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Avery shook her head.

“Oh no, I feel like it would be a big mistake to get cocky and think just because I had one good night that I don’t need any more, don’t you think? I know I have a ton more to learn.”

Huh, okay.

“You had one excellent night, not just a good one,” Taylor said. “See you Tuesday night. Don’t worry, I won’t forget to text you what to wear.”

“Perfect,” Avery said. She put her mascara down and walked Taylor to the door of her apartment. Taylor wasn’t sure whether to give Avery a hug or kiss her on the cheek or what. She wasn’t used to feeling so uncertain about this kind of thing, but that conversation with Avery had turned her upside down. Avery gave her a quick hug, and before Taylor could respond, she pulled open the door.

“Sorry I’m in such a rush; I need to be out of the house and on my way in ten minutes.”

Taylor stepped out the door and lifted a hand to wave goodbye.

“Yeah, totally. Bye.”

Avery’s door clicked shut behind her, and Taylor walked downto her car. Why did she feel so…perplexed after that conversation? She should be thrilled. Shewasthrilled. That was the easiest “please don’t fall in love with me” chat she’d ever had. They were both on the same page, no feelings were hurt, and they’d get to keep doing the flirting lessons. So why did she feel so confused?

Maybe because she’d prepared herself for the worst, and the best had happened instead. Even though it was a good outcome, the oppositeness of it all had her off-kilter.

She glanced at the clock when she got into her car. She might also be feeling this way because it was barely seven on a fucking Saturday morning, way too early to be having difficult conversations. And she hadn’t even had coffee yet.

If she was up this early on a Saturday, she might as well take the opportunity to get a great breakfast at one of her favorite spots. It had both excellent foodandgreat coffee, which you almost never found in the same place. There was always a nightmare of a line there after nine, but they opened at seven thirty and she’d heard—although never experienced—that it was easy to get a table then.

Yes, that was it. She’d go, sit at the counter, drink three cups of black coffee, eat eggs and fried potatoes, spread her toast very thickly with butter, and then she’d be in the right state of mind to celebrate her triumph of sleeping with Avery while still managing a perfect, no-strings-attached hookup right when she needed one.

Actually. She had to do this part eventually; might as well get it out of the way, and at one of her favorite places. She picked up her phone.

“What’s wrong? Is someone sick? Are you at the ER?” Erica asked when she answered the phone.

“No, nothing’s wrong, why all the panic?” Taylor asked, as innocently as she could.

“Taylor. How long have we known each other? Ten years? Twelve? Throughout that entire time, you have never called me this early on a Saturday. Not only that, but I’ve never known you to willingly be awake at this hour when you weren’t on your way to work. And I know you’re not on your way to work, because (a) you don’t get to work this early, and (b) you like silence in the morning. I know this because every time we’ve ever shared a hotel room and I wake up before you—which I always do—you try to smother me with a pillow if I so much as make a slight creaking noise on my way to the bathroom.”

Taylor stifled her giggles.

“I have never tried to smother you with a pillow. I may have put a pillow over your headonetime, but that was when you started singing ‘The Hills Are Alive’ in your sleep and wouldn’t stop. And I am calling because I happened to wake up super early this morning, and I thought, ‘You know who else is almost certainly awake? My friend Erica, who wakes up at six a.m. every single day year-round, except for the days when she wakes up at five. I wonder if she would like to join me at the Homemade Café for a delicious breakfast at a time when we don’t have to fight the lines.’ So—”

“Give me fifteen minutes.”

Erica hung up, and Taylor smiled to herself, satisfied. She hadn’t been sure if Erica would join her for breakfast like this at the last minute, since she was all married and pregnant and friends with Sloane and needed to “calendar” hanging out with her best friend. But she was glad she’d called Erica; if Taylor was going to confess that she’d lost the bet, she might as well have fun with it.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Taylor was seated at a windowtable at Homemade, when she saw Erica at the door and waved. Erica came over to the table, shaking her head.

“I wondered if I would get here and realize you’d pulled a very mean prank on me, but amazingly, you’re here,” Erica said as Taylor got up to hug her.

“I would never joke about something that involved fried potatoes,” Taylor said. “Or actually, breakfast in general. That would make me undeserving of the best meal of the day.”

Erica laughed and put her hand on her belly as she sat down. She picked up the cup of coffee sitting in front of her, looked at it for a second, then put it down.

“It’s decaf, don’t worry,” Taylor said.

“Oh!” Erica picked her cup back up. “I didn’t know if you’d remembered, that’s all.”

“Of course I remembered,” Taylor said. “Gotta do everything we can to keep Little Rutabaga safe and healthy.”

Erica looked relieved and took a gulp of coffee.

“Thanks, I appreciate that. Technically I can have a cup of caffeinated every day, but it made me anxious, you know? Better safe than sorry.”