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“I didn’t say that, did I?” Hope said, as her fingers moved downward, stroking at wiry hair. “I said I wasn’t sure what happened next, but I didn’t explicitly say I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Ah,” was all Ava could manage.

“After all, I simply do to you what I’d do to myself, don’t I?” Hope asked innocently, as one finger slid between Ava’s lips into the slickness beneath.

Ava moaned because she couldn’t form a word because the thought of Hope touching herself was too much to bear because Hope actually touching her was too much to bear.

“Having said that,” Hope said, as the same finger slid back upwards and very gently circled around Ava’s center without actually touching it at all in a way that made Ava want to slap Hope and kiss her all at the same time. “Having said I know what I’m doing, I mean. I’m not exactly sure whether or not the no talking rule still holds.”

Ava bit her lip, feeling pulsing inside her already as Hope’s slender fingers finally found their target and began to move rhythmically. “Mmm,” she managed to groan.

“Mmm yes or mmm no?” asked Hope.

Ava’s hips bucked up of their own accord and her eyes screwed shut.

“I guess you’re not really in a position to answer,” Hope said as her fingers moved faster and Ava’s breath caught in her throat. “In which case, I’ll tell you a secret.” She leaned in close, whispering so that the hairs on Ava’s neck stood up. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met, Ava Stanford. I’ve dreamed about doing this, touched myself when I dreamed about doing this, touching you is almost enough to make me cum again.”

Ava whimpered and Hope dropped a delicate kiss on her neck which was enough to push her over the edge.

Her hands grasped the bedsheets in fists as she disappeared off over the edge of the cliff into beautiful, starry nothingness, where the only thing that mattered was the touch of Hope’s hand and the feel of her lips on her skin.

THEY WERE ENTANGLED together under the sheets, finally naked, their skin sweat-soaked and salty.

“We should eat something perhaps,” Ava said lazily.

Hope put a hand on the curve of Ava’s waist. “Perhaps,” she said. “You know, I was worried. No, worried is the wrong word. I was… I was thinking, before this, thinking that maybe this was just physical, that maybe we just had to get it out of our systems.”

“I had a similar thought,” Ava said, stroking Hope’s hair. She swallowed. “Um, I don’t really think that was it, do you?”

Hope shook her head. “No. But then, I’m not sure what this is.”

Ava felt Hope’s weight on her chest. “We’ve both been married,” she said. “We both know that there’s more than this. That there’s watching each other floss our teeth, arguing over directions, watching crappy documentaries on TV. A relationship is made up of a million moments that have nothing to do with love and yet are only held together by love.”

“You said the L word, not me.”

Ava smiled. “I didn’t say it to you. And I don’t expect you to say it to me. Not yet at any rate. I’m just saying that there’s a lot to think about.”

“And you’ll leave one day and then who knows where we’ll be.”

“Exactly,” Ava said. “But then, I’m not leaving today, am I?”

“You’re not,” agreed Hope. “And living for tomorrow sounds like a terrible plan.”

“You might get hit by a bus tomorrow.”

“You might get hit by a meteorite tomorrow.”

“So I suppose what I’m saying is that I’d quite like to do this again,” Ava said, her heart beating harder again as she admitted this.

Hope sighed and propped herself up on one elbow again. “So would I,” she said. “But there’s a condition here.”

“I can’t promise you to stay here, I can’t promise long-term, I can’t promise anything,” Ava said.

“I’m not asking you to,” said Hope. “We’ve both been through this before and we both know how life works.”

“Then what’s the condition?”

Hope took a breath. “Anyone that’s part of my life has to be part of Alice’s life too. We come as a package, Ava. I’m not dragging you into step-parenthood or anything, but Alice is important to me and I can’t separate her out.”