Grace lay in Robyn’s attic loft grinning like a schoolgirl. She closed her eyes and thought about where her morning would have gone had Robyn not had the horses. Exploring her own skin, she thought of how different Robyn’s skilled woodworking hands felt against her body, how the lightest of touches made her tingle to her core. And her hands on Robyn’s soft skin, how different it felt to traverse the same landmarks on another body taking in the strength of her arms, back, thighs. She needed to get up, get dressed, find something to eat, but all she could do was think about how they had created their own world with their arms around each other.
She skipped her bra, pulling on just her shirt, panties and slacks. Without Robyn to warm her, she shivered outside the covers and wished for a sweatshirt which she found on the last stair when she descended into Robyn’s room. Touched, she pulled on both it and the thick socks Robyn had left and crept down the main staircase to the house’s first floor.
Someone was in the kitchen bustling about and making Grace feel shy. If it was Jen, she’d have some explaining to do. If it was another tenant she hadn’t met… She hated having to face anyone at all in her morning-after glow, and put it off by using the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs first.
Bladder relieved, hands and face washed, she had no more excuses and breezed into the kitchen doing her best to project Robyn’s invitation to make herself at home.
“Morning,” Jen said without a hint of surprise. “Hungry?”
“I thought I’d make some toast.”
“Best to use the loaf right there on the counter.” She rummaged in a drawer. “Here’s the bread knife. Butter? Jam?”
Grace accepted the knife. “Both, thanks.”
“Tea or coffee?”
“You don’t have to play hostess,” Grace said, feeling like she was intruding.
“It’s no problem. I know where everything is.”
“This isn’t a little weird?”
“It’s great. Robyn looked pretty darned happy on her way out of here.”
“Can we not talk about this?”
Smiling, Jen set down the butter and jam. “Okay. You want to talk about rehearsal?”
“No. That would be even weirder.” The toaster popped, and Grace frowned at the product, toasted only on one side. “Your toaster is broken.”
“You gotta flip it around to toast the other side,” Jen said. “But count to fifteen and then pop it. Otherwise it’ll burn.”
Grace flipped the toast and started scanning the open-faced cupboards in search of a teacup.
“Mugs are to the left of the sink.”
While Grace extracted a mug from a precariously-jammed shelf full of mugs of all shapes and sizes, Jen popped her toast. “Thanks,” she said, accepting that Jen wasn’t going to play along with her wanting to be unobtrusive. “Teabags?”
“Second shelf to the left of the mugs. Kettle’s already hot.”
While she buttered her toast, Grace weighed how impolite it would be to carry her breakfast upstairs to escape Jen’s company.
Having brewed two cups of tea, Jen stood poised with her bowl of yogurt and granola. “The sun’s out. I’m taking my breakfast out back.”
Sucking up her desire to be alone, Grace took her own plate and tea and walked outside. The view from the back porch stopped her short. Whenever she drove to campus, she admired the Humboldt State University buildings nestled in the redwood forest, and that was the scene that greeted Robyn every time she stepped out of her home.
“Nice, isn’t it?”
“Redwood forest from the back porch, the bay from your studio: what a place!”
“I know. I may never leave.” Jen sat in one of two plastic chairs under a tree. Grace sat next to her.
“Are these fruit trees?”
“This one is a Bing cherry,” Jen confirmed. “Another month or so, and we’ll be in heaven. Like I said, never leaving!”
“What’s in the raised beds?” Grace asked.
Jen launched into a list of what Robyn grew and how generous she was to share so much of her harvest with the tenants, and somehow turned the conversation to music. So when Robyn returned from the stable and found the two of them still together, Grace had entirely forgotten her unease and smiled warmly, welcoming her back.
Robyn walked right to Grace’s chair, resting her hand on Grace’s shoulder. “Success in the kitchen?”
“With Jen’s help,” Grace said.
Jen stood. “See you later this week, or…around.” She waggled her eyebrows, gathered both of their dishes and disappeared.
Robyn sat in the vacated chair. “Has it been okay?”
“Only a little awkward.”
Robyn reached for Grace’s hand, resting it on her thigh. “You have on way more clothes than I pictured.”
“I’m sure you weren’t picturing me in your backyard. I hope you weren’t picturing me naked in your backyard,” she revised.
“No. I didn’t know you’d have breakfast with Jen.”
“It seemed rude not to, and it was fine. If we were at my place, we’d have Tyler.”
She was just about to ask Robyn about her idea to spend the day in bed when a pale young man in blue surgical scrubs entered the yard through the gate. He wore his short, dark hair spiked off his forehead and a tidy mustache.
He smiled brightly when he saw them. “Nice day for it.”
“Isaac, this is Grace. Grace, Isaac.”
Isaac’s gaze lingered on Grace for longer than she was comfortable. “Enjoy it for me.” He climbed the second set of stairs that had puzzled Grace the evening she had found Robyn in her shop.
Robyn squeezed her hand. “Sorry.”
Grace wondered if she was sorry for the interruption, for how he’d looked at her or for what his words insinuated. “How many tenants do you have?” she asked.
“One more. Sergio has the room downstairs.”
“I didn’t even know there was a room downstairs.”
“Across from the living room. He keeps his door closed.”
“So three tenants.” Spending the day with Robyn took on an entirely different feel.
Robyn rubbed the web between Grace’s thumb and forefinger. “You’re regretting your decision to stay.”
Grace appreciated that Robyn wasn’t asking, that she could sense the shift in her mood. She took a breath, quieting the disappointment she felt.
“How about we walk up to the redwoods?” Robyn suggested.
“There are trails behind campus aren’t there?”
“And the community forest. We can walk from here.”
“Like go on a date?”
Robyn swept Grace’s hair back to expose her neck, tickling the sensitive skin behind her ear. “Probably a good thing to go on a date before I drag you back to bed, don’t you think?”
“Who says you’re doing the dragging?” Grace stood and pulled Robyn from her chair and into a kiss.
“Okay. I’ll let you take a turn dragging. Does that mean I get you the whole day?”
“I told Tyler I’d be home for lunch, but I didn’t make any promises about being home tonight.”
“Nice that you can just tell him to fend for himself?”
“Indeed,” Grace said, recalling what a relief it had been to walk away from Kristine’s little ones the evening before. But even though her brother didn’t depend on her like an infant or toddler, she still felt the responsibility of caring for him. That complicated how she’d rather spend her time.