Joanna forced a grin, hoping it would somehow lessen the heat in her cheeks. Her fingers had only touched Addison’s for an instant, but like a lit fuse, the sizzle of that touch slithered through her body until it reached her core...and detonated. Refusing to make eye contact with Addison, Joanna scurried back to the stove. She prayed her blush had gone unnoticed, and holding her breath, she didn’t exhale until she heard Addison descending the pantry stairs.

Joanna stared at the empty plates in front of her, mentally scolding her body for reacting to the impossible. It wasn’t who she was, and repeating those words in her brain like a mantra, she snatched a serving spoon from the counter and began heaping spoonfuls of steaming casserole onto the plates.

Lost in her thoughts, Joanna didn’t notice that Addison had returned until she placed the candle and two bottles of wine on the counter.

“I wasn’t sure what we were having, so I brought up a red and a white.”

Joanna was about to reply, but when she looked up, she burst out laughing. “What did you do? Feel your way?”

Addison tilted her head to the side, and following Joanna’s line of sight, she discovered that her once black trousers were now covered in splotches of gray and brown dust. “Christ,” she said, reaching down to brush off the dirt. “I guess I rubbed up against the wall.”

“Looks like you became one with the wall if you ask me,” Joanna said, picking up the plates. “See you in the dining room.”

Joanna walked around Addison as she headed to the door, but when she noticed something on Addison’s jacket, she came to a dead stop. “Um...Addison?”

Intent on removing every last speck of soot, Addison didn’t look up. “Yeah?”

“How do you feel about...about spiders?”

Liquid nitrogen could not have worked any faster. In an instant, Addison became a hunched over sculpture in the middle of the kitchen. Finding it almost impossible to breathe, it took everything Addison had to raise her eyes.

Joanna wasn’t fond of spiders, but more times than not she had ushered them out of her house on scraps of paper, allowing them to live out their days amongst the blades of grass and weeds. It seemed the humane thing to do, but seeing the absolute terror in Addison’s eyes, Joanna knew this particular arachnoid wasn’t going to be so lucky.

“Where...where is it?” Addison croaked.

“It’s on the back of your jacket. Just give me a second, and I’ll get it off.”

A second seemed like a lifetime, which left Addison with two choices. Wait a lifetime or become the village idiot. Addison chose the latter.