Chapter Ten #2
She wasn’t sure what to do with that.
They were back to the lake house in time for Justine to whip them up a late lunch.
“When the hell did you make chicken salad?” Rowan asked, racking her brains to try to remember.
Justine shrugged. “Yesterday.”
Rowan looked at Evie, then to Stevie and Sara.
“Don’t look at me,” Stevie said, holding up her hands like a robbery victim. “I think she has magic food powers, and stuff just appears when she wants it to.”
“I agree with that,” Sara said, grabbing a seltzer out of the fridge.
The boat was still gone, so no Lizzie or Claire—which Rowan found herself reluctantly thankful for—and Jazzy and Becca were nowhere to be found.
“Are they downstairs in their room?” Rowan asked.
“I’m not going down there to look,” Stevie said with a shake of her head. “Don’t wanna walk in on that. Nope.”
“Again,” Sara said as clarification. “You don’t wanna walk in on that again.”
“No,” Rowan said on a gasp. “You walked in on them?”
Stevie’s light complexion suddenly tinted pink as Sara laughed softly and stroked a hand down Stevie’s arm. “They were very, very new. Becca and Jasmine. Becca brought her to our place, wanted us to meet her.”
“Oh, God, it was the first time you’d met?” Evie asked, dark eyes wide.
“Yup. Early last summer. They spent the weekend at our place. We went to watch a softball game, then went to our house and had some time before dinner. I sent Stevie to their room to see if they wanted margaritas so I’d know if I should make a pitcher or just a couple singles.
” She looked at Stevie and tipped her head in sympathy.
“My poor girl didn’t knock, just walked in and… ” She shrugged. “Got an eyeful.”
“You didn’t knock?” Justine asked through her laughter. “You got what you deserved, then.”
“Hundred percent,” said Evie.
Stevie squeezed her eyes shut. “Limbs. Everywhere.”
Rowan laughed along with them, thankful that none of them knew the story. For the first time, she felt completely part of the group, and that was nice. She made eye contact with Evie, who was clearly enjoying herself—something else that Rowan thought was nice.
Justine made sandwiches. Everybody who was hungry grabbed one, and they all headed outside. Rowan took a lounge chair on the deck. Stevie sat next to her. Evie headed down the stairs and walked out to the chairs on the dock.
Sara came out and said she and Justine were running to the store.
“We were just near town,” Stevie said.
“I didn’t realize we were out of a couple things,” Justine said as she popped her head out the door. “We’ve got three more days.”
“We won’t be long.” Sara leaned over and kissed Stevie on the mouth. “Miss me.”
“Always do.”
Rowan looked away and took a bite of her sandwich, feeling slightly like she was intruding on a private moment. They left and it was just Stevie and Rowan, and they ate quietly.
“You doing okay?” Stevie finally asked.
Rowan nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
Stevie’s eyes were on Evie. “She’s been kinda…close with you.” It wasn’t a question, merely an observation, but still. Stevie had noticed.
More nodding. “Yeah.”
“How does that feel?”
“Weird. Good. Familiar. Confusing.” She shrugged.
“Think you should talk to her about it? Ask what the fuck is going on?” There was a slight edge to Stevie’s voice. A protective one.
“Probably.”
They were quiet again for a moment, chewing their sandwiches and watching the water.
Finally, Stevie said very softly, “At a couple points today, it was like old times. I looked back and the two of you were sitting on your boards, right next to each other, smiling and looking like nothing had changed, and something in me just…settled.” She frowned.
“And then I’d remember. It was…strange.”
“I get that. It was strange for me, too, because I had the same feelings. Like I said: familiar and good. Comfortable and warm and perfect. And then…not.”
Lizzie’s boat was chugging in toward the dock.
“There they are,” Stevie said, unnecessarily. As if on cue, the door opened and Becca and Jasmine came out. Rowan and Stevie both turned to look at them. “Well, don’t you two look rumpled and satisfied.”
Rowan burst out laughing at Becca’s waggling eyebrows. “Good thing you didn’t go looking for them, Stevie.”
“I told you. Never again.”
Jasmine’s grin widened. “Oh, you told the story, huh?”
The pink of Stevie’s cheeks was back.
“You’re such a soft masc,” Becca said, giving Stevie a playful shove. “Hey, where’d you get the sandwiches?”
Rowan held up the half of hers that was left. “Here, take mine. I’m full.”
“You sure?” Becca took a bite, moaned in pleasure, then stopped chewing, her brow furrowed. “When the hell did Justine make chicken salad?”
“Where’d you guys go?” Becca asked as Lizzie and Claire climbed the stairs to the deck.
Evie had stayed on the dock and hadn’t even glanced at Claire, Rowan noticed.
For her part, Claire looked miserable—a combination of sad and angry that set her face in an expression of marble, as if that was how she was going to look from here on out.
Eyebrows down, a little divot above her nose, mouth in a straight line, all permanent.
She spared a glance toward Rowan, but the expression didn’t change.
“We drove around a bit,” Lizzie said. “Then dropped anchor and just floated.” She turned toward Claire. “I think we both napped a little.”
It was obvious it took effort on Claire’s part to participate in the conversation. “It’s a vacation, right? We relaxed.” She headed inside without another word.
There was an awkward beat of silence before Lizzie broke it by saying, “Hey, there’s cornhole stuff down there with all the yard equipment. Who’s up for a tournament? Also, where’s my wife?”
“In that order? Really?” Rowan laughed.
Less than an hour later, Justine and Sara had returned, the cornhole boards had been set up down below in the grass, and teams were being created.
Claire stayed inside, saying she was tired and was going to nap, and nobody pointed out that she’d said she’d napped on the boat.
The natural team pairings ended up being couples, which meant that Rowan and Evie were the only two uncoupled ones left.
Stevie looked to Rowan, momentarily panicked, realizing what had happened, but Rowan shrugged it off.
“Guess it’s you and me,” she said to Evie.
“I mean, we used to make a mean cornhole team,” Evie reminded her.
They did. That fact was outside of the amnesia window. They were an excellent cornhole partnership.
“Let’s show them how we do this.” She held out a fist and Rowan bumped it without hesitation. Then she walked to the other cornhole board to stand next to Stevie.
“You good with this?” Stevie asked quietly, barely moving her lips.
“Stop worrying about me,” Rowan said, not unkindly. “It’s fine. It’s just Evie.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.”
The game began.
And ended less than twenty minutes later, Stevie clearly flabbergasted about it.
“How? How?” she asked. “Straight points? Every shot? Have you been practicing?”
Rowan was laughing at the indignation. “Maybe amnesia sharpened my cornhole skills.”
Stevie pointed down the lawn at the other board where Evie and Sara stood, also laughing. “That doesn’t explain her.”
Rowan lifted a shoulder. “Maybe she’s got magic.”
Evie met her gaze across the grass and smiled.
“Unbelievable,” Stevie muttered in obvious disgust. “Who’s next?”
It didn’t take long for Rowan and Evie to beat every team. Justine and Lizzie put up a fight but ultimately fell. Becca and Jazz were terrible and scored a whopping four points while laughing their asses off.
“Okay, that’s it,” Stevie said, standing and waving her arms like she was controlling traffic. “We’re mixing up teams. You two need to be separated.”
“I call Rowan as my partner,” Sara shouted before Stevie could. Stevie turned wide eyes of betrayal toward her.
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what you were about to do,” Sara said, a knowing twinkle in her eyes. “So I called it.”
“You called it? What are we, ten?”
Sara just stood there grinning.
“Unbelievable,” Stevie muttered, which seemed to be her word of the afternoon.
Rowan and Sara set up to play against Evie and Jasmine. That meant Sara and Jasmine stood together at one board, Rowan and Evie at the other.
“Hi,” Evie said as she arrived next to Rowan.
“Hey.”
“All good?” Evie asked.
Rowan took a beat, so many responses bouncing around in her head, but she ultimately settled on, “Yup. You?”
“Absolutely.” Evie threw her bean bag directly into the hole.
“Shit,” Rowan said quietly as Evie laughed and Jasmine shouted, “That’s my partner!”
Without Rowan and Evie partnered up, the games were longer, which meant Rowan had time to take Evie in, even as she tried not to.
That instant attraction she had to Evie hadn’t changed, even after all this time, even knowing what they’d gone through.
It was practically magnetic; it pulled her, tugged her closer.
Evie was tall. Rowan wasn’t short, but Evie was taller than her, and she’d always liked that.
Found it to be a huge turn-on when Evie moved in to kiss her.
She swallowed hard, watching Evie throw her bean bag…the long line of her body, the curve of her ass. She tossed and then seemed to teeter a bit but caught her balance.
“Whoa,” she said, then grinned at Rowan.
“Air’s pretty thin up there, huh?” Rowan asked, an old joke teasing her about her height. “Do you still tip over putting your underwear on?” Another old joke, one she probably shouldn’t have trotted out, but she had, and Evie grinned back at her.
“It’s been a while, but yeah. Sometimes.”
Rowan threw her bean bag, knocking Evie’s into the hole. “Damn it.”
“And I thank you for that.” Evie’s dark eyes glittered in the sun, slight wrinkles in the corners when she smiled.
“Whatever I can do.”
They stood while their partners tossed, and then Evie muttered, “You look great, Rowan. I’ve been wanting to tell you that.”