“But you knew which questions to ask to get us to open up,” Carrie said. “They were different every night, or at least, in a different order.”
“Every couple is different.” Nia shrugged a shoulder. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to wrap up a few things. Dinner will be served outside tonight since it looks like it’s going to be a good weather day. I’d recommend packing as much as you canbeforedinner since after dinner, on the last night, people tend to get a littlepreoccupied.” Nia stood up. “I’ll be around if you need me for anything.”
“It was cute how you fought for me just now,” Carrie said to Gage once Nia was back inside the house. “You didn’t want anyone else to be your partner today.”
“Cute? I was pissed.” Gage laughed. “I have one more day with you. I’m not spending it with someone else.”
“What do you want to do, then?” she asked. “We don’t have an afternoon activity. We can do whatever we want.”
“I think I’d like to talk,” Gage replied.
“Talk?”
“Yes, about the stuff we haven’t been talking about this whole week.”
“Ah, that.”
“Better today than not at all, right?” Gage asked.
“Yeah,” she agreed.
“You two are going to do long-distance, too?” Sharon asked.
“Yeah, we are,” Gage stated. “I own my own business, so being gone for this whole week was already hard enough. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do it again for a while. Carrie works from home, technically, but traveling back and forth isn’t cheap, so we need to probably plan a trip or two and see how often we can actually be together.”
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll be all right. We’ll just end up with a ton of frequent-flyer miles.”
“That’s the best thing you can come up with, babe?”
“Itisa benefit,” Debra pointed out. “If you can book on a cheaper airline and deal with being sandwiched between two people in a middle seat, that could save you some money, too.”
“Yeah,” Carrie agreed and smiled at Gage. “Come on. Let’s make another cup of coffee. I think we’re going to need it. Then, we can plan the first few visits, okay?”
Gage looked worried again, and Carrie had been noticing that expression on her face since they had woken up that morning. Gage hadn’t even wanted to have sex, even though they’d woken up early and clearly could have fit in a round or two, and Carrie had been turned on, expecting Gage to wake her up, wanting to touch her. Then, Gage had gotten upset with Nia when she had told them that they were switching partners. While Carrie hadn’t been with a woman other than Gage now,Gage hadn’t ever been in a relationship, let alone a long-distance one, so Carrie understood. She held out her hand, and Gage took it. They would have to figure this out together, and she might need to help Gage see that this could work if they put the work in, which wasn’t something Gage had ever had to do when it came to women.
CHAPTER 56
Gage
“Are we going to fight?” Carrie asked.
“What?” she asked back in surprise as she closed the bedroom door behind them. “Why would we fight?”
“Because you’ve been weird all morning.”
“I haven’t been weird.”
“Yeah, you have. Yesterday, you woke up and held me. You were all sleepy and adorable, and we talked before we had to go out there, but this morning, you were on the other side of the bed, staring up at the ceiling, and you hardly spoke to me at all. You mumbled something about needing to shower, and when I asked if you wanted me to join you, you said no. I even suggested you show me that dildo you used on yourself in there, and you weren’t interested at all.”
“So, because I wasn’t in the mood this morning, I’m acting weird?”
“No.” Carrie sat on the bed. “You got quiet, Gage.”
“I can be quiet.”
“I know. And I’ve seen you quiet before, but you still felt, I don’t know, open. You’re closed off to me now.”
“I’m not closed off. I was just freaking out because she was going to put me back with Sharon, and you were already worried about Sharon.”
