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“W hy are you leaving right now?” Linden asked her. “Should I be taking offense?”

“What? No,” Asher said, smiling down at the still very naked Linden in her bed.

“Babe, stay. We have a day off. We’re supposed to make love all day and only stop to eat and hydrate.”

Linden held out her hand, and when Asher took it, she pulled her down on top of her.

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. You like what we did so much; you want to do it all day.” Asher smiled down at her.

“I loved what we did. And I do want to do it all day,” Linden replied. “And night. Why are you wearing clothes?”

“I’m just running an errand. I’ll be right back. You should get some sleep since we didn’t do any of that last night,” she said, kissing Linden’s nose. “You have a really cute nose. Have I ever told you that?”

Linden laughed and said, “What? No. Don’t change the subject, either.”

“I’m not. It’s cute.” Asher kissed it again. “I like that I can say these things to you now. I like your nose. It’s cute. I like your sexy hair and never want you to change it.”

“You like how it feels when you tug on it when I’m down there.” Linden wiggled her eyebrows. “Probably why you like my nose, too, and my chin.”

Asher laughed and said, “One of the reasons, but not the only. I’m going to grab us lunch. What do you want?”

“Lunch can be delivered, Asher,” Linden argued as she reached her hands into Asher’s jeans and underwear to cup her ass. “Your ass is rock-hard. God, I love it.”

“I work out. Or, at least, I did before this started happening. I also eat well, which you should try sometime.”

“Are you saying I need to eat well and work out for you?” Linden asked.

“No. You’re perfect. I love everything about your body. But if you came to the gym with me, you could watch me work out. And if you ate healthy, you’d live longer, and I happen to have a vested interest in you living forever.” She kissed Linden’s lips quickly and used that as a distraction to climb back out of bed. “Babe, what do you want for lunch?”

“ You , obviously,” Linden stated. “But you keep trying to leave me.”

“I need an hour. I’ll be back, okay? Just take a nap. I’m bringing you a wrap from somewhere. It’ll have grilled chicken and veggies in it.”

“Gross. Get me a Po-Boy from Henry’s. You know the one I like.”

Asher laughed and asked, “Chips?”

“Yes. But come back soon, or I’ll start back up without you.”

Asher stared down at Linden, who spread her legs.

“That’s mean.”

“So is leaving without telling me where you’re going the day after we made love for the first time, Asher.”

Asher practically had to force her eyes back up to Linden’s and told her, “One hour.”

Linden laughed and said, “Fine. But at sixty-one minutes, I’m finding your vibrator drawer and having fun.”

“It’s under the bed.”

“Wait? Really?”

“You’re surprised I have sex toys?”

“Toys plural ?”

“A plastic bin full of them, and it’s under my side of the bed. Feel free to take a look. But don’t you dare use any of them without me.” Asher pointed at her.

“You have a bin of–” Linden practically lunged naked over the bed to Asher’s side and hung over it as she pulled out Asher’s sex toy bin. “Why is it down here?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes,” Linden said, picking it up and putting it on the bed.

“Well, the guys I’ve dated haven’t been good with things like that in the bedroom, so I use them by myself, but I didn’t want them to find them in a drawer, so I put them under the bed. They’re actually in order.”

“First of all, I want you to know that I am a big fan of whatever you have in this bin.” Linden motioned to it. “Second of all, what? In order?”

Asher chuckled and explained, “Most favorite to least favorite.”

Linden laughed and said, “Tell me which is which.”

“When I get back,” she replied before she walked to her side of the bed, leaned down, and kissed Linden. “I like saying goodbye like this. Kissing you, I mean.”

“I don’t want you to say goodbye at all,” Linden said.

Asher knew what she meant, but now wasn’t the time to deal with that, so she kissed her again, took a deep breath, and left the room before she got pulled back into the bed for a second time.

She’d sent the text while Linden had been in the bathroom and had gotten an immediate reply. Everything was set up, so now, she needed to actually go through with this. It meant that there would be yet another change in her life when she was already going through so many all at once, but she knew it would be for the better.

◆◆◆

“Hey, Ash,” Carolyn greeted. “It’s your only day off this week, so I was surprised to hear from you.”

“I know. Thanks for meeting with me so last-minute. I needed to talk to you as soon as possible, though.”

Asher sat down at the café table across from Carolyn.

“Is everything okay?”

“Not exactly,” she said.

“Should I finish my coffee first, or should we have gone for drinks?”

“I can’t run Dallas, Carolyn,” Asher blurted out, which wasn’t at all what she’d planned.

“What?”

“The office; I can’t run it.”

“You can’t? I have an offer letter all ready for you. I was going to get you to sign it tomorrow.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? What happened, Asher? Just a few days ago, you came into my office and told me you wanted this.”

“I did at the time,” she replied.

“That was days ago. What the hell happened, Asher?” Carolyn asked as she leaned over the small, two-person table. “I’ve made plans. Everything was set.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Carolyn. I thought that was what I wanted. I really did. I needed to get away from here and run an office mostly on my own.”

“So, why are you saying no now, then?” Carolyn asked.

“Because I don’t want to leave. I thought I needed to get away from here, but I love New Orleans,” she replied, leaving out the part about also loving Linden Washington because Carolyn was Linden’s boss, too, and they hadn’t talked about anyone at work knowing what they were doing yet. “My whole life is here. I thought I wanted to move out on my own, so to speak, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it and making plans for movers and apartments, and the more and more I plan, the more and more I realize that I don’t want to go.”

Carolyn shook her head and said, “I really can’t believe this. We’ve been talking about you taking on more responsibility, learning the business side more, and doing fewer and fewer weddings. You’ve been with me for twelve years. That’s the longest any planner has been with the company, Asher. I thought this would be perfect for you. More money. More responsibility. And you’d have the office to run however you want, for the most part. I’d leave you alone. Is that what this is about? You’re worried I’ll be there too much or be too involved?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Are you sure? If it is, I’ll stay out of your way as much as you need. It’s still my company, so I need to be involved, but it would be your office and your staff, Asher. I really think you want this. Maybe it’s the stress of moving that’s getting to you. Why don’t I have someone call you? I’ll have a service take care of things for you. They’ll send you listings for apartments, arrange a trip there for you to check them out, and the movers will pack everything for you and unpack it when they get it there. I’ll include that in your offer letter. That will help with the move and the stress of it all.”

“It’s not the stress, Carolyn. If it were, I’d tell you. And I really appreciate you offering to help with and pay for the move. I’m grateful. I’m eternally grateful to you because you gave me the career of my dreams and a great place to work. I just don’t want to run an office in Dallas.”

“So, you want to stay here and plan weddings forever?”

“Yes,” Asher said with a nod but left out any details or commitments to Carolyn’s company.

“Well, can’t say this is how I thought my day off would go.” Carolyn took a drink of her coffee. “I’m very surprised. Is there really nothing I can do to convince you? I’d offer you more money, but I don’t think that’s it, is it? If so, you would have just given me a number.”

“No, it’s not the money,” Asher answered honestly.

“Okay.” Carolyn sighed. “Well, that’s that, then.”

“I’m sorry,” Asher added.

“Me too. I really thought we would work well together. I planned on having you run the office for a few years and asking if you wanted to be a partner.”

“Partner?”

“Yes, you and me. We’d be in this together, and you’d take over for me when I retire. It would be your company then.”

“You’re not all that much older than me,” Asher said.

“And I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. I’ll work until it’s no longer interesting or challenging, but I wanted someone to pass the company down to, who loves doing what we do in the same way that I do. I thought that might be you.”

“And it can’t be if I don’t run the Dallas office?”

“I’m not saying that, but it would delay things,” Carolyn replied. “Dallas was your shot, Asher.”

“I get it,” she said with a nod.

“And you’re okay with potentially losing it?”

Asher thought about it and nodded again.

“Yes, I am. I don’t want to move. That’s what it boils down to for me.”

“You can’t plan Dallas weddings from here every day or run the office from here. And as much as the world is going remote, I still want an office for clients to be able to go to. If we’re catering to the wealthy and influential in Dallas, we can’t plan weddings over Zoom meetings. I’d want you there to be the head of the company and represent us.”

“I know. I understand. And I’m good with my decision to stay,” she replied.

“Well, okay,” Carolyn said. “Now, forgive me for leaving because I need to take a long walk and sort out my thoughts.”

“Are we going to be okay, Carolyn? I hate putting you in this position.”

“We will. I just need some time to think and process,” her boss said as she stood.

Asher didn’t know what more to say, so she just let the woman leave the café and sat there for a few minutes to think as well. She’d just given away an amazing career opportunity, but she knew she’d have no regrets. Her heart hadn’t ever been in Dallas or running an office there. Her heart was here. She loved this city and her friends, old and new. She also loved Linden, and being with her but not really being able to be with her just wasn’t an option. Linden had been right to talk about the fact that Asher would be incredibly busy. Their jobs weren’t the standard nine-to-fives. Both of them would work most weekends, and that would limit their time together.

When she’d woken that morning, she’d found Linden there with her eyes open, smiling at her. They hadn’t even said anything, and Linden had moved into her, kissing her on the forehead, the nose, and then the lips. She didn’t look tired at all, despite the fact that they’d maybe gotten an hour of sleep after making love for hours. Yes, this was a hard decision to make because she hated disappointing Carolyn or giving her more work to do, but Asher knew it was also the best decision she’d ever made. Well, maybe the second best. The first best might have been when Carolyn had been telling her about a new woman she’d hired and how she’d need a mentor. Her boss had been planning on giving Linden another planner, but Asher had suggested herself instead. Those years, with Linden sitting across from her, had set the foundation of their friendship, and without that, they wouldn’t be doing what they were doing now.

Asher stood up, having purchased nothing from this café, and left. She had to grab lunch for herself from her favorite sandwich shop, which made the best wraps in town, and then walk to Henry’s to get Linden her favorite Po-Boy. As she walked, she thought about what she was giving up and smiled because it was nothing compared to what she’d be getting. She also started to think about Carolyn’s plans. She hadn’t ever thought she’d take over for the woman one day. Carolyn had built an empire, to be sure, but inheriting an empire wasn’t the same as making something from scratch herself, and that had always been what Asher had wanted, what had excited her.

“You look very smiley today.”

Asher turned to see the fortune teller from the Square standing right beside her.

“Sorry?” she asked.

“You seem very happy. I saw you leave the shop, and you’ve had a wide smile on your face the whole time you’ve been walking,” the woman noted.

“I know you. You’re the tarot reader or psychic from the Square.”

“I’m one of them, yes.”

“Are you following me?”

“No, dear,” the woman replied. “I was just grabbing myself some lunch, and I saw you.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, have a nice day, then.”

“You too. Before I let you go, though… Can I tell you something?”

“Um… Okay,” Asher said.

“You’re making the right decision. Trust it.”

“Okay. I will,” Asher replied, not thinking this woman actually knew about what she’d just told Carolyn.

“Oh, and when you ask, it’ll be okay.”

“What?”

“When you ask, it’ll be okay. Just accept the answer. It’ll all work out in the end.”

“Ask who what, exactly?”

“You’ll know when the time comes,” the woman told her. “Now, I have to go, but you have a wonderful day.”

Asher stood there on the sidewalk, letting this fortune teller woman walk past her, and wondered what the hell she was talking about.