Page 63 of Back to Square One
Rowan looked down at her own joggers and T-shirt and held out a hand. “Well, let’s help you be a person in some cozier clothes. You can’t rest and relax on a couch under a blanket in stiff denim.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules.”
Evie didn’t hesitate and put her hand in Rowan’s, surprising her. Together, they walked to the other side of the small house and Evie’s bedroom.
Rowan glanced around, trying not to seem like she was looking, but absolutely wanting to look. The queen-size bed was the same, with its black, wrought iron headboard, and Rowan had a quick flash of hands grabbing the spindles of it in the heat of passion. She cleared her throat and looked away. Evie was at the dresser, drawer opened, pulling out clothes. She settled on a pair of joggers and a red T-shirt that was washed soft. It looked vaguely familiar to Rowan.
She cleared her throat and used her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the door as she said, “Well, if you need help, give me a shout.”
Evie’s expression had gone from dark to slightly lighter. “I can handle it.”
“Great. See you out there.” Rowan shut the door behind her and went back to the couch. “ ‘See you out there’?” she muttered. “Ugh. You have absolutely zero game, Thomas.” She shook her head as she went into the kitchen and got her own glass of water. When she brought it back to the coffee table, Evie was on her way into the living room, looking infinitely more comfortable than she had just minutes ago.
“Much better,” she said to Rowan. “You were right.”
“Happens once in a great while.” They sat. “So, what’s showing tonight?”
“Good question.” Evie picked up the remote to the TV, and she seemed to have trouble navigating the buttons.
“Here.” Rowan offered to do it, and Evie let her, which was surprising, since Rowan recalled Evie being queen of the remote way back when. She zipped through some movie options. “September is in just a couple days. How about something with a fall vibe?”
“Perfect.”
“Ooh, how about Practical Magic?”
Evie squinted at her.
“What? You don’t like that one?”
“You don’t like that one.”
“I don’t?” Rowan frowned. “Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman? What’s not to like?”
“We watched it together only a few years ago. You were bored.”
“Seriously? With those two?” Evie nodded. “What did you think?”
“I loved it,” Evie said.
“Then let’s watch it.”
The pizza arrived, and before long, they were sitting on the couch, each with a plate.
“Do you have your a/c on the igloo setting?” she asked Evie at one point.
Evie just laughed and held up one side of the blanket, silently telling Rowan to sit closer.
“Seriously. It’s still August,” Rowan muttered, feigning irritation as she scootched closer to Evie. “Don’t you like to be warm?”
“I like to be chilly and then made warm by a blanket, yes.” Something about Evie’s words rang through Rowan’s head on a wave of familiarity.
“You’ve said that to me before,” she told her.
Evie nodded. “I tell you that all the time. Told, I mean. I told you that all the time.” She erased any awkwardness with a small smile as she gazed at her for a beat. Glancing down at their legs, now touching and covered by the same blanket, she asked, “Better?”
“Much,” Rowan said softly.
“Good.”
They ate pizza and watched the movie, and the entire time, Rowan was acutely aware of the side of her thigh pressed up against Evie’s under the blanket. Evie’s legs were stretched out on the lounge portion of the couch, while Rowan’s feet were crossed at the ankle on the coffee table, which they’d pulled closer to the couch. The blanket was just large enough to cover them both. It was a cozy and familiar setting to Rowan, and rather than rack her brains trying to remember more about other times, she simply let herself enjoy it. The pizza. The movie. Being close to Evie.
