Page 148 of Strictly Business : A Lesbian Romance

belonged there. Not in the way that it was where she’d grown her roots, but

in the way that she could put down fresh ones. Tiny ones. Infant ones that

would grow and be strong one day. She realized that it was possible for her

to enjoy two vastly different places and feel at home in both in totally

different ways. Kind of like it was possible for two vastly different people

to come together and find joy in their differences.

The breeze was barely there, but it tickled the hairs on Taylor’s

temple. The night smelled good. Not like the city. Not like strange,

manufactured scents of exhaust and tons of people and households. The air

at the farm was clean and fresh, with the sweet tang of the cows and the

pastures beyond.

“I know, my mom overdoes it,” Taylor said, turning her thoughts

back to the conversation. “She says because it’s natural soap it won’t dry

out the skin, but I don’t know…”

“Chloe loved it. There were bubbles all over the bathroom.”

“Mom spoils her.”

“She missed her.”

Taylor sighed. “I know. They both did. My dad too. They love Chloe so

much. She’s the most spoiled grandkid ever. Even though they don’t give

her lots of material things, they love her so, so much.”

“That’s not a bad thing.”

A star directly overhead twinkled. It shone brighter than the rest. Taylor

never had been particularly good at knowing anything about the

constellations or the names of stars, but she loved just lying outside and

looking at it.

“No. But she’s going to be sad when we leave in a couple days and she

has to go back to sleeping in her own bed.”

Taylor’s mom had insisted that Chloe be allowed to sleep in their

bed, at least one night. Taylor relented, but only because her mom was

pretty shaken up about Chloe falling into the dugout. It was a tradition in

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