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Of course, as soon as I thought her name in my mind I pictured her, and that led to replaying that fucking kiss we’d had on the couch and then that opened the door to numerous other fantasies of what could have happened if she hadn’t stopped me.
Joy sat down on the green plaid couch with me and curled her feet up.
“How’s it going?” She’d been in the kitchen helping Layne chop potatoes, but Layne had since kicked her out to finish. I would have shoved my way in, but Layne was happily humming away, so we let her do her thing.
“It’s going just fine,” I said, sipping my wine and savoring it. Sure, it was probably cheap, but it tasted good to me.
Joy leaned closer to me. “Got anything you want to talk about?”
“Not right now,” I said, still staring into the fire.
“If you do, let me know. We’ve got all weekend.”
Layne joined us, since the stew needed to cook on the stove for a little while.
“Okay, who’s first pick for comfort movies?” Layne asked.
“Me,” I said, even though it was supposed to be Joy. The entire theme of this weekend was to chill out and do nothing, so we’d agreed to watch all our individual comfort movies.
Layne grabbed the remote and turned on the TV and scrolled through.
“Okay, what are we watching?” she asked.
“Gone Girl,” I said, and they both stared at me. “What? It’s one of my comfort movies. You’re not supposed to judge my choice, we made a pact.”
There were other, softer movies I could have chosen, but that was my pick right now.
“Okay,” Layne said with a sigh. “Syd’s first choice isGone Girl.”
“Let’s go,” I said as Layne started the movie.
* * *
“Okay,I have to admit that was a good choice,” Joy said when the credits started to roll.
“See? I know what I’m doing,” I said. Throughout the movie, we’d all sort of melted together into a pile on the couch under two blankets.
“Perfect timing because the stew should be ready,” Layne said, stretching her arms and getting up. Good timing because I was absolutely starving.
We all filled our bowls with stew topped with biscuits and sat together at the little dining table.
“To a relaxing and renewing weekend,” Layne said, raising her glass.
“Amen,” Joy said, and we clinked our glasses together and dug into the stew that was so thick and rich, I almost moaned.
All of us had second bowls before heading back to the couch for Joy’s comfort movie, which wasThe Princess Bride. Of course.
Before watching Layne’s movie,The Little Mermaid, we made tea and popcorn, and Layne arranged us a snack plate with cheese and crackers and some fruit.
My eyes started closing not even halfway through the movie and when it ended, we all agreed we were ready for bed. The cabin had three bedrooms, which was perfect, so I headed upstairs to one of the small rooms with a bathroom that led to another bedroom where Joy stayed. Layne got the master on the first floor again. She always seemed to draw the biggest room when we went away, and I didn’t know if she was using dark magic, or if she just had good luck.
* * *
The next timeI opened my eyes, it was morning and I could hear and smell the sounds of cooking downstairs. I was glad for the wine, because it had led me to completely pass out and sleep dreamlessly for the first time in a while.
I’d needed this weekend more than I could say.
When I stumbled down the stairs with a yawn, I was greeted by Joy at the stove and Layne at the counter doing prep.
