Settling
Los Angeles
It was Monday night when Amy finally had some respite from what had been a whirlwind few days reacquainting herself with Luisa, and the opportunity to reflect on how it had gone.
Friday evening, after an exhausting, jet lagged day at work, had been quiet, spent at Luisa’s apartment curled up together watching a movie before Amy had fallen asleep on Luisa’s sofa, lacking the energy for even the most rudimentary of fun beneath the sheets.
Saturday though had more than made up for that, with the two of them waking relatively early but not emerging from bed until long after noon, both women desperate to make up for lost time.
Amy smiled as she recalled some of the fun that they’d had, a real mix of sometimes frantic, sometimes passionate, sometimes relaxed pleasure that each had given to the other.
In the afternoon they’d gone to the beach, then spent the evening at an open air concert before crashing out in Amy’s hotel room, which had led them to Sunday and a morning spent relaxing in her hotel pool before going for a hike to an incredible sunset view in the afternoon.
And then, of course, back to Luisa’s apartment that night for an evening spent with a bottle of wine and a distinct lack of clothing.
On the Monday morning Amy had got up early to get back to her hotel to change for work, but with Luisa away in Texas with the perfume that she'd become the face of it had still turned into a long farewell.
So now, on Monday evening, Amy finally had the opportunity to relax in her hotel, get some sleep, and reflect on how her time with Luisa had gone.
The short answer was… brilliantly.
On that first day, Amy had been surprised by quite how often she was reminded of how much she liked Luisa and how compatible they were.
Whether it was a little in-joke between them, or some common perspective on something despite their very different backgrounds, or simply how they both liked doing the same things, Luisa was a great match for Amy.
Since then, it had been even better, the weekend proving beyond a doubt for Amy that there was a genuine relationship building with Luisa, assuaging her fears that she’d had the equivalent of a holiday fling on her last visit.
Not for the first time, Amy found herself wishing that Luisa and her lived in closer proximity to each other, and she was already dreading their parting again even though she wasn’t due to go back to London for another fortnight.
That was it in a nutshell really… if Luisa and her lived in the same place it would be easy.
The hard part was that it was far too early to think about one or both of them moving their lives to be with the other, far too early, and the challenge was how to build a relationship over distance that could make that sort of thing even worth discussing.
Not that Amy wasn’t wise to the fact that she was thinking it, even though she knew it was too soon…
The couple of days apart had also given Amy some much needed time to think about whatever it was that she had going on with Sarah.
As they’d left it, Sarah knew what she had to do to see Amy outside of work again, but what that could look like if she did what she’d said she would Amy didn’t quite know.
Something compatible with whatever her open relationship with Luisa was, but precisely what was an unknown.
She knew that Sarah’s family, particularly her kids, came first. Amy was ok with that, at least for now, but if their new whatever it was turned into a relationship?
She would not be Sarah’s woman on the side forever and while in many ways it was a problem to worry about in the future, she didn’t want to risk falling hard for Sarah to be disappointed down the line.
Two women she was into, both of which meant compromise…
five thousand miles of distance versus married with children.
And she knew that sometime soon, not yet but also not a long way off, she’d need to agree with both exactly what their relationships were otherwise she risked hurting, and indeed losing, both.
But, for now, while she was in LA her focus was living in the moment, enjoying her time with Luisa, and worrying about the future when it arrived. She’d been in contact with Sarah since arriving as promised, but Sarah understood that too.
At that moment, Amy’s phone pinged for what felt like the hundredth time that day with a message from Luisa, not that she was complaining. They’d been in near constant communication whenever Amy wasn’t in a meeting and Luisa wasn’t working and Amy liked it that way.
This time, Luisa had sent her some pictures that she’d promised from the ranch down in Texas.
It looked spectacular. Luisa had told Amy about the brand, Cimarron, and Solana, the woman behind it.
There'd been something when Luisa talked about Solana, a slightly forced sense of ease, that told Amy that Luisa maybe had a bit of history there…
but, open relationship, she told herself.
Even if there is something, or had been something, that's fine.
I've got my Sarah thing after all, whatever that now is.
Still… Amy looked at the photos, intrigued by one that was a selfie with a couple of very attractive woman, one she guessed was Solana, the other maybe a friend.
Not that Amy was jealous, at least that's what she told herself.
But a little part of her imagination started to think about Luisa with one of them…
an interesting thought that she filed away.