Chapter Ten
The next morning, Taylor woke up in Avery’s warm, snug, incredibly comfortable bed. She turned to look at Avery, curled up next to her.
The night before had been great. A huge fucking mistake, but great. She and Avery had chemistry in the bedroom (and living room) as well as at the bar, something you could never be sure of. And it had been delightful to have sex with her. What Avery had lacked in experience, she’d made up for in enthusiasm, so it had been a satisfying evening on all counts.
However. All the reasons that she’d listed for herself last night at the bar—before she’d gotten drunk on Avery’s plump lips and red bra and the touch of her fingers—about why she and Avery should not hook up were still true, and now she was going to have to deal with the repercussions.
The worst one—even worse than having to host a fucking baby shower—was that she was going to have to figure out a way to let Avery down gently without crushing her. The night before had been a ton of fun, she wished she could hook up with Avery again, but she did not want to be responsible for breaking Avery’s heart.
Ugh, hadn’t she told Erica that she wanted a drama-free summer? Wasn’t that the whole reason for that stupid bet in the first place? Well, she’d probably just fucked that up for herself.
Also…she liked Avery. She enjoyed being around her, she loved teaching her how to flirt. She didn’t want all of that to end.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Avery must have felt her mental tumult in her sleep, because she stirred, then turned to face Taylor.
“Morning,” she said in a scratchy voice, her eyes narrow and squinty, a sleepy smile on her face.
“Morning,” Taylor said back. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Avery’s face, creased by her pillow, her bare shoulders, the top part of her breast exposed above these luxurious sheets that felt so good against the skin.
Avery half smiled back at her, before reaching over to her nightstand. She slid a pair of glasses on, then turned back to Taylor and sat up straight.
“Now I can see you.”
Taylor sat up.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
Avery took her hair out of its messy bun, and then twisted it back into a slightly neater bun.
“Oh yeah, I’ve worn them most of my life. I can barely see without them. I took my contacts out after you fell asleep last night.”
She looked so cute with her glasses on and her hair—despite her efforts to tame it—still tousled from sleep, with that pristine white sheet covering her, that Taylor had to lean over and kiss her softly on the lips.
“Those glasses are very sexy.”
Avery laughed and kissed her back.
“ You are very sexy.”
At first it was just a quick, soft, easy, no-big-deal good-morning kiss. But, even though this was not at all what Taylor had intended, it turned into a lot more. Taylor pulled Avery back down onto the bed.
“I only wish most people found my glasses to be this much of a turn-on,” Avery said, her hand on Taylor’s waist. “I wouldn’t have needed flirting lessons from you if that was the case.”
Taylor was too busy kissing Avery’s neck to answer her.
Just as Avery’s hand cupped Taylor’s breast, a loud buzzing interrupted them.
“What is that terrible noise?” Taylor closed her eyes, like that would make it stop. It didn’t.
Avery turned to her nightstand.
“Oh sorry, that’s my alarm.” She kissed Taylor again, then got out of bed. “Which unfortunately means I have to get in the shower.”
Taylor sat up again. She was unreasonably disappointed, despite her plan to let Avery down easy and leave.
“I have no idea what time it is, but it feels very early for an alarm to be going off on a Saturday,” she said, in a much grumpier voice than she’d intended.
Avery just laughed and pulled a robe out of her closet. Taylor should have known she was the type to be super chipper in the morning.
“It’s seven, which I agree is very early for a Saturday, but unfortunately, life as an event planner means I often have to get up early on Saturdays. I have a fiftieth anniversary brunch this morning, and a corporate dinner tonight, so it’s a busy day.” She put her robe on and walked to her bedroom door, and then stopped. “Do you need the bathroom before I get in the shower?”
Taylor nodded and stood up.
“I’ll be quick,” she said.
She couldn’t help but squeeze one of Avery’s breasts as she walked by. Avery’s laughter followed Taylor into the bathroom.
Taylor splashed water on her face and shook her head at herself. She shouldn’t have done any of that. The kiss, the far more than a kiss, the boob grabbing, none of it. Ugh, she had to say something to Avery before she left and Avery thought they were together now or something. She was dreading this. She was always so fucking bad at this part.
She came out of the bathroom, ready to start this conversation. All she could do was be kind but honest; that would be the best thing for both of them. But before she could say anything, Avery whisked into the bathroom.
“Don’t worry, I’m fast in the shower!” she yelled through the door.
That hadn’t been what Taylor had been worried about, but okay.
Taylor shrugged and went into the living room to retrieve her clothes as well as her phone from her jeans pocket. She’d expected to find them thrown on the floor and couch, but they weren’t there.
She stood at the bathroom door and shouted over the sound of the shower.
“Do you know what happened to my clothes?”
“Bedroom!” Avery shouted back.
Bedroom? She had definitely taken the majority of her clothes off before they’d made it into the bedroom, she absolutely remembered that. But when she walked back into Avery’s bedroom, there were her clothes, folded neatly on the bench at the foot of Avery’s bed. Taylor laughed to herself and shook her head. Avery must have done some post-sex tidying after Taylor had fallen asleep.
When Avery got out of the shower and came back to the bedroom, she threw open the doors to her closet.
“No wonder I have to give you guidance on what to wear every week,” Taylor said. “You have more clothes than I’ve ever seen outside of a department store!”
Avery rolled her eyes at her as she pulled on her bra and underwear.
“Just because your wardrobe is wholly made up of fourteen black shirts and twelve pairs of jeans, that does not make my perfectly normal wardrobe extreme.”
“Excuse me, but I do also have some gray shirts, and I have hoodies for when it gets cold.”
Avery just laughed at her, grabbed a dress out of the closet, and pulled it over her head.
“How did you do that so fast? Doesn’t it take you forever to decide what to wear?”
Avery shook her head.
“This is my event clothes section of the closet. I have specific kinds of clothes that I wear when I’m running events, as opposed to meeting with clients or with vendors, and of course, my work clothes are in a totally different part of my closet than my clothes for fun or for relaxing.”
“Mmm, of course, totally different sections, yeah, me too,” Taylor said with a straight face. Avery threw a pillow at her, and they both started giggling. It was very entertaining to make gentle fun of Avery.
“ Anyway , that takes a lot of the decision-making out of the process,” Avery said, moving to the mirror. She quickly put at least four layers of skin care products on her face, then put her hair up in a very tidy bun. Taylor went to stand behind Avery as she started doing her makeup. She had to get this over with.
“Uh, Avery, I wanted to…” She shook her head at herself and started again. “I, um, didn’t mean for last night to happen; it’s not like I secretly planned that or whatever when I made it your flirting lesson midterm or anything.”
Avery patted on a layer of eyeshadow.
“No, I know. I didn’t think you did.”
Okay, that wasn’t Taylor’s main worry, but still, she hadn’t wanted Avery to think that this whole flirting lesson thing had been about getting in her pants.
“Great, I’m glad. But I…” She just had to say it. “Last night was so fun, but you know I’m legendarily hopeless at relationships, and I don’t think we should…I mean, I don’t want you to think that we’re—” Oof, that was clumsy. She was about to start again when Avery interrupted her.
“No. No, of course I don’t.” Avery turned around to face her, eyeshadow brush still in her hand. “Don’t worry, I know you too well for that. And I’m definitely not ready to date anyone, you know that.”
Taylor sighed with relief.
“I mean yeah, but I didn’t want us to have any misunderstandings. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”
Avery patted her hand.
“We are. Absolutely. Last night was great, I passed my flirting midterm with flying colors, I can’t wait to test out the skills I’ve learned, no misunderstandings here.” She turned back to the mirror and picked up an eyeliner. “Now, go home and get some more sleep before you have to go to work. See you Tuesday?”
Taylor blinked. This conversation had gone so differently than she’d expected that she didn’t know what Avery was even talking about.
“Tuesday?”
Avery looked at her in the mirror.
“For flirting lessons?” Avery said slowly, like Taylor was confused. Which, she guessed, she was.
“Oh yeah, of course,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to do the flirting lessons, like, if you thought you still needed them, after passing your midterm with flying colors, like you said.” What she really wasn’t sure of was if Avery wanted to keep hanging out with her after they’d slept together.
Avery shook her head.
“Oh no, I feel like it would be a big mistake to get cocky and think just because I had one good night that I don’t need any more, don’t you think? I know I have a ton more to learn.”
Huh, okay.
“You had one excellent night, not just a good one,” Taylor said. “See you Tuesday night. Don’t worry, I won’t forget to text you what to wear.”
“Perfect,” Avery said. She put her mascara down and walked Taylor to the door of her apartment. Taylor wasn’t sure whether to give Avery a hug or kiss her on the cheek or what. She wasn’t used to feeling so uncertain about this kind of thing, but that conversation with Avery had turned her upside down. Avery gave her a quick hug, and before Taylor could respond, she pulled open the door.
“Sorry I’m in such a rush; I need to be out of the house and on my way in ten minutes.”
Taylor stepped out the door and lifted a hand to wave goodbye.
“Yeah, totally. Bye.”
Avery’s door clicked shut behind her, and Taylor walked down to her car. Why did she feel so…perplexed after that conversation? She should be thrilled. She was thrilled. That was the easiest “please don’t fall in love with me” chat she’d ever had. They were both on the same page, no feelings were hurt, and they’d get to keep doing the flirting lessons. So why did she feel so confused?
Maybe because she’d prepared herself for the worst, and the best had happened instead. Even though it was a good outcome, the oppositeness of it all had her off-kilter.
She glanced at the clock when she got into her car. She might also be feeling this way because it was barely seven on a fucking Saturday morning, way too early to be having difficult conversations. And she hadn’t even had coffee yet.
If she was up this early on a Saturday, she might as well take the opportunity to get a great breakfast at one of her favorite spots. It had both excellent food and great coffee, which you almost never found in the same place. There was always a nightmare of a line there after nine, but they opened at seven thirty and she’d heard—although never experienced—that it was easy to get a table then.
Yes, that was it. She’d go, sit at the counter, drink three cups of black coffee, eat eggs and fried potatoes, spread her toast very thickly with butter, and then she’d be in the right state of mind to celebrate her triumph of sleeping with Avery while still managing a perfect, no-strings-attached hookup right when she needed one.
Actually. She had to do this part eventually; might as well get it out of the way, and at one of her favorite places. She picked up her phone.
“What’s wrong? Is someone sick? Are you at the ER?” Erica asked when she answered the phone.
“No, nothing’s wrong, why all the panic?” Taylor asked, as innocently as she could.
“Taylor. How long have we known each other? Ten years? Twelve? Throughout that entire time, you have never called me this early on a Saturday. Not only that, but I’ve never known you to willingly be awake at this hour when you weren’t on your way to work. And I know you’re not on your way to work, because (a) you don’t get to work this early, and (b) you like silence in the morning. I know this because every time we’ve ever shared a hotel room and I wake up before you—which I always do—you try to smother me with a pillow if I so much as make a slight creaking noise on my way to the bathroom.”
Taylor stifled her giggles.
“I have never tried to smother you with a pillow. I may have put a pillow over your head one time, but that was when you started singing ‘The Hills Are Alive’ in your sleep and wouldn’t stop. And I am calling because I happened to wake up super early this morning, and I thought, ‘You know who else is almost certainly awake? My friend Erica, who wakes up at six a.m. every single day year-round, except for the days when she wakes up at five. I wonder if she would like to join me at the Homemade Café for a delicious breakfast at a time when we don’t have to fight the lines.’ So—”
“Give me fifteen minutes.”
Erica hung up, and Taylor smiled to herself, satisfied. She hadn’t been sure if Erica would join her for breakfast like this at the last minute, since she was all married and pregnant and friends with Sloane and needed to “calendar” hanging out with her best friend. But she was glad she’d called Erica; if Taylor was going to confess that she’d lost the bet, she might as well have fun with it.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, Taylor was seated at a window table at Homemade, when she saw Erica at the door and waved. Erica came over to the table, shaking her head.
“I wondered if I would get here and realize you’d pulled a very mean prank on me, but amazingly, you’re here,” Erica said as Taylor got up to hug her.
“I would never joke about something that involved fried potatoes,” Taylor said. “Or actually, breakfast in general. That would make me undeserving of the best meal of the day.”
Erica laughed and put her hand on her belly as she sat down. She picked up the cup of coffee sitting in front of her, looked at it for a second, then put it down.
“It’s decaf, don’t worry,” Taylor said.
“Oh!” Erica picked her cup back up. “I didn’t know if you’d remembered, that’s all.”
“Of course I remembered,” Taylor said. “Gotta do everything we can to keep Little Rutabaga safe and healthy.”
Erica looked relieved and took a gulp of coffee.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. Technically I can have a cup of caffeinated every day, but it made me anxious, you know? Better safe than sorry.”
Taylor nodded understandingly. At least, she hoped her nod looked understanding. Better safe than sorry was rarely a motto she lived by—more often it was the opposite—but hey, life was a rich tapestry, people lived in different ways, and even though Erica never used to live by that motto, it didn’t matter. People changed, right?
Taylor laughed at herself. Wow, she was in a much better mood than she’d been for weeks. She was never going to take a vow of celibacy again.
“I get it,” Taylor said. “You’re what, six months now?”
“Almost twenty-five weeks,” Erica said.
Why did people measure things in weeks like that? No one ever said, This kid is one hundred and two weeks old , so why did they say it about pregnant women and babies? Whatever, it didn’t matter; after years of bartending, she was good at doing math in her head.
“Sloane said to enjoy this part, so I’m trying to, and Sam is trying to plan a babymoon for us…”
“That sounds fun,” Taylor said.
“Yeah…” Erica’s voice trailed away as the server stopped at their table.
“You two ready to order?”
Taylor nodded.
“Two eggs over easy with chorizo, the potatoes crispy, please, and sourdough toast.”
She looked at Erica, who glanced down at the menu, nodded, then closed it.
“A short stack of blueberry pancakes, please. Oh, and more decaf.”
Taylor raised an eyebrow after the server walked away.
“Just a short stack of pancakes? Aren’t you eating for two?”
Erica laughed.
“Trust me, I wanted a full stack of pancakes, but my gestational diabetes test is in a few weeks, and I’m stressed about it so I’ve been avoiding sugar as much as possible. That’s why I had to dip out of Callie’s party early. I knew once that cake came out that I’d want to dive headfirst into it, I didn’t trust myself to stay. But since I amazingly get to have an early breakfast with my best friend, I figured I should treat myself a little.”
Taylor was kind of touched by that.
“You should definitely treat yourself,” Taylor said. “I’m going to make sure you put syrup on those pancakes, too.”
Erica cast her eyes upward.
“We’ll see about that. Now, care to explain what you are doing up this early? I mean, have you ever even gotten here before me? I need answers.”
Taylor from last week would be annoyed that it took this long for Erica to get to this question, but Taylor from this morning was too relaxed and smug to care. It would honestly make the telling of this story even more fun.
“Please don’t expect this to happen again. I’m not going to make a habit of this; while it was great to not have to stand in line to get a table here, I’d still rather be in bed right now.” She grinned. “But yes, you need answers. Here’s your answer: you win.”
“I win what?” Erica asked, nodding her thanks to the server who refilled her coffee mug.
Taylor did roll her eyes this time.
“You know what you win.”
Erica looked confused for a second, then let out a shout of laughter that made the whole restaurant turn and look at them. She kept laughing for so long she had to stop and take a sip of water in the middle before starting up again. Taylor sat there and waited for her to finish.
“I win!” she said when she finally settled down. “You have to throw me a baby shower!” She bit her lip. “Though, Sloane has already volunteered to throw it, so you two might have to be cohosts, if that’s okay?”
Taylor made a face.
“I guess so. But isn’t she a little boring for you? She’s so, I don’t know, rich and bland. Perfect suburban wife and mom.”
Erica shook her head.
“No, she’s a lot more than that. You’ve never really gotten to talk to her, you’ll like her, I swear. But we’ll talk about that later. I won the bet! Tell me everything. But wait, why does that explain why you were up so early? Shouldn’t you still be in bed with your new conquest?”
Taylor sighed.