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“How about we bake cookies?” Suzie asked. “I have all the stuff for snickerdoodle. Or we could do chocolate chip.”
“I think I’m going to hit the hay,” said Mr. Schafer, rising from his chair.
“Mom, don’t worry.” Ashley took the jar of flour from her mother’s hands. “Esther and I can make the cookies. You and Dad get some sleep. We’ll see you tomorrow evening. You got my email about jet lag and time zones and everything, right?”
“She got it.” Mr. Schafer wrapped a quick arm around Ashley’s shoulders and kissed her forehead. “We know the plan. Night, you two. Come on, Suze.”
Suzie wrapped Ashley in a tight hug. “Oh, I missed you, pumpkin.” She kissed Ashley on the forehead as well. “It’s good to have you home again. And you’ll have to tell me what skincare routine you’re using because it is working wonders on you.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Ashley let her go and gently pushed her toward the door where Mr. Schafer was leaving. “Night.”
“Nice to meet you, Esther,” Suzie called as she was hustled out of the room.
“You too, Mrs. Schafer—I mean, Suzie.” Esther continued to cringe in general awkwardness until Ashley returned and confirmed her parents were in bed. It was just the two of them and a couple dozen cookies to bake.
Ashley pulled out ingredients, obviously familiar with the recipe.
Esther sat back and did what she did best—awkwardly supervised until someone gave her something specific to do.“Your parents seemed happy to see you. Were you staying here for the last five years? When you had to leave Plattsburgh.”
Ashley dumped ingredients into a bowl faster than Esther could follow and plugged in the mixer. “No.”
The whirring of the machine halted any further conversation.
“I snuck in once but couldn’t stay. I didn’t want to risk messing up again, but I needed to see them. Here.” Ashley stuck a bowl of dry ingredients into Esther’s hand. “Add this in slowly while I mix.”
Esther let Ashley talk at her own pace. It wasn’t Esther’s place to push her. They worked together silently until the stuff in the bowl started looking like cookie dough.
“Okay, now we just need to—” Ashley looked at Esther and a smile broke across her face.
“What?” Esther touched her face. Her fingers came back chalky with flour. “Well, you’re one to talk.”
“What do you mean?” Ashley touched her clean cheeks. “I wasn’t the one with my nose in the mixing bowl.”
“Oh yeah? It looks like you have a spot right here.” Esther smoothed a streak of white flour across Ashley’s cheek.
“Hey! These cookies are for my parents. This is serious.” Ashley couldn’t finish the sentence without a smile breaking across her face.
They worked playfully, Ashley telling Esther what to do and the both of them working in tandem, and Esther couldn’t help but think maybe this could work. No one was here to see them like this. Maybe, it wasn’t just for show.
Esther scooped the last cookie onto the cooling rack. “Done.”
“Success! Go, team!” Ashley raised invisible pom-poms over her head.
Esther smiled, but that faded when she realized morning was fast approaching. It was time for bed. One bed.
They took turns changing, and Ashley light-proofed the bedroom and bathroom.
Ashley hopped into bed first, nuzzling in deep so the only parts of her showing were tendrils of gold reaching across her pillow.
This wasn’t going to be weird. Esther had been to sleepovers before. This wasn’t the first time she’d shared a bed with another woman. True, it was the first time she shared one with a woman that made her stomach flex and her fingertips tingle when they held a gaze for too long, but Esther was a mature adult. And sometimes mature adults shared beds with people and didn’t fantasize about making out with them.
She sighed and climbed into the squeaky, fluffy cloud intending to stay on her side the whole night. She’d hug the edge if she needed to.
Esther sat on her side, sparing one second to see Ashley already snuggled up on her side of the bed. She turned off the bedside lamp and, with a deep assuring breath that all would be fine, laid down. Before she could get a grasp, the bed sank, and Esther tumbled to the middle. Free-falling until she rolled smack into Ashley’s back. Ashley made one long luxurious stretch with a groan that sounded so good Esther nearly joined her. While bringing her arm back down to her side, Ashley’s fingers tangled with Esther’s, pulling her around to Ashley’s chest.
“Night, Esther.”
Esther’s head filled static, unable to compute her present situation.
