Page 78 of After All

She laughed. Heather was meeting her at the bar, actually. She hadn’t been sleeping well since her new boyfriend, Seth, the cop from Baltimore, had left. He’d come after her when she’d returned to Sapphire Falls, professing his love and staying for a few days so that he could meet her friends and see the town. But he was back in Baltimore now, and Heather didn’t move back there until after school was out. Peyton was going to miss her terribly, and so the idea for Heather to catch up on grading papers while Peyton did her online class stuff at the Come Again seemed perfect.

The Come Again was a much mellower place after hours. There was no blaring jukebox or live band. Just the muted sound of classic rock from the back room where Mitch and Andi worked. Along with the sound of a saw and hammers and drills.

Otherwise, it was quiet. Almost library-like. And Peyton was no longer the only person seeking a place that was open after midnight. Each night, someone new had wandered in. Now there were three other tables occupied regularly. One by Riley Ames, Kyle’s little sister, who was back in town after spending the last few years out in California; one by Hannah McIntire, another Sapphire Falls native who was now home, but only for a visit to help her grandmother after her hip surgery. And some guy that Hannah had brought with her. He sat at a corner table and tapped on his laptop almost nonstop.

Riley and Hannah were a little older than Peyton but she’d always liked them. And she felt a little sorry for Kyle right now with his little sister—who could be a bit of a handful—his ex and some guy his ex had brought with her, all here in Sapphire Falls and spending a lot of time in one of Kyle’s favorite places.

“You need your sleep,” Peyton told Scott, rolling to her side to face him.

“I needyou.”

She felt a warm shiver go through her. She was never going to get enough of him saying stuff like that in that tone of voice. “Well…I can give you twenty minutes.”

He rolled her underneath him before she even got all the words out. Bracing himself on his elbows on either side of her head, he pressed his already-thick erection against the seam of her leggings. “Forty-five.”

“Thirt—”

But then he kissed her and started touching her and started saying all of the things that turned her bones to liquid.

And sixty-five minutes later, she walked into the Come Again.

“Where have you—” Heather got a good look at her. “Oh.”

Peyton grinned and pulled a chair out at the table where Heather already had her papers all spread out. “He woke up this time.”

Heather sighed. “I’m so jealous of you right now.”

Peyton laughed. “You’ve got Seth.”

“Seth is in Baltimore,” Heather said. “And I’ve found out I don’t really like sexting.”

Peyton shook her head. “Then you’re doing it wrong.”

“Hey, I loved my vibrator. Before I met Seth. Now it’s just not the same.”

Peyton loved that she had a friend who would say something like that to her. “You should try phone sex—like hearing his actual voice—instead of texting,” she said. “That might be better.”

Heather shrugged. “Probably. And maybe video chatting.”

“There you go,” Peyton said. “Way to be a problem solver.”

Heather giggled. “I’m pretty thrilled that my biggest problem right now is that my boyfriend gives better orgasms than my Rabbit.”

Peyton took in Heather’s bright smile and the general glow—sure enough, it was real—about her. “I’m really happy for you.”

It was funny because Seth was supposed to have been Peyton’s date to that wedding in Baltimore. Now he was madly in love with Heather, and Peyton had finally admitted that she was crazy about Scott.

Heather’s smile softened. “Ditto, babe. You so deserve to be happy. And you picked a great guy to do it with. Scott is the best.”

He really was.

Peyton felt a vaguely familiar emotion ripple through her. It was the same feeling she got when she stepped back from a decorating job to see that it had turned out exactly the way she’d pictured it. Or when the customer came to pick up a cake they’d ordered and lit up when they first saw it. It was like pride and happiness all rolled together. But pride didn’t quite fit for her and Scott. It was a gut-deep sense ofyeah, this is exactly right.

“Wow, that was a very contented sigh,” Heather commented.

Peyton hadn’t even realized she’d sighed. But yes,contented, that was the perfect word for how she felt.

She smiled at Heather. “I’m content. Completely. And that’s weird.”

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