“Loud, huh?” Kristina laughed.
“Sometimes, yes. Quiet isn’t bad. It’s what I need.”
“Me too,” Kristina replied. “I guess I’m nervous that we work here, but when we get home, you might be interested in–”
“No,” she interrupted, took Kristina’s hand, and placed it in her lap. “No, Kris. I want you, okay? I can’t wait to just be home with you. If that makes me sound lame, so be it. I want to take you out on a real date, and I want to wake up next to you. I don’t care if it’s at my place or yours. I want to start my new job and be home at a regular time most days. I want to hear you play for the first time and a million times after that. I’d like to hear some of that music you write, even if you’re nervous to share it with me, and I’d like to do all of that as your girlfriend. I don’t want anyone else.” She looked into Kristina’s eyes. “Girlfriend. Did you hear that part?”
“Are you sure?” Kristina checked. “We’ve only known each other for a week; less than that when you consider the fact that we spent the first two nights with other people.”
“I’d prefer not to consider that, if you don’t mind. I get why Nia had us do that, but I’d like to think that I came here to meet you, and I did. I’d like to leave with you as my girlfriend because I think Nia got it right. Look at Helena and Becky, Gage and Carrie, and Sharon and Debra, too. How unlikely is it that she could pick eight women out of however many women apply to come to these things and have all eight of them meet someone who might actually be the person they could fall in love with? Hell, I’m well on my way already.”
Kristina’s eyes went wide.
“Sorry. Too soon?”
“No,” Kristina replied. “And I understand what you’re saying. It’s just still hard for me to believe it. I spent a lot of time thinking someone loved me, when she probably never did,and that was after we dated for a while, got engaged, and got married. You and I just met.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” she suggested. “I’m scared, too, okay?”
Kristina nodded.
“But I’m not willing to risk losing what this could be because of that fear,” Jennifer added.
“Me neither,” Kristina replied. “I can change our flights while you pack, if you want. I just need your info. Then, I’ll throw my stuff into my suitcase, and we’ll say goodbye.” She laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t even know your birthday,” Kristina said. “Or your address, your middle name, your favorite–”
Jennifer kissed her and replied, “All in time. That’s the exciting part. Oh, and my birthday is September fifth, and my middle name is Jessica. I’m Jennifer Jessica. My parents called me JJ growing up, but I hated it, so don’t even think about it.” She winked at Kristina.
“Okay, JJ,” Kristina teased.
“Oh, you’ll pay for that,” she said with a laugh.
CHAPTER 54
Kristina
“So, it looks like I can get us on a new flight, but they don’t have seats together. We’ll have to try when we get to the airport, or ask someone to switch, which I hate doing.”
“What about first class?” Jennifer asked.
“Whataboutit?”
Kristina looked up from her phone at her new girlfriend, who was still packing.
“Are there two seats in first class?”
“Um…” She looked at the image of the plane on her screen. “I think so. Why?”
“Get those. I’ll give you my credit card info.”
“What? No way. We don’t need first-class tickets, Jen.”
“I want to sit next to you, and if you get them with my frequent flyer account, it’ll be close to free. I got thousands of points for signing up for a new credit card last year. I haven’t used them yet. I didn’t even use them for this, which I could have, but honestly, I totally forgot about it until right now.”
“Babe, save those for a real trip. The flight home isn’t even all that long. You’d want to enjoy a first-class flight.”
