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

got in

you called me 'senior' or just Corley. Or you could just use my

"Sure thing, Mr. Sullivan."

you doing

innocence: "Just habit, I guess. Hard to

call me whatever you

though. One day, he'd make her willingly

...

later,

drop me at the entrance to Kingswell

"You're not going home?"

to stop by the lab. Got some data

just stopped the car

out, thanking him

waved: "Take care

"Will do."

time Roseanne reached the lab,

nearly midnight. She turned off the lights, checked that everything was powered down, and locked

its pre-summer rainy season. It been drizzling non-stop

days. Content

the glow of the streetlights, the

and the streets were nearly empty,

night felt even

and stepped into the