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“You earned them,” Ernie offered. “You hustled your ass off, and we would’ve been lost without you. You’re a hell of a waitress.”

Holly acknowledged this with a nod. “I’d better be, after all these years, or it would be time to find a new job.”

“Well, if you ever want to spend some time in a small town in the mountains, I’d give you an apron in a minute.”

“That’s very kind.” It would be easy to take Ernie up on that generous offer. She liked it here, and Ernie would be an amazing boss. “I just left a job because I wanted to do more baking, though.”

“Not a lot of need for baking in a dive bar,” Ernie conceded. “Collin might need a baker. But what you need is to take these tips.”

Holly shook her head and sipped her coffee. “I don’t take money when I do favors for friends.”

“Are we friends?” Ernie asked, a laugh in her voice.

Holly nodded emphatically. “We’re going to be.”

“Okay, friend, do you want to do me one more favor?”

“Hit me.”

Ernie suddenly looked much shyer than Holly would have guessed she could. “Will you find out for me if the hot chef is single?”

Holly was taken aback. “I’m pretty sure Levi is, like, very married.”

“Ew! Not that guy!” Now Ernie laughed full-out. “Lawrence. He’s so cute.”

“I will absolutely put in a good word for you if I meet him,” Holly assured her.

They had a moment where Holly felt they were kindred spirits, a friendship immediately formed. Her heart clenched. Maybe Tara was right, and she did need friends.

Tara had been watching all of this with a little smile on her face. Holly leaned over and kissed the edge of it, startling her. It seemed to Holly that outside of the bedroom and shows for public consumption, Tara wasn’t that comfortable with being shown affection through touch. She wondered if it was because no one but Cole ever bothered to touch her, or if she genuinely didn’t like it. But then, Tara smiled full-on at her, and leaned back in for a real kiss. Her eyes, locked with Holly’s, were crinkled with pleasure at the edges.

“You’re always doing kind things and hoping no one notices,” Tara told her.

“I’m not doing it for kindness’s sake,” Holly said. “I’m doing it because it needs to be done, and I can. No notice necessary.”

Tara looked at her for a long moment, those blue eyes boring into her, as if she wanted to say something else, but she seemed to think better of it. Instead, she picked up Holly’s hand and kissed her palm.

“Get a room!” Sawyer said.

“We have one!” Tara laughed. “And I think getting back to it is the exact right idea.”

Holly loved this plan. The family and friends were still exploring the town, and dinner was not for hours.

They hauled ass back to Carrigan’s and, once there, Holly pulled Tara into their room, tugging at her clothes and running her hands up Tara’s stomach.

“Sloane,” she whispered, “let’s get this off.”

Tara grabbed her hands, interlacing their fingers. She held them up above Holly’s head before leaning in to kiss her. Nipping on her lower lip, she pulled away.

“I promised Miriam and Noelle that we would actually make it to dinner tonight, which means we are not taking our clothes off.”

Holly pouted.

“What we are going to do, is take your shoes off. Because you have been on your feet way too long.”

This, Holly couldn’t argue with. She sat down on the bed to pull off her boots, and Tara pushed her back against the pillows. Taking Holly’s feet in her hands, she pulled off the socks and began massaging her feet.

At first, Holly was appalled. This perfectly put together, never mussed woman with the impeccable hair, eyeliner wings that could cut someone, and unstained white sofa was rubbing her dirty, aching feet. She let her head fall back and moaned.