“Ah, I see. Well, never mind. I can get to know them some other time then.”
“I’ll be wedding planning at Ember and Eva’s this weekend. We’re kind of making a whole thing out of it. Charlie, me, Alyssa and Hannah are renting a lake house and heading up there Friday night and staying until Sunday evening. It’s like a wedding workshop almost, but it will be fun.”
“So, I won’t get to see you until you get back?”
“I’m packing tomorrow night, but if you’re free, you can come over and stay the night. I’m leaving straight after work. Ember is picking me up, and we’re driving.”
“I’d be happy to help you pack.” She smiled. “Can I make you dinner?”
“Sure. That sounds nice,” Hailey said and returned Emma’s smile.
◆◆◆
Charlie woke up on Thursday morning and sent a quick text to Ember. Then, she checked her messages and found she had a good morning text from Lena. They hadn’t seen one another since Sunday morning. Lena was opening a new store in Evanston and had spent Monday through today there. She’d been at the store pretty much non-stop and had gotten a hotel room instead of making the commute back and forth. They had plans to see one another that night since Charlie would be out of town for the weekend. Charlie texted her back with a smile and a promise to call her later when she could.
The weekend away had been Ember’s idea. She’d found a great deal online for a lake house and booked it without telling anyone because they’d all already told her they were free to plan the wedding. Ember was paying for the place, so no one had a problem making the commitment, but Charlie had not seen Hailey since last Friday night. She wasn’t sure how it would feel, to be around her. She was grateful that the others would be there, but it would still be strange for them because the other four were coupled off. Charlie and Hailey were the two single girls of the group. Hell, for all Charlie knew, maybe Hailey and Emma were officially back together, and she’d be the only single one there.
She liked Lena and wanted to see where it could go, but they’d only had two dates, and they hadn’t even kissed yet. Charlie didn’t mind that last part. She’d meant what she’d said to Lena; she had no problem waiting. But she also wouldn’t be calling Lena her girlfriend anytime soon. She knew that was more than okay with the hesitant Lena. Charlie’s phone rang as she climbed out of bed, which was strange, because it was Ember calling her. It was very early, and Ember wasn’t normally an early riser.
“Morning sex wake you up early?” Charlie questioned into the phone.
“No, smartass,” Ember replied. “I was working in my office when I got your text.”
“One of those nights?” Charlie turned on the bathroom light.
Ember had nights every so often where she’d hole up in her office and scribble things only she understood on her massive chalkboard walls until someone, usually Eva now, stopped her with food and water, or Charlie guessed, probably also morning sex.
“Yeah, but why aren’t you coming to coffee this morning? First you, and now Hailey? Did one of you get a cold and give it to the other one?”
“Hailey’s not coming either?” Charlie stopped squeezing toothpaste on her toothbrush while holding the phone between her shoulder and cheek.
“No, she’s respecting your space, I think,” Ember stated and sounded a little frustrated.
“She told you?”
“Of course, she told me. She couldn’t tell you.”
“Em, it’s just-”
“I know,” Ember interrupted. “I know. You’ve gotten to the point where you can’t take it anymore. I’ve been waiting for this for a while.”
“You have?”
“Charlie, you’ve loved the girl forever, and you’ve watched her date woman after woman.”
“But why now?”
“The women she dated before were all wrong for her. You could deal with it because of that, but Emma is someone she’s always talked about. Seeing them together the other night really freaked you out.”
“I’m that transparent, huh? If that’s so, why can’t she see how I feel?”
“Why can’t you just-”
“Tell her? We’ve been over this, Ember.”
Ember sighed, “Hailey can’t see it because you’ve always been in love with her.”
“That doesn’t-”
“Make sense? Yes, it does.”
“Does Eva like it when you interrupt her?”
“I stopped doing that to her a while ago, because I want her to marry me,” she retorted. “Hailey doesn’t know any different, Charlie. You two have always been this close. It wasn’t like you weren’t into her and then suddenly you were and she could see the difference in your behavior even if you refused to tell her. Things have always been like this. Why do you think I keep getting on you to just tell her?”
“So you wouldn’t have to keep my secret?”
“I told Eva. I’m good now,” she replied. “We’ll skip coffee today. I get that you need time, but she’ll be there this weekend. Are you going to be okay? I’d say I’d cancel, but it’s important to Eva. It’s for our wedding, Charlie.”
“I know. I wouldn’t do anything to mess up your wedding, Em. I’ll be okay.”
“Even if she comes tomorrow and tells us she has a new girlfriend that is actually her old girlfriend?” Ember asked.
“Has she?”
“Jesus, Charlie. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her this week. She’s been busy, and so have I. That’s why we have the weekly coffees, remember?”
“I know.”
“Next week, no excuses.”
“Understood,” Charlie acquiesced. “I’ll be there.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thanks, Em.”
“You two are my friends, Charlie. I love you both.”
“I know. I love you too.”
“Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
Charlie hung up the phone, placed it on the sink, and got ready for her day.
CHAPTER 9
Hailey arrived at Emma’s apartment building with the promised bottle of wine and headed to the third floor via the stairs since, like Hailey, Emma lived in a walk-up with no elevator. Hailey decided to look into her finances and maybe have Ember take a glance at them too by the time she made it up the stairs. She needed a new apartment. She was tired of stairs. Maybe she could afford a nicer place, as Charlie suggested. The upside to living with that many stairs though was that her legs always looked really good.
“Hey.” Emma opened the door before Hailey had a chance to knock. “Come on in.”
“Thanks. This is for dinner.” She passed her the bottle and entered the apartment. “I’ve never been here before. That’s weird. I feel like for as long as I’ve known you, I should have been to your place already.”
“Well, I offered to let you come up a few times, but you declined, Hailey Grant.” She watched Hailey remove her jacket and smiled at the threadbare jeans with holes in the knees and an old green t-shirt with a long sleeve, a white shirt under it. “You look adorable,” she shared. “Thanks for coming over. I know you needed to pack. Let me give you the tour.”
Hailey took a quick look around the space. The front door led you right into the living room, which was ahead and to the left. Emma had a comfortable looking couch against the back wall with a large canvas image of some European city over it. Hailey didn’t recognize it, and her eyes moved to the small flat screen on an old TV stand, made for the older model bulky television sets. There were two bookshelves anchored to the wall. One had actual books on it, and the other had odds and ends like candles and other more decorative items. Hailey smirked because Emma had never been a big reader. She was very good in school and studied hard, but she wasn’t someone who bought books to read when she didn’t have too. That was, at least, still the same. The coffee table looked new. The room was too small for a chair or any other spaces to sit on beyond the couch. Emma set the bottle
of wine on the coffee table, and Hailey dropped her coat over the couch along with her purse and followed Emma toward the kitchen, which was on the other side of a wall and was a tunnel style kitchen with little room for two people to work in comfortably.
“Nice,” Hailey told her.
“It’s small. You don’t have to lie.” Emma smiled at her and took her by the hand. “I chose the government job, which doesn’t exactly make me a millionaire, but I like this place enough to keep resigning the lease. I don’t need much room for just me,” she explained. “And this is the bathroom.” She pointed at the room just to the right of the bedroom. It was also small, with one sink, but Hailey admired how she’d decorated it with bright colors to make it appear homey. “And this is the bedroom, obviously,” she explained and let Hailey’s hand go as Hailey walked in past her.
The bedroom was clean. Emma had a nice taste. Her bedroom furniture was something Hailey would have picked out for her own bedroom, had she lived in an apartment with an actual bedroom with walls. The bed was a queen, and there was an even smaller TV in the corner, resting on a table that was meant for the other side of the bed and matched the one that was on the side that Emma probably slept on. There was a wide short bookshelf that was on the wall opposite the bed and it was filled with books of varying topics, shapes and sizes.
“You read?” Hailey asked her as she took it in.
“Yes, Hailey.” Emma laughed. “I do read. Was there some doubt that I was literate?”
Hailey glanced back at her.
“No, you just never used to read anything outside of what was required for school.”
“Well, most of those are kind of required for my job. They keep me up to date on the field, but some are just for fun. I got into the habit of buying airport books when I was traveling a lot a few years ago.”
“Airport books?” Hailey laughed a little and walked back toward her.
“Yeah, books you’d likely not buy, but you have a long layover and need something to do, so you go to the airport store and find a book to read. Probably half of those are airport books.”
“And you’ve read them all?”
“Most of them, yeah.” Emma replied, looking confused at Hailey, and then walked them back toward the living room. “So, what made you change our plans? We were supposed to do this at your place.”
“I got done with work a little early and missed traffic, so I was able to get my packing done. I thought I’d come over here and we could hang out, then I’d go home.”
“So, you’re not staying over?” Emma questioned and grabbed the bottle of wine off the table to carry it into the kitchen to open, while Hailey stayed at the entrance of the kitchen so as not to crowd it.
“No, I’m taking the train in tomorrow. My place is closer to work than your place.”
Emma opened the bottle and then turned to stir a pot of something on the stove.
“Okay, next time then” she suggested. “I made beef stroganoff. I hope that’s okay.”
“Your dad’s recipe?” Hailey got excited.
Emma laughed at her reaction.
“Yes, Hails. I remembered how much you used to like it when you came over.”
“What can I do to help?” Hailey asked.
“Nothing. It’s done. I made it last night and just had to reheat it. Go sit down.” She motioned with her head toward the four-person round dining room table behind Hailey.
Hailey grabbed the wine bottle and the glasses, which Emma had out already, and carried them to the table. While Emma dished out bowls in the kitchen, Hailey poured them wine. She deposited the bottle back in the kitchen and helped carry in the bread basket that Emma had prepared, while Emma followed her to the table.
“How was work?” Hailey asked as she spooned her food trying to get it to cool down before taking a bite.
“It’s good. I saw Charlie today,” Emma revealed and took a sip of her wine.
“You did?”
“We’re working on that project together, so I’ll probably see her a lot over the next few months.”
“Oh, I forgot about that,” Hailey returned and decided to burn her tongue on the food.
Once the initial shock wore off, she was brought back immediately to Emma’s father, making this for them on cold nights when Hailey would stay for dinner.
“I don’t think she likes me,” Emma explained and sat forward, placing her glass on the table.
“Why do you think that?” Hailey glared at her with confusion.
“I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t say that. I know she’s your friend, but this is a work thing. She’s probably just trying to do her job.”
“Charlie has this thing at work. She’s professional to a fault. She’s always been like that,” Hailey offered. “It comes from the city planning office. They have all these rules about fraternization and ethics. She just held onto them when she left. It was funny, because when she first joined the firm, it took her months before she’d wear anything that wasn’t business casual, and they’re jeans and a t-shirt kind of a place.” Hailey laughed at the memory. “She showed up every day super early, wearing at least khakis and a button-down or something even more professional. She’d be the only person there for, like, two hours and would be the best dressed. It took forever to wear her down and get her to relax a little.”
“Then, I’m sure that’s what it is. She was just very focused on the work. I thought since you and I are together, she’d look at it a little differently.” Emma took a bite.
“Together?” Hailey checked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean together. I just meant that we’re… I don’t know. What are we doing, Hailey? Normally, I wouldn’t ask, but you and I were more than together before. I know it was a while ago, but it’s easy to just call it that now.”
“I’m not ready for that, Em,” Hailey said quickly. “I like this. I like what we’re doing, but I’m not ready to call us a couple.”
“Okay,” Emma said. “Can I ask why though? I’m just curious to know why you’re not.”
Hailey kept her spoon in her bowl.
“Because we’re still getting to know one another.” She glanced to the living room. “I was looking at your shelves in there, thinking about how you still weren’t a big reader, and then I walked into your bedroom, and it’s filled with books.”
“So, you don’t like readers? Got it,” she jested.
“I know it’s silly, but it’s something that’s changed about you. I don’t care either way. Read or don’t read. It’s just something different that I want to learn as we keep going with this before we call it serious.”
“Okay. That makes sense,” Emma agreed. “Can I ask you a question though?”
“Sure.”
“Are you seeing anyone else?” Emma braved and took a drink of the wine.
“No, are you?”
“No,” Emma replied just as quickly.
“I can’t guarantee I won’t, Em. I don’t have any plans to, but if something happens…”
“I get it,” Emma told her. “Can you just be honest with me as we go? I’m kind of all in right now. I understand that you need time. I have no problem giving it to you, but I don’t think I can see anyone else right now. I just feel like I know what I want, and that’s you. But if you aren’t thinking the same thing, I want you to tell me if and when you figure that out. If you do meet someone, I’d like to know. You don’t have to give me details or anything. I know I don’t want those.”
Hailey nodded at her and then took another bite, admiring Emma’s ability to mimic her father’s recipe successfully.
“Tell me something else,” Hailey said after a moment.
“About?”
“Anything. Tell me something else that’s changed since we were together.”
“Oh. Well, that’s a while ago.” She thought a moment. “I changed toothpastes.” She smiled.
Hailey laughed at her and continued eating.
◆◆◆
/> Charlie wasn’t seeing Lena before the weekend away after all.
“I’m so sorry,” Lena told her over the phone. “I’m stuck here until tomorrow at least. I haven’t even had time to eat lunch, and I should be eating dinner now,” she revealed. “The store manager we hired needs a lot of micro-managing right now. It’s his first store, and he doesn’t know what he’s doing. I’m considering firing him and starting over at this point.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Charlie told her. “I’ll be back Sunday night. I’ll probably be exhausted, but we can play it by ear. I can call you. Maybe we can grab dinner or something.”
“That sounds good,” Lena replied. “That would be our third date, right?”
Charlie smirked at herself, knowing where this was going.
“Yes, it will be our third date.”
Lena had jokingly asked her on the phone one night if the third date rule applied to lesbians as well. They’d both laughed. Charlie told her she would have no problem if it did, but also that if it didn’t, that would be okay too.
“Thank you for being patient with me and dealing with my newness to all of this. I really wanted to see you tonight.”
“I wanted to see you too.”
“Shit,” Lena exclaimed.
“Everything okay?” Charlie checked.
“Yeah, it’s just that someone else is calling.”
“Work?”
“No, it’s not work.” She let out a long breath. “You know how you’re the first woman I ever asked out?”
“Yes.”
“Well, there was one woman who asked me out,” she said and seemed to be waiting for Charlie to say something, and when Charlie didn’t, she continued, “Her name is Mara. I met her at the gym a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, what did you say?”
“I said no at the time, but then I saw her again. She asked me again. I gave her my number because I didn’t know what else to do. She called once, and I was in a meeting, so I didn’t answer. She didn’t leave a message, so I didn’t call back.”
Just Tell Her Page 9