“I don’t know. I told her I’d look into it.”
“What about beach universities? USC, UCLA, or somewhere in Florida or San Diego? That way when I visit, I can enjoy weather that’s not winter.”
“Eva doesn’t want to live down south. I don’t know if she’d consider southern California the south or the west. I could ask.”
Charlie turned to point her chalk at Ember.
“You really do love this girl.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“But she told you to look into all the schools, right?”
“Yes, but I’d be foolish to include schools in the south when I know she doesn’t want to move there. She’s a variable in my analysis, so I’d be wasting my time including anything south of Tennessee.”
“Okay, but you guys just started dating, Em.” Charlie sat on the sofa. “I’m happy you’re happy, and I want this to work out for you, but if you’re really considering school, you should go where you want to go, and she should work where she wants to work.”
“If Hailey got a job and had to leave Chicago, what would you do?”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“You love her, Charlie.”
“We’re not a couple. You and Eva are. Stop changing the subject.”
“I’m asking you to make a comparison. Say, you and Hails were together because you stopped being a little chicken about telling her how you feel.”
“Hey!”
Ember laughed as Charlie shoved her.
“If she got a job somewhere else, what would you do?”
“We’d talk about it, but I’d try to find something there too, I guess.”
“See?”
“Yeah, but-”
“But I love Eva. I’m including her in my equation because I can’t not. Even if I tried mathematically to include only objective criteria, I wouldn’t be able to keep her out of my mind, and it would affect my work.”
“Fair enough.” Charlie paused. “Where is she today anyway? Shouldn’t she be here helping you decide your future?”
“She’s coming by later, or soon, actually.” Ember’s eyes went back to her laptop and she caught the time.
“Don’t you have family dinner later?”
“I’m not going.”
“I thought you said your mom understood and was making an effort.”
“She is. My dad isn’t. I’m not going until that man decides to have an adult conversation with me. Eva’s coming over for dinner later, and I’m going to give her my key.”
“Your key?”
“She gave me the key to her place on Friday when I stayed over. I want to give her mine.”
Charlie’s face softened.
“I really am proud of you.”
“For giving my girlfriend the key to my apartment?” Ember raised her eyebrows.
“For changing your life in a major way,” Charlie began. “I’ll admit, I never knew about the whole super-genius thing, but I did always know that you were meant for more than inheriting your family restaurant. I’m glad you’re finally on your way.”
“Thanks?”
“We’re having a moment here. Embrace it. Don’t be sarcastic about it.” Charlie poked Ember’s cheek. Ember smiled at her friend. There was a knock at the door. Ember jumped up with her laptop, closed it, and put it on the table before she hurried to answer it. “Fine. Fine. The girlfriend’s here, and I no longer matter.”
“No one’s kicking you out, Charlie.” Ember opened the door. “Hey, babe.”
“Hey there.” Eva walked in and kissed her before moving and seeing Charlie on the couch. “Hey, Charlie.”
“Hey,” Charlie replied. “I was just heading out.”
“Oh, really?” Eva asked and looked at Ember.
“She thinks I’m kicking her out because you’re here.”
“What?”
“You two are annoyingly adorable, and I can’t deal with that today.” She walked to where her coat was hanging over the chair. “Also, I have a date.”
“A date?” Ember asked with surprise.
“Yes, it’s with a woman in the city planning office. Since we won’t be working together anymore, I can actually go on a date with her.”
“I thought-” Eva tried to say something.
Ember interrupted and tried to cover for Eva, “That it is a good idea that Charlie goes on a date. Yes, I agree.”
“You told her, didn’t you?” Charlie glared at her friend.
“Sorry.” Eva gave Ember an apologetic expression that made Ember smile.
“It’s true. I am in love with my best friend, and I’m going on a date with someone else, but she’s nice. We’ve hung out at work events a few times.”
“I hope tonight’s fun,” Eva said and then poked Ember in the side.
“Me too.” Ember helped Eva with her coat. “If that’s what you want, Charlie.”
“I’ll see you two later.”
Charlie left them in the apartment and Ember hung up Eva’s coat. When she turned around, she saw Eva’s eyes on the chalkboard wall.
“I see you kept your promise.”
“We were just making a list of places. Got to start somewhere, right?”
“Thirteen schools so far?”
“I’m already narrowing it down in my head.”
“In your head?” Eva turned to see Ember sitting on the sofa.
“I eliminated Michigan first and then Penn. I factored in the locations of Harvard and MIT in their relationship to the numerous universities in the Boston area. Did you know that Boston increases by 152,000 in population when school is in session? They have that many universities. I eliminated Yale next and Cornell, Columbia, and Princeton because I don’t really want to live in New York or Jersey. I’m down to UC, MIT, Harvard, Notre Dame, Dartmouth, and Brown, but I think I’ll take Dartmouth off the list because it’s in New Hampshire. That’s so close to Boston, but also kind of far away, so I might as well just cross it off.” She said this all very fast and then looked up from the computer to see Eva’s face, which showed a combination of shock and appreciation. “I did the math in my head. Just basic equation stuff. Distance to other schools you could work at, assuming you wouldn’t apply for a job at that school itself, of course, and then the efficacy of the type of program I’d be looking for. That’s really all I’ve done so far.”
“Babe, I’ve got to be honest with you.”
“Okay,” Ember replied hesitantly and closed her computer as she gulped.
“I am really turned on right now.”
That wasn’t what Ember had expected her to say.
“Really?” She leaned forward and raised a hopeful eyebrow.
“Yes, your brain turns me on, but no.”
“No, what?” Ember asked.
Eva moved to the chalkboard.
“No, we’re not having sex right now. Remind me which schools are left.”
“You can’t just tell me you’re turned on and then go back to talking about schools.”
“I can because I just did.” Eva pointed to the board with the chalk. “Tell me.”
“I’m only still considering learning more about the following schools, and I want to emphasize learning more about them, not attending them. I’m not there yet.”
“Okay. Go.”
“UC, MIT, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Brown.”
As she listed each school, Eva circled it and then erased all the others. She turned to see that Ember’s eyes were moving up and down her body.
“What?”
“You’re really helping me with all my hot teacher fantasies.”
“Stop it.” Eva laughed as she put the chalk and eraser down and moved to sit next to Ember on the couch.
“I heard back from the other schools today via email.”
“The local ones you applied to?” Ember turned to her and put her computer on the table. “And?”
“And they’re going with someone else.”
“Both
of them?” Ember’s mood immediately shifted.
“Well, one isn’t really about me. Instead of hiring a full-time faculty member, they’re absorbing my area of focus into another within the department so they can save money, and the other just turned me down, but I still have that position where the professor may or may not go on sabbatical. I should hear about that in a couple of months.”
“I’m sorry, Dash.” Ember took her hand.
“Yeah, me too. There aren’t any more open positions that are full-time in the city, so I think I have to…”
“Take St. Mary’s?”
“I wanted to talk to you about it first because I have to let them know soon, but I also didn’t want to talk to you about it because I wanted you to decide on a school yourself without including me in the mix.”
“I can’t not include you in my considerations, Eva. I just talked to Charlie about that.” She paused. “I was already considering Purdue, UC, and Notre Dame as being fairly high up on my list anyway.”
“Yeah, but the others are all Ivy. You could get in there easily once they know what you can do.” Eva’s eyes went to the board.
“I don’t care about that. I included them because they seemed to be the schools that offer an adaptable program, but the other schools do too.”
“I want you to choose the school you want. Just to learn more about, of course.” Ember smiled at the replay of her own words.
She walked toward the board. “You’re forgetting one important piece of information, babe.” She picked up her chalk and scribbled, “I love you, Eva Dash.”
Eva smiled as Ember turned around.
“Cute.”
“I stole the idea from this girl I know.” Ember shrugged. “We still have until August, right?”
“Yes,” Eva replied.
“Okay. I’ll keep researching. We’ll go from there.”
“I’ll call St. Mary’s tomorrow and let them know I accept.”
Ember sat back down next to Eva.
“It’s only two hours away, right?”
“Yes.”
“We can do that.”
“Of course, we can.”
CHAPTER 21
Eva wished she had more time. She’d researched St. Mary’s and determined it was a good institution and that she’d probably like working there. The only problem other than the distance to Ember was the fact that she had an Ember. She had a girlfriend, and she was gay. She’d never worked for a religious school before. She hoped that the school wouldn’t be a hostile environment or wouldn’t push her to hide that part of herself, because that wasn’t something she could do.
She’d accepted the position and had the week off from the college fill-in position because of spring break. That meant that she could grade papers and make sure everything was set for the next week, but she also had time to continue to work on her articles. She wanted to finish those before she started on her summer classes.
“Hey.” Ember walked out of her bathroom to Eva opening her unlocked front door.
“Hey, did you just get out of the shower?” Eva asked when she took in Ember’s wet hair and her shorts and t-shirt combination.
“If you would have gotten here like ten minutes ago, you could have joined me. Did I know you were coming over? Did I space out and forget?” She kissed Eva as Eva removed her coat.
“No, I just thought I’d stop by.”
“Everything okay?” Ember placed her arms on Eva’s hips.
“Yeah, I’m good,” It was a little white lie. The truth was that it was already Thursday afternoon, and she had yet to even fully review the paperwork the school had sent over. She was starting to wonder why she was still waiting. “How was coffee this morning?” Eva asked to change the subject.
“It was good.” Ember lifted Eva’s sweater over her head and tossed it on the sofa.
“What are you doing?” Eva laughed when she caught the expression on Ember’s face.
“Taking advantage of the hot doctor on spring break?” She leaned in and placed her lips to Eva’s neck, as Eva continued to laugh, but still wrapped her arms around Ember’s neck to encourage her.
“Do you think I came here for a booty call?” Eva asked.
“You didn’t?” Ember sucked on Eva’s earlobe. “I haven’t seen you since Monday. I missed you.”
Eva felt Ember’s wet hair against her skin, and the coolness of it was only turning her on more as it worked in combination with Ember’s mouth against her.
“I missed you too.”
“So, if you didn’t come here to use me for my body, why did you stop by?” Ember teased her fingers at the bottom of Eva’s shirt, just barely grazing her skin.
“Well, now I’m rethinking the whole thing.” Eva played with Ember’s hair. “But I needed to get out of my apartment. So, I’m actually using you for your apartment and not your body.”
Ember pulled back and glared with a smile.
“Cabin fever?”
“Yes, I feel like I haven’t left all week.”
“You can stay here when I’m at work.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. I’ll even let you use my chalkboard wall if there’s anything you need to work out.” Ember motioned to the blank green wall.
“What happened to the school stuff?” Eva asked as Ember began walking back toward her bedroom, presumably to start getting ready for her shift.
“I erased it. Come in here and help me get ready?” She wiggled her eyebrows as she turned around. “I’ll be getting naked in a moment.”
Eva glanced at Ember, smirked at her, and then returned her eyes to the wall. She’d erased the school research she’d been doing. Did that mean she was done and had made a decision that she hadn’t yet shared with Eva, or did that mean she’d given up and decided school wasn’t for her after all?
“I don’t want to be tempted. You have to leave soon anyway.”
“I have ten minutes to spare,” Ember said and then pulled her shirt over her head.
All Eva could see were the muscles in her back as her shoulder blades tightened and then relaxed again.
“I can do a lot in ten minutes,” she said.
◆◆◆
When Ember left for work, Eva felt oddly at home in her apartment. She sat on the couch and surfed around on the internet before ordering herself a pizza for dinner, figuring Ember could eat the leftovers when she got home. She couldn’t help but stare at the now blank chalkboard after her meal. She wondered if it meant anything or if she was just blowing things out of proportion. It was entirely possible that Ember erased the school information because she’d worked on another of her equations in the middle of the night and needed the space or had figured it all out already and they hadn’t had the time to discuss it.
She tried not to think too much about it as she started reading the paperwork for St. Mary’s. She reviewed the faculty informational packet that was specific to the department, as well as the map of the campus and the list of local vendors for things like moving and cable services. It made her happy enough, but something was still churning in her stomach. She loved Chicago. It wasn’t just her new relationship that had her concerned about moving. She’d grown up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and had been terrified when she got to the city that first day, but she’d quickly acclimated to her new home. Unlike a lot of people who think large cities like Chicago can be unwelcoming or harsh, she’d always found the opposite to be true.
“Hey, babe!” Ember’s voice came from the front door as she unlocked it.
“Hey!” Eva nearly jumped at the sound of her voice as if Ember could have heard her worried thoughts.
“How was it, hanging out here by yourself? Did you look through all my stuff?”
Ember flopped down onto the couch next to Eva and immediately placed her head on Eva’s shoulder.
“Yes, your bedroom is a mess now. Sorry.” Eva smiled and kissed the top of Ember’s head while using her hand to move the ha
ir out of Ember’s face. “How was work?”
“We weren’t very busy, so I had time to look at more applications for the manager job. I think I’ve got it narrowed down to two candidates, that I’ve already interviewed. So I’m not sure I want to bring more people into the mix. But then I think that if one of them is the right person, I could be leaving the restaurant with the wrong person, and I don’t want to do that.”
“You’re a good daughter,” Eva said.
“Tell that to my father.” Ember placed a hand on Eva’s thigh.
“I would if I could, but I don’t see us hanging out anytime soon.”
“You know that’s not about you though, right?” Ember lifted her head to meet Eva’s eyes. “Hey, pretty.” She leaned in and kissed her gently without waiting for her to reply. “I just realized I didn’t kiss you hello.”
“Oh well, thanks.” Eva kissed her again. “And yes, I know it’s not about me.” She paused. “I ordered pizza earlier. I got pepperoni for you.”
“Really?” Ember turned to see the box on the counter. “I’m starving. I didn’t take a break tonight.” She made her way over to the kitchen.
“Do you want me to heat it up for you?”
“No, I like it cold. Do we still have beer?” she asked and then walked to the fridge, pulled it open, and found a bottle. “Want one?”
“I’m okay,” Eva replied and noted the use of the word we in Ember’s question.
“Thank you, by the way. This is perfect.” She plated two pieces of pepperoni pizza and then opened the beer bottle before settling back down on the couch next to Eva. “You’re staying tonight, right?” She bit into her first slice.
“I can, yes.”
“Were you not planning on it?” Ember swallowed. “You don’t have to if you-”
“I hadn’t thought about it,” Eva admitted. “I was in my apartment and I wanted to go-” She stopped herself.
Ember put her pizza down on the plate.
“Go where?”
“Home,” she finally stated. “I wanted to go home. The first place I thought of was where I knew you’d be.”
Ember lowered her head for a moment and then raised it with a shy smile.
“Then you’re definitely staying tonight because I can’t possibly let you go after a line like that.” Ember tilted her head to the side and then shook it back and forth.
The Best Lines Page 24