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“I have practice tomorrow morning, but I can come over after, and we can finish the living room,” Aspen told her as she helped Kendra set the table outside.

“Are you sure? You’ve got a tourney this weekend, Aspen. Maybe you should take it easy. Painting involves a lot of standing.”

“I took breaks today, so I’m fine, but I’ll put ice on my whole body when I get home, if it makes you feel better.”

“Your–” Kendra stopped herself at the image of a very naked Aspen lying in bed, with ice covering some parts but leaving others very much visible. “Maybe just your ankle.”

“I will do that,” Aspen replied and looked over at the grill. “Are they done? Need me to get a plate?”

“Yeah, sure. They’re in the–”

“Top cabinet by the stove; I know.” Aspen winked at her and walked back inside the house.

Kendra turned to the grill and pulled open the lid.

“She knows where everything is in your house, but you’re not dating. Just talk to her, idiot,” she muttered to herself. “Hi, Aspen. I feel a thing. Do you feel a thing? Can we maybe feel each other? There could be a wall, a floor, a bed, literally anywhere.”

“Here you go,” Aspen said.

Kendra turned around quickly and probably looked like she’d just been caught.

“What?” Aspen asked, laughing a little at Kendra’s shocked expression.

“You just… startled me.”

“You didn’t know I was coming right back out here?”

Kendra cleared her throat and said, “Um… Can you get me a glass of wine? And maybe one for yourself, too, if you’re drinking tonight?”

“I’ll have a glass with you tonight,” Aspen said. “Be right back. So, don’t get startled again, okay?”

Kendra took the plate for the steaks and watched Aspen head back inside the house. She put the steaks on the plate to rest and went to deal with the corn Aspen had chosen as a side dish, which made Kendra happy because she loved grilled corn. This would be the first meal she’d share with someone on her back patio in her new home, and there was something fitting about it being one she’d share with Aspen, who had spent the entirety of her one day off helping Kendra paint her dining room and living room.

They’d gotten one coat down in each room and had then gone around and painted small sections of the walls in other rooms with the different colors to let them dry. That would allow Kendra to double-check her color choices, but Aspen had also suggested she do that because it would force her to finish painting the house, or she’d be stuck staring at random circles of different colors on her walls. Then, Aspen had offered to help Kendra paint everything whenever she could.

Kendra hadn’t used Intense Indigo anywhere in her house. She planned to give that one to Aspen, and she’d offer to help paint that wall in Aspen’s bedroom with her. When Aspen had mentioned wanting to use indigo as a base color and maybe stencil on some beach mural, Kendra had thought that it would look amazing, so she’d asked Aspen why she hadn’t done it yet.

“Well, I was hoping to have someone share that room with me at some point, even if we don’t live there forever, and I was worried that someone else might not like it. Is it cheesy to be an adult with a mural in your bedroom? Of the beach, no less, when the beach is kind of right outside our doors?” she’d offered.

“No, not if it’s what you want in your own bedroom. And if you have someone there who doesn’t like that, and you move in together one day, you just compromise then, maybe. But until then, it’s your room, your choice. I bet it’ll look great, though,” she’d replied in support.

Aspen carried their wine and a few more things out of the house, and it was finally time to eat their well-earned dinner.

“To you,” Aspen said, holding up her wineglass in a toast.

“Me? Why?”

“Because you’re making this place your own, you’re making decisions, and maybe, probably, an amazing dinner on top of all of that.”

Kendra smiled and replied, “You helped, so maybe we should toast to you, too, then.”

“We could just toast to us. Simpler that way,” Aspen suggested.

“Okay.” Kendra held up her glass. “To us, then.”

“Yeah,” Aspen let out, and there was something on her face that told Kendra that she didn’t need to worry about the almost kiss earlier.