Settling in

Her vanity was now covered in oils and beauty products while Roth’s remained bare aside from the basics. 

She tried to contain her belongings to their designated area so she wouldn’t encroach too much on his territory. She would have preferred having her own bedroom and bathroom, but he insisted they play the part of a real married couple so they wouldn’t give the staff anything to gossip about. She understood, but worried that her messy tendencies would agitate his OCD. 

As a child, she’d been obsessively neat. With a father like Maximus, being tidy, prompt, and presentable was a necessity. But once she was on her own, she allowed herself a little more leniency. For the most part, she was still neat and organized, but when she was in reading or writing mode, she turned into a zombie. Nothing registered on her radar. Over the past week, she’d forgotten herself. She left her books in the living room, kitchen, and even the bathroom. Empty cups were everywhere. Clothes were draped over chairs or left on the floor instead of being tossed in a hamper. When she lived at Tuxedo Park with her father, she kept her messy self contained to her bedroom, and Thea helped when she slacked off. The last time she and Roth lived together, they were just getting to know each other. Everything was novel and exciting, and they drowned in sex. That was almost ten years ago. They were different people now. 

When she entered the closet, she saw her clothes were no longer on the floor. She hoped the overly efficient housekeeper was the one to pick them up, not Roth, but a glance at the suit he wore today that had been rehung and put in the designated area for dry cleaning made her cringe. She would make more effort not to be so hasty and careless. 

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Confessions. Please do not share or distribute.

I really enjoyed writing passages like this of their normal, every day lives. Simple things like living together, adjusting to one another. They were married for years, yet still strangers to one another in many ways. It makes me grin, thinking of Roth picking up her clothes and tidying up because he does have OCD tendencies. This is one of the main reasons why the books keep getting longer. I'm not trying to rush through their year together, more ambling along and really following the incremental changes month by month. It's so interesting to me and the more time I take with them, the more they divulge and surprise me. There's something about this couple that has me in a chokehold!