Laura had a good week, she admitted. It hadn’t started out that way, but by Thursday, while she was mowing Cassidy’s yard, she’d finally gotten to the point where the damn kiss wasn’t at the forefront of her mind.
On Sunday, even after she’d realized that Cassidy had left—without saying goodbye—she hadn’t wandered outside of the house. If her mother was curious about her being underfoot, she didn’t mention it. A brief rain shower and the ensuing humidity was as good an excuse as any to stay inside. She’d roasted the chicken early and after dinner, she’d joined her mother in the den to watch TV. A mindless activity but at least it kept Cassidy—and the kiss—at bay.
Monday and Wednesday were water therapy days and she found her mother was actually looking forward to their sessions now. She also noticed that her mother was getting stronger. After they got out of the pool, her suggested walk was not met with rejection, and both days they’d made it to the end of the road and back without any missteps. And they’d finally agreed on a paint color for the house—a light brown with beige trim.
So yes, it had been a good week. Things were back to normal. She was the yard girl and she kept busy. The lawns were manicured to perfection, the flowers were watered and blooming beautifully. A good week.
But now that Friday had rolled around, she wondered if the good week would be followed by a good weekend. Would Cassidy avoid her? Would she avoid Cassidy? She supposed, really, there was no reason for them to even see each other. They had no plans for dinner. It wasn’t like they had to hang out at the pool together. And anyway, Cassidy was probably bringing company with her. Female company. Some skinny blonde.
She refused to acknowledge the stab of jealousy she felt at that thought. Jealousy, of all things! They kissed. A tiny, little, quick kiss. It was nothing. It meant absolutely nothing.
But it wasn’t tiny and it wasn’t quick, and when she closed her eyes, she could still feel Cassidy’s mouth on hers. She could still taste her…taste the lingering sweetness of her lips.
Damn.
No. She hoped she didn’t see Cassidy. She hoped that Cassidy brought company. Yes, that’s what she hoped. Cassidy and one of her women, hanging out at the pool…probably naked.
No! That’s not what she wanted. She didn’t want a skinny, blond woman—naked—out with Cassidy.
What she wanted was…
The ringing of her phone interrupted her, and she didn’t have to glance at it to know who it was. She’d changed the ringtone weeks ago. But why was she calling? Maybe she wasn’t coming this weekend after all. Maybe all this worrying was for nothing.
She swallowed down her nervousness before answering. “Hi,” she said, hoping her voice sounded normal.
“Hey. What are you doing?”
Laura bit her lip. “Thinking about you and that damn kiss” didn’t seem like the proper thing to say. She pushed open the back door and went out onto the patio.
“Nothing really,” she said. “Where are you?”
“Here.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Here here?”
Cassidy laughed. “Yes. So why don’t you come over? Pool?”
Bad idea, she thought. Very bad idea. But it was hot, she reasoned. The cool water would feel good. Damn. But no. She shook her head. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea.
“Please.”
Oh, God. “Okay. When?”
“Now?”
“Are you…are you alone?”
“Does that make a difference?”
“If there’s a skinny, blond model there with you, I’d just as soon not join you,” she said bluntly.
“Laura…I’m alone. Come over.”
She sighed. “This is a bad idea.”
“I promise I’ll behave.”
Laura grabbed the bridge of her nose and squeezed. “We should…we should talk.”
“I think we are talking…right?”
Laura smiled. Well, apparently Cassidy wanted to pretend that the kiss never happened. She also wondered if she was going to pretend that she didn’t leave extra early last Sunday to avoid her. But she was here early, Laura noted. Extra early on a Friday. Oh, it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.
“Okay. Let me change. I’ll be right over.”
* * *
Cassidy wasn’t sure what it was about Laura that made her question her own self-assurance, but as soon as the call ended, she felt a little apprehensive…a bit nervous. She, who prided herself on her confidence, was feeling nervous, of all things…because Laura was coming over.
Maybe she shouldn’t have called her. Maybe she should have waited until tomorrow. But no. Erica and Amber were coming tomorrow. They were spending the night. And for once, Cassidy hadn’t been the one to extend the invitation. Erica had called on Thursday, saying they were free for the weekend and would she mind guests. What was she supposed to say? No? No, she couldn’t have guests because she was all mixed up inside because she and Laura kissed. Wouldn’t Erica find that amusing? Cassidy—who could date any woman she wanted—was feeling insecure because she and Laura kissed.
You’ve kissed lots of women, she reminded herself. Tons. Why was Laura’s kiss different? She swallowed, glancing to the spot where they’d been. It was different because she hadn’t been in control. No…she’d felt light-headed. She’d felt faint, for God’s sake.
“Are you okay?”
She jumped, finding the woman who had been invading her thoughts for the last week. She looked at Laura. Not just the last week, no. Much longer than that.
“Cassidy?”
She finally shook her thoughts away and smiled. “Hey.”
Laura came closer, a frown on her face. “A million miles away?”
Cassidy nodded. “Lost in thought, yes.” She took a step away from Laura. “Beer?”
Laura eyed her suspiciously. “You’re acting weird.”
“That’s because I don’t know how to act.”
“I thought you said that we didn’t need to talk.”
“I never said that.”
Laura pulled off her shirt and Cassidy’s breath held. Laura pointed at her. “Get in the pool. I’ll get the floats. I’ll bring the beer.”
Cassidy stood there mutely as Laura walked away. She had her cutoff jeans on…and all Cassidy could think of at that moment was slipping off those cutoff jeans. She shook her head quickly, then yanked her own shorts off and practically fell into the pool. She ducked under the water and swam down to the deep end where it was cooler. She surfaced under the shade of the diving board and held onto the side, turning to watch as Laura made her way back over. Two floats were tossed into the pool and Laura—like Cassidy always did—covered the beer bucket with a towel.
And then…those cutoff jeans were unbuttoned, the zipper lowered…and Cassidy felt her heart hammering in her chest, felt her breathing increase, felt her losing her grip on the side of the pool. She held on, her gaze locked on Laura’s hands as they shoved the cutoff jeans down her legs, past her thighs and knees to her ankles. When she stepped out of them, Cassidy lost her grip on the side and slipped under the water. She came up sputtering and coughing, finding Laura staring at her.
“What in the world is wrong with you, Cassidy?”
Laura was across the pool on the other side, not even in waist-deep water. There were no longer any oddly placed tan lines to be seen. It was the same swimsuit she normally wore—the one with shades of purple and black. She also had a solid black one, but that was a little more sporty than this one and didn’t show quite so much cleavage. Of course she was staring, and she certainly didn’t need to be staring at Laura’s breasts…she was liable to drown.
She cleared her throat. “Do you think we should talk?”
Laura raised her eyebrows.
“Because I think we should probably talk,” Cassidy continued.
“About the kiss?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Laura stayed where she was, the water lapping just above her thighs. Cassidy stayed where she was, holding on the side of the pool for dear life. They stared at each other for a long—quiet—moment. Then Cassidy smiled and Laura did the same. Cassidy finally looked away, laughing a little at how ridiculous the situation was. Laura laughed too.
“Okay, then…glad we got that out of the way.”
“Will you just relax,” Laura said as she shoved a float toward her.
“I thought you wanted to talk.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Good. Because I didn’t really want to talk about it either.”
Laura got on her float, fighting with it as she usually did, making Cassidy laugh.
“I hate this damn thing.”
Cassidy got onto her own float on the first try. “You have all week to practice; I don’t know what the problem is.”
“If you think all I do is lounge in your pool all week, you obviously have not inspected your yard.”
“You’re right. It was dark when I got here. My apologies.”
Laura spun her float around to look at her. “You got here last night? Why did it take you so long to call me?”
“I…I had things…to do. Then—”
Laura met her gaze. “You left early last Sunday, you got here late yesterday—a Thursday. So…”
Cassidy sighed. “You know why.”
“You were avoiding me.”
“Yes. And don’t ask me why. You know why.”
“Because you kissed me.”
“Look, it wasn’t only me kissing you. You kissed me too, you know.”
“Against my will!”
“Oh, please!”
Laura smiled. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about it?”
“Yeah…let’s don’t.” She paddled over to the beer bucket. “Did you have a good week?”
“I did. I stayed busy. I hardly gave you a thought at all.”
“Good. Me too.” She put two beers into koozies. “See? We kissed. We didn’t give it another thought. It’s over with. See how easy that was?”
Laura met her gaze. “I’m lying, you know.”
Cassidy nodded. “Yeah…me too.”
Laura took the beer from her. “So we won’t ever do that again, right?”
Cassidy tried to read her eyes. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” she answered quickly.
Yes, that was probably the best way to handle this. Just don’t do it again. That’s what Laura wanted. But no. That’s what Laura was saying she wanted. Her eyes, however, said something else entirely. But Cassidy would play along with her. For now.
“Okay. We won’t ever do that again.”
Laura smiled. “See? Now we can forget about it and get back to normal.”
“Normal? Like me bringing women here on the weekends? Normal like that?”
“Yes. If that’s what you consider normal,” she said a bit tersely.
Cassidy went to great pains to hide her smile and keep her expression even. “Wish I had known that before I came down. I’ve got some friends coming tomorrow—Erica and Amber. I would have made arrangements for them to bring someone. You know, for me.”
Laura simply stared at her but made no comment.
“Of course, if you’re free, you might want to join us.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’ve known Erica ten years or so. Amber’s been around the last two, I think. They’ve been out here before a couple of times.”
Laura shook her head. “No.”
“Steaks,” she said with a teasing smile. “Cooked to perfection.”
“Must you?”
“What? Tempt you with food?”
“Yes.”
Cassidy smiled. “So join us. It won’t be nearly as much fun as it was with Tanya and Derrick but…” But what? It would give them time together? It was probably a mistake. Erica and Amber were so different than Laura. She couldn’t imagine them having anything in common and even less to talk about. Why would she even suggest it? Because she was being selfish, she admitted. She wanted Laura around. Even if she had to tolerate Erica and Amber for a few hours, she wanted Laura’s presence there.
“So you’re already telling me that I won’t have a good time, but you still want me to come.”
“Yes.”
Laura tilted her head. “Why?”
Cassidy met her gaze and held it. “Because.”
Laura stared at her for a long moment, then she simply smiled. “Okay.”
“Thank you.” Then she grinned and splashed water at her. “See? Normal stuff.”
“I’m only coming for the steak, you know.”
“Sure. You can believe that if you want.”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s so not the truth.”
Laura dove off her float, tipping Cassidy—beer bottle and all—into the water. She came up laughing, only to have Laura dunk her under again. A water fight ensued and Cassidy had to admit, it had been years and years since she’d engaged in such adolescent fun in the pool.
Or maybe it wasn’t so adolescent, despite the tickling. When Laura’s hand accidently grazed her breast—her nipple—their eyes flew together, both of them bobbing there in the water. Then Laura smiled, then laughed.
“Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. Really. Feel free to do it again…anytime. As much as you want.”
Laura jumped on top of her, taking them both under water. Cassidy was still smiling when Laura finally released her.
“Okay…truce,” Laura said breathlessly. “I’m too old for this.”
Cassidy nodded. “Truce.” She got back on her float. “You owe me a beer.”