CHAPTER 11
Arlowe woke up on the floor, and she had no idea how she’d gotten there at first until she looked around and remembered that she and Eline had been working on the code all night.
She had slept on the floor of her office after one of the best nights of her life in a very long time, and when she looked up and saw Eline, her ex-girlfriend, sitting at her desk, still at work on something, she couldn’t believe that this was happening.
Eline, with her long blonde hair over the back of Arlowe’s chair and still looking perfect, despite probably being up all night, was still here.
“Hey,” Arlowe said. “What time is it?”
“Oh, hi,” Eline replied, turning the chair around to face her. “It’s just after seven.”
“How long was I out?”
“You fell asleep around four, and I could tell you were tired, so I just let you sleep. I finished a couple of minutes ago and was just looking everything over one more time before I woke you up.”
“You finished?” she asked, running her hands over her face to help wake herself up.
“We were mostly there already. I added a few things. I hope you don’t mind. If you do, I can take them out.”
“What?”
“Just a shorter way to build the questions and answers when you’re asking a short-answer question. And you had a way for it to recognize the capital versus small letters, but I shortened it so that it’s more efficient.”
“You did?” she asked, standing up.
“You should have your QE team take a look because it’s been a while since I’ve pulled an all-nighter. I might have missed something. Otherwise, it should be good to go when you need to push this into production.”
“Eline, thank you,” she said.
“No problem.”
“I can’t believe we stayed up all night.”
Arlowe smiled, bending down over Eline’s shoulder to look at the screen.
“We didn’t. I did. And I should probably be going because I have to be at the office by nine.”
“God, I have to work today,” Arlowe grumbled as she stood back up.
“Yeah, me too,” Eline said. “But I can take a nap when I get home or something, so I’ll be okay. What about you?”
“I might try to work from here if I can,” she replied just as there was a knock at the door. “Yeah?” she said.
“Can I come in?” Enya asked through the door.
“Yeah.”
Enya opened the door then and said, “Oh. Hey, Eline. You’re still here?”
“Yes,” Eline replied.
“Nice greeting, Enya,” Arlowe said with a little laugh.
“I just meant that I didn’t expect Eline to be here in the morning.”
“We had an issue that Eline found in the code. She won the bet, but we spent most of the night fixing it. Correction: I spent most of the night. Eline spent all night.”
“You were up coding all night? Arlowe, you know you have a team now. You don’t have to do this all on your own.”
“I wasn’t alone. Eline was here.”
“Very funny.”
“What are you doing back here? I thought you were–” Violet stopped at the now-open door. “Oh, hey.” She looked from Arlowe to Eline. “I wondered who had street-parked in front of the house. I just assumed it was someone who Arlowe had–”
Arlowe glared at her, silently begging her not to finish that sentence because Eline did not need to know about some of Arlowe’s life since they’d last seen one another – at least, not yet, while they were still figuring out whatever was going on between them or what could be going on between them in the future.
“Eline, it’s great to see you again,” Violet said instead.
“Violet, lovely to see you. How have you been?”
“Great. I’m good. I’m here for breakfast.”
“Why?” Arlowe asked.
“Because I needed to come here for breakfast.” Violet looked back down the hall before she pushed Enya into the room, followed her in, and closed the door behind them.
“I needed some people around, okay? Now that I’ve decided to propose, I’ve been having a hard time acting normal around my girlfriend, and she’s starting to pick up on that.
When we woke up, I guess I was acting anxious or something, and she asked me what was wrong.
I lied and told her that I’d forgotten to tell her that we were having breakfast over here this morning, so I texted Enya, who agreed to lie for me. Now, you two need to lie for me, too.”
“Stella’s also here?” Arlowe asked.
“Yes. She’s probably in the kitchen, wondering what the hell is taking me so long. So, everyone act cool. Arlowe, what is going on with your hair?”
“Huh?”
“She fell asleep on the floor, so it’s a bit flat back there,” Eline said as her hand went into Arlowe’s hair.
She then did something with the back of it, and Arlowe closed her eyes, taking in the moment. When her eyes opened eventually, Violet and Enya were both staring at her, and Violet smiled at her.
“There. Better?” Eline asked.
“Sure. Let’s go with that,” Violet said.
“You needed me to lie for you, Violet. Remember? Behave,” Arlowe told her as she gave her another look.
Violet nodded and said, “Fine.”
“So, you’re marrying the woman you used to hate?” Eline asked.
“I haven’t asked her yet,” Violet replied.
“When will you, so we don’t have to keep pretending like we don’t know?” Arlowe asked.
“I’m working on it. Right now, I need us to all get in that kitchen and pretend like this was a planned thing.”
“Should I leave?” Eline asked Arlowe.
“What? No. Why?”
“It’s a friend thing.”
“If you have to get home to change before work, I get it, but you don’t have to leave,” Arlowe said. “I can make you something.”
“You’re cooking?” Violet asked.
“Not for you, I’m not.”
“I wouldn’t want you to cook for me anyway,” Violet remarked.
“Um… Guys?”
Violet’s eyes went wide, and Arlowe laughed.
“That’s Stella,” Arlowe whispered to Eline.
“Hey, babe,” Violet said after she opened the door.
“What’s going on? Why are you all in Arlowe’s office with the door closed?” Stella asked.
“Because Arlowe has a guest. Did you two ever officially meet?” Violet asked. “This is Eline.”
Stella’s eyes went wide then, and Arlowe wondered if Violet had somehow trained her to do that because her look was so similar to the one Violet had just had.
“Hello. I don’t think we met back then,” Eline said.
Stella looked over at Arlowe, who gave her a look that, hopefully, told her to play it cool.
“No, I don’t think we did on the count of Violet hating my guts.”
Eline laughed.
“I guess some things have changed. Violet tells me that you two are a couple now.”
“We are.” Stella smiled. “And Violet didn’t tell me that you’d be here.”
“I didn’t know. She and Arlowe were…”
“Hanging out,” Arlowe said quickly.
“Yeah, they had a bet thing going on,” Enya said, finally entering the conversation. “They were supposed to go for a drink, but they’re both even nerdier than me and ended up fixing something all night.”
“Fixing something?” Violet asked.
“Babe, it’s breakfast time. Can work wait until you’re at the office?” Stella asked and held out her hand for Violet to take.
“Right. Sure,” Violet agreed and took Stella’s hand, but then she looked back over her shoulder at Arlowe.
“Everything’s fine,” Arlowe whispered.
“Well, I’m making pancakes, so I should go do that,” Enya said.
The three of them left the office, which meant that Arlowe and Eline were finally alone again.
“Do you have to go?” she asked, wanting the answer to be no.
“If I eat fast enough, I should be okay to get to work on time.”
“You can shower here if you want; wear something of mine.”
“I’d still have to go home to get my computer, but thank you for the offer.”
“Technically, you could even wear something of yours, if you want. I do still have at least three of your shirts that you haven’t seen in a while.”
Eline chuckled and said, “Come on; let’s go. We need to help Violet cover up her secret. By the way, what are you cooking for me?”
“Enya’s making pancakes.”
“Yes, that’s what Enya is cooking. What are you cooking for me?” Eline asked with a smile.
Arlowe smiled back and asked, “Toast with Nutella?”
“Two slices, please,” Eline said, holding up her fingers.
“Well, I guess you did fix my messy hair.”
“For what it’s worth, I liked it when it was messy.”
Eline walked out of the office then, leaving her practically in a puddle.
No woman had ever done this to her, made her feel like there was no one else in the world whom she was supposed to be with.
And Eline had always managed to make her feel that way with the simplest of gestures, too – taking her hand when they would walk places, making sure that the world knew that she was hers; taking her to practically every café in Amsterdam in search of the best coffee, not giving up until Arlowe had admitted that she’d found it, and stopping their progress to kiss her in the rain or fix her messy hair.
Any other woman could’ve done all of those things and more for her, but she didn’t think that she could feel the same for any of them.
“So, Eline, how are you liking it in town so far?” Violet asked. “Arlowe mentioned that you’ve been here for a couple of months.”
They’d all sat down at their kitchen table to have breakfast, and Arlowe had pulled in a folding chair from the garage and had taken it, letting Eline steal her own seat.
“I like it a lot so far,” Eline replied. “It’s different than Holland, and even different from when I lived here the first time.”
Arlowe caught her looking at her then, so she gave her a smile.
“That’s right; I forgot you lived here when you were a teenager,” Violet said.
“Whose phone is that?” Stella asked.
“Shit. That’s mine,” Arlowe said. “I left it in my office. It might be work. I’ll be right back.”
Arlowe glanced at Eline, who gave her a wink, and she hurried down the hall and found her phone on the floor of her office. She picked it up and answered Mitchell’s call.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Hey. Did you do something to what we were going to push to QE last night?”
“Yeah. Why?” she asked as she walked over to her computer.
“I just wanted to check. It looks like a lot of changes.”
“I worked on it all night. Is something wrong with it?”
“Not from what I can tell. I’m still getting it to QE today, right?”
“Yes, first thing. Tell them to double-check everything. We’ve had too many issues slipping through the cracks.”
“Okay.”
“And I’m going to work from home at least this morning,” she told him.
“Yeah, no problem. We should be good here,” Mitchell replied. “Sorry, I called so early. I just got in, and I thought we were done with this, so it was weird that there had been a lot of changes.”
“Just me. I was about to email you about it. All good.”
“Cool. Well, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, Mitch.” Arlowe hung up and turned around to see Stella standing in her doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. “Jesus, Stella! You scared me.”
“Sorry, but I need to talk to you.”
Stella walked into her office and closed the door behind her.
“What about?”
“My girlfriend.”
“What about her?”
“Something’s up. She’s been acting really weird lately, and I’m getting worried.”
“What is she doing?”
“I don’t know. She’s, like, extra nervous or anxious or something around me, and she keeps asking if I want to hang out with Jen and Haley all the time,” Stella said of her best friend and Jen’s girlfriend, Haley.
“Or, she’s asking if I want to come over here or have a double date with Sarai and Gabi.
I like all of you; don’t get me wrong. I just also love my girlfriend and kind of want us to be alone sometimes. ”
Arlowe took a deep breath and said, “You know Vi… She probably left the house in mismatching socks once last week and is still freaking out about it.”
“Arlowe, I’m serious. Something’s up. She turned down morning sex for breakfast here this morning. Violet doesn’t turn down morning sex.”
“Okay, I didn’t need to know that,” she replied, waving her off.
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right? Is everything okay at work?”
“Everything’s great at work, and I’m sure Vi’s fine. Just talk to her, Stella. Now, I need to go back out there. Eline is out there alone with Violet and Enya, and there’s really no telling what your morning-sex-loving girlfriend is talking to her about.”
Stella laughed a little and said, “True. So, are you and Eline back together or dating again? I didn’t want to ask out there.”
“No, we’re reconnecting, I think. It’s a process.”
“A process heading toward something?”
“I don’t know, Stella. Why don’t you go out there and get your girlfriend out of my damn house so that I can see?”
Stella pulled open the door and said, “After you, I guess.”
Arlowe walked out and hurried down the hall, but she heard laughter coming from the kitchen. She could tell Violet and Enya were laughing, but it was Eline’s laughter that had her stopping in the hallway to take it all in.
“I love Vi’s laugh, too,” Stella whispered. “I think it’s a process heading toward something,” she added and walked around Arlowe. “Babe, I’m going to be late for work if we don’t finish up soon.”
“You’re the one who had to go to the bathroom and still needs to finish her pancakes,” Violet replied.
“Yes, dear,” Stella said. “I love you.”
Arlowe walked in and watched Stella lean down and kiss Violet on the lips.
“I love you, too,” Violet replied, looking a bit confused.
As Stella moved to sit down, Violet looked over at Arlowe, who gave her an expression that said she had no idea what that had been about.
“I should get going as well,” Eline stated after wiping her mouth with her napkin. “I need to get home to shower and change for work, but thank you all for breakfast. It was so nice catching up a little.”
“Yeah, for us, too. Come by any time,” Enya suggested.
“I’ll walk you out,” Arlowe offered.
“That’s okay. Finish eating your breakfast.” Eline stood up and walked over to her. “Can I text you later? Maybe after my very long nap?”
Arlowe smiled at her and said, “Definitely.”