One Night In Reno by Rogenna Brewer

As naïve as it might seem, Jenny chose to believe the two were just good friends. 
    Though they’d been lovers once.
    She looked up from crumbling cornbread into her chili.  “Will you help me turn the mattress after lunch?”
    “Sure,” he agreed between spoonfuls.
    He obviously missed the significance of her request.  The truth was she’d rather burn it and buy a new one.  But California King mattresses were pricy.  And they had a budget.  While bed shopping for Josh, she’d tried to give back the twelve hundred dollars Garrett had snuck into her purse in Reno. 
    He’d told her to use it to buy the bed, groceries and anything else that would make them feel at home.  She’d purchased bedding, drapes, paint, groceries and a few personal items for her and Josh to replace those left behind.  She still had a significant amount of grocery money left, but needed to make it stretch to the end of the month. 
    Mr. Meat and Potatoes was used to eating a lot better than they were. 
    He liked his fruits and vegetables, too.  And didn’t overindulge his sweet tooth, but someday soon she was going to learn how to make an apple pie.  
    After lunch, Josh ran outside to play with his new friends from next door.
    Garrett owned both halves of the duplex and allowed another single mom and her three children to live there at a reduced rent in exchange for some light housekeeping.  Jenny assumed Maria was the other damsel in distress Tess had referred to.   
    Jenny was just thrilled to know a housekeeper would drop in once a week.  Maria was probably thrilled to live next door to a handyman who wasn’t a creep.
    Not all landlords were like Barry.
    Some men simply had good hearts.
    “What are you smiling about?” Garrett asked. 
    “You really think this is going to work?”  They stood on opposite sides of the twin box springs and upended mattress.  He wanted her to hold it steady while he centered his back to the mattress.  “It looks heavy.”
    “It is.”  He spread his arms and grabbed both sides and then bent at the waist taking the weight of the mattress across his broad back.  He turned in a slow half circle to face the bed.  Backed out from underneath and gave the mattress one final shove toward the headboard. She'd never seen anyone flip and turn a mattress in one move. 
    “You've done this before.”
    “I’ve had more than one girlfriend.”  He collapsed on the bed with an exhausted sigh.              
    Jenny stood over him with her hands to her hips.  She’d worked him hard this week and he wasn’t getting much quality sleep on the couch.  Still she didn’t want to think about him in this bed with other women. 
    He glanced over at her.  “We can get you a pillow top mattress if it makes you feel better.”
    “We could buy two twin mattresses instead,” she suggested, lying down beside him.  “The box spring already comes as two twins.  It’d be just like a hotel.”
    “You want me to sleep in here with you.”  He vetoed that option with a chuckle.  “No.”
    “I suppose that is a little 1950s.”
    “We’ll figure it out,” he said.  “For now, I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”
    “But you shouldn’t have to.”  She propped herself up on an elbow.  “I always wanted a Murphy Bed built into the wall.  There’s plenty of wall space in the living room.”
    “I suppose that’s a possibility.”  He frowned at her solution.  Maybe he didn’t want to solve their problem with separate beds.  
    Maybe neither of them did.
    “I need a nap while you think about it.”  She curled into his side.
    He hesitated, but then wrapped his arm around her.  There was an unspoken question in his hesitation.  She answered by snuggling closer.  “Or we could solve this problem with a kiss.”
    Garrett lifted his head the same time Jenny lifted hers.  At first, she thought he wasn’t going to kiss her, and then he brushed the hair from her