Page 35 of Falling Together

“I can do it!” Nolan waved his hand at Moon. “Come, doggie!”

Going against everything Blair had just said, Moon jumped from the bed and followed Nolan to the door. When Erin stood to walk after them, Nolan stopped and held a hand up at her. “Not you. He wants me. I’m his best friend.”

Erin put her hand on her chest and feigned offense. “Can I come with you?”

Nolan shook his head. “Nope. You scare him.” He pointed at Blair. “You don’t come either.”

“Ouch.” Now Blair put her hand over her chest as well.

They both watched as Nolan left the room with Moon right behind him. Blair walked to the doorway and peeked her head around the side (probably to make sure Nolan didn’t notice).

“He got him down the steps,” she said after a moment. “Better than the rest of us have ever done.” She walked back into the room and sat down on the bed. “How long do you think we have to wait before we’re allowed to go downstairs?”

Erin laughed and sat down next to her. “We’reallowedto go down whenever, because we’re adults and he’s a kid. He can’t tell us what to do.”Says the woman who gets bossed around by this kid daily.

“You’rean adult. I’m a semi-functioning twenty-two-year-old. Plus, I don’t want to get yelled at.”

Erin ignored the comment about her age, because she didn’t want to think about that right now. “Are you telling me you’re scared of a three-year-old?”

“Hell yeah. That kid can get very sassy.”

“Oh, I know. He totally gets that from his aunt, not me.”

“Sure,” Blair said sarcastically. After a moment, her face became more serious. “Your family is awesome by the way.

“They really are. Well, when they’re not trying to convince me to move back home, they are.”Or trying to talk to me about the feelings I may or may not have for a certain babysitter.

Blair studied Erin’s face for a long time as though she were trying to find something there. “And where would home be?”

“About three hours from here in Middle-of-Nowhere Pennsylvania.”

“Yikes. I can see why you wouldn’t want to go back there.”

“Right?” Erin slapped the bed, because it felt so good to hear someone agree with her for once. “I have no interest in moving back to a town that still thinks people who use the bathroom that aligns with their gender are sexual predators.”

“I agree. I couldn’t imagine. If I lived in a town like that, I don’t know if I would’ve ever come out.”

“That’s probably why it took me until my last year in college to do it.”

Blair’s eyes went wide. “Oh, wow. You should probably go back and experience it as an out-and-proud lesbian. Being out in college was ah-mazing.” She lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling wistfully. “Gay girls. Straight girls. Questioning girls. They’re all into it.”

Erin swallowed hard. “Yeah, I wouldn’t know anything about that. My ex was also my only.”

“Holy shit.” Blair shot back up into a sitting position. “Even since?”

Erin laughed. It was kind of adorable that Blair would think she actually found time to date over the past year. “Definitely not. My whole life is work and Nolan. That’s why my family wants me to move home so badly—to give me the extra help.”

Blair put her hand on Erin’s knee and squeezed, a simple touch that Erin felt throughout her whole body. “Well, now you have me. No need for small-minded hometowns.”

But how long do I have you?Erin had only hired Blair for the summer, and she couldn’t keep Nolan out of daycare in the fall (especially since she already enrolled him), but she hated the thought of Blair not being there when she got home from work.

Erin laid her hand on top of Blair’s. “Thank you. For everything.” There was more she wanted to say, but those were words she needed to keep locked up inside.

Chapter 13

Blair

Blair grew impatient as she stared at the clock, waiting for Erin to get home from work. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time with Nolan, but she missed Erin. It had been a little after a week since the Fourth of July party, and even though she saw Erin almost every day, it was mostly in passing. She had been so spoiled having her for the whole day on the Fourth of July that she could hardly stand the little bit of interaction she’d had with her since.

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