"Roger, honey, I love you but if you eat any more of my cookies I swear to god I will carry you outside and hang you on the clothesline by your feet whilst yodeling." I threatened, hearing footsteps from the kitchen to lounge where I sat, biting into another roasted marshmallow. Christmas Eve in the Taylor house was as strange as it was beautiful.  For one night, the stress of house-hunting and life in general seemed to fade away. 

"Lucy, my gorgeous angel, I love you but if you don't want me to eat something you should hide it better." 

"Just today, those cookies have been hidden in my underwear draw, the bathroom cupboard and under the vegetable stack in the fridge. What were you doing in my underwear draw to find them, anyway?" Roger fell into the couch next to me, a raspberry and white chocolate cookie in his mouth like a dog with a Frisbee. 

"Feeing if you had brought anyfing spefial fince dour." He answered, mouth full of my food I had made specifically for myself. 

"oh my god, please none of this while I'm here." Vivienne announced from the floor near the woodheater, eyeing us in disgust. Cross-legged on our carpet, she returned to pulling a slightly-burnt marshmallow off the metal rod in her hand, throwing it to me. 

"hey, I invited you here out of the goodness of my heart. If I wanna sexy talk and walk around in nothing but my underwear I will." Surprisingly, the first sentence was true. Roger had invited her to stay with us until New Years Day, partly me nagging and partly him feeling bad because she couldn't go home. Vivienne and her roommate, Kenny Massey, had a massive argument a few hours earlier, resulting in Vivienne's possessions being packed into a suitcase and placed on the back seat of  my BMW. A screaming match ensued, followed by swinging of fists. I joined in, getting him in the jaw before Roger grabbed me around the waist and carried me off, leaving Kenny to lick his wounds in peace. Now in her pink and white flannelette pajamas, she looked about ready to collapse after such a long day. I wasn't far behind her, that much I knew. 

"I hope you put my bag in the bedroom furthest away from yours. I have no plan to wake up to you two grinding it up in the room next to me."

"By the looks of you, Viv, you won't wake up for anything once you go to bed. Besides, Rogersaurus isn't getting any tonight. Punishment for cookie stealing." I got up slowly, walking over to my shitty Christmas tree. Once this house is gone from my life, you will be, too I thought to myself, adjusting an awkwardly positioned branch before moving it back to where it was before. This house was too organised and a little bit of askew-ness made it feel better. 

"I'm gonna go to bed. You two can stay up as long as you want and talk about the boys you like." I walked behind the couch, kissing the top of Roger's scruffy head, and continued to the bedroom, closing the door behind me and exhaling deeply. 

What if I gave Vivienne my house?

I woke up when the bedroom door opened again, light invading the room. Quietly, Roger crept in, closing the door behind him, and felt his way through the dark to his side of the bed. 

"sorry if I woke you." He whispered as I rolled onto my back and rested my head on it's side to face him.

"It's fine, gorgeous. Just get into bed so I can hug you." I pushed the covers down to my waist, lifting them up for Roger. He crawled in without wasting a second, his skin heating me up. His arms wrapped around me and I snuggled deep into his chest, kissing his skin and taking in his scent. To feel him close again after the European tour was everything I needed. He kissed the top of my head, sinking lower into the bed to get face-to-face with me. 

"I fucked up and I'm sorry. I will never do anything to get rid of this." He was talking about our argument on his return home. The rawness of the conflict was gone to me, I had forgiven him for sleeping around on tour. Roger found it harder to forgive himself. I put one of my hands on his hip, kissing his neck, then his cheek and his lips.

"Stop stealing my pregnancy food."

 You don't need to hear the rest, do you?