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J ill and Linden were back out on the dance floor, and Asher thought back to the restaurant, where she had invited the whole group out for a drink. She hadn’t thought about the fact that Jill would come, too. She’d been so focused on the fact that her first date with a woman hadn’t gone all that well. It hadn’t been a complete disaster, so she was grateful for that, at least. Emily was kind and a good conversationalist. Asher thought she could see them grabbing coffee or lunch someday, but only as friends. Even if she’d been okay with dating someone with a child, she just didn’t feel it with Emily. She would only be trading the no-spark situation she had with Gavin for the no-spark with Emily, and that wasn’t what she wanted.

She wished that Jill had said no to drinks, though. Even Sophie, whom she had nothing against, could’ve gone home as well, for all Asher cared, because she would much rather have been here alone with Linden. She probably should’ve just told everyone that she was calling it a night and then only asked Linden if she wanted to hang out back at her place so that they could talk. She’d needed the drink and hadn’t felt like going home after the date had ended, but she needed to debrief with her best friend more than paying for alcohol that she also had at home. At least, there, she could’ve listened to music she liked or none at all.

It took a few seconds of watching Linden dance with Jill for Asher to need something to distract herself with, so she directed her attention at Sophie and asked the woman questions about her new job. Sophie had had to start over recently, quitting a job she hated and returning to the company she’d liked, but her old role hadn’t been available, so she had to take one rung lower. Sophie didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and she seemed to like her first few days back at Arnette. It was just so obvious that she missed her girlfriend, though. She’d been planning on visiting Bryce in Tennessee and working from there, but Bryce had gotten called to LA to work with a queer production company on a movie about their romance that they hoped would be filming later this year. Asher knew nothing about movies, so she wasn’t sure if that was normal or not, but it seemed serious, and, according to Sophie, Bryce was enjoying the work and the trip.

Had Melinda and Kyle been here, Asher would’ve been able to talk to them about the ongoing renovations at their house and the apartment that Melinda still hadn’t given up because it was right above the NOLA Guides’ office and was amazing in its old architecture and modernity at the same time. She would’ve been able to talk to Monica and Bridgette about their recent engagement and the card company they would soon co-own, but for now, Bridgette was technically Monica’s boss. Thinking about that, Asher smiled to herself because, knowing those two, they were having a whole lot of fun with the whole boss-employee thing. There was usually no shortage of things to discuss with her new friends, but instead, Asher was stuck here with Sophie, who was staring at her phone all the time, while Jill and Linden were back to dirty dancing in this bar. The next time she suggested they all go somewhere, it wouldn’t have a damn dance floor.

Finishing her drink, she went for another. She’d driven home after work to get ready for a date and had walked to the restaurant in case she wanted to have a drink, and now, she was glad about that decision because she was starting to feel the first one, but she could just order a car to take her home when she was ready. Asher asked the bartender for another double and handed over the cash. It was always easier in bars to have cash. Many of them were still cash-only because lines would be even longer if they had to swipe credit cards. When she turned around, leaning against the one spot of the bar that didn’t have a person in front of it, she noticed Rory heading her way.

“Hey,” she said with a smile.

“Hey,” Rory replied. “I saw you and thought I’d say hi before I left.”

“You’re leaving? It’s early.”

“We’re making the rounds,” Rory explained, pointing to a woman nearby, who was looking around the bar with a near scowl on her face. “That’s my friend, Candace. She just closed on a bar yesterday, and she’s going to shut it down for a few weeks to redo some of it. She’s going around bars to see what works and what doesn’t. I’m just here for moral support.”

“She bought a bar?”

“She got lottery tickets in her Christmas stocking. Not the scratch-off kind, but the other one. Anyway, she won.”

“She won the lottery?”

“Crazy, huh?” Rory laughed. “She’s in her twenties and owns a bar already.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who won the lottery,” Asher said before taking a drink.

“Me neither.” Rory chuckled.

God, this woman was young. Asher took Rory in as she laughed, and she could see everything that was youthful about Linden’s friend. She knew Rory was twenty-three and wasn’t long out of school. Her long blonde hair was down, framing her face. It was somehow perfectly straight in some places and perfectly wavy in others, and it all worked for her. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans, flats, and a plain-looking shirt. Rory looked very young, yes, but she also felt older somehow. She didn’t seem to want to fit in with the people her age, who wore whatever influencers told them to wear and took constant selfies. Asher realized in that moment that the few times she had seen Rory, she hadn’t even noticed her pull out her phone once.

“Well, I should go. Candace wants to check out as many places as we can tonight so that she can start the renovations as soon as possible.”

“It was nice seeing you. Have a good rest of the night,” Asher said.

Rory smiled and walked off to join her lucky friend, who, apparently, had been able to afford to buy a bar in this city. Asher looked up and found Sophie still staring down at her phone. Looking beyond her, she saw that Linden and Jill were still dancing, but they weren’t alone anymore. There was another woman dancing with them. Jill had her arms around Linden’s neck, and it was too dark for Asher to make it out, but it looked like they might have just kissed again. When Jill pulled back, the other woman moved in between them, and Asher watched as Linden’s hands went to that woman’s hips. Jill’s went on top of Linden’s there, and they all swayed. The woman was facing Linden, though, and that meant only one thing.

Soon, Jill pulled back, turned around, and headed over to Sophie. Linden and the other woman were now closer, and their hips were meeting in time with the music. Asher couldn’t help but feel that bile rise again. She downed her drink way too quickly, dropped the cup in the trash, and headed back over to the table.

“I think I’m going to go,” she said to Sophie. “Will you tell Linden for me?”

“Hey,” Jill said, arriving at the table. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Asher said. “I’m going to leave, though.”

“What? Why? We just got here.”

“No, we’ve been here for half an hour. You and Linden have been busy that whole time.”

Jill stared at her then, looking confused at first, but then she tilted her head as if figuring something out.

“She’s dancing with someone else now. I was going to finish my drink.”

“I know. I can see that,” Asher replied, knowing that she sounded angry when she’d meant to sound tired and ready to go home.

“We didn’t kiss, Asher.”

“What?”

“Linden and I just danced. It doesn’t mean anything. When we kissed the other night, that didn’t mean anything, either. It was just a kiss.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I think you know why,” Jill replied.

“What’s going on?” Sophie asked, looking up from her phone for once.

“How was that lunch date?” Asher ignored her, asking Jill a question instead.

“It was just lunch,” Jill said. “And we’re friends. I don’t want to date Linden. I want a relationship. Linden wants to date around. Nothing’s going on.”

“At the office, you said you were going to do it again when you got back.”

“Lunch, yes,” Jill said with a soft smile. “Or, just hang out. But not go out. I’ll admit, I did ask her tonight if she wanted to make out, but that was just me being lonely and her being a good kisser. Nothing actually happened, though.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Sophie asked.

“Because Asher here likes Linden,” Jill replied. “Don’t you?”

“She’s my best friend. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“It’s more than that,” Jill argued. “You’re just now figuring it all out, though, aren’t you?”

“You like Linden?” Sophie asked Asher. “As more than a friend?”

Asher looked up, spotting Linden and the woman on the dance floor. The woman had her arms casually draped over Linden’s shoulders, with her head pressed to Linden. It looked like she might have been resting her head there or even whispering something into Linden’s ear, but then again, she could also be kissing Linden’s neck. Asher looked away quickly.

“She’s probably going to go home with her,” she said.

“That rando?” Jill asked and looked back at the dance floor. “I doubt it. She’s here with a group. I think they’re just dancing.”

“So… You do like Linden?” Sophie asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, knowing that she didn’t sound at all believable.

“Yes, you do,” Jill suggested. “I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t know. If I had, I wouldn’t have pulled her out on the dance floor or kissed her.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know I kissed her?”

“No, trust me, I knew that .” Asher closed her eyes for a second. “I didn’t know I felt that way about her.”

“So, you do ?” Jill asked.

“It makes no sense. I’ve known her for ten years, and I’ve never thought of her like this before. When she started coming out and really becoming who she was meant to be, it made me realize that I was missing something, too. I wasn’t all myself. That’s how I’d describe it. I started thinking about women in a new way, but it wasn’t her that I was thinking about until recently. Then, I saw you two kiss, and for some reason, it just clicked and about killed me at the same time.” Asher paused. “I’m way too old to be crushing on my best friend.”

“For starters, you just said it about killed you to watch her kiss me. That’s not a crush, Asher. That’s way more than a crush.”

“Yeah. And it doesn’t work like that. You can’t control who you fall for or when you realize it,” Sophie added. “I’d know. I spent a year feeling like I’d lost my chance at being with the love of my life. I tried so hard to push Bryce out of my mind, and I couldn’t.”

“Bryce wasn’t your best friend when you met,” Asher argued.

“No, but you still can’t help it, Asher. Why haven’t you told her?” Jill asked.

“Tell Linden that I think I like her? Are you crazy?”

“Probably,” Jill said. “But she’s gay, Ash. She’s not your straight best friend that you can’t have. She’s gay. She’s out. She clearly loves you already.”

“As a friend.”

“Because she thought you were her straight best friend,” Sophie reasoned. “When you’re gay, and you like someone who isn’t an option, you have to push feelings down. It’s the only way to get through it. Maybe she likes you as more than a friend, or she did, but she knew it couldn’t happen, so she did just that.”

“She’s dancing with someone else and trying to set me up on dates,” Asher replied.

“Because you didn’t tell her,” Jill pointed out. “And because you asked her to do that. She told me at lunch. You asked your gay best friend to help set you up. She’s doing that.”

“I’m just confused,” Asher surmised. “I don’t want to risk hurting either one of us because of that. I want to date a woman, but maybe because I know that she ’s gay, I’m putting her face on that woman.”

“We’re all gay. Did you put our faces there?” Jill asked. “You have a gaggle of lesbians.”

“Don’t say gaggle,” Sophie said, making a face at her.

Jill laughed and added, “You have a group of lesbians around you pretty much all the time now. Are you picturing any of us?”

“Besides you, you’re all in relationships, so no.”

“I’ll choose not to take offense to that.”

“You’re too young for me.”

“But not for Linden, apparently. She had her tongue in my–”

“Hey!” Asher glared.

Jill smiled warmly and said, “See? It’s not just a woman, Ash. You want Linden .”

“Want Linden to what?”

Asher’s eyes widened when she heard her best friend’s voice coming from behind her.

“She wants you to take her home,” Jill said.

“Already?” Linden said, moving around to Asher’s side. “Tired?”

Asher swallowed, hoping the dim bar lighting blocked her flushing neck and cheeks, and replied, “Yeah, I’m pretty tired.”

“Okay. I’ll walk you home, if you want. Or do you want a car instead?”

“I think I’d rather take a car,” she replied. “What about the woman you were dancing with, though?”

“Oh. We were just dancing. She’s here with a group of friends. They’re barhopping.”

Asher pulled out her phone to order them a car, which she knew would take her home first and then would drop off Linden at her apartment. What she saw on the screen, though, had her smiling.

“Um… Check your phones,” she said to her friends.

“Huh? Why?” Jill asked before she pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen. “No way…”

“Finally,” Sophie said when she did the same.

“Shit. They’re engaged, too?” Linden added.

“I guess so,” Asher said.

Kyle Schafer : I asked. She said yes.

Under that group text message was a picture of Melinda with wet eyes and a smile as she held up her hand to show off her brand-new engagement ring.