Chapter Ten #2
Charlotte would be here soon. She was going to puppysit while Marin went on her first date with Laura.
Her body went haywire at the thought, heart racing, butterflies flapping frantically in her stomach.
This date was the culmination of two decades of yearning, and two years of careful planning.
It was thrilling and momentous, and now that it was nearly here?
Marin was overwhelmed in the very best way.
She was going to do everything in her power not to let Charlotte enter her thoughts while she was with Laura.
She had to stop pining for her straight friend.
If she let her thoughts keep drifting in that direction, she was going to ruin her chances with Laura, who she genuinely liked.
Things with Laura had the potential to be great as long as Marin didn’t mess it up.
Today, she and Laura were going snowshoeing and then for coffee, and while Marin had eagerly agreed when Laura suggested it, now she was worried.
Snowshoeing was likely to aggravate her bad leg, even though it also sounded fun.
She should have been more realistic about her limitations, but there was always next time . . . assuming today was a success.
Marin needed to start getting ready as soon as she walked Ember. The puppy could walk all the way to the end of the block and back now. She was growing so fast! Currently, Ember was prancing adorably at the end of her leash, tail up and nose extended to sniff whatever scents carried on the breeze.
“Hi, Ember.” Connor, one of Marin’s upstairs neighbors, bent to pet her as he walked past. She wagged happily. She’d miss getting so much attention once they moved to their new house, but Marin hoped that having lots of open space to play would more than make up for it.
Back at the apartment, Marin shut the door behind them and unclipped Ember’s leash.
The puppy ran to her water bowl and took a big drink, then dashed to Marin and stood on her hind legs, begging for kisses with her face still dripping from the water bowl.
Marin knelt and scooped Ember into her lap for sloppy kisses.
She was about to do her makeup, so she’d wash off the puppy slobber then. A burst of adrenaline filled her stomach as she thought of where she was going. A date. Her first date with a woman. Her breathing picked up speed. Oh god. This was such a big deal. Huge.
Ember grabbed a mouthful of Marin’s hair and yanked, successfully distracting her from her rapidly spiraling thoughts.
“Ouch.” Marin carefully extracted Ember from her hair. “Here, put this in your mouth instead.” She gave Ember her toy dragon, and the puppy began to thrash her head back and forth so that the dragon’s wings made a crinkly sound against the floor. “You’re adorable.”
Ember lunged at her face, and Marin gave her another gentle redirection to the toy.
She’d been somewhat terrified when she brought Ember home three weeks ago, afraid she’d be terrible at puppy rearing, but she was getting the hang of it.
In fact, she thought she and Ember were doing pretty damn well together.
Sure, she hadn’t had an uninterrupted night’s sleep in weeks, but that was to be expected. It was worth it to be tired when she felt so happy and fulfilled with this puppy in her life.
“I’m about to go on a date,” she told Ember, who cocked her head to listen, purple dragon dangling from her mouth.
“We’re going snowshoeing, so I have no idea what to wear.
I mean, I’ve got to stay warm, but I also want to look nice when we go for coffee afterward.
Does that mean I need to wear jeans under my snow pants? ”
Ember cocked her head in the other direction.
“Hopefully Charlotte has suggestions, because I’m clueless.” Another benefit of having Ember around was that Marin could talk through her thoughts out loud under the guise of talking to the puppy. “Suddenly, I feel like I haven’t thought through my date attire properly.”
Ember shook her dragon, dragging it around the kitchen. It thrilled Marin that Ember’s favorite toy was the one Charlotte had bought for her.
Right on cue, there was a knock at the door, and Marin rushed to answer it.
“Help,” she greeted Charlotte rather ineloquently.
“What in the world do I wear on this date? A snowsuit won’t be sexy at the coffee shop afterward, but I can’t imagine snowshoeing in jeans.
What if I fall and get soaked, and well, what if I look like a total idiot in front of Laura? ”
“Whoa.” Charlotte laughed, brushing a blond curl from her face as she stepped past Marin into the kitchen, where Ember was bouncing for her attention.
“Hey, puppy.” She bent to ruffle Ember’s ears, then turned to face Marin.
“Take a breath, Mare. I had a feeling you might be freaking out about your date, so I brought provisions.”
For the first time, Marin registered the bag in Charlotte’s hands. “What kind of provisions?”
“First, I brought my snowshoes in case you want to borrow them. They’re way nicer than whatever the nature center will have available to rent.”
“Oh, perfect. I really appreciate that.”
“No problem.” Charlotte reached into her bag and took out the snowshoes. “You and Laura are taking a beginners’ lesson together, right? So you don’t need to know how to use them yet?”
“Right.” Marin held one of the shoes and examined it. She’d expected it to be webbed like a tennis racket, but this was made of plastic, almost like a short, wide ski that snapped onto a shoe. “These aren’t what I expected.”
“Modern snowshoes are pretty cool, right? Now, let’s pick out your clothes. We want Laura to be absolutely bowled over when she sees you in person for the first time.”
Marin scoffed. “That’s not likely, no matter what I’m wearing.”
“Are you kidding?” Charlotte waved a hand in Marin’s direction.
“You’re gorgeous, and more than that, you have this irresistible energy that gets a little bit stronger and more magnetic every day of your new life here in Vermont.
It’s like I’m watching you evolve day by day, and it’s mesmerizing. You are mesmerizing.”
Charlotte reached out and cupped Marin’s cheek.
Her hand was so warm, so soft, and Marin couldn’t breathe.
Charlotte was staring at her with an intensity that made Marin’s heart lose its rhythm and the fine hair on her neck and arms stand at attention.
She’d been so focused on her date, on Laura, that she’d successfully tabled her feelings for Charlotte, but now . . .
Now she was looking at Charlotte, really looking, noticing the way her blue eyes sparkled and how they complemented the turquoise scarf at her neck.
The way Charlotte’s fingers brushed gently against Marin’s cheek like a lover’s caress.
Marin turned her face toward the touch, inhaling the scent of Charlotte’s skin as arousal flared inside her.
Good god. What was happening right now?
Ember barked, and Charlotte jumped, yanking her hand from Marin’s face.
For a moment, they just stared at each other. Marin swallowed with an audible click. Her mind reeled with confusion. Arousal still swamped her senses. Then some instinct made her look down just as the puppy squatted on the linoleum. Fuck.
“Ember, no!” She scrambled for the leash and scooped the puppy from the floor before she could pee, feeling slightly dazed, almost dizzy, because what in the world had just happened between her and Charlotte?
She rushed out the door without her coat and set Ember in the trampled-down patch of snow designated as her potty area. The puppy immediately squatted. That had been a close call, especially since Marin had just walked her. Puppies were unpredictable that way, though.
Whatever had happened between her and Charlotte was a close call, too, because what if Marin had let her feelings show? Ordinarily, she had an uncrackable poker face, honed by decades of hiding herself from everyone around her, but she’d almost slipped for a moment there with Charlotte.
It couldn’t happen again.
Already, Charlotte was too perceptive where Marin was concerned. Usually, she loved how easily Charlotte read her, but in this case . . . it could prove disastrous.
Marin led Ember back into the apartment, almost afraid to look at Charlotte, afraid of what she might see on her face. Certainly that touch had been platonic on Charlotte’s part. What if Marin had made her uncomfortable with her reaction?
But Charlotte gave Marin an easy smile as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “So, I also brought my favorite snow pants. They’re lightweight and kind of cute. I think they’d look good on you.”
“Oh. Okay.” Marin stared at the black pants Charlotte held. They looked almost like regular pants, not bulky like the ones Marin had bought. She liked the pants, and maybe . . . maybe things with Charlotte were still fine. She exhaled, releasing some of her tension. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Charlotte held the pants out to her. “Go get dressed, and I’ll help you finish getting ready for your date.”
An hour later, Marin stepped out of her car in the parking lot of the nature center where she was meeting Laura.
She was so nervous her whole body practically vibrated, and she felt 1,000 percent off balance by that weird moment with Charlotte.
She’d done so well psyching herself up for her date with Laura, and now all she could think about was the warmth of Charlotte’s fingers on her cheek.
She was so fucked.
Here she stood, wearing Charlotte’s pants, holding Charlotte’s snowshoes, trying ever so desperately not to think about Charlotte.
Trying and failing. She pulled on her coat, hat, and gloves, watching idly as other vehicles pulled into the parking lot, people here for the lesson and random people out to enjoy the sunny February day.
“Marin?”