She wanted Chicago to be her home now. She wanted whatever house she bought here to be the one she could feel completely at home in without feeling like she could sell it tomorrow and it wouldn’t really matter. She’d have all her stuff moved out here and sell or donate what she no longer wanted. That would officially represent her new start; her new life.

  ◆◆◆

  Lena made her way to the café for her mid-morning coffee. She hadn’t been able to get it the day before thanks to her crazy schedule, but she’d set aside ten minutes today to get a caffeine jolt. She’d always been able to do what she had to do at work, even if it meant being a little more outgoing and attending dinners like the one tonight. It came with the role of being a VP. But when she got home after, she was always extra exhausted. She knew that after tonight, all she’d want would be a nice glass of wine and a hot bubble bath while she listened to soft jazz music playing in the background.

  “This one’s on the house,” Van said, and Lena looked up from her phone.

  She was still second in line. She hadn’t even ordered yet. Van wasn’t behind the counter. She was in front and standing next to Lena holding a cup of coffee.

  “I’m sorry?” Lena replied a little taken aback. “You don’t have-”

  “You usually look so busy in here. I was in the office and saw you come in. I assume you have a meeting to get to somewhere.” She handed Lena the cup. “Take it. I don’t expect anything in return.”

  “Like a phone call, you mean?” Lena questioned with a sympathetic look in her direction.

  “Exactly,” Van replied. “You weren’t here yesterday. I assumed you were avoiding the place because of me. Consider this a peace offering. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m sorry. I’m glad you came back today though.”

  “I was just busy yesterday,” Lena explained. “I wasn’t avoiding you. I’m just not very good at this.”

  “At what?” Van smiled and removed her hat.

  Lena could see the blonde hair for the first time outside of the wisps she’d glimpsed before. It was a short cut, but she’d either curled it into the light perfect waves that landed just at her earlobes or her hair was naturally like that. Lena was jealous. It was the perfect haircut for Van’s face, and it took Lena a second to answer.

  “With women. I’m not good at it.”

  “Do you have to go now?” Van asked.

  “I do. I have a meeting in ten minutes,” Lena said as she glanced down at her phone. “It takes me three minutes just to get back up to the office. I barely had enough time to get coffee.”

  “But you made the trip anyway?” Van lifted one side of her mouth.

  “I needed the coffee.” Lena lifted the cup and smiled back. “I should pay for this. I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

  “It’s my coffee to give away, and I want you to have it,” Van said.

  “You own this place?” Lena asked.

  “I do. I bought it four years ago.”

  “But you don’t look like-”

  “I’m old enough to own a coffee shop? I get that a lot. I’m thirty-one. I bought it when I was twenty-seven, after grad school. I am still paying off both the student and the business loans, but it’s mine, and I love it. So it’s worth it.”

  “That’s pretty amazing. Listen, I do have to go, but I don’t have any meetings tomorrow around this time,” Lena said.

  “You don’t, huh?” Van smirked.

  “Maybe I can stop by. We can talk.”

  “I’d like that,” Van replied and tousled her hair before placing her hat back on her head.

  “I have to go.” Lena took a few steps backward, bumped into a stand that held bags of chips and knocked a few of them over. “Oh, crap.” She managed to hold onto her coffee without spilling it at least.

  Van laughed and said, “It’s okay. I’ve got it. Go to your meeting.” She bent down to begin picking up the bags. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m a klutz.”

  “It’s not a problem.”

  “Okay. Bye.” Lena offered a pathetic wave and left the café.

  ◆◆◆

  Summer met Hayden a few miles away from Lena’s place, at a house that just popped up on the market the day before. It wasn’t as nice as Lena’s from the outside, but that was because Lena had put a lot of work into making her house look the way it did. Summer would have to do the same thing with whatever house she bought. She couldn’t judge the place based on its initial appearance. She had to try to visualize what it could look like. If it felt right, she’d know it was the place for her.

  “So, it’s a two-story, has three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The exterior hasn’t had a lot of work done on it, and the homeowners were upfront about the fact that the roof will likely need work. They said they’d consider that coming out of the cost based on the inspection. The inside, though, has had a total facelift. Every appliance has been updated within the past year, the electrical work was redone a few years ago to accommodate the more modern technological needs, and the carpets in the bedrooms are all new.”

  “I hate carpet.”

  “It can be removed.”

  “I know. I know.” Summer convinced herself. “Let’s do the tour.”

  Twenty minutes later, she knew she wasn’t buying this house.

  “So, this is a no?” He said the moment they hit the front stairs. “I’m getting used to that look on your face.”

  “Sorry, but yeah. I hate that I’m being a problem client for you.”

  “You’re not being a problem client, Summer. We’ve been working together for less than a week. It would have been a miracle if you found something this early. I’m just glad you figured out what you really wanted. I’ll find something for you, I’m sure.”

  “The first problem I had was that I didn’t really know what I wanted, but now I do, and that’s a problem.”

  “Why is that a problem?” Hayden asked as he clicked his remote to unlock his car.

  “Because I want Lena’s house,” she said with a laugh.

  Hayden laughed too and replied, “I think she’ll fight you for it.”

  “It’s not like that. It’s her house. I can’t explain it. I just pulled up in the driveway and felt at home. Then, I went inside, and I felt like home. Did she tell you I’m staying there?”

  “I haven’t talked to her since we were all together. Is something wrong with your apartment?” he asked and opened his door, leaning over the window to face her.

  “Nothing’s wrong. She just recognized that I needed some R&R. I told her I liked her place. She’s letting me crash in her guest room and take a vacation.”

  “She’s great, that Lena,” he replied.

  “She is,” Summer agreed with a smile.

  “Can I ask another totally personal question?”

  “More personal than my sexual orientation?” She mocked.

  “Do you like Lena?”

  “Of course, I like Lena.”

  “No, I mean, do you like her?”

  “Oh, like that?” she asked.

  “You’ve been spending a lot of time with her. Now you’re staying at her house that, apparently, feels like home to you. I’m just curious, I guess.”

  Summer thought about how best to answer his question and decided to be honest.

  “I want to tell her myself, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem,” he answered immediately.

  “I like her.” She smiled and moved her head from side to side. “She’s really sweet, Hayden, and she’s smart. I like how she looks in those glasses she wears sometimes. I watched her work a little last night. She put them on for a while, and they were so cute on her. I don’t think she likes me like that though, so I’m trying to figure out if that’s the case before I tell her.”

  “Why don’t you think she likes you?”

  “I don’t know,” she sighed. “Last night, I tried to initiate some totally innocent, yet somewhat flirtatious touching. She didn’t move or act like she wanted me to do it. She didn’t push me away or anything, but I’m not sure she’s into me like that, and our friendship is new. I think it’s best if I keep it to myself for now.”

  “Summer, Lena’s different than most people.”

  “How do you mean?” she asked and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “She’s not good at initiating with women. Even after her divorce, it took her a long time before she put herself out there. She’s shy sometimes. Even if she feels something, she has a hard time expressing it unless she’s pretty sure the other woman feels the same way.”

  “So, you’re saying she does like me, she just doesn’t know how to start the conversation?” Summer asked.

  “I don’t know how she feels about you, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Just like I won’t tell her you and I had this conversation. I’m just saying you can’t take whatever happened or didn’t happen last night at face value,” he replied.

  “I guess that’s fair. I’ll play it by ear for now,” she said.

  “Where’s your car?” Hayden turned around as if suddenly realizing there was no car next to or behind his in the driveway.

  “I didn’t call one. I’m at Lena’s, remember? It wasn’t that far of a walk, so I just put my headphones in and came over.”

  “Do you want a ride back?”

  “I’m good. Hours of music on here.” She held up her phone and put in her headphones. “I’ll see you tomorrow for those other places.”

  “Sounds good. Have a good rest of the day. Oh, Summer?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Good luck.” He winked at her and climbed into the car.

  She watched him drive off before turning on the music and heading back to Lena’s house.

  CHAPTER 11

  Lena had to admit how glad she was that Summer offered the car, because she definitely needed it after that dinner. It was with a prospective vendor that wanted to put their business inside O’Shea’s grocery stores. It was happening more and more these days that coffee places like Starbuck’s, banks, and other services wanted positions inside existing locations to increase their revenue and to also give their customers a place to visit while running their errands without having to go out of their way. It made sense because the structure was already there. The overhead was much lower, but meetings like this were a pain in the ass for Lena. She had no choice but to sit through an entire long dinner.

  When she pulled up in the driveway and headed toward her front door, she was ready to pass out in her bed. It was late. She’d been going non-stop since she got to the office. Her only break had come when she’d gone to Strange Joe’s to get her cup of coffee. She’d thought about it a lot over the course of the day. Had she really just gone there to get coffee? She’d thought about Van a few times since she’d first been given that cup with her name and number. And she knew she had a pretty big crush on Summer, but at least now, she wasn’t planning on saying anything to her about that. Summer seemed to be going through something right now and needed some time to herself. It was probably best that she not date anyone, but that wasn’t up to Lena. If she did date someone, Lena still wondered if that would be Emma or someone else entirely.

  She unlocked the door, dropped her bag on the floor with an exhausted sigh, and made her way to the living room. Seeing no sign of Summer there, she walked around the downstairs and determined that she’d likely gone to bed. She was disappointed. She wanted to see her and maybe talk about their days, even though she knew she needed to get some sleep. She’d stay up if it meant she got a chance to talk to Summer and learn more about her while discussing the events of their hours apart. She tiredly dragged herself up the stairs and into her room, noticing Summer’s door was closed. She made her way to the bathroom where she stripped and climbed into a hot shower. It wasn’t the bath she’d been hoping for earlier, but it would have to do for tonight. She wrapped herself in a towel and walked back out to her room to search drawers for clothes to sleep in.

  “Oh, sorry,” Summer said from the open doorway. “I didn’t see anything.”

  She put her hand over her eyes and looked toward the floor. Lena clutched the towel to her still wet body and gulped.

  “I forgot for a minute that you were here. I should have closed the door,” Lena said.

  “I heard you come in. I was on the phone with Emma. I thought I’d come see how the dinner went, but I’ll leave you to get dressed. See you in the morning.” She went to turn around, still looking at the floor.

  “Just give me a second.” Lena chuckled.

  She was a little disappointed at the thought of Summer and Emma having a late-night call, but still wanted to talk to the woman standing in front of her, wearing another adorable shirt and shorts combo. She watched Summer stop turning but she continued to look away, giving Lena time to grab a shirt, throw it on and pull underwear on under the towel. She slid on a pair of flannel pajama pants and lost the towel. Summer lifted her eyes and smirked at Lena for a moment.

  “Sorry, I should have just left you alone,” she said.

  “I thought you were asleep already or I would have let you know I was home.” Lena picked the towel up off the floor to deposit back in the bathroom. When she returned, Summer was still standing in the doorway. “You can come in.”

  Summer sauntered into the room. Lena sat on her unmade bed, pulling the blanket back a little more to slide under it. She felt cold after emerging from the hot shower. Summer sat on the side of the bed and turned to face her.

  “How was the dinner?” she asked after allowing Lena a moment to settle in.

  “I hated it, but I survived,” Lena replied.

  Summer reached over and slid a piece of Lena’s still wet hair that had clung to her cheek behind her ear.

  “Why’d you hate it?” she asked, and Lena tried not to make it noticeable that her breath had just caught with Summer’s touch.

  “The guy was kind of a pig. He ordered two scotches before we even got the appetizers he ordered, but I didn’t actually eat. Then, another two drinks during dinner. He insisted on me getting a dessert I didn’t want. While I played with it with my fork, he took his own fork and dug right in,” she sighed. “He also asked if I was single and told me I have beautiful eyes in the same breath before finishing the fourth scotch.”

  “Oh, my God!” Summer leaned back on her hands. “That guy’s an ass. I thought this was a business dinner.”

  “It was. He just had more than business on his mind, I guess,” Lena replied and leaned her head back against her pillow.

  “Who was he? I can have Seth hack his social media accounts and fill them with tiny dick pics or something,” Summer offered.

  Lena laughed so hard, she snorted through her nose, and then blushed with embarrassment.

  “Oh, my God!” She covered her nose and mouth with her hand.

  “That was cute.” Summer laughed with her. “I’m serious, by the way.”

  “I don’t know if that is the appropriate response.” Lena removed her hand. “But thanks for the support.”

  Summer continued to smile at her and sat up fully, placing her hands on her thighs.

  “I should let you get some sleep.”

  “How’s Emma?” Lena asked and regretted it immediately.

  She didn’t want to know how Emma was because she was afraid of the answer. She just needed something to keep Summer in the room, because she wasn’t ready to be alone yet.

  “She’s good, I think. She called to talk about Eli.” Summer leaned back on her hands again.

  “Are they back together?”

  “Not exactly,” Summer answered ambiguously. “Apparently, the ex broke up with the ex. Eli ended things with the ex, who she cheated on Emma with. She wants to start talking to Emma again. Talking? Like we’re in eighth grade. Anyway, that’s what they were talking about at the bar when we saw them.”

  “She cheated on her for months. Why did Emma even give her the time of day?”

  “I don’t know. I wouldn’t. As soon as I find out someone’s cheating on me, it’s over.”

  “Does it count if you kind of want the person you’re with to cheat on you because you don’t want to have sex with him?” Lena shrugged.

  “Your ex-husband, I forgot.”

  “It’s okay. Like I said, I kind of wanted him to. It took the pressure off me, but if it was someone I was with now, I’m with you. What’s Emma going to do?”

  “I was on the phone with her for over an hour. I don’t think she knows. She talked to Hailey before me. Hailey scolded her for even considering it. I think she just needed someone to not judge her if she did decide to entertain it.”

  Lena smiled at Summer, who smiled back and then moved over Lena ungracefully to sit on the other side of the bed next to Lena. She kept herself over the blanket and stared straight ahead toward the blank TV.

  “That was nice of you, to not judge her or tell her what to do. It’s hard sometimes,” Lena said.

  “Part of me just wants to shake her and tell her that Eli was a bitch, and she deserves better.”

  Lena turned her face to her and said, “And the other part?”

  “Realizes Emma’s an adult who has to make her own decisions. Even though I’m worried she’ll get hurt again, it’s still up to her what to do.”

  “That’s very rational of you.”

  “I think so.” Summer turned her face to meet Lena’s stare. “That guy from dinner was right. Your eyes are crazy beautiful,” Summer complimented. Lena’s mouth opened on its own at those words. “Anyway,” Summer deflected. “I don’t know what she’s going to do. I just hope it ends up okay.”

  “Me too.” Lena looked back toward the television. “You want to watch something?” She nodded toward it.

  “I should let you get some sleep. I’m on vacation. You’re not,” Summer said.

  “I usually just fall asleep with it on.”

  Lena picked the remote up off the table next to her. She flicked it on and then settled on the news. Summer took the remote from her hand and started changing the channels.