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“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought so, too.”

“Well, don’t get too comfortable. As soon as my heart stops pounding and I can feel my feet again, I will be turning the tables.”

Cassie chuckled, but said nothing more, and Emerson seemed to feel the shift immediately. She moved her head so she could try to see Cassie’s face. “Hey. What’s wrong? You okay?”

Cassie nodded. “Mm hmm.”

“That was convincing.” Emerson waited, but when no more came, she turned so she was on her side and could look at Cassie directly. “Hey.” She brushed hair from Cassie’s forehead. When Cassie’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears, Emerson’s expression grew alarmed. “Cassie. What is it, honey? Talk to me.”

“I just miss you,” Cassie said in a whisper, then was immediately mortified by her own childish behavior. “Damn it.” She swiped at a tear tracking across her temple. “I’m sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.” She sat up, snatched a tissue from a box next to the bed, blew her nose. When she ventured a glance at Emerson, Emerson was grinning. “What? This is funny to you?”

Emerson furrowed her eyebrows in an obvious attempt to look serious. “No. Not at all.” Then she grew serious. “In fact, seeing you cry might be the worst thing ever.” She tucked some hair behind Cassie’s ear. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Cassie inhaled, blew it out. “I miss you, Em,” she said again. “And I know you still have a life in L.A., and I know you’re just here for a visit, and I am so incredibly happy to see you…” She let her voice trail off.

“But?”

“I was hoping you’d be here for good by now, but I worry you might not want to leave L.A., and I get that. Everything that needs to be dealt with here, you can do from there. And your life is there, really. I know that. I just…I’m so happy to see you and to be here in bed with you, but it’s going to hurt even more when you leave again, and I don’t know if I can take it.” Fresh tears welled up and Cassie rolled her eyes with a frustrated groan.

“What if I didn’t?”

“Didn’t what?” Cassie blew her nose again.

“What if I didn’t leave?”

Cassie blinked at her. “What does that mean?”

Emerson sat up, her back against the headboard, and pulled the covers up over her breasts. With a shrug she went on. “I don’t know. What if I sold my car in L.A. and moved out of my apartment?”

“And lived where?”

She shrugged again and made a show of thinking about it. “Maybe here? I could help run the inn…I
do
own it after all, and my guests pay pretty well. Maybe I could get a part-time job at one of the slopes in the winter, maybe at the rehab center off-season. I think I’d do okay there.”

Cassie blinked at her. “You’d consider doing all of that? But…why?”

Emerson studied her. “Because there happens to be a very sexy brunette in this town who helped change my point of view on things, helped me understand that it’s okay to leave my past where it belongs: in my past, and to move forward, to reach for what I want.”

“Really?”

“Mm hm.”

“Would you live in your mom’s place?” Cassie’s eyes were wide, her questions quietly tentative.

“Yeah,” Emerson said with a casual nonchalance. “I’d make a few changes, but I think I’d like it there. It’s peaceful.”

Cassie was nodding slowly. “It is.” She picked at a thread on the comforter and was quiet for a beat. “Do you really think you could live here?”

“I do.”

“When would this happen? Like, how much time would you need to do all these things?”

Emerson gazed off into the middle distance. “I don’t know. I think…Wednesday?”

Cassie’s head snapped around. “What?”

Emerson gave one nod. “Yeah. Wednesday.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I will move in on Wednesday.”

“Of next week?” Cassie was confused. “How is that possible?”

Emerson’s grin widened. “Well, there’s only one way it’s possible. If I’ve already sold my car, if I’ve already moved out of my apartment, and if a moving truck full of my stuff is on its way and will arrive on Wednesday. Then it’s possible.”

“Oh, my god,” Cassie said softly, blinking, absorbing. “Oh, my god.” Emerson gave her some time. She didn’t need much. She turned to Emerson and squealed, “Oh, my god!” then threw herself onto Emerson and kissed her as Emerson laughed.

“I wanted to surprise you, so I swore Mary and Jonathan to secrecy, but maybe that wasn’t such a great idea,” she said, her arms wrapped tightly around Cassie’s middle. “You were so forlorn and quiet. I got worried.” She made a face and poked Cassie in the ribs. “Come on, I left seventy-five degrees and sunny for you.”

Cassie playfully slapped at her. “I was forlorn and quiet because it was driving me crazy not talking to you about
us
. All those phone calls? When I never said anything about wanting you here? I was trying so hard not to add to your stress, but it was killing me.
Killing me
.”

Emerson kissed her softly. “Honey, you never add to my stress. You are my stress
relief
.”

“I am?”

“Definitely. Maybe we need to make a pact to be better communicators.”

Cassie snorted a laugh. “I am all for that. Also, seventy-five and sunny on a non-stop basis is very, very boring.” She kissed Emerson hard. “Variety is the spice of life, my sweet.”

Emerson clasped Cassie’s face in both hands and looked deeply into her eyes. They stayed that way for a beat before Emerson whispered, “I love you, Cassie.”

Cassie’s eyes crinkled with her grin, and she was sure she could feel her heart swell in her chest. Just as quietly, she said, “I love you, too,” and the relief at finally saying those words aloud made her feel infinitely lighter, like she was floating on a cloud. Eyes locked, the two of them reveled in the moment.

Then, without warning, Emerson grabbed Cassie, who squeaked in surprise, and spun her. A blink of an eye later, Cassie was face-down on the bed, Emerson’s weight on top of her, Emerson’s fingers moving along Cassie’s behind, then dipping between her legs and into the warm wet that waited for her.

Cassie groaned, pushed her hips up off the bed, closed the edge of the comforter in her fingers. “What are you doing?” she managed to ask around the pillow.

Emerson’s lips close to her ear told her, “Variety is the spice of life, my sweet.”

Cassie chuckled at the turnabout, but her chuckle turned into a delicious moan as Emerson’s fingers hit the perfect spot.

All coherent thought was gone after that.

THE END

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