Page 115 of Flirting Lessons

Was Erica’s bet like some self-fulfilling prophecy? Like, because she’d overheard it, it meant that it had to happen? Or maybe it was a curse. Wait, but that would mean that Erica had cursed her.

She was officially losing it.

She looked up with a jerk when the car stopped. She hadn’t even noticed that they’d turned into a parking lot. She took a deep breath, ready to smile.

“We’re here!” Avery said. “Time for a spa day—or, late afternoon, rather—at Calistoga’s famous hot springs, and Calistoga’s famous mud baths.”

“Spa day,” Taylor said slowly. “Mud baths.”

Avery nodded.

“You told me that if you won the bet with Erica, she would have had to treat you to a spa day, and I didn’t want you to lose out on that, so…”

Relief flooded through her body. It wasn’t a fancy dinner. It wasn’t somewhere she would have to sit in a chair! It wasn’t somewhere she would have to dress up. It was somewhere she could decompress and relax and lounge. It was something only someone who knew her well and had listened to her would plan for her.

“Mud baths!” she said again. And then she laughed so hard tears came to her eyes.

“Um, Taylor?” Avery said. “Is…are you…I thought…”

Taylor put a hand on her cheek.

“You thought right. This is exactly what I needed.” She flung open her car door. “What are we doing still sitting in the car? Let’s do this.”

Taylor jumped out of the car. As they walked toward the spa, she reached for Avery’s hand.

“This is a perfect surprise,” she said. “One question: When you said you packed clothes for both of us, what did you mean?”

Avery patted her tote bag.

“Swimsuits. Right in here.”

Taylor laughed again. She slipped her arm around Avery’s waist and pulled her in for a hug.

“Swimsuits. Of course.”

They checked into the spa and changed into their swimsuits, and then went out to the hot tub before their treatments. It was toward the end of the day on a Sunday, so there were only a few people in the very large hot tub, leaving Avery and Taylor a big corner to themselves. Taylor leaned back against the jets and closed her eyes.

“Wow. This…thisis perfect.” She reached for Avery’s hand under the water and squeezed it. Avery squeezed hers back.

Taylor let her eyes drift closed. See, this was exactly what she needed after that baby shower. She never would have thought of it for herself, but reclining in this hot tub, with the promise of whatever the mud bath would be and then a hot shower and a massage afterward, was even better than a chaise or a recliner or the floor, or any of the other things she’d thought of in the car on theway here. She shook her head and laughed at herself. How could she have even thought that Avery would want to take her to a fancy dinner after that shower?

Why would Erica bet against her staying in a relationship with someone who knew her this well, someone who cared for her like this? Betting against her didn’t just mean she was sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happened; it meant she was actively cheering for the end of Taylor’s relationship with Avery so she could win her bet.

Taylor opened her eyes. Avery was next to her, relaxing against the jets, her straw hat on to protect her against the late-afternoon sun like the practical, organized, stylish person she was, and Taylor smiled. She was nowhere near getting sick of those qualities of Avery’s.

Did Erica think Avery would get sick of her? Taylor was well aware of her own faults: she was bad with money; she was too impulsive (which sometimes was a good thing, but okay, fine, wasn’t always); she was a little too convinced she was right all the time; other people called her fickle; and yes, she relied on her ability to charm people to get her what she wanted too frequently. Would Avery get sick of those things? Or was there something else that Avery hated about her that she didn’t even know because Avery wasn’t good at conflict?

Why the fuck was she spoiling this great time by being consumed with all this fucking insecurity?

Taylor forced herself to shake off her negative thoughts. Avery had planned this fun day for them; Taylor wasn’t going to ruin it. She refused to let anything interfere with her first mud bath experience.

After a while in the hot tub, they went back to the dressingroom and changed into their enormous spa robes. Taylor grinned at Avery when she tied hers.

“I’m impressed that they gave me one that’s big enough to fit me; most of these ‘one size fits all’ robes at spas leave me half naked.”

“That’s awful,” Avery said. “What do you do then?”

Taylor grinned at her again.

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