Page 86 of The Snowball Effect

She paused when she got to the only framed photo in the living room that wasn’t professional artwork, and she grinned down at it. A picture of Sutton laughing, which looked very familiar. In fact… Regan bent down to get a better look at it.

“If you’re satisfied poking around in my personal business,” Charlotte drawled from where she sat at her kitchen island, watching Regan roam around her home. “Maybe we could discuss why you were contacting me before nine in the morning on a weekend, proclaiming to have an emergency?”

Regan sent her an impish smile over her shoulder, pointing at the picture beside her. “I took this, you know. And I put it up on SapphicSpark. Safe to say I made a good choice, huh?”

Charlotte sipped on her coffee, giving Regan a measured look over the rim of her mug. After she swallowed, she hummed. “Yes. You very obviously made a good choice, though I’m not sure it would be possible to pick a bad picture of Sutton.”

Oh, there it was. Beneath whatever exterior Charlotte put on when Sutton wasn’t around, even talking about her made the corniness jump right out. Regan loved it.

“You fucking sap.”

Charlotte didn’t verbally disagree. Instead, she nailed Regan with one of her serious stares and asked, “Am I mistaken, or did you state that you neededsapphic counseling? What in the world do you mean by that?”

Oh, right.

Immediately, the reminder of her current sapphic dilemma – dilEMMA – rushed back to the forefront of her mind, bringing with it the jangling of her nerves.

She could feel her face heat, not from embarrassment but simply from the image of Emma that popped into her mind’s eye.

“How do you know if you’re attracted to women? Like, how doIknow ifI’mattracted to women?”

Charlotte’s eyebrows both lifted in obvious surprise. Normally, surprising Charlotte would have made Regan feel pretty good, but right now, her own conundrum was all she could focus on.

“Is this hypothetical or…?”

Regan shook her head. “Totally not hypothetical.”

Charlotte pursed her lips, delicately clearing her throat, as she set down her coffee mug. “Idofeel the need to ask before we go any further: this has nothing to do with Sutton or me?”

Regan reeled back with a disgusted grimace. “Ew! No!”

“Ew?”

“Sutton is like my sister! Onlycloser, because Sutton and I actually like one another. And you’re…” She stared critically at Charlotte, some revulsion fading as she took a few steps closer.

She kept her eyes trained on Charlotte’s face, carefully studying her.

Charlotte Thompsonwasincredibly attractive; Regan had known that since she’d first seen her profile on SapphicSpark. She had big, doe eyes that had a knowing gleam to them, a small, straight nose, and full lips. Her skin was flawless, as was her long, wavy brown hair.

Humming to herself, Regan ran her gaze down Charlotte’s body appraisingly. Yeah, her body looked great, too.

But Regan didn’tfeelanything. None of the urges and desires that had swiftly entered her mind last night when she’d been looking at Emma.

Stumped, Regan crossed her arms over her waist, sighing to herself.

“Should I pretend that youdidn’tjust blatantly check me out?” Charlotte asked incredulously.

Regan met her incredulous level. “Only to check and see if I was attracted to you!”

“That is generally why someone checks out another person, yes.”

“Well, I’m not. So, don’t go letting your ego get any more inflated.”

Charlotte closed her eyes, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Regan. Please, I truly beg of you, will you explain yourself? If you want advice, I need context.”

She could literally feel the words bubbling up in her throat, the desire to spill the beans and try to find more insight into whatever was going on inside her overwhelming.

“Okay, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with this woman lately. That I know from the café,” she rushed to add on because it technically was the truth – thatwashow she’d first met Emma – but also because she felt it would help throw Charlotte off from connecting any dots to the fact that she was, in fact, referencing Emma. “And when we were hanging out, I was complimenting her. You know, the way I do. Like, with Sutton – in afriendlyway,” she emphasized, lest Charlotte ask any other ridiculous questions.

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