“There’s no rule that says you can’t figure things out with other people.”
This time Hannah got up and sat on Kate’s lap. She kissed her cheek, and Kate pulled her close.
“Speaking of queer community and all that, are you busy the Thursday before Thanksgiving?” Kate asked.
Butterflies fluttered in Hannah’s stomach. Kate had never asked her if she was free for a future date. “N-no, I mean, I usually work on Thursdays, but I could ask Zaina if it would be okay to leave early. What’s up?”
“A group of us have been getting together for Friendsgiving the week before Thanksgiving. It’s mostly local queer folks, but it’s not like exclusively LGBTQIA.”
“I’d love to! Where at? What should I bring? Is it just casual, or should I dress up?” Hannah’s pulse beat at her throat; if she’d been sitting anywhere besides Kate’s lap, she’d be dancing around the room. Finally, Kate was asking her out. They’d be together in public! And not just for a simple date, but for a holiday celebration. Sure, it wasn’t the same as Kate inviting her to her family’s place for real Thanksgiving, but Kate wanted to introduce her to her friends. This was huge! She couldn’t wait to tell Brandee about this.
Kate kissed the hollow of her throat. “Friendsgiving is at Hop’s Heaven. You can bring anything you’d like. It’s a potluck. It’s very casual, so wear whatever you want. You look cute in everything.”
The butterflies had now left Hannah’s stomach, and warmth spread low in her abdomen.
“Why don’t we get out of here and head over to my place?” Kate asked as she slid her hand between Hannah’s thighs.
Her plan to ask Kate to come over to her apartment forgotten, Hannah gasped and said, “Yes, please.”
Chapter Nineteen
Kate hadn’t seen Hannah for nearly two weeks. The last time they’d been together was the night Hannah had read the tarot cards. Kate was almost certain that the sex they’d had that night was probably the best she’d ever had. Maybe tonight they could reenact another romance novel scene. Kate chuckled, thinking about Hannah’s wavy hair and glasses and the movies where the hero would suddenly find the heroine attractive once her hair was tamed and her glasses were off. Hetero men could be so dumb.
Last night she’d splurged on Oma’s pierogies, so all she needed to do was run upstairs after work, warm up the fluffy pockets of carb goodness in the oven, and she’d be ready to go. Hannah had said she would meet Kate at Hop’s Heaven, and that had seemed fine, but now she was having second thoughts. This was a date, and the first time they’d gone out in public. She should have offered to pick up Hannah. Maybe she should text her, that way at least she’d know for sure that Hannah was still planning tocome. Kate frowned. Where had that come from? Probably from the massive trauma of Brittany leaving her. She really hated that Brittany was making her question finally opening up and trusting someone, more than two years after their breakup.
The weather was unseasonably warm this week, and that had put a damper on her sales. Even though it was only a little over a month until Christmas, there was no shopping urgency happening. Thank goodness she had some new online orders coming through her shop, but if things continued the way they were going, there was no way she’d be able to buy the building. She had to come up with a new revenue stream that wasn’t buying wholesale pet items and reselling them at retail prices, but she’d been unable to come up with anything doable. She’d even tried googling ways to make money fast as a business, and that had been a major waste of time. The last thing she needed was to try some kind of shady get-rich-scheme.
She closed out of her accounting software and did a final lap around the empty store before turning off the lights and locking the door so she could go upstairs to change into her orange and brown buffalo plaid shirt and a clean pair of jeans. It was already after seven, and she hadn’t eaten since lunch in anticipation of the amazing spread of food she knew would be at the brewery. Her stomach growled just as her phone pinged with a text from Jax.
Jax
Are you on your way yet?
Kate quickly typed that she was on her way. Which of course she wasn’t, but Jax had known Kate long enough now that they knew this meant she was leaving her place in about fifteen minutes.
Kate sent a text to Hannah, asking if she wanted Kate to drive. Hannah answered yes. Once Kate had changed her clothes, shedouble-checked that she had everything she needed–which was just the aluminum pans of pierogies–and left.
***
Hannah had Brandee on FaceTime; she couldn’t decide what to wear and needed a second opinion.
“What do you think about this?” Hannah asked. She was wearing a gold-colored cable-knit cold-shoulder cropped sweater paired with a pair of deep brown high-waisted wide-legged pants.
“You know you look good in everything. You have the perfect body for any outfit.”
“Please, I barely have any boobs.”
“Listen, big boobs are like such a pain. Literally—do you know how often my back hurts?”
“Sorry. They do look amazing.”
Brandee rolled her eyes. “Thanks. Back to you, I really like this outfit the best.”
“I’m so nervous! What if I don’t know anyone?”
“You know tons of people in Marley Creek! You’ll probably know almost everyone there.”
“You think?”
