Page 53 of April

“What about my day today makes you think that I want to straighten up my guest room with all my childhood belongings in it?”

“Understood. This weekend, it is.”

“Just stay. Your toothbrush and clothes are still upstairs anyway,” Asher replied.

“Yeah, okay,” she said.

When Linden usually stayed, it was because they’d been hanging out and drinking or because it had gotten late, but neither of them was drunk now, and it was still pretty early. She checked the antique clock on Asher’s wall, and it was just after ten. She could hear Asher moving around in the kitchen and decided that Asher had asked her to stay because after they watched a two-hour movie, it would be after midnight, so itwouldbe late.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Linden said softly, wondering why she had felt the need to voice it at all.

“What?” Asher asked from the kitchen.

“Nothing. I’m putting on something we’ve watched a hundred times.”

“Sounds good.”

???

When Linden opened her eyes the following morning, she rolled over and stared at a sleeping woman beside her. Asher’s auburn hair was around her face. Her eyes and nose were scrunched up as if she was deep in thought somewhere in dreamland. Linden smiled at her, and she would’ve stared longer, but Asher stirred a bit and rolled onto her other side, so Linden decided to let her sleep until the alarm. She slippedquietly out of bed and took care of what she needed in the bathroom before she went downstairs to make them coffee.

When she heard Asher moving around above her head, she checked the time. Asher had probably woken with her alarm and was now getting ready for work, so Linden sat on the sofa with her coffee, knowing they’d drive to her place so that she could change when Asher was ready. Something about this felt so normal but also a little different, and she didn’t know why.

While she waited, Linden decided to check her phone, and she had several notifications from the app. She opened her messages and discovered that one was from the woman she had walked out on last night, which she hadn’t expected. Apparently, the woman had changed her mind, and if Linden was up for it, she’d be willing to let Linden fuck her tonight. She hadn’t been like this in their initial messages. She’d been upfront about wanting sex, which was fine, but Linden wasn’t up for anything with her now that she’d met the woman.

The next message was from a woman she hadn’t talked to yet. She was cute, but Linden didn’t feel like replying right now. After making her way through the other messages and requests, Linden went to the main tab of the app, planning to take a look at her profile and maybe make some changes, when she came across a picture that caught her attention. The sexy woman’s name was Logan Luna, which sounded made up, and she was too butch for her, but Linden clicked on the image anyway because maybe she’d be more Asher’s type.

“Looking for a little fun. No drama,” she read the profile out loud to herself.

Well, Asherwasn’tlooking for a little fun, but there was something inLindenthat told her to click away from the profile that had nothing to do with the fact that this woman wanted fun and nothing serious.

“Hey, I smell coffee,” Asher said with a wide smile as she walked down the stairs.

CHAPTER 15

Asher had received a message from Cindy around ten, having unblocked the woman that morning because she had been curious to know if Cindy had even bothered to reply to her. Having gotten the message notification soon after, she’d responded politely, knowing that Linden would’ve told her not to. Cindy’s message contained an attempt at an apology but not one that resonated with Asher. Apparently, Cindy had decided to get back together with her ex-girlfriend, who had shown up at her house telling Cindy that she still loved her before Cindy was set to meet Asher. That was the reason Asher had been stood up at the restaurant. She had blocked Cindy again after replying to her because she didn’t want to hear from her again, but at least the woman hadn’t shown up, taken one look at her, and left how Asher had thought. She supposed that should’ve given her a boost about this whole app dating thing, but it didn’t.

Asher knew she didn’t want to date anyone on the app. She’d only been fooling herself. She wanted Linden. Sitting at that table last night and seeing Linden walk in, supporting her, even though she had had a sure thing, only made Asher want her more. Then, they’d gone for dinner, dessert, and a walk, and that had made things more than clear. Watching a movie while drinking her favorite coffee made things feel so normal between them, but still not normal at the same time. Yes, they watchedmovies together a lot. No, they didn’t usually sleep in her bed, next to one another, with Asher unable to sleep because her heart just wouldn’t stop racing. She had watched Linden sleep for at least an hour before she finally closed her eyes, and it had been exactly what she knew she wanted.

“Hey.”

Asher looked up from her computer and saw Gavin standing in her open office doorway.

“Gavin? What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t respond to my messages. I was worried,” he said.

“I’ve been busy. And we broke up, Gavin.”

That, apparently, was Gavin’s cue to walk into her office and move his hands from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of red roses.

“I got you these.” He smiled at her. “I was thinking I could take you to lunch, and we could talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Well, I told you I’d check in with you in a few days. It’s been a few days.”

Asher closed her eyes for a second and said, “Gavin, I told younotto check in. And I didn’t respond to your text. Why would you come here? This is where I work.”

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