“No, I don’t have a sister,” she confessed.

  “You really didn’t see this going anywhere,” she stated. “To create a sister seems a little dangerous if we moved forward.” She smiled politely. “I understand. I can still drive you home.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

  Lena felt bad about leaving Marsha mid-dinner, but she could not handle watching the woman chew for a moment longer. She ordered an Uber and headed toward The Lantern to meet her friends. They always seemed to enjoy Lena’s bad date stories, especially since they were all happily coupled off now.

  She pushed open the door to The Lantern and glanced around quickly for her friends. She knew Hailey and Charlie would be there, and suspected that others would join them, but hadn’t heard for sure. So she looked for Hailey’s long blonde hair and Charlie’s pixie cut darker locks. She found them along with the long dark hair of another woman she recognized; not because she’d met her before, but because her face was all over the world these days. Summer Taft was a young CEO and a total success story. She was also gorgeous, with striking features and dark eyes that seemed to match her hair to the shade. Lena had been aware that Hailey worked with Summer and that Charlie and Summer were friends outside of that relationship, but she hadn’t yet met her, and she hadn’t expected to see her at the bar tonight.

  “Lena!” Charlie yelled and waved her over. “We’ll need a chair,” Charlie added when Lena got close enough to hear.

  The bar was only somewhat crowded. She’d gotten accustomed to The Lantern. It became the place she’d come to after a hard day at work or a trip to unwind and to just sit at the bar to see if any interesting women caught her eye or vice versa. She’d picked up a few or had been picked up by them at The Lantern since coming out, but she’d rarely slept with the women she met.

  For her, it wasn’t about just having some meaningless sex with women because she finally could. At first, it was about discovering the type of woman she’d even be attracted to or would want to have sex with. Then, it was about spending time with them talking and finding a connection. If one existed, they’d go on a few dates. If she felt like there was a possibility of something real, she might take it that far, but that had been rare. Since coming out, she’d slept with three women and only one of them more than once. She’d dated Reagan for two months over four months ago. They’d never been an official couple, and Lena knew Reagan dated other women. It hadn’t bothered her. On one of her trips for work, Lena found herself thinking about that very thing. Reagan had ended their phone call to get ready for a date with someone else, and that hadn’t bothered Lena at all. Shouldn’t it have bothered her that a woman she was sleeping with was going out with someone else?

  “Hey, glad you could make it,” Hailey greeted as Emma stood and headed over to a table where there was an empty chair.

  “I needed to come. My date was a train wreck,” Lena said. “Thanks, Emma.”

  Emma had pulled the chair over in front of the booth and then motioned for Lena to take her old seat so she could take the chair.

  “Train wreck?” Ember asked.

  Lena hadn’t spent much time with Ember and Eva, but they’d been out with Charlie and Hailey a few times, and she’d gotten to know them enough to consider them both friends now.

  “Lena, I forgot,” Hailey began. “This is Summer. Summer, this is our friend, Lena.” Hailey motioned to Summer Taft.

  “Nice to meet you,” Lena offered and lifted her hand from beneath the table to shake Summer’s.

  “You too,” Summer replied softly.

  “Summer has been hanging out in Chicago for a while, but she’s making the official move now,” Hailey said. “We’re here to celebrate.”

  “Congratulations.” Lena shrugged, not knowing if that was the right reply.

  “Thanks.” Summer chuckled lightly. “Let me get you a drink. I have to run to the bathroom anyway.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll take a gin and tonic,” Lena said.

  “I’ll be right back.” Summer offered a smile and stood.

  “I have to go too. I’ll join you. Anyone need a refill?” Emma stood and asked the group.

  Heads shook side-to-side, and Lena watched Summer and Emma walk off together.

  “Something is up with those two.” Hailey pointed at the two women who were walking toward the bathroom.

  “What are you talking about?” Charlie asked her.

  “I know Emma. She’s weird around Summer.”

  “You think she likes her?” Ember questioned.

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” Hailey said.

  “Do you think Summer could like her back?” Eva questioned in Hailey’s direction.

  “She’s never said anything, but I guess she could.”

  “I think you just like playing matchmaker, Hails,” Charlie offered her girlfriend.

  “Emma was really hurt after that cheater, Elizabeth. Summer is single. Why not?”

  “Summer is gay?” Lena questioned.

  “She’s bi,” Hailey explained. “She’s been single for a while. I think it’s time she finds someone new.”

  “What if she isn’t looking for someone new?” Charlie asked.

  “She doesn’t have to date anyone if she doesn’t want to date them. I just think she and Emma would be cute together,” Hailey suggested and pointed at the two women who were standing in line next to one another by the one stall bathroom.

  Lena chanced a look in that direction. She noticed neither woman was speaking to the other. They seemed to be staring at the floor in front of their feet until the door opened and Summer went inside, leaving Emma standing and waiting. Lena turned back around to the rest of the group.

  “Okay. So, spill. How bad was the date?” Hailey asked.

  “I don’t normally notice people chewing, but I have never heard someone chew so loudly in my life. It was driving me crazy.”

  “Misophonia,” Hailey said. “I read about it. It’s a real condition. People can’t stand to hear other people chew among other things.”

  “I don’t think I have that,” Lena said. “It was just really loud and annoying. Her mouth was even open sometimes. I could see her steak. It was gross.”

  “So, no second date then?” Charlie asked her.

  “She still isn’t over her ex. I can tell,” Lena continued. “They were together for twenty years. That was something my friend, who set us up, failed to mention. That, inherently, I don’t have a problem with, but they have three kids together and they are still trying to figure out the custody situation. I’m not even sure I want kids. I don’t think I want to deal with any that aren’t mine in a complicated situation like this.”

  “What about kids?” Emma asked when she approached the table.

  Summer was right behind her and placed Lena’s drink in front of her before sliding into the booth across from Lena again.

  “Lena was just telling us about her terrible date tonight. The woman has three kids with her ex.” Ember took a drink.

  “All under the age of ten,” Lena added. “Too much for me.”

  “You’ve never really wanted kids though, right?” Charlie asked her.

  “Not really,” Lena confirmed. “With my ex, I thought it was because I didn’t want kids with him. I suspected that the marriage could end.”

  “Why?” Summer asked her.

  “Because I’m gay, and he and I rarely actually had sex. After the first few years of marriage, he stopped pushing for it. He’d never expressed interest in having kids. I’m pretty sure he was glad I never brought them up. I’m also pretty sure that he didn’t mind about the lack of intimacy in our relationship because he was getting it elsewhere, but I don’t fault him for that. I shouldn’t have married him in the first place.”

  “Why did you?” Summer asked a probing question.

  “Well, these are deeper topics than I thought we’d get into at a bar,” Ember said. “And I hate to break this up, but we’re driving to Iowa tomorrow to visit Eva’s sister and her new baby, so we should get going. I still have to pack.”

  “Because you didn’t do it earlier, like I told you,” Eva teased.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Ember rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s go.” She took Eva’s hand, and Lena stood to allow them to climb out before climbing back in herself.

  “Safe trip,” Hailey said. “And we want pictures.”

  “When are you two going to start having them?” Ember wagged her finger back and forth between Charlie and Hailey in jest.

  “Get out of here,” Charlie laughed out.

  Ember and Eva said their goodbyes and left the bar, while Emma stood and carried the chair back to the table she’d taken it from earlier. Afterward, she slid in next to Lena. Lena watched as she and Summer stared for a moment. Hailey had been right. Something was definitely going on between the two of them.

  “I guess I should find a real estate agent here,” Summer broke the silence. “I want to buy something here, and maybe something in Detroit to be near the other office. You could stay there when you need to travel there, Hailey.”

  “That would be nice,” Hailey replied.

  “I have a friend in real estate. His name’s Hayden. I can get you his number. He helped me find my place after the divorce, and we became friends. He’s good,” Lena said.

  “That’d be great. Thanks,” Summer replied with a smile.

  She pulled her phone from under the table and Lena took that to mean she was ready to get the number now.

  “Sure.” Lena pulled out her own phone and logged in with her password. “What’s your number? I’ll send you his contact info.”

  Summer gave Lena her number, and Lena then sent Hayden’s work cell and email address to her while also saving Summer’s contact information in her own phone.

  “Where are you looking to buy?” Emma asked Summer and took a sip of her martini.

  “I honestly have no idea. I think I just want to look around for the right place and hope it’s in a good neighborhood,” Summer said. “I’d prefer a condo in the city itself, if possible.”

  “There are some places for sale near me,” Emma suggested. “They’re new. Finished in the last year or so. They look pretty nice from the outside.”

  Summer nodded and gave Emma a shy smile.

  ◆◆◆

  An hour later, Charlie and Hailey had dismissed themselves, while Emma, Lena, and Summer remained working on their drinks. Emma and Summer didn’t seem to want to engage in conversation with one another, but had no problem engaging with Lena. The three talked for a little while longer, until Emma’s eye caught someone at the door. Lena turned to see a woman enter with another woman in tow.

  “Do you know her?” Lena asked Emma.

  “That’s my ex with her current,” Emma said through her gritted teeth.

  “Sorry, Emma,” Summer replied.

  “I think I’m going to go. I don’t feel like dealing with her tonight.” Emma slid out of the booth and stood. “Sorry to cut this short, but it’s still weird for me.”

  She glanced in the direction of the two women who hadn’t noticed her and headed toward the bar. Emma waved at both Lena and Summer. Then, she left the bar.

  “There’s a story there, right?” Lena questioned Summer when they were alone.

  “Eli, her ex, was cheating on her for a long time, apparently.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” Lena replied.

  “I think she’s still trying to get over the whole thing.”

  “So, you two aren’t…” Lena realized the question might be a little personal given the fact that she’d just met Summer.

  “Emma and I? Oh, no. We’re not together.”

  “It seemed like there was something going on there between the two of you.”

  Lena finished her drink. Summer reddened almost instantly. Lena found the blush cute.

  “Something was going on. Well, it happened once, but nothing since.”

  “Oh.”

  “It was one time, while she was in California on business. We haven’t exactly discussed it. That’s probably what you’re picking up on,” Summer explained. “But no one else knows, so if you could keep it to yourself, I’d appreciate it. I don’t know how Emma feels about telling the rest of them.”

  “I won’t say anything,” Lena said.

  “So, Hailey tells me you’re a VP at O’Shea’s.”

  “VP of Operations. It’s a grueling job sometimes, but I like it. I’m finally done with traveling for a bit, so that’s good. I feel like I haven’t had much time for my personal life these past few months. Hence the blind date tonight that went so well,” she said sarcastically.

  “I feel like I haven’t had a personal life in years,” Summer said. “I’m about ready to give up on the whole thing and just become a tired old spinster.”

  “How old are you?” Lena laughed. “I don’t think you can become a spinster at your age.”

  “I’m twenty-seven. I’ll just stay single for a few years then, before I try out the new title.”

  Lena laughed again and swirled the ice around in her sweating glass.

  “Well, I’m almost thirty-seven. I think if either of us is going to go by spinster, it should be me.”

  Summer seemed to consider that comment and stared at her thoughtfully.

  “Did you always know you were gay but married anyway?” Summer finished the last gulp of her own drink.

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Sorry, that’s too much, right?” Summer questioned. “Was that rude?”

  “No, not rude. It’s just hard to answer that question, I guess.”

  “How so?”

  “There are things I think I knew,” Lena started. “There was a girl in high school I thought was beautiful and spent a lot of time around, but I didn’t know at the time that it was anything more than a close friendship.”

  “I think a lot of people have been there,” Summer said.

  “I went to college and met my future husband. He was great, and I did fall in love with him, or at least that’s what I thought it was.”

  “And you never thought of women?”

  “I did, but I just pushed it out of my mind. My family was pretty religious growing up, and I spent every Sunday in the church until I was eighteen and went away to school. It was almost as if being gay wasn’t even a possibility because it didn’t exist in my world. We didn’t talk about it. I don’t know if I even knew any gay people back then. He was my first real boyfriend, and it felt okay.” She paused. “Okay, but not great.”

  “It wasn’t like all the movies made it seem?”

  “No, it wasn’t. And then we were married, and it was like the moment that happened, I started feeling trapped. He worked; I didn’t have to, because he made more than enough and we had family money. For a while, I associated the trapped feeling to that more than my sexuality.” She watched what was left of the ice move around in her glass. “Suddenly, it was like now that I was married, every woman was off limits to me, but attractive. I started thinking about things I shouldn’t have been thinking about as a married woman. I met a woman through an organization I volunteered for, and it turned out she was my neighbor. We became friends, but she was straight and married, so that wasn’t going anywhere. It was safe because of that. I allowed myself to have those feelings and thoughts.”

  “Let me guess. Then, you fell for a non-straight woman,” Summer said.

  “It was four years into my marriage, and I met Jackie through a friend of the family. She’d been invited to a Christmas party. I didn’t know she was gay at first. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have talked to her because I wouldn’t have had the guts. She was beautiful and kind. We went to lunch a few days later. She told me she was gay and had just broken up with her girlfriend. Then, it was terrifying. There I was, sitting across from a woman I was attracted to, and she was possible. I mean, I don’t even know if she thought about me like that. She knew I was married to a man, so probably not, but it didn’t matter. It all came crashing down on me after that.” She looked at Summer, who was staring intently at her. “It still took me a while to admit it to myself. I considered that I might be bisexual for a long time. I loved Damon at some point. Or else I wouldn’t have married him, right? But after I did some real soul-searching, I had to just admit it to myself and later to the man I married that I liked women. I didn’t want to be married to a man anymore. We divorced. I spent a couple of years after that just trying to figure out how to speak to a woman I found attractive, and that’s how I met Charlie.”

  “You found Charlie attractive too?” Summer smirked.

  “Yes, I did,” she admitted. “It took almost everything in me to work up the courage to ask her out. She was great with me, but I wasn’t ready for anything serious then. It’s why we’re still friends.”

  “Are you now?” Summer asked her.

  “Sometimes, I think I am. And other times, I think I’m still searching. What about you?”

  “My story?”

  “Yeah, why not? I told you mine.” Lena sipped on the water formed by the melting ice.

  “Well, I’ve kind of always known I was bi. I only dated guys in high school because even though I knew I liked girls too, I wasn’t ready to share that with the world. When I got to college though, I started dating both, and I had my first serious girlfriend. I came out to my parents after that. My brother already knew because we’ve always been close. Right now, he’s navigating the globe or something, but we still talk regularly and not just about the company. My parents didn’t seem to mind. I’ve had more girlfriends and boyfriends since, but even the relationships that lasted the longest never really felt like they were going to be the last relationship of my life. I’ve never had that feeling that I’ve found the one. So, spinster it is.”

  “How do you even have time to date?” Lena asked. “I’ve read your bio. You’ve got to be constantly working. I know I feel like I am, and I’m not a CEO. On top of that, I read that you’re still trying to finish your degree.”

  “It’s one class a semester and not really a big deal, but yeah. I’m busy. It’s easier when Seth is around, but I know he likes traveling. I’ll handle things until he gets back,” Summer replied.