Page 42 of Surprised By Her

Ryan changed the comforter on the bed and gave me a soft T-shirt to wear. I did a little twirl and a curtsy, making her laugh as she brushed her teeth at one of the sinks in the bathroom. She spit in the sink and wiped her face.

“There’s an extra toothbrush in the drawer,” she said, pointing. The sinks were separated by the vanity and I felt really far away from her, but I pulled the toothbrush out, unwrapping a brand new one and uncapping a fresh tube of toothpaste.

I tried not to read into it that no one else had used it before. It didn’t mean she hadn’t brought anyone else in Arrowbridge home, but it did make me feel a little happy as I brushed my teeth and joined her back in the bedroom.

“This bed is massive,” I said, hopping to get into it.

“It’s a little much,” Ryan agreed.

“Unless you have multiple partners or a lot of dogs,” I said.

“Or both,” Ryan said.

“I’d love to have a dog,” I said. She was on her back completely on the other side of the bed, so I scooted over until there was less distance between us.

“I had a dog growing up,” Ryan said. “His name was Rocket and he had exactly one braincell. My dad hired this celebrity dog trainer to come work with him, but it didn’t do any good. He never learned how to sit or stay or anything, but I loved him to bits. My parents had to put him down when I went to college.”

She turned her head to look at me.

“He sounds like a good boy,” I said.

“He was.”

It seemed sex had loosened Ryan’s tongue as she told me more about her childhood. It had been very, very different from mine.

“Stop doing that,” she said.

“Doing what?” I asked.

“Rolling your eyes when I talk about the country club.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” I said. “It’s just too on the nose.”

Ryan sighed. “I went because it was what was expected of me. I did a lot of things that were expected of me.”

“When did you come out?” I asked. I’d snuck my hand up to her shoulder and was tracing random patterns on her arm.

“High school. I got caught making out with a girl in the stables at the country club,” she said with a smile.

“Ohhh, scandal,” I said. “I bet you had all the tongues wagging.”

She snorted. “My parents were surprisingly good about it. In fact, the only thing my dad said was that I should have chosen better. A month later her father got indicted for insider trading and her mom moved them all to Texas and I never saw her again.”

“Tragic,” I said.

“And you?” she asked.

“Well, having two moms, I always knew that being a lesbian was a possibility, but I just never thought it was me. Then I had this really intense toxic friendship with a girl when I was eleven and everything kind of clicked into place. She was straight, of course. I check in on her social media every now and then. She’s married to a guy and has two kids. Looks happy.”

“Falling for straight girls is the worst,” she said, her arm encircling me and pulling me until I was laying on her chest, tucked right in under her chin.

“Agreed,” I said through a yawn.

I felt her lips on my head. “Go to sleep, cupcake.”

There were a lot of things I didn’t know about Ryan, but I found out the next day that she was a morning person.

Way too early I felt her move and get out of bed.

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