Courtney studied Tess’s face and thought the woman looked like she was ready to run. “Okay… well this is awkward, so I think I will go. It was nice seeing you.” Courtney turned to leave, but Tess’s voice stopped her.
“Wait, I’m sorry.” She rushed over to stand in front of Courtney. “I’m not very good at this. Coffee sounds great. If you still want to go…”
Courtney smiled. “Definitely. The restaurant on sixth is open twenty four hours, do you want to go there? When Tess nodded, Courtney told her she would meet her there, and they turned and made their way to their cars.
Ten minutes later, the two woman were sitting across from each other in a booth in a dimly lit café. When they both had their coffee, Courtney took a sip, grimaced, and broke the silence, “This is terrible.” She made another face and set the coffee mug back on the table. She reached for a few packets of sugar, hoping to dull the bitter taste in her mouth.
Tess studied Courtney’s face, thinking that the woman sitting across from her was beautiful when she scrunched up her face in disgust. “It’s better than the junk we drink on night shift.” Tess watched as the woman put enough sugar, several packets of different colors in her coffee, to keep a large adult wired. She chuckled. “Do you even like coffee?”
Courtney stopped pouring the sixth packet into the cup. “Guilty.” When Tess looked at her incredulously, she smiled. “I figured you are up all night, you must drink coffee, it was late… maybe my best chance at getting to know you better.”
“Why?”
Courtney watched as Tess picked at the brim of the coffee cup. “What do you mean why?”
Tess didn’t look up from the coffee cup. “Why do you want to get to know me?”
Courtney thought carefully about her answer, thinking this seemed like a very important question to Tess. “Why does anyone want to get to know anyone?” She watched as Tess rolled her eyes.
“That’s not an answer.”
When Tess finally looked up, Courtney met her gaze. “Why did you agree to come for coffee with me?”
Tess sighed with frustration. “Are you going to answer every question I ask you with a question?”
Courtney smirked. “Honestly?”
Tess nodded. “Honestly.”
“Alright, well, I thought you were cute.”
Tess laughed. “What? Seriously, that is your answer?”
Courtney grinned in admission. “Isn’t that a good enough answer?” When Tess shook her head, Courtney kept talking. “Okay, I also thought you were interesting. You have pictures of family all over your walls, and so many crayon pictures on your refrigerator, it looks like there is going to be a mess if you open the door.” Against her better judgment, she took another sip of the coffee she was holding and grimaced in disgust. “You are cute, and kind.”
Tess mulled what Courtney had said over in her mind before she responded. “So you asked me for coffee because I have pictures on my wall and coloring pages on my fridge?” She tapped her finger on the coffee mug handle again. “That doesn’t mean I’m kind. Maybe I just like clutter.”
“Maybe,” Courtney agreed. “Maybe I just think you are interesting and cute and want to get to know you, and don’t care if you like clutter.”
Tess frowned. Hillary hates clutter. She frowned again, not wanting Hillary in her head and thinking it probably wasn’t fair to Courtney that she was. “This was a bad idea, I’m sorry.” She reached in her pocket for her debit card and looked for the waitress, hoping she would take the hint and bring the check.
Courtney watched the woman fidget, confused. “Did I offend you or something?”
Tess shook her head. “No, you are really nice, and this was… really nice. I’m just, I’m not in a place to do this right now I guess.” She looked frantically towards the counter, willing the waitress to hurry before the situation became even more awkward. Her breath caught when she felt Courtney’s fingertips on her wrist, stilling the tapping she hadn’t realized she had been doing.
“Hey.” When Tess didn’t look at her, Courtney repeated herself. “Hey.” The second time, Tess looked up. “Do you have so many friends that you can’t fathom having one more?” When Tess looked at Courtney, embarrassment flushing up her face, she couldn’t help but wonder what she was getting herself into. “I like you. I don’t know why,” she laughed. “I also seem to remember that you are going through a breakup and I can respect that.” She squeezed Tess’s wrist lightly and removed her hand, hoping the gesture would ease some of Tess’s discomfort.
Tess sighed, embarrassed that she’d seemed so dramatic. “I’m sorry, it’s just, things with Hil… my ex… are messy and recent, and I just…” Tess sighed again and looked around the restaurant. “I like you.” She picked the coffee cup up and took a drink, trying to steady her embarrassment. “I like you… but I don’t know if I can start something right now.”
Courtney watched the woman, thinking that she was more adorable when she was frazzled with embarrassment, than she was when she was frazzled with anger. She was also noticing a pattern; the woman always seemed to be frazzled with something. Courtney knew she should probably get out while she had the chance; breakups were messy, and the third party never came out on top, but something about the woman sitting across from her wouldn’t let her use her head. Something about the way the woman said I like you had Courtney glued to her seat. “What is your favorite color?”
“What?” Tess looked at Courtney, obviously caught off guard.
“Your favorite color, what is it?”
“Ummmm, I don’t know, blue I guess.” She bit her lip and then changed her mind, “Not blue, teal… or maybe coral.”
Courtney watched as Tess looked like she was making the most difficult decision she had ever made in her life, and laughed. “It’s just a color. Do you put this much thought into everything?” She thought about what Tess had said. “Coral? Is that even a color? What the hell is coral?” She laughed.
Tess laughed. “It’s kind of like an orange. I don’t have a favorite color. Why do you want to know my favorite color?”
Courtney nearly took another drink of the coffee, because it was sitting in front of her and then thought better of it and pushed it to the side. “I want to get to know you. So maybe we can start with your favorite color and see where that takes us? No expectations, no strings attached. Just two people having…” She glared at the black liquid next to her, “coffee.”
Tess looked at the woman sitting across from her and thought how refreshing it was to be out of the house, spending time doing something other than stare at her cell phone. Though she was a ball of emotions and nerves, she hadn’t had time yet to decide whether it was good nervous or bad.
She thought about what Breanne had said and thought it couldn’t hurt to branch out a little, especially when branching out involved talking to someone as beautiful and lighthearted as Courtney. After all, it was just coffee and conversation. “Alright, what’s your favorite color?”
CHAPTER SIX
Courtney woke with Tess on her mind. It had been two weeks since they had sat at the café until well after four am, and they had been talking every day since. There is something about her, Courtney smiled, we just click. There hadn’t been one day since they had met that Courtney hadn’t thought about Tess and smiled. Courtney had never been one to text, preferring a quick phone call over the high school nonsense, but she found herself smiling when she opened her phone and there was a short and simple text from Tess. Racking up the geek points today? Tess referred to Courtney’s job. Courtney had gone back to work two days after the night at the café, and with the two working opposite hours, they hadn’t been able to see each other in person since.
She stood and pulled her black silk robe on. I suppose now is as good a time as any to get up. Before she even had her robe tied, she had a ball of fur slamming off her legs. “Yes, Jasper.” She grabbed her phone and text a quick: No, I have today off, smarty. Why aren’t you sleep
ing? Courtney knew that Tess had worked long hours all weekend and wondered how the woman functioned on such a small amount of sleep. She scooped some food into Jasper’s dish and waited for a response.
Tess had gotten less than an hour’s sleep. She had left the hospital at six and Brad had dropped Ali off at eight. The six-year-old was raring and ready to go, so Tess had stayed up. So far they had made breakfast, painted four pictures, read a book, and now Tess was relaxing on the couch while Ali played with the cat. She smiled when her phone chimed, unable to stop it from spreading across her face. Hanging with Ali, she typed back.
Courtney flicked on the radio and picked up her phone when it chimed. We’re both home, why are we texting? She dialed Tess’s number.
Tess’s breath caught when her phone rang. Texting was easy, it was impersonal, and she always had time to think of something clever so she didn’t embarrass herself. She nearly didn’t answer, letting her nerves get the better of her, but in the end, her curiosity and interest in the woman on the other end won over, “Hello, geek.”
Courtney laughed in place of a hello. “Hey, who was the one working on midterms last week? I think you took the geek card.”
Tess smiled, loving the sound of Courtney’s voice and the lighthearted teasing. “Yeah, yeah, computer anything takes the geek card any day.”
“Okay, Dr. Geek.”
“That’s Nurse Geek to you,” Tess laughed.
Courtney let it slip before thinking better of what she was saying, “I want to see you.”
Tess’ breath caught.
When there was silence on the other end, Courtney winced. Tess had made it perfectly clear from day one that she was getting over a bad relationship and Courtney had promised, no expectations, but the more she talked to Tess, the more she just wanted to be near her. “When do I get to meet that kid I keep hearing so much about?”
Tess was silent. She didn’t want to admit it, but she wanted to see Courtney too. When Courtney brought up Ali, she had mixed feelings. She didn’t want Ali to be around people she dated, not unless it was serious. She thought it was important that her daughter didn’t have a stream of people in and out of her life. Dating. Tess stumbled on her own thoughts and seemed to argue with herself. But we aren’t dating, we are just friends. Tess opened her mouth to answer, but wasn’t sure what to say. Her stomach seemed to have tied itself in a ball of knots. She willed herself to make an excuse, but instead heard herself say “I want to see you too.”
Courtney smiled, “Alright, well, what do you want to do?” She looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly one. “Have you had lunch yet?”
Tess looked down at her sweats and oversized t-shirt, frowning. They hadn’t had lunch yet, but she hadn’t showered, and Ali was still in her pjs as well. She was exhausted from lack of sleep and decided since they were staying in, there was really no reason to get dressed that day. She frowned, not really thinking she had the energy to get ready and go out in public, but also not wanting to miss the opportunity to see Courtney. “How about a late lunch, early dinner?
“Great,” Courtney looked at the time. “Why don’t you text me when you’re ready. How does Applebees sound?” When Tess agreed, Courtney replied “See you then” and hung up the phone.
~~
Two hours later the two woman slid into opposite sides of the booth, followed by a little blonde-haired girl. “Ali, this is Courtney.” Tess introduced her daughter to the woman sitting across from her.
“Nice to meet you, Ali.” Courtney nodded to the little girl and smiled when she negated a hello and instead responded with: “You’re pretty.” Courtney thanked her, “You are very pretty too.”
“I know,” Ali replied and started coloring on the kid’s menu in front of her.
Courtney couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Tess’s face. “And so humble too.”
“Yep.” Ali chimed, not looking up from her picture. “Want to color with me?”
“Definitely. They never give me a coloring page. Only the kids get them.” Courtney reached for a crayon, but Ali scooped them up and climbed out of her side of the booth. Before Tess could protest, her daughter had hopped into the booth next to Courtney.
“She can’t reach, Mom.”
“Yeah, Mom,” Courtney countered, teasingly.
Tess watched them interact with a rare glance in her direction. She might as well have been sitting in the booth alone, but she was enjoying herself. Her stomach had been in knots on the way to the restaurant, but as soon as they sat down, her nerves had disappeared. Something about Courtney seemed to put Tess at ease, and she enjoyed every minute of watching the woman interact with her daughter playfully. When their food was served, Ali not only insisted that Courtney help her cut her pancakes and shooed away any attempt her mom made to help her, but also chastised the waitress for not letting adults have coloring pages, which sent Courtney into a fit of laughter as the waitress walked away.
“What’s so funny?” Ali looked at Courtney, confused about why the woman was laughing.
“Seriously, I like you, kid.” She is awesome, Courtney mouthed to Tess when Ali dug into her food, giving Courtney a chance to really look at Tess for the first time since they had sat down nearly half an hour ago. She looked exhausted. Beautiful, but exhausted. She frowned. “I asked you to come to dinner, and you’re exhausted. I’m sorry.”
Tess shook her head and smiled. “No, it’s okay, we have to eat right?”
Courtney nodded, taking it as a compliment that the woman took time to see her when she looked like she would clearly rather be lying in bed somewhere, but annoyed with herself for not taking into account that Tess wouldn’t feel like going out. She guessed that with Ali being the age she was, Tess wouldn’t be able to sleep until bedtime. She was instantly plagued with guilt.
“Can we go to the zoo?” Ali looked up from her pancakes at her mom and then turned her attention to Courtney, “Do you want to go to the zoo?”
Courtney smiled at the little girl with whipped cream on the corner of her mouth. “I would love to go to the zoo.” She looked up at Tess’s shaking head and realized her mistake, as she had been talking to a six-year-old with no concept of time. “But, we will have to go a different day. I don’t think the zoo is open today,” she lied, hoping it would appease both the child and her mother who looked forlorn that she was too tired to drive over an hour for a trek to the zoo.
“The zoo closes?” Ali looked over to her mom, the whipped cream still on her mouth. “Where do they go when the zoo closes?”
“Hmmm?” Tess murmured through a bite of her sandwich. She smiled and reached across the table to wipe the cream off of her daughter’s mouth. “The animals stay there, because that is their home. When the zoo closes, it is because they are resting. It is only closed to adults.”
“Oh.”
“What is your favorite animal at the zoo?” Courtney questioned the girl.
“Don’t fall for the favorite game, Ali,” Tess chimed in quickly, “it’s how she sucks you in.” Tess grinned at Courtney when she acted offended.
“Well don’t ask your mom what her favorite animal is, she will probably tell you doesn’t have one–“
“Because she loves everything equally and the same,” Ali finished mockingly. “She says that about everything.” The little girl emphasized the word everything with all the irritation a six-year-old could muster. “My favorite is the Panda bear, what’s yours?” She looked at Courtney and shoveled another bite of pancake in her mouth, smearing whipped cream on her face again.
Courtney nodded in approval. “I love the Panda bears. In fact, I even have a few movies about Panda bears at my house. You can borrow them sometime if you would like.”
Ali nearly spit the pancake out of her mouth in an attempt to chew fast enough to swallow so she could speak again, and bounced up on her knees in the booth. “Can we watch them? I’ve never seen a movie about Panda bears! Can I come to your house and watch them? I’v
e never been to your house. Can we go when we are done eating?” Ali spoke so quickly that Courtney almost didn’t understand her. She looked at Tess pleadingly. “Please can we go to her house and watch the Panda movies?”
Tess gave her daughter a look that said not now, and looked at Courtney apologetically before looking back at her daughter again. “You don’t just invite yourself to other people’s houses, Ali. Courtney is probably busy this evening. Maybe another time.”
Ali groaned and looked at Courtney pleadingly. “Are you busy?”
“Allison, what did I say?” Tess willed her daughter to stop prying.
Courtney watched the two interact, she didn’t know why, but she thoroughly enjoyed every minute that Tess’s outspoken daughter spent making her mother uncomfortable. She knew she should help the woman out, but in this instance, she tended to be on Ali’s side. If she could get Tess to come back to her house, she could keep an eye on Ali and give Tess a break. It would make up for her pulling Tess out do dinner. Also, the thought of Tess in her house gave her a comforting feeling. “She didn’t invite herself. I’m not busy, I have no plans tonight.” She directed her next sentence to Ali, “And you are welcome at my house anytime.”
“See mom!” Ali looked at Tess victoriously before crossing her arms and tilting her chin into a pout, when she saw the look on her mom’s face.
Tess looked at the two girls sitting across the table from her. One had an impish grin on her face, while the other was pouting. She had thought Courtney was just trying to be nice, and maybe hadn’t realized where the conversation would end with a six-year-old, but looking at Courtney’s twinkling eyes, she suddenly felt like she had been set up. “Maybe another time. Ali, okay? Courtney is just being nice.”
When Ali continued to pout, Courtney crossed her own arms to help the girl out. “Come on, Mom, we want to watch the Panda’s.” She gave Ali a sideways glance and winked when saw the little girl smiling into her arm on the verge of giggling at Courtney’s behavior.
No Expectations Page 5