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“Has someone ever done that to you?” Ainsley asked.

“A couple of guys, yeah.”

“Sucks, doesn’t it? Anyway, Casey said she did it because she felt ignored by me. That it was a momentary lapse of judgement brought on by loneliness.”

“Do you believe her?”

Ainsley shrugged.

“Kind of,” she answered truthfully. “Doesn’t mean she had to do it, though.” She leaned forward. “My problem is,” she continued, “if I date outside of my profession—such as Casey—then I risk being with a woman who doesn’t understand that being a doctor means I don’t work a nine-to-five type job and that maybe I don’t have a lot left in the tank when I get home from the hospital.”

“Totally get it,” Rachel said.

“But if I date within my profession,” Ainsley went on, “then I risk being in a relationship where we both work stupid-crazy hours and we both don’t have a lot left in the tank at the end of the day.”

“Is Casey the reason you’re leaving San Diego?” Rachel asked. “The reason why you want to get out of the condo?”

Ainsley had to laugh at that. The question made sense, she thought, considering how new Rachel was in her life and her not knowing that Ainsley was not the type to let a woman chase her out of town. So, she explained that no, her leaving San Diego was due to having always loved Carlsbad.

“I grew up in La Jolla,” she said, “but some friends and I used to surf up in Carlsbad when I was a teenager. Sometimes we played volleyball there too. Anyway, with my new position at Scripps, this seemed like the perfect moment to make my dream of living in Carlsbad come true.”

She went on, telling Rachel of how she purged her condo of all things Casey back when she discovered her girlfriend was cheating.

“Let’s see…I bought a new bed and mattress because when you see your girlfriend having sex with another woman on your old bed, that piece of furniture needs to be burned.”

“You didn’t actually burn it, did you?” Rachel asked, her eyes wide.

“Metaphorically. I donated it to Goodwill. Let’s see, which means I also metaphorically burned the couch because I figured they probably had sex on that too. The dining room table…”

“You think they had sex on the dining room table?” Rachel’s voice telegraphed her surprise.

“It’s a flat surface. Lesbians will have sex on just about any flat surface,” Ainsley told her. “If you would just give in to my charms, I’d show you.”

Rachel burst out laughing, blushing enough to make her face almost match the color of her hair.

“What about the floors?” she inquired. “They’re a flat surface. Did you have them retiled?”

“Shit!” Ainsley exclaimed. “I knew I was forgetting something! But I did have the bedroom walls repainted and I threw away every gift she had ever given me—including a fairly expensive gold necklace.”

“Note to self,” Rachel began, “don’t cheat on Ainsley.”

“Or if you do,” Ainsley said, “make sure it’s before you buy me expensive jewelry.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t cheat on you,” Rachel said reassuringly, making Ainsley chuckle. Ainsley was super glad that Rachel insisted they continue their flirty banter. She knew it wasn’t ever going to go anywhere but it was a lot of fun and made chatting with Rachel a hell of a lot more interesting than chatting with most of her other friends.

At least, Ainsley was fairly certain the flirty banter wasn’t going to go anywhere. There were thrilling moments when she could swear Rachel was genuinely attracted to her. It wasn’t just in the things she would say but the way she would say them and the look on her face when she would say them. On top of that, Ainsley often caught Rachel checking her out—the way women check her out when they’re trying to be subtle about it. Peeking down at her cleavage, roaming their eyes over her long figure when they thought Ainsley wouldn’t notice…Rachel did all of that.

And, Ainsley had noticed thrillingly, Rachel often licked her lips while doing so…

Chapter 7

“What about him?”

Rachel looked to where Ainsley was indicating. A young guy with quite an impressive muscular build was standing with his friends on Fifth Avenue near the entrance to a bar, evidently waiting to get in.

She shook her head.

“He’s good-looking,” she declared. “But…nah!”