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“S o, Sophie, thanks for making the time at the last minute. I really appreciate it. We want to get this role filled as soon as possible. Sorry for the scramble, too. Things are a little busy around here.”

“No problem. I was happy to hear back so quickly,” she replied with her interview smile.

“Great. I was hoping we could start by–” Her former and now potentially future colleague stopped when he heard something coming from Sophie’s side of the camera.

That something was Bryce, who had just unlocked the door and was walking into Sophie’s apartment carrying three bags of groceries.

“Hey, I got–” Bryce stopped when she noticed Sophie was sitting at her desk, still dressed for her interview. “Oh, sorry,” she whispered.

“Um…” Sophie turned back to the camera. “My girlfriend just got home. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, no problem,” he said.

“You were supposed to be done already,” Bryce whispered as she headed into Sophie’s kitchen.

“Sorry, she was at the store,” Sophie told him.

“Do you want to reschedule?”

“No, I’m okay. She might just need to put groceries away in the background, if you’re okay with that.”

“Not a problem for me,” he replied. “So, let’s start with what has you wanting to return to Arnette?”

“That’s an easy one. I loved it there,” she said, trying to drown out the sound of Bryce putting things away in the fridge. “I didn’t really want to leave the first time, but I had an offer that would allow me to work closer to home.”

“New Orleans?” he asked.

“Yes. My family is near here. I went to school in New York, and I’d planned to come back here when I finished, but I got the job at Arnette, so I stayed. When I was ready to move back home to be closer to my family, Arnette wasn’t hiring remotely.”

“We’ve been a stickler for having people work in the office; that’s true,” he said. “I think we’re finally turning the corner on that, though, which is great. I think you can get so much more done at home.”

At that exact moment, almost as if on cue to prove the guy wrong, Bryce decided to pull what sounded like several crinkly bags of something out of the reusable grocery bags Sophie had given her to go shopping with.

“Yes, you can,” she said, plastering a smile on her face and trying to ignore the distraction. “I did love working in the office there, though. I met a lot of great people.”

“Would you be willing to fly up here once a quarter if needed?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Travel isn’t a problem. My parents are just older now, and my grandmother has moved into an assisted living facility, so I want to live here, but I don’t mind going to the office when it’s needed.”

“What about this role excites you?”

“Shit,” Bryce whispered when she dropped something onto the floor with a loud thud.

“Uh…” Sophie turned to her and then quickly back to the camera. “I liked solving the problems we had at the time, working with people to put together the plans of attack, and seeing the impact our work made.”

“And are you not getting that where you are now?”

“No,” she said. “Truthfully, I left Arnette for this company because they offered me a larger role and bigger team and impact than I actually ended up with. They pulled a bit of a bait and switch on me. I stayed for a while because I was hoping things would change, but it hasn’t, and I saw that the job at Arnette was open remotely now, which made me really happy.”

“And you don’t mind having to start over a bit? It’s a rung beneath where you left us at, technically.”

“No, not at all,” she replied. “I liked all the jobs I had there, and I realize that by leaving, I gave up a few years there where I could have moved up, so I don’t mind starting over.”

She tried to focus on the man asking her questions right now, but Bryce was still making noise in the kitchen. Sophie could tell she wasn’t doing it on purpose, but it was still distracting. The original time for her interview had been for an hour earlier. She’d kissed Bryce goodbye after getting ready and had gotten a message from the recruiter that they’d need to push it an hour. She had texted Bryce to let her know, but she must not have checked her messages while at the store.

Bryce finished unpacking and doing whatever else she was doing in her kitchen about ten minutes into the interview. Sophie saw her pick up her bag out of the corner of her eye and head to the bedroom, which meant that the noise and distractions should be done now.

“Well, I think I’m all out of questions. Do you have any for me?” he asked.

Sophie went through three different ones than she had used in the other interview, and after he answered them and they said their goodbyes, she exited the browser and closed her computer. Then, she walked to the bedroom and pushed the door open.

“I am so sorry,” Bryce said as she looked up from her laptop.

“I take it, you didn’t get my text?” Sophie asked, sitting down on the side of the bed.

“No. I forgot my phone in your car when I went in to shop, and when I got out, I just put the GPS on and drove back. I thought you’d be done and we could eat a late lunch. Then, I needed to get the things that required refrigeration into the fridge, at least, but the bagger put the ice cream I got under the pretzels and chips, and it was like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I’m so sorry. We should’ve just gone together later, after all. Did I screw it up for you?”

“No,” she said, lying down. “You were distracting, but you’re always a little distracting to me.”

“Oh, I am, am I?”

“Yes.” Sophie chuckled.

“Can I tell you something?” Bryce asked with a smile.

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s two things, really.” Bryce closed her laptop. “Number one: you were hot just now.”

“How?”

“Wearing your fancy interview clothes and nailing those questions like a boss. It was sexy. I’m selfishly glad I got to see that.”

Sophie laughed and asked, “What’s the other thing?”

“You said that your girlfriend was home,” Bryce said.

“Yeah. I didn’t know how else to describe it. How do I tell an interviewer that you’re my new girlfriend who’s staying with me but not really because you have a hotel room? Just seemed easier.”

“It sounded good,” Bryce admitted.

Sophie smiled.

“And it gave me an idea for a blog,” Bryce added.

“It did?”

“Yeah. So, the article for Women Loving Women just went live, and Victoria sent me the link.”

“Already?”

“Blogs move fast. You need clicks. Anyway, I read it. It’s good. Want me to send it to you?”

“Yeah.”

“I was thinking that I’d link to it on my site, but maybe give my subscribers an update on us, too, now that the article gave it away that it worked out when we met again. Is that okay?”

“What are you going to say?” Sophie asked.

“I wrote it already. Want to read it first?”

“You wrote it already? When ? How long was I interviewing for?”

“It’s a blog post, not a dissertation. It doesn’t take that long when you’ve been doing it as long as I have,” Bryce said as she opened her computer.

She turned it toward Sophie to allow her to read, and Sophie shifted until her head was on Bryce’s shoulder.

‘My girlfriend just got home.’ That’s what she said today after I borrowed her car and went to the grocery store to get things for us to eat tonight. To you, that might seem mundane, or just like any other day, but to me, it was special. I found my Sophie. Not only did I find her, but I’m with her right now. I got on the plane this time. She scared the crap out of me when she was late to our first meeting at our bar, but she had an excellent excuse. I kissed her. I couldn’t wait; I had to kiss her. And it did NOT disappoint. It was somehow the best kiss of my life, even though our first kiss is also still the best kiss of my life. It’s been two amazing nights and three days now, and if you didn’t notice in the first sentence, I said the word ‘girlfriend.’ Sophie is my girlfriend now. I’m hers. I have been for a while, but it’s official now. It’s still there between us, and I’ve never been happier.

I know it’s not going to be easy. I don’t live here. We’ll have to be together long-distance for a while. But I’d do long-distance with her over anything else with anyone else. She’s a total badass. I just watched her nail this job thing that other people would’ve maybe been distracted with because their girlfriend was dropping things in the kitchen left and right like she’d never put groceries away before. That girlfriend was me. I was the one dropping things in Sophie’s kitchen. But here’s the thing: while she was doing this virtual meeting, Sophie said that her girlfriend had just gotten home, and I realized there were two things about that sentence that I really liked.

The girlfriend part stuck out, obviously, but she said that I was home, and that’s how it feels. I probably put everything in the wrong spots in her kitchen, but the apartment isn’t my home. I think Sophie might just be, though. I know some people might say that’s crazy; we hardly know each other. And maybe, in some ways, that’s true, but I feel it. I’m hoping her statement means she does, too, because it’s real, and I’m so happy that I’m currently in her bedroom and my girl is out there kicking ass on some video conference thing.

Because of you, I found her, and I wanted you to all know that not only did I find her, but I’m with her right now, and I’m looking forward to spending as much time with her as possible.

Also, because of you, an online magazine called Women Loving Women wanted to write an article about us. Soph and I talked to them yesterday, and the article is already live. Not only that, but I just got an email from someone else who wants to write about us, and I had a phone call come in about five minutes ago. I quickly silenced my phone and didn’t answer the call because I’d already dropped a can of beer that will undoubtedly explode when I open it later, but Sophie was on her own important call, and I didn’t want to distract her again, so I checked the voicemail, and they want to talk to us, too.

It’s crazy how this all happened, but if writing a blog post I never thought anyone would read led me to Sophie and everything else, I’m so glad that I had the courage to write it and hit publish. Everything with this woman feels special in a way nothing else ever has before, and I mean EVERYTHING. You can take that for what you want, but trust me, it’s the truth.

She’s wrapping up her video thing now, so I need to wrap up this post because I want to find out how it went and talk about making food together because that’s what it’s all about. It’s the magic meetings and insanely good first kisses, but it’s also the cooking and shopping and taking out the trash, too. I want all of it with Sophie.

Sophie finished reading and smiled over at Bryce.

“I can take out the part about everything being special, if you want.”

“No, I like it,” Sophie said, resting back against Bryce’s chest. “It’s true.”

“Yeah?”

“Babe, sex with you is mind-blowing. I think how you put it leaves little to the imagination, but it’s not scandalous or anything. Some people have sex. We’re some people. We had sex. It was really good and definitely special.”

“ Was ? Let’s not use past tense when we’re talking about our sex, okay?”

“Did you look in the drawer?”

“Sophie Santiago with her sinful drawer,” Bryce said as she laughed. “And no. I’m not looking through your stuff unless you tell me it’s okay.”

“You can open it now, if you want. You’re on my side of the bed,” Sophie noted.

“Before I do that, because there will be no stopping me once I see what you have in there, did you catch the part about two people reaching out to me about our story?”

“Yeah. That’s crazy. Do they want interviews?”

“Yes. I haven’t replied to either of them. I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“I’ll do whatever you want, Bry. This helps your business.”

“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“I’ll tell you if I am, okay?” Sophie promised. “Are you going to post that?” She nodded toward the blog on the screen.

“I need to text Sean first.”

“Why? Did she message you or something?”

“No, but she reads my blog. She gets an email every time there’s a new post.”

“Ah,” Sophie said. “You want her to skip this one?”

“I don’t want her to get hurt,” Bryce replied.

“I understand. I’m going to get up and change while you do that.” Sophie slid out of bed.

“Don’t change. Just get undressed,” Bryce said as she picked up her phone.

“I thought we were going to have a late lunch.” Sophie watched Bryce’s mouth open, so she added, “And don’t you dare make some lame joke about me being your lunch.” She laughed.

“Come on… It’s right there. I have to take it.”

“You’re better than that,” Sophie teased.

She watched Bryce send the message as she took off and hung her work clothes back in her closet. Then, she heard Bryce’s phone chime, and Bryce typed another message. Sophie stood in her bedroom, wearing only her bra and panties, and watched as her girlfriend messaged her ex-girlfriend and now friend that she was in a new relationship and to avoid her blog because it would likely hurt Sean, and she fell a little more in love with her then.

When Bryce put her phone down and hit publish on the post, Sophie removed her bra and panties and waited. Bryce turned to her then, and her eyes raked over Sophie’s body. She licked her lips, and without turning her eyes away from Sophie, she pulled open the drawer next to her.

“Pull out your favorite one,” she said in a much deeper voice than she’d had only a moment ago.

“Am I using it on myself or are you using it on me?”

“Both,” Bryce replied.

“Two different things, then,” Sophie said as she walked over to the drawer.

She pulled out her favorite vibrator, which always made her come fast, and a dildo that she used on herself whenever she needed something a little deeper than her own fingers could provide.

“Jesus,” Bryce whispered, looking at the flesh-colored dildo. “Do you have a–”

Before she could finish, Sophie dropped the harness down onto the bed beside her girlfriend.

“I bought this online the day you said you were coming to visit. I wanted to be prepared,” she shared. “I had an idea that you’d want to do this.”

Bryce nodded rapidly.