It wasn’t five minutes later, it wasn’t even ten, and on further consideration, Thom decided he should probably stop telling people how long he was going to be for anything. He’d never been able to get ready for anything in five minutes and there was a good chance he never would. While the whole “see you in five” thing was usually just a vague replacement for “see you soon,” it was one of those statements that he readily agreed to, be it at work or at his parents’ or just now, that ended up making him extremely uncomfortable. As if he should be ashamed of being late or needing more time. The last thing he needed was another reason to feel ashamed of himself.
He did what he always did when he needed more time—he convinced himself that he “had to” do something first. With the sweeping quick
