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“I bet Piper has some ideas.”
“True,” Alivia said with a sigh. “I have to keep telling myself that there will be ups and downs and not take it so personally.” Wow, did I know about that. I remembered my first few months of doing social media and I flipped out about any kind of screw up, even if I wasn’t the one responsible for making it.
“Sorry, I’m ruining teatime,” she said with a rueful smile.
“You’re not,” I said, sipping and enjoying the mint and chamomile liquid. “You can talk or bitch however you want. The only rule of teatime is that you must have tea, and we’ve done that.” I tapped my mug to hers gently so none of the tea spilled.
“I think once you have some of the weight off your shoulders, you’re going to feel like a whole new person.” I had another suggestion, but I didn’t want to push. Part of her major issue with feeling so entrenched at the inn was that she lived here. She was always available for any kind of problem, big or small. Her home was her work. She needed separation. As nice as the room was, she needed to move out, but I didn’t think she was ready for that conversation yet, so I just kept my mouth shut. We’d already covered a lot of ground tonight. We were getting somewhere.
I also wasn’t going to bring up that I did want to be with her, to give this a shot. It still wasn’t the right time. So I drank my tea with Alivia and snuggled into her huge bed with her, and it was enough. It was more than enough.
* * *
Alivia was up pretty early the next morning.
“Breakfast with the kids,” she said, kissing my cheek as I cracked my eyes open.
“Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready,” I said.
“You don’t have to do that. It’s probably going to be a mess. Just lay here and sleep. I’ll bring something up to you in a little bit.”
Staying in bed and having Alivia bring me breakfast did sound good, so I smiled up at her.
“Send me a text if you need a rescue,” I said.
“Will do.” She kissed me again and then left. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I got up and brushed my teeth and made myself cute, turning on some music as I danced in her bathroom.
I turned on her TV and puttered around her room, gathering up my clothes and putting everything back in my bag.
I sat in bed and watched some silly reality show re-runs until Alivia came back up with the most beautiful breakfast I’d ever seen.
“Holy shit,” I said, marveling at the gorgeous plate.
“Lobster benedicts,” she said. “I thought you might want something a little fancy today.”
I was feeling pretty fucking fancy, so that was fine with me.
“Looks delicious,” I said as she set the tray on the bed and got in with me to give me a kiss.
“How were the kids?” I asked.
“Loud,” she said with a laugh. “But good. I feel bad for Alice. She’s so tired all the time, and even though James is a great dad, it’s still a lot to take care of four kids on vacation. That’s why I had them at the library yesterday. I wanted to give her a break. I’m going to take them to the beach this afternoon.” The weather outside was looking bright and beautiful, and going to the beach sounded fun.
“You mind if I come?” I asked.
“You’d want to?” she said.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” I said, but Alivia seemed skeptical.
“It’s going to be complete chaos, but you have a free pass to bail whenever it gets to be too much,” she said.
“Deal.” I wasn’t going to bail. I could handle it.
“Okay,” she said. “Why don’t you go to your house to change and everything and then you can meet us there? My car is going to be packed with all the kids and their stuff.”
I finished my breakfast and couldn’t stop making moaning noises at how delicious it was.
“That is one of the best things I’ve ever had in my mouth,” I said, barely stopping myself from licking the plate to get the last bit of hollandaise.
“Really?” Alivia asked, leaning on the bed, her face close to mine.
“You have a dirty mind, Alivia,” I said with a laugh.
“You like my dirty mind,” Alivia said.
“I do,” I said. “I really do.”
