conceded. “A lot. And I miss you. But I have another two semesters on this post-doc.”
“So? This fall you’re researching and writing and then you teach in the spring and then you could be back here in May. Or June.” She took another bite, watching me hopefully.
“Tempting.” I smiled as she gave me her “pretty please?” grin. “I’m leaving my options open. I have to think about gainful employment, you know.”
“You can live with me until you find it.”
“We’d get sick of each other. I love you, but I think I’d drive you crazy in your house.”
Chris tossed another chip at me. “The offer stands.
We’ve been friends for ten years. If you haven’t driven me crazy yet, you probably won’t. Speaking of—are you okay at Megan’s?”
I slumped. “Yeah. It is a little weird, though.”
“I thought it might be.” Chris kept her tone neutral.
“Melissa wants to talk.” I stared at the tabletop then lifted my gaze to Chris’s.
“Oh?”
“I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Chris didn’t respond, giving me space to continue.
“I think I probably will but I’m not ready right now.”
“It might help.”
I shrugged and Chris regarded me for a long moment, assessing. She changed the subject, as I knew she would when she saw I wasn’t ready to talk about it. “All right. So how are you since I saw you last year? Anybody new and exciting down there in Texas, whose identity you’re hiding from me? Though somehow I doubt it.”
“No. Not seeing anyone. I’m actually enjoying being single. Besides, I can’t keep stuff like that from you.”
“True.” The server dropped a beer off and Chris poured it into the fresh glass. She squeezed the lime into the beer and dropped it in. Bubbles caressed it as it sank. “I’m surprised you don’t have the entire lesbian population after you there, as good as you still look.” She offered me one of her slow grins and a familiar heat coursed through my abdomen.
“You’re one to talk,” I shot back as I studied her face. The years I’d known her had enhanced her physically. Her angular features had softened only slightly, and though a few streaks of grey showed in her black hair, which she allowed to fall around her shoulders now, she was still the Chris I remembered at that house party near the University of New Mexico where we’d met, grinning at me from across the room, brown eyes sparkling then as now. We’d been in our mid-twenties then, and neither of us had any idea the kind of friendship we’d be able to build.
“I can do a lot more than that,” she coaxed. “So if you have any time this trip, maybe we could...” The thought settled on the table.
“I think you might be able to persuade me.” I picked up my beer bottle and clinked it against her glass.
She took a sip, regarded me with a certain expression. “So how much persuasion would it take to get you to follow me home tonight?”
I laughed, flattered. “You always did move fast.”
“I miss you, Kase. I miss our talks. The phone just doesn’t do it justice.” She sighed. “I miss hanging out.
And I miss the other part of our relationship. It’s been a year, after all.” She had a “woe is me” tone in her voice that I knew was part of how she teased me.
“That is a while.” I considered my energy level after the drive and decided I was more than up to a romp with Chris.
“A long while.” She took another swallow of beer and then finished her burrito. I watched her, let my gaze linger on her strong hands. What I liked most about Chris was her easy demeanor and the frank way she approached life. A week after I had met her, she asked me to dinner and told me she thought I was sexy and she’d sure like to find out how much. She also said she wasn’t interested in a commitment along those lines, but if we could be friends, it would be great. I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time and neither was she so I took her up on her offer and discovered
“So? This fall you’re researching and writing and then you teach in the spring and then you could be back here in May. Or June.” She took another bite, watching me hopefully.
“Tempting.” I smiled as she gave me her “pretty please?” grin. “I’m leaving my options open. I have to think about gainful employment, you know.”
“You can live with me until you find it.”
“We’d get sick of each other. I love you, but I think I’d drive you crazy in your house.”
Chris tossed another chip at me. “The offer stands.
We’ve been friends for ten years. If you haven’t driven me crazy yet, you probably won’t. Speaking of—are you okay at Megan’s?”
I slumped. “Yeah. It is a little weird, though.”
“I thought it might be.” Chris kept her tone neutral.
“Melissa wants to talk.” I stared at the tabletop then lifted my gaze to Chris’s.
“Oh?”
“I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Chris didn’t respond, giving me space to continue.
“I think I probably will but I’m not ready right now.”
“It might help.”
I shrugged and Chris regarded me for a long moment, assessing. She changed the subject, as I knew she would when she saw I wasn’t ready to talk about it. “All right. So how are you since I saw you last year? Anybody new and exciting down there in Texas, whose identity you’re hiding from me? Though somehow I doubt it.”
“No. Not seeing anyone. I’m actually enjoying being single. Besides, I can’t keep stuff like that from you.”
“True.” The server dropped a beer off and Chris poured it into the fresh glass. She squeezed the lime into the beer and dropped it in. Bubbles caressed it as it sank. “I’m surprised you don’t have the entire lesbian population after you there, as good as you still look.” She offered me one of her slow grins and a familiar heat coursed through my abdomen.
“You’re one to talk,” I shot back as I studied her face. The years I’d known her had enhanced her physically. Her angular features had softened only slightly, and though a few streaks of grey showed in her black hair, which she allowed to fall around her shoulders now, she was still the Chris I remembered at that house party near the University of New Mexico where we’d met, grinning at me from across the room, brown eyes sparkling then as now. We’d been in our mid-twenties then, and neither of us had any idea the kind of friendship we’d be able to build.
“I can do a lot more than that,” she coaxed. “So if you have any time this trip, maybe we could...” The thought settled on the table.
“I think you might be able to persuade me.” I picked up my beer bottle and clinked it against her glass.
She took a sip, regarded me with a certain expression. “So how much persuasion would it take to get you to follow me home tonight?”
I laughed, flattered. “You always did move fast.”
“I miss you, Kase. I miss our talks. The phone just doesn’t do it justice.” She sighed. “I miss hanging out.
And I miss the other part of our relationship. It’s been a year, after all.” She had a “woe is me” tone in her voice that I knew was part of how she teased me.
“That is a while.” I considered my energy level after the drive and decided I was more than up to a romp with Chris.
“A long while.” She took another swallow of beer and then finished her burrito. I watched her, let my gaze linger on her strong hands. What I liked most about Chris was her easy demeanor and the frank way she approached life. A week after I had met her, she asked me to dinner and told me she thought I was sexy and she’d sure like to find out how much. She also said she wasn’t interested in a commitment along those lines, but if we could be friends, it would be great. I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time and neither was she so I took her up on her offer and discovered
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