<div style="text-align: justify;">Angelique was relieved to know that Kyle had believed her. The last thing she wanted was to make her old friend feel bad. If that meant telling a white lie, Angie was okay with it. <br/><br/>She could never have imagined that Kyle would have such an intense reaction to such a simple touch. Angelique was a warm-hearted person, and she enjoyed touching those she liked. But of course, she would never have touched Kyle that way should she have known what his reaction would be. For her, what had happened years ago had been great, but it had stayed in the past. She would never dream in a million years that for him, it hadn’t.<br/><br/>Of course, she hadn’t completely forgotten about their moment together. But for Angie, that’s what it had been - a moment. A good one, even great, but for her, it had stayed in the past after she had decided that her regular life and usual partner were good enough. And it wasn’t like Kyle had made a big deal out of it, at least not on the outside. So, his reaction surprised her a lot. <br/><br/>Something inside Angelique wondered about the reasons behind Kyle’s reaction. She hoped that she was reading too much into it, and ended up deciding that she surely was. It wasn’t like Angie was at a good place to deal with any more stress right now. Had she been herself at the moment, and she would surely have called Kyle out for a conversation. But not now. Not while her mind was still trying to adjust to the big change of losing her job.<br/><br/>When Kyle opened the door for Alex and then for her, Angelique sighed in relief and stepped in, getting her seat belt on and turning to scratch behind the dog’s ear. She then nodded at his comment on it being just a few more minutes. Despite everything, she was really looking forward to get to the house and have a nice shower or bath, whatever was available.<br/><br/>This time, Angelique didn’t lean closer to Kyle. She wasn’t sure about whether or not that would be a good idea, since she didn’t know what was actually going on. When he started speaking, though, she turned her attention to Kyle and listened. It was a relief to talk about practical matters, instead of others that could get somewhat awkward.<br/><br/>The idea of Jambalaya made Angelique smile. It was the kind of thing that would surely make her feel at home. “I love Jambalaya, and no, I haven’t gone vegan. I enjoy meat too much for that”, she replied, clearly cheering up. She smiled again when Kyle said he had taken up cooking. It had always been one of her favorite ways to pass the time when she felt stressed. “Maybe we should cook something together one of these days”, she suggested, not really thinking that her words might give him any ideas.<br/><br/>After this suggestion, Angelique listened to what Kyle had to say about period kitchens. He was right about it not being practical, but it was surely a pity that the kitchen could not match the entire house. She mused to herself - silently - that should she ever be able to afford one of those homes, she would want the kitchen to follow the rest of the house, even if it meant some serious discomfort. The idea of a candlelit dining room didn’t bother her either. It should all add to that ‘old house’ feel, and it would be fun. “I’m sure everything will be perfect”, she stated gently. “You don’t really need to worry about me, you’ll see I’m very easy to please”.<br/><br/>As they reached the property, Angelique felt both a wave of relief and some strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Shrugging it off, Angelique turned her attention to what Kyle had to say. “Sounds great”, she agreed immediately to his suggestion of showing her the outside in the morning. <br/><br/>Stepping out of the car, Angelique looked around. It felt funny, but there wasn’t anything really strange about the house. Entering the kitchen, with all the modern appliances, made her feel a little more at ease. “You’re really doing a great job here. I can’t wait to start writing about this project”, she commented sincerely. <br/><br/>Moving past the kitchen brought back that sense of uneasiness, and Angelique tried to ignore it as they moved up the ancient stairs. <br/><br/>Entering the master bedroom brought a chill down Angelique’s spine. She had zero idea why, and chalked it up to being overly tired after the trip there. Hopefully, that was it, and not her coming down with something. “Are you sure?”, she asked anyway. “Shouldn’t you have it?”, Angie completed. The last thing she wanted was to make Kyle feel like he had to give her any special treatment. The idea of crashing for a while was very tempting, but she needed to make sure that she wasn’t being a bother at all. “I will sleep anywhere, you know. But taking a shower and crashing for about half an hour would be heaven. Would that be okay with you?”.<br/><br/>After she finished speaking, Angelique waited for Kyle’s response, still feeling that funny uneasiness.</div>