“No. I mean, maybe I did once or twice over the years. Maybe I asked if we needed all those rooms for people who wouldn’t be staying with us, but I don’t think I ever just asked for one of them to be mine to decorate or use how I wanted.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “We’ve only actually lived together for about three years, and one of those years, the house was in progress. I was busy with work, too, so I didn’t worry about it. We had a good year after that, but then, the fighting really started, and the last thing on my mind was buying an air hockey table and putting it in a room.” She turned her head to Lacey. “Have you asked River to let you mix your things in with hers?”
“No, not specifically. Ididask her to move in with me, and she said no. Maybe I should’ve warmed her up to that, asked if she could maybenotpush my shirts off to one side of a drawer, when I only get half of it, so there’s no need to put a divider inthere just to indicate that those are my shirts and hers are on the other side. It’s half my drawer.”
“You only have half a drawer?”
“She has a small dresser. It’s only three drawers. I had a sweater in her closet once, and I had some toiletries there, but, honestly, I don’t even know if I still do. I stopped buying toothpaste for her apartment.”
“You don’t just use hers?”
“She likes the kind that has way too much baking soda in it for me. I can’t stand the taste of it, so I have my own.”
“Does she have her own at your place?”
“Yeah, right next to mine,” Lacey replied.
“Do you think that maybe we’ve let them get away with some things?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“So, it’s not all their fault. It’s ours, too, right?”
“Yes,” Lacey agreed.
Cameron reached around Lacey then and grabbed one of the small bottles of water for herself, needing something to drink but not wanting to get drunk while alone with Lacey because when she got drunk, she got a little handsy and, well, horny sometimes, and she wasn’t about to be unfaithful to her girlfriend. Something told her that if she and Lacey were both single, this would’ve been a date right now, meaning it was possible that Lacey would’ve kissed her back if Cameron had gone for it. Instead, she opened the water and drank half of it before she capped it and moved to sit down on the sofa. Lacey grabbed her own bottle and joined her.
“So, what do we do now?” Lacey asked her. “You don’t seem like you’re in a pool kind of mood.”
“I don’t think I am, no. Can we talk about something else, though? Not Kennedy or River or our relationships.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
Cameron turned to her, crossing her legs, and set the bottle down on the floor before she settled in.
“Tell me what you want for your life.”
“Um… Haven’t I already done that?”
“More specifically.”
“Own my own massage place and maybe offer other services people expect, like facials and stuff like that. That’s the goal, anyway. I’ve got a ways to go before I get there, though. I’d like to get married, but no kids. I’d also like not to live in an apartment forever, so maybe a house that I own, too, but I’m not sure how I can ever afford to do both, have my own massage place and have my own house.”
“What if your partner helped out?” she asked. “Like, with the house, I mean. And maybe with the massage place, too. River got a loan from the bank and her friend, right? That’s what you told me before.”
“She did, yeah. Without Calista, it would’ve taken her a little longer because the bank wouldn’t give her the loan she needed on her own.”
“So, you could maybe get a loan from someone, or you could share the house payment with your future wife, right?”
“Yes, Cam. That’s the idea. On the house part, anyway. I don’t know about the massage place. We’ll see,” Lacey told her. “I’m still building my client base right now, and I want to make sure that that’s as solid as it can be before I take that step so that I would have clients already. It’s tricky because I go to their homes or offices, which is really convenient for them, but not for me. If I ask them to come to my shop, they might find someone else who can travel to them.”
“What else do you want?” Cameron asked.
“From life?”
Cameron nodded, and Lacey sighed.
