Page 34 of April

“How out of the blue?” Bridgette asked. “I know this is her first date with a woman, but is it for real? She just dumped a boyfriend. Maybe it’s just a midlife thing.”

“Babe, did you just refer to a thirty-seven-year-old woman as having a midlife crisis? Did you forget who you’re marrying?” Monica teased.

“You had your midlife crisis young. Then, you met me and went crazy long enough for me to convince you to be with me.”

“It’s not a midlife thing. She seems serious,” Linden answered. “I don’t think she’d go on a date if she wasn’t serious about maybe having something with a woman. She’s not that kind of person. I didn’t think she’d move this fast, though. I just put her on the app. I thought she would scrollthrough a bunch of people, decline a lot of messages and coffee invites, and eventually, she’d meet someone through work or out somewhere.”

“If you didn’t think she’d meet someone, why add her to the thing to begin with?” Sophie asked.

“Because she looked lost,” Linden said before taking a drink of her water. “She asked me for help, and I didn’t really know what else to offer her other than my support and to put her on an app where she could casually scroll. If she decided she wasn’t ready or that she didn’t want to go through with it, she wouldn’t have to worry. It’s just a dating app, you know?”

“Well, she’s on a date now,” Kyle said, nodding toward the booth. “I’ve seen them laugh a couple of times.”

“They’re laughing?” Linden asked, trying to peer around the bar. “Is Ash laughing, too, or just the date? Asher doesn’t laugh easily.”

“I see her laugh all the time,” Melinda noted.

“With us, yes, but not with strangers,” Linden replied. “When we first started working together and sat across from one another, I thought she had such a stick up her ass. She hardly ever smiled, never just talked with anyone, and was all about work, work, work. It took me a couple of weeks to get her to even smile at me and, like, a month to earn a laugh. Is Emily really making her laugh?” Linden leaned over a little farther.

“Hey, I’m eating here!” Jill exclaimed. “Don’t lean over my plate and get hair in it.”

Linden sat back down and shook her head at Jill. Then, she picked up her fork and knife and continued eating the steak she’d ordered, which had gone cold since. She might be more nervous than Asher, which she hadn’t expected. It made no sense. It was Asher’s date. Linden didn’t have anything to gain or lose based on how the evening went.

“She’s getting the check,” Bridgette said.

“Who is? Ash or Emily?” Linden asked.

“Why did you sitthereif you wanted to spy?” Jill asked.

“Asher. She just handed the waitress her credit card. She didn’t even wait for her to put the check on the table.”

“Oh, that’s not good,” Monica noted.

“What’s not good?” Bridgette asked.

“She just handed the waitress the card,” Kyle said. “If it was going well, she would’ve waited, right? Delayed the check.”

“Maybe they’re planning on going somewhere else now,” Sophie offered. “Like, they don’t want dessert here because they’re going to get some of that at Asher’s place.”

“Dessert?” Linden asked before she swallowed hard.

“Yes, Linden,” Bridgette said. “You see, when two adults like each other, sometimes, they go to a private place and express that like by tearing each other’s clothes off and touching each other. Hands and mouths are involved. Sometimes, people call thatdessert.”

“Very funny,” she replied, glaring playfully at Bridgette. “She’s not going to sleep with a woman on the very first date, is she?”

“Youdid, didn’t you?” Melinda asked.

“Not the same thing. And no, I–” She stopped when it hit her.

Asher could take Emily home, and she could sleep with her. It could happen. Her best friend was about to sleep with a woman for the first time. Even if it didn’t happen tonight, it would happen. Linden couldn’t see Asher making a big deal out of dating women if she was just going to find a new boyfriend without ever having sex with a woman.

“Hey.”

Linden looked up and spotted Asher standing at the head of the table. Emily wasn’t standing next to her.

“Hey,” she said. “How did it go?”

“Are you heading out now for some dessert?” Bridgette teased.

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