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“I know I should leave you to sleep, but I really don’t want to,” she said.
My eyes fluttered open and closed as I tried everything to stay awake to keep looking at her.
“Okay,” I said. Or at least that was what I meant to say.
Esme sighed and stood up, coming over to give me a kiss on the forehead.
“Get some sleep, Paige. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I fell asleep before I could answer her.
* * *
“She’s comingover tonight and bringing me dinner. We’re going to do a movie night,” I said to Em when she came to visit me during her lunch break to get the details on further developments with Esme.
“I’m so jealous. I’m sorry, but I believe in honesty.” She rested her chin in her hand and pouted.
“Sorry, she doesn’t have any sisters I could set you up with. Let me find out about cousins or other relatives?”
“It’s the least you can do,” Em said.
“You got it.”
“So, what are you going to watch? You know how much I judge people on their taste in movies.” This was true. She’d said she wasn’t sure if she could be friends with me after I mentioned one of my terrible favorites. We’d already had a solid friendship at the time, so I wasn’t totally in danger of losing her, but she was as bad about movies as some people were about zodiac signs.
“All of the movies in the ‘historical drama with lesbian yearning’ collection. With a romcom at the end to lighten things up,” I said.
Esme and I had spent a considerable amount of time and effort to craft the perfect movie night. Since I was supplying the house, she was bringing dinner. Staying over hadn’t been discussed because I was too much of a baby to ask her to. I didn’t want to beg, and I didn’t want to make her feel like she had to. A conundrum, for sure. Guess I’d just see what the vibe was tonight and we could decide then.
“Sounds lovely,” Em said with a wistful sigh, before finishing her sandwich and realizing she had to go back to work.
“Oh, I’ll leave you with this little tidbit: Gretchen clogged the toilet at my parent’s house and we had to call a plumber.”
I gagged and made a face at her.
“I really didn’t need to know any of that, thank you.”
Em gave me a little smile and wave as she headed back to the office. I shivered and tried to get the idea of Gretchen and clogged toilets out of my brain.
* * *
“So,I could tell you that I made this, but that would be a lie. I stopped at the store and bought everything pre-made,” Esme said when she showed up at my place later that night.
“Dad has really gotten into making these food kits, so we’re having fajitas and a black bean and corn salad, and tres leches for dessert with some fresh strawberries.” All of that sounded absolutely amazing, so I stepped aside and let Esme get everything heated up and ready as she talked about her day and filled me in on local gossip.
“You know Kim Carpenter, right?”
I nodded as I leaned on the counter and she stirred the chicken and peppers in a pan to get warm. The tortillas were doing their thing in the oven. I kept sneaking little bites from the bean and corn salad.
“Well, she finally threw her deadbeat husband out and she’s literally living her best life. She’s like a completely different person. Remember how her face was always so gray and she never smiled? She came into the bar and I swear, I didn’t recognize her. Dropping that loser has done wonders for her skin.”
She pulled out the tortillas and then arranged everything for me on a plate.
“And what’s her deadbeat husband doing?” I asked.
“If gossip is to be believed, her sister, Erica.”
“Oh, gross,” I said as we sat down on the couch. Esme had also brought margarita mix and had made us up some virgin drinks.
