Page 54 of Awaiting

“It’s okay. She’s causing you problems again?” Elizabeth asked.

“Notagain; it’salways. And I’d rather not talk about it if that’s all right,” Alex said, hoping her tone conveyed that this was a little much for her days on holiday.

“Of course,” Elizabeth replied, nodding at her.

Palmer was sitting behind her wife and had her arms around her waist. Alice was sitting in Nora’s lap with her head pressed to Nora’s neck. Then, there was Bexley, who was sitting by herself, staring at Alex from across the wide pool. The blue bathing suit Alex had picked out for her matched her eyes perfectly. Bexley Woods looked as if she were made for hot springs poolsandthat bikini. Alex had her arms spread over the back of the rock wall, and she wanted nothing more than for Bexley to move to her so she could wrap her arms around her and pull Bexley against her body, just like the couples in this pool. Alex wanted whattheyhad, and she hated feeling this jealously, but she did. She couldn’t get rid of it. She’d been out the longest, searching and wanting the longest, and yet, she was still the one looking for the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

“Hey, do you want to go to a different pool?” Bexley asked.

Alex realized she’d been zoning out but didn’t know how long she’d been out of it. Bexley was in front of her now, looking at her expectantly. The couples were off to the side, chatting and not paying attention to them.

“I’m okay.”

“You look like you might need a break from the lovebirds over there. And if I’m being honest, I think I could use one, too.”

“Yeah?” Alex asked.

“Come on,” Bexley encouraged.

Then, Bexley climbed out of the pool right next to her, and Alex had to bite her lower lip and clench her fists.

???

“Nope,” Alex said, pulling Bexley over toward her as they walked along the rock wall.

“I wasn’t going to fall,” Bexley argued.

“You were too close for my liking,” Alex told her, noting the fact that there was a fence there. “That’s literally boiling water.”

“I realize that. And I actually have really good balance,” Bexley said, walking ahead of Alex toward the second pool.

“You do, do you?” Alex teased.

“I was a gymnast.”

“Whoa!” Alex stepped on a rock that shifted as she hit it, causing her to nearly take a tumble through the fence and into scalding hot water.

“Shit. Are you okay?” Bexley turned around and held out her hands for Alex to take. “Come on. We should’ve just taken the path. This is too risky.”

“We’re almost there,” Alex said. “And I’m okay. I’m no gymnast, but I’m okay.”

“I only did it for a few years,” Bexley shared. “Well, like ten.”

“Ten years?” Alex asked, taking one of Bexley’s hands.

They continued to walk with Bexley pulling her along, and Alex didn’t mind at all.

“From age four to fourteen, so only about five of those years really count.”

“Why did you stop?”

“A couple of reasons,” Bexley began as they arrived at their own private pool. “It was pretty expensive, and I felt bad because my parents were spending a lot of money on it.”

“And the other reason?” Alex asked as she looked down at their still joined hands and smiled.

“I got these.” Bexley looked down at her chest, causing Alex to follow her eyes and look at Bexley’s breasts. “They grew up overnight, you could say.”

“Right,” Alex uttered, quickly looking away.

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