Got some data analysis

didn't pry further, just stopped the

got out, thanking

just waved: "Take care

"Will do."

time Roseanne reached the lab, it

up her workspace, it was nearly midnight. She turned off

its pre-summer rainy season. It been

of days. Content

streetlights, the rain looked

streets were nearly empty, with just the

already dark night felt even

her umbrella and