Juniper’s eyes darted back up to hers. “What do you mean?”
“I mean. Me and you. Is this something?”
“Hasn’t this always been something?”
Juniper reached out to grab Rowan’s hand, to what appeared to be both of their surprise as they locked their nervous eyestogether. But she didn’t drop it, and Rowan certainly wasn’t going to pull away. She laced their fingers together, and she studied the way it looked, to have their different shades of brown skin woven together like this. Juniper’s manicured nails next to hers, bare. For a few moments, that’s all there was. Their two hands joined together.
They both jumped as they heard what sounded like a heavy box of books drop in one of the bedrooms down the hall.
Rowan turned her head in the direction the bang came from and called out, “Dad?”
“Yep, I’m fine,” he replied through labored breaths.
Juniper dropped her hand. “I’m sorry, you’re seeing someone. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, no I’m not. I’m not with Claire. It was never really anything, but it’s nothing now.”
“Okay,” was all Juniper said in response, though her eyes were transfixed onto Rowan’s.
Rowan quickly looked back down the hallway and back to Juniper. “Do you want to talk in private?” She indicated with a head nod toward the small cased opening on the far side of the kitchen.
Juniper nodded. Rowan led the way through the cased opening into a hallway that ran parallel to the kitchen. It had a washer and dryer tucked in at the end, and a door to her bedroom in the center of the wall.
Rowan took a couple of paces into the room and turned around to face Juniper. In a brazen move, she declared, “I’m just going to come right out and say it. I don’t think you should see Jess anymore.”
Juniper’s lips parted in shock and amusement. Rowan detected what she hoped was a hint of desire there too. Juniper closed her lips again and slightly narrowed her eyes.
“Why?” She countered.
“I didn’t like the way she treated you. She’s a fuckboy. And you deserve so much more than that.”
“And what is it I deserve exactly?”
Rowan couldn’t get the answer out. She couldn’t stop staring at her lips, navigating the overwhelming temptation to push hers against them. To feel her, to taste her again.
Juniper pressed. “No, go on. Don’t be shy with me now. I want to know. What do you think I deserve?”
“You deserve to be with someone who respects you. Someone who treats you with reverence. Like they’re in awe of every thought, every word you say.”
Rowan couldn’t quite place the look in Juniper’s eyes. Was it appreciation? Sadness? A mix of both and other things?
“I’ve never had anyone say things like that to me before.”
“You should hear things like that every day of your life.”
Juniper crossed her arms suddenly and fear struck Rowan that she was losing the traction she’d made.
“What makes you think I don’t view you in the same way though?”
“I can’t answer that.” Rowan shook her head, more at herself than anything. “I hope you’ll let me show you that I’m not.”
“My heart’s only ever truly been broken once. Don’t do this to me again if you don’t mean it.” Juniper pressed.
Rowan flinched, and it took more effort to recover from that blow than she’d been expecting. “I mean it, Juniper. I will do anything I can to prove it to you. Name it, I’ll do it.”
Juniper dropped her arms to shove them against her hips, but Rowan could see a softening around her eyes at the same time.
“Aren’t you a lawyer? Shouldn’t you know not to agree to something without knowing the terms and conditions?”
