Page 68 of Back to Square One

Stevie seemed to take that in, then gave a slow nod. “Sleeping with her yet?”

Rowan had known the question would come, yet it still surprised her, and her eyes went wide before she could catch it. “No.”

“Not yet.”

“That’s not my goal, Steve.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No.” She leveled her gaze at Stevie. “My goal is to be there for her. This is a person I once loved more than anything else in the world. I want to help her.”

“This is a person you still love, because everything it took to get you to the point of no longer loving her has been wiped from your brain.” Her tone wasn’t mean or snarky, but it was firm, and Stevie looked her dead in the eye as she said it. “It’s a person who decided to shatter your heart into a million tiny pieces instead of letting you help her with an illness. Please keep that in mind. That’s all I’m saying.”

It was the truth. Rowan knew that, and therefore she had no argument, no leg to stand on.

“When do you see her again?”

“Tonight.” She didn’t mention that she was pretty much spending every evening with Evie. Sometimes the afternoons, too. They were both working, but only part-time due to their respective illnesses, and whatever free time they had, they tended to spend together. No, Stevie didn’t need that tidbit of information right now. Not yet.

They finished up their lunch, as Stevie had to get back to checking on her teams in their winterizing. At her truck, they stopped, and Stevie wrapped her up in another unusually tight hug. “Please, just guard your heart. For me. Okay?”

“I will,” Rowan said against her shoulder.

“I worry.”

“I know.” When Stevie finally let go of her, Rowan added, “Tell Sara I said hi and I got her baby shower invitation. I’ll be there..”

Stevie pointed at her. “She’s worried, too.”

“Unsurprising.” Rowan gave her a smile and watched as she pulled away. As she stood there, replaying their entire conversation in her head, her phone buzzed with an incoming text.

Thai tonight? Evie, asking about dinner.

Rowan grinned. She couldn’t help it. It happened every time she heard from Evie, and no, it wasn’t lost on her. Sounds perfect, she typed back. I’ll pick it up on my way.

It was a Friday night, so traffic was light and the Thai restaurant was busy, but eventually, Rowan secured dinner and was headed to Evie’s place. The air had cooled considerably, and a breeze had picked up, whipping colorful leaves around in a frenzy. She parked in Evie’s driveway, gathered all her things, and headed for the front door, which opened before she was fully up on the porch.

“Hi there,” Evie said, smile wide, hair tucked behind her ears. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she looked both healthy and happy to see her. Standing aside, she let Rowan in, then closed the door behind her. “Chilly out there,” she said, wrapping her arms around her middle.

“It is. We’re gonna need the couch blankets tonight.” Rowan handed the bags with their dinner to Evie, who took them to the kitchen. After she shed her coat and hung it up in the foyer closet, she joined Evie, got wine out of the fridge, filled two glasses, and took them into the living room. The two of them moved like some well-oiled dinner prepping machine, getting plates and utensils and napkins, dishing out what each of them wanted to eat, knowing what the other liked and didn’t, and by the time the two of them sat on the couch, Rowan was doing her best not to spotlight all of that in her brain. Not to hear Stevie’s voice reverberating in her head, basically telling her she needed to fall out of love with Evie all over again.

No, she didn’t want that. Why would she? She wasn’t an idiot.

She held up her glass of wine. “To the fall.”

“The fall of what?” Evie asked, brow furrowed. “The fall of Rome? The fall of the House of Usher?”

Rowan grinned. “Funny. To autumn, dumbass.”

“Oh. Autumn.” Evie laughed and touched her glass to Rowan’s. They sipped and nodded in tandem approval. “How was your day? Catch me up.”

They ate and talked and Rowan loved that they did this before they turned on the TV. Talked about their days. Listened to each other. Offered laughs or nods of understanding or suggestions for dealing with whatever issues had cropped up that day. She had a quick flash of them doing the same thing at Evie’s last house, sitting at her dining room table across from each other and just recalling their days.

Rowan didn’t mention her lunch with Stevie, mostly because she knew Evie would ask what they’d talked about, and Rowan didn’t want to lie about that. Surely, avoiding it altogether was better than not telling the truth. A lie of omission wasn’t technically a lie. Right?

“What’s tonight’s screening?” she asked when they’d finished eating and cleared their dishes away. Dishwasher loaded and running, they hunkered down into the soft couch cushions and pulled the knit blanket over their legs.

Evie had chosen something scarier than either of them had been prepared for, which they both realized after the opening scene had caused the two of them to gasp and jump and move closer to each other.