Instead I made up an excuse and went home. What was I rushing back to? I didn’t have so much as a pet hamster to take care of. Even if I did own a pet hamster, it would have been taken care of by our housekeeper like everything else. I’d told Jude over and over we didn’t need to employ outside help. Or we could at least give her a couple days off. I probably didn’t have it in me to clean our entire five bedroom, four bathroom, plus a million other rooms - including a panic room, a freaking panic room! - house alone. Jude wouldn’t hear of me trying, though. Aside from cooking, he insisted I let someone else do the work. I’d known him since I was seventeen and he’d always treated me like a princess. I loved him for it. I’d needed someone like him, someone who cared about me unconditionally. When I first moved in with him, we didn’t start dating right away. In fact, he made sure to keep his distance. He didn’t want to be like the other guys in my life who used me then threw me away.
