Page 67 of Paradigm

“Good. I’m glad,” Arlowe replied before kissing her in the same spot again. “So, how long have you been awake?”

“Only for a few minutes.”

Arlowe took a deep breath and rolled away then, and Eline didn’t like the rolling away part, so she rolled to face her and watched Arlowe do her morning stretches, unable to stop smiling. Something so simple, like someone stretching first thing in the morning, had Eline smiling and thinking about finally being able to have the life she wanted for herself: a life with Arlowe, working in engineering, and even living in the US, which hadn’t been part of her original plan but was now.

“I was wondering about something. What are you doing today?” Eline asked.

“Ah, shit. I’m supposed to visit my parents today. What time is it?”

“Just after eight. Do they live close?”

“When my mom retired, they moved about two hours away. They wanted to be even closer to me, I guess, so I was glad that my dad couldn’t find something here because I don’t need them that close, you know?” Arlowe said as she stopped her stretching and rolled to face her. “I was supposed to go there for lunch, and my mom wanted to take me antiquing after. Should be ridiculously boring, but I’ll let her have this one.” She leaned in and kissed Eline. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Eline replied.

“Want me to cancel on them so that we can hang out?”

“I do, but no.” Eline shook her head and ran her hand through Arlowe’s hair. “I want you to enjoy the day with your parents. Want to do something later tonight, though?”

“Yes, but can I see how it goes with them before I fully commit? I want to,” Arlowe said and rolled on top of her. “I really, really want to, but if my mom has her way, we’ll have lunch, go to, like, five antique stores, she’ll cook me dinner, and I won’t leave until after eight or something. I’ll be back late.”

“Yeah, of course,” she replied.

“And can I maybe kiss you for, like, another hour before I go home to get ready for my day trip where my mom will buy me something old that I don’t need?”

“I think that can be arranged,” she said, wrapping her arms around Arlowe’s neck and pulling her down for a kiss.

◆◆◆

Several hours later, Eline found herself wondering what she had done with her days off before Arlowe, which was odd because Arlowe had only been back in her life for days, not years, but now that Eline had her back in her bed on a weekend morning, she couldn’t recall a single thing she had done before Arlowe had re-entered her life.

After Arlowe left, kissing her goodbye at the door and promising to text her later, Eline had stood there, not knowing what to do with herself for the rest of the day. Eventually, she’d decided to make herself some coffee and have Nutella toast, her favorite breakfast, and then do her errands. She’d needed to grocery shop, so she’d taken care of that, and after returning home, she put the groceries away and checked the time. It was only two in the afternoon.

Arlowe had texted her a few pictures of the antique shopping – one had been of some bowl that her mother, according to Arlowe, had threatened to buy her, and there had been another one of a floor lamp that had gotten the same threat. Eline had found herself excited to receive the next message, and they’d spent the rest of the day texting while she’d gotten some work done.

When she got a text that Arlowe’s mom had decided to cook her dinner, Eline knew that she wouldn’t be seeing her tonight. She thought about asking Arlowe to come over, even if it was just to sleep, but decided against it. They were taking things slowly, which probably meant that they should spend some nights apart, at least.

◆◆◆

Arlowe Romano: I missed you last night.

That was the text she woke up to on Monday morning, and it had Eline wishing that she’d asked Arlowe to stay over again after all.

Arlowe Romano: I love my parents, but all I could think about all day was that I wanted to ask you if I could come over, even just to sleep, after I got home.

Eline Claasen: I wanted that, too, but I thought we might want to take a little space to think about the other night.

Arlowe Romano: Space?

Eline Claasen: For the record, I don’t need any space. I want no space. We just took a big step on Saturday, so even though I wanted to ask you to come over, I didn’t know if I should.

Arlowe Romano: I don’t need space, either. I like what we’re doing, babe. Can I come over tonight? We can go out or stay in. I just want to see you.

Eline Claasen: I’ll text you when I’m off work, and we can figure it out. Can you pack an overnight bag and stay over again?

Arlowe Romano: No. I like borrowing your stuff.

Eline laughed at that and started getting ready for work. When she arrived at the office, she got through most of her day pretty easily, but then around four in the afternoon, she noticed something going on outside her door. Someone was with one of their HR people, and they were walking out with a box. She hadn’t heard about anyone getting terminated, but she probably wouldn’t have unless it were someone on her team, so she got back to work. A few minutes later, though, she looked up and saw another person with a box being escorted out. Those two people were both on the sales team, so she suspected that they hadn’t met their quotas for a few months, but when she saw a third person, on the marketing team this time, Eline began to get concerned.