Page 100 of April

Linden had long ago abandoned the dance they’d only just started, and she moved closer to Asher, sucking on her bottom lip now. When she had woken up that morning, she thought only of the fact that Asher was moving soon and that they had no time to have a conversation like the one they’d had at their accidental date. Now, she was kissing Asher and feeling like she was finally kissing someone who mattered. The last thing she wanted to do was to stop the kiss, but she could hear the sounds of oil popping behind her, reminding her that they were supposed to be making beignets right now.

Asher must have heard it, too, because she slowly pulled back, opened her eyes, and told her softly, “I don’t want us to burn the place down.”

“We can skip the donuts and keep doing this,” Linden suggested. “I just need to turn off the burner.”

“You promised me beignets,” Asher said with her arms still around Linden’s neck.

“Act like you’re going to eat them,” she teased. “But I promised, so I shall deliver,” she added before she leaned forward and pressed her lips quickly to Asher’s once more.

She wanted to make sure that Asher knew that this was what she wanted. Linden wanted the promise of more kisses with her and that they’d have them as soon as they could.

Then, she turned back to the stove and looked around, reorienting herself to the task at hand because her brain hadn’t been able to process any thoughts during that kiss, and her libido was trying to convince her to press Asher up against the wall and claim her. It was a little caveman for her taste, but now that Linden had kissed her, she knew Asher was the only woman she wanted to kiss from now on. Linden pushed the nagging thought about Dallas out of her mind and went about making some damn donuts.

“Here,” Asher said minutes later as the beignets were bouncing in the oil, browned and ready to be taken out.

She had pulled out a pair of tongs from a drawer and moved in front of the pot of oil. Linden stood next to her and watched her pull the beignets out one by one, placing each on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. They’d only made six of them, knowing Asher wouldn’t eat all that many anyway, and they were best right out of the oil, hot and coated in powdered sugar.

“Now what?” Asher asked after she turned the burner off and set down the tongs.

“Now, we get messy,” Linden replied.

???

She rolled over, expecting to see Asher there because, more nights than not recently, she had been, but then Linden remembered that she’d gone home last night. After they’d made beignets, they’d eaten them on the sofa and hadn’t talked about anything happening between them. They’d watched a movie during and after, and for the first time in their ten-year relationship, Linden had wrapped an arm around Asher in a way that told her she wanted to cuddle with her date, not just sit next to her friend comfortably. Asher had settled against her side, and her head had gone to Linden’s shoulder. It hadn’t taken long for Asher’s arm to rest over Linden’s stomach and for Linden to feel this built-up tension, that had maybe been there her entire life, fall away all at once.

After the movie, she had thought about asking to stay, but there was something about this being a first date that had her telling Asher that she should go. Their second kiss had occurred at Asher’s front door, after Linden had ordered a car. Linden had left her to-go meal in the fridge and her date clothes in the guest room because she knew she would be back, and not just as a friend, but as Asher’s date.

“Good night,” she’d said after pulling away from the soft and perfect kiss.

“Good night,” Asher had replied. “Text me when–”

“I get home. I know,” she said and pressed her lips to Asher’s once more. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

And she’d left. Now, she was waking up alone, regretting that she’d left at all. She could’ve woken up with Asher and held her close, kissed her good morning for the first time, and made her breakfast again, but as more than a friend this time. Instead,Linden tried to be chivalrous because kissing Asher made her want to do more with her, and she knew they shouldn’t do that without first figuring out what they were doing about this new thing between them.

“Morning.”

Linden looked up from her desk and saw Kyle standing there in her doorway.

“Hey. Did we have an appointment?” she asked, surprised to see her.

“No. Mel said she’d left her sweater here, so I thought I’d stop by and pick it up, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s still on the chair,” Linden replied.

Kyle walked in, spotted the forgotten item, went to grab it, and asked, “So, did you have a good night?”

“Yeah. You?” she asked, keeping things vague.

“Yeah. We did some wedding planning and…” Kyle shrugged.

“Got it,” Linden said, chuckling. “Is wedding planning a turn-on in your house?”

“Apparently,” Kyle replied as she sat down in the chair. “I never thought I’d get married, you know? My life hasn’t ever been easy, so I assumed meeting the woman for me was going to take forever or maybe wouldn’t happen at all. Jolie is a lot more well-adjusted than me, so I never worried about her, but my mom was a piece of work and still is. She’s working on it now, though, but nothing has ever been easy in my life. Then, I met Melinda, and it just clicked. We fit, and we fell in love, but I still almost can’t believe that we’re getting married.”

“I’m really happy for you two. I only know a little of your story, but I’d say you deserve something happening a little easier for once.”

“What about you?” Kyle asked.

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