Chapter Twenty-four
Sam leaned against the wooden framework of her redesigned kitchen countertop, half watching and listening to the contractors as they put the finishing touches on her overhauled downstairs bath. She peeled the plastic lid off her coffee and braved the steam to snag a taste.
“Knock-knock.” Lucy’s sweet unmistakable voice came from the open front doorway, and Sam did her best to cover her enthusiasm at the surprise pop-in. “Are you busy?”
“Not at all.” Sam felt her heart pound even as she tried not to read too much into this impromptu visit. Their communication had been on a steady incline. They talked once a day, texted all the time, sometimes they even flirted. Sam wasn’t sure if it was deliberate, but it didn’t matter. It still counted in her mind, and as a bonus, for the last week and a half they’d spent a solid few minutes every night wishing each other sound sleep and pleasant dreams. It had to mean something. Friends didn’t do that, right?
Now at their first face-to-face in over a month, Sam searched for a sign, but Lucy’s tempered demeanor gave nothing away.
Lucy ran her hand along the smooth Sheetrock as she made her way inside. “Wow, big changes, huh?”
“Just upgrading mostly,” Sam answered casually. “A couple of fixes too.” She pointed her coffee in the direction of the freshly hung drywall. “I was thinking—”
“Oh my God,” Lucy interrupted her. “Are you drinking Starbucks?” Her mouth dropped open in mock horror.
Sam clenched her teeth and lifted her eyebrows in a kind of apology. “Sorry?”
“You should be.” Lucy was obviously teasing, but Sam still felt bad.
“What can I say?” She shrugged her shoulders trying to explain. “I was tired. I needed a boost.”
“Why didn’t you come into the store?” Lucy sounded almost hurt.
It broke Sam’s heart and she took a second to find the right words but nothing came to her. She went with the truth.
“I needed coffee. You need space. It’s a dilemma.”
Lucy blinked slowly, shaking her head. “You come to me. No matter what. That’s what you do. I’m telling you this for future reference.” She made her way closer to Sam’s spot near the makeshift counter. “I didn’t even know you were back from San Francisco.”
“My training ended sooner than I thought so I jumped on an earlier flight. I wanted to check on things here.”
“I was surprised when I saw your truck outside,” she said. “How’s the new job panning out?”
“Good,” Sam said with a nod. “My boss seems like a decent guy. There won’t be a ton of travel. Which means I can do everything from right here.” She let her eyes drift around the half-finished space. “That will give me a lot of opportunity to take on more freelance, which I’m pretty amped about.”
The two construction workers emerged from the bathroom, making a small racket as they packed up their tools for the day. They showed Sam their progress before consulting with her on tomorrow’s schedule. Sam shut the door behind them, ready to give her full attention back to Lucy.
“You should go with marble,” Lucy said. She rubbed her finger along the wooden bones. “For the countertop.”
“Not granite?”
“Granite is nice. Marble is nicer. It would look great with these gorgeous floors.”
“I thought there can be a staining issue with marble.”
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows in disbelief. “Sam, you don’t cook.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sam hung her head, shielding a tiny smile. “What if my girlfriend cooks? What if she bakes?”
Lucy’s face registered the playful banter. “There are things you can do to protect the surface.”
“Is it sturdy, though?” Sam tried for eye contact. “I mean what if there were things I wanted to do on it. Like, say, the baker?”
Lucy rolled her eyes, but her smile and her body language told Sam she liked the attention. “Stop it, you.”
Her voice was lively in a way that Sam hadn’t heard in ages and she couldn’t filter her emotion. “I miss you, Lucy.”
“I know, Sam.” Lucy was suddenly serious. “I miss you too.”
“How’s Emily?”
A small laugh appeared to escape beyond Lucy’s control. “She’s great, actually.”
“Really?”
Lucy answered with a nod. “Frankie moved out. Emily put their condo on the market. They both have lawyers, but honestly, it’s progressing very smoothly. They should be officially divorced in no time.”
“Wow. Fast.”
Lucy chewed the inside of her cheek. “It’s almost like this was the validation she needed to end things and move on with her life. It’s unbelievable.”
“That’s fantastic.” Sam took a sip of her drink, nervous about the response to her next question. She found her courage and asked, “How are things with you two?”
“Me and Emily?” She bobbed her head back and forth. “Things were awkward…for about one second.” She shrugged and smiled at the same time. “Ems and I, we can’t stay mad at each other. It’s just not how we function.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Sam fiddled with the top of a screw, sweeping sawdust off its head with the pad of her finger. “Does she hate me?”
“Who could hate you?” Lucy’s mouth turned into a kind of frown but her voice was oddly jovial.
“Um, your sister, for one.”
“Nah, you’re too sweet to hate. Plus you love me—that works heavily in your favor.”
“I do, you know. Love you.”
“I know.” Her voice was serious and sweet as she continued. “Emily knows it too. The thing about Emily is that she is sweet and kind and forgiving. She wants me to be happy and she knows I was happy with you.”
“You were, right?” Sam asked the question but didn’t wait for an answer. “I was too. More than I ever even knew I could be.” She heard the hitch in her own voice and tapped her finger on a two-by-four. “What do we do now?”
“Well, my therapist says I should go slow.” She touched Sam’s finger with her own. “Protect myself so I know exactly what I’m getting into. Set up boundaries so I don’t get hurt.”
“Okay.”
“But”—she let her hand cover Sam’s—“I don’t want to.”
Sam’s heart was pounding and she was useless to stop the smile from spreading across her face. “No, huh?”
“Nope.” Lucy moved closer and slipped between Sam and the counter. “I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”
“I won’t. Ever.” Her hands went to Lucy’s hips out of habit and desire. “You know that.”
“I do. In my heart, I do.”
“Good.” Sam leaned down and kissed her lips lightly. “Because it’s the truth.”
When they kissed, it was long and slow and deep. Weeks of separation were made up for in several moments of passion and honesty and love beyond measure. Sam wanted it to go on forever, but the sun was starting to set, and in minutes they would be surrounded by complete darkness.
“We should go,” she said, kissing her way down Lucy’s neck. “Wait a second.” She interrupted her own actions. “Shouldn’t you be working right now?”
“Yes,” Lucy whispered. She found Sam’s lips again. “I don’t know if you know this.” She breathed the words in Sam’s ear. “I’m the boss. I come and go as I please.”
“Is that right?”
“It is. And”—she stroked Sam’s cheeks—“there happens to be a full moon tonight. Did you know that?”
Sam didn’t bother to verbalize her response, relying instead on the look of pure disbelief she was sure was all over her face.
“Of course you do,” Lucy said answering her own question. “I do have to go shut down and lock up the store. But after that, I was wondering if you might take me somewhere to see it.”
“You’re going to close? Now? It’s not even six o’clock.”
“Can you imagine, closing shop early for a date.” She opened her mouth dramatically, teasing Sam outright. “I guess I must love you or something.” She rushed her hands through Sam’s hair, bringing her in for another kiss. “Come on, let’s go.”
Sam stepped back and grabbed her keys from her front pocket. “Lucy, you don’t have to. It’s an incredibly sweet gesture. Closing the store early, I mean.” She glanced around the barren room, making sure she had all her things. “But it’s not necessary. For real. The moon won’t be in the right spot for hours.”
“Oh, Sam,” Lucy said, with a lively lilt to her tone. “So naive you are sometimes.”
Sam’s laugh was completely honest. “What?”
“We have hours of catching up to do before that moon viewing.” She let her eyes run the length of Sam’s body, her intent on display as she backed toward the front door. “If you haven’t eaten in a while, I suggest you load up now.” She raised her eyebrows and bit her lip suggestively. “Lots of carbs. You’re going to need your energy.”
Sam felt a rush of happiness, desire, and pure love come to the surface but she kept her response simple. “Yes, ma’am.”