Page 29 of No One Like You

“Yeah, how are you feeling?”

“You know, pretty good, actually. As awful as Brad showing up unannounced was, deciding to divorce him has freed my mind. Yesterday, I felt buried under all of these questions. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are still a lot of questions and a lot of decisions ahead of me, but now I can at least see a path forward.”

“I can understand that.”

“I know that I’ve said this a lot, Tasha, but thank you so much. You have been amazing. You are amazing. I don’t think that I could have done this without you.”

“Yes, you could have. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Megan.”

“Thank you for saying that. I mean, I could have done this alone, but I’m in a much better place right now because of you. We have a home because of you. This afternoon, the three of us together… You aren’t just my best friend and Sophia’s godmother. You’re part of our family.”

Tears welled up in Tasha’s eyes as she reached over to hug Megan. As they hugged, Megan added, “You even let me fall asleep on you, which was amazing, by the way.”

“Stop, you’re going to make me cry!”

“Okay, I’ll stop being mushy. Speaking of mushy, what’s going on in this movie?” Another rom-com had started auto-playing and was about halfway done.

“Ummmm, I see a castle, so I’m betting there’s a prince.”

“Good call. I’m betting that she’s American and the king… no, the queen disapproves.”

“Probably wants him to marry some duchess or countess.”

“Right… and she’s a baker.”

“Nope, that was The Princess Switch. Sophia watched that yesterday.”

“She could still be a baker. Or maybe a chef.”

“Should we restart it?”

“Nah, this is more fun!”

Once the movie ended, Megan looked over at Tasha and said, “I don’t want you sleeping out here on the couch again.”

“Really, it’s fine.”

“Come sleep in the bed with me and Sophia…”

“...and Nocturne…”

“I admit, it might be tight with the four of us, but after today, I don’t know. It just feels… finding the right words is hard. Like, it would feel right to me if you were with us. You know, we should all be together… and stuff.”

“That was very eloquent. Especially the ‘and stuff’ at the end. Really pulled the whole speech together.” Tasha grinned.

Megan really did feel much better as she and Tasha climbed into bed, Sophia sleeping peacefully between them. Nocturne surveyed them with feline glee. She had always liked snuggling with her original human, and now she had two more to choose from. She decided to snuggle the smaller one first.

CHAPTER 20

COLD AS ICE

It had been a while since Tasha had shared a bed with anyone besides Nocturne. Her last few adventures in dating had generally not progressed to the point where a bed was involved. Neither of those that reached the bed stage ever progressed to the point where waking up the next morning happened. So it was very strange to feel someone pressed against her back when she woke up. It was definitely strange enough that the usual fog of sleep vanished instantly. As Tasha took stock of the situation, she realized that she could feel the familiar fuzzy warmth of Nocturne behind her knees. The form pressed against her back felt small. Sophia. And she could feel someone’s feet touching hers. Megan. Well, this is different. Good, though. Yes. Definitely good. Megan snores. I don’t remember that from college. Then again, we never shared a bed in college. I think that’s Megan snoring. Maybe it’s Sophia. Nope, I feel her breathing against my neck. Definitely Megan, then.

Tasha felt Megan’s feet move away, and the gentle rhythm of Megan’s snoring was broken as Tasha felt her shifting positions. More movement, and then Tasha felt a hand on her arm. The snoring resumed. It’s actually a kinda cute little snore. Not that I’m going to tell her that, of course. I feel like getting up would disturb everyone. And it’s Sunday. I don’t have to be anywhere. Besides, this is really nice. Tasha closed her eyes again, drifting back to sleep with Megan’s hand on her arm, Megan’s snoring in her ears, and Sophia and Nocturne pressed against her.

A while later, Tasha woke up again to find herself alone in the bed. She walked into the living room a few minutes later.

“Good morning, sleepyhead! I was just telling Sophia how you were being lazy, sleeping so late.”

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