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“Hi,” she greeted when Lacey opened the door.
“Hey,” Lacey said. “Come on in.”
Cameron walked into the apartment, and Lacey closed the door behind her.
“So, what do you want to do?” Cameron asked.
“Well, I was thinking that, since we can’t exactly be in public for a while, we could just stay in. That way, we can be ourselves and not worry about anyone seeing us together and drawingconclusions.” Lacey motioned to the round table in the eat-in kitchen. “So, I made dinner.”
“You cooked?”
“I did. I hope you like it. I went to the store tonight and grabbed stuff for this chicken dish my mom used to make for us growing up. There’s wine, but it’s the grocery store kind. It’s probably not what you’re used to, so I have beer, too. I saw you drink one at the beach house, and I picked up that kind. I hope it’s okay.”
Cameron smiled and said, “It’s all perfect, Lace. I don’t need fancy wine. I’m much more of a beer girl, and I haven’t had an actual home-cooked meal in forever. You really did all of this for me?”
“I didn’t want to order in. Ordering in is easy, and we have a ton of restaurants in this city, but River and I got into this habit of doing it nearly every night, even though both of us can cook. I’m no chef, but I can put a meal together, and whenever–” Lacey stopped herself before she added, “You know what? No. Iwantedto cook for you. I wanted us to be able to hold hands over the table because no one else is here to watch. I wanted to be able to snuggle up with you on my couch and watch some lame movie later. So, I cooked, and I hope you like it.”
Cameron leaned over then and kissed her quickly before she explained herself.
“Since we’re here, I can also do that whenever I want,” she said.
“You could do it again and longer, if you want,” Lacey challenged.
“Oh, I want,” she stated, cupping Lacey’s cheek again, and went for another, longer kiss this time. “But you cooked, and I don’t want it to get cold, so maybe after.”
“Yes, please,” Lacey replied. “Have a seat. I’ll grab your beer.”
“Can I help with anything?”
“No, it’s all done. Just sit.”
“I’ll help with the dishes later, then.”
“Cam, go sit. We’ll worry about dishes when we have to worry about dishes. Maybe I’ll do them tomorrow or when I run out of plates.”
Cameron sat down and thought about how nice it was not to have to worry at dinner about the dishes that would need to be done right after. That had been Kennedy’s thing, not hers. Cameron guessed it was probably a little of River’s thing, too, but they weren’t talking about their exes tonight.
“Beer,” Lacey said, placing an open bottle on the table in front of Cameron’s full plate.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Toast?”
“Toast? Sure,” Lacey said, clearly not having expected that, but she held up her wineglass, and Cameron held up the beer that Lacey had just placed there.
“To us,” Cameron said. “I trust it.”
Lacey tilted her head in confusion.
“Just go with it,” she added.
“Okay,” Lacey said with a chuckle. “To us. And I trust it, too. I don’t know that I get it yet, but I trust it.”
“You don’t get what, exactly?” Cameron asked.
They clanked glasses, and Cameron waited for Lacey’s response until after she took a sip of her wine.
“Why you like me. You could have anyone,” Lacey said.
