“I might just fall asleep right here.” I yawned and rested my head on the back of the couch. He passed me a blanket.
“Happy birthday, Sam.”
I woke up on the couch, tucked in a warm blanket with a pillow under my head. There was a glass of water and two Advils on the coffee table. I smelled coffee and bacon coming from the kitchen and tried to put my finger on what I was feeling. I remembered telling Charlie about Ben. The memory of his reaction was fuzzy, but I felt a warm, unjudged feeling. There was something else I couldn’t put my finger on. Something I’d felt right before Charlie went to bed.
“Rise and shine, birthday girl.”
Emilie appeared from the kitchen with a mug in one hand and the paper in the other. “Brought you the morning paper. That’s what people do in the Catskills,” she said proudly.
I squeezed one eye shut. “That doesn’t make any sense to me, but I drank my weight in red wine last night, so ...” I said, grabbing the coffee.
Emilie plopped down next to me. “Yeah—the housemates are on the verge of rioting because we gave you the master bedroom, and you slept on the couch.”
“Believe me, that wasn’t my plan. Charlie and I stayed up way too late trying to finish the game, and I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
“Was it fun?” she asked.
I nodded. “I need this coffee, though.” I sighed loudly. “Are we really going ice-skating? Is that like reading the paper here?”
“Connor isn’t letting anyone go back to the city without trying it.”
I finished the coffee, then sprinted upstairs to shower before breakfast. I wondered if Charlie felt uncomfortable about how much I’d shared. The end of the night was spotty. I remembered it feeling cathartic the night I first told him about Ben, after the gala, when heasked me pointedly about having been married. But sharing that I’d recently slept with my ex-husband—who I had no plans to reconcile with—felt like TMI.
I was about to turn on the hairdryer when I heard a light knock on the door. Charlie was there bright-eyed and showered, holding out the folded blanket and pillow.
“Figured I’d return this before the natives notice you didn’t sleep in the only room with a king-size bed,” he said.
I felt my face turn shades of crimson at the memory of Charlie tucking me in. “Emilie already found me. But thanks. Think I’ll lay low on the wine tonight.”
Charlie grinned. “See ya downstairs.”
After breakfast we bundled up and piled into the Suburban.
I hadn’t ice-skated since I was a kid. Every time I fell, I laughed so hard I could barely get up. Either Caroline (who grew up ice-skating) or Charlie (who grew up playing ice hockey) pulled me up before gracefully gliding past me. After thirty minutes, I decided to let them have the ice and went to join Emilie and Connor in the café.
“Caroline and Charlie would dominate Olympic couples skating, huh?” Connor announced as I sat down with a hot chocolate.
Emilie grabbed a sip of my hot chocolate. “Oh, that’s good. We really curated an idyllic winter weekend up here.”
“Icurated,” Connor said indignantly.
I nodded. “Yes, great surprise, both of you. Crazy you kept it under wraps so well. I always thought I’d be impossible to surprise.”
“You’re full of surprises. I’m just glad we were able to fool the master,” Connor said as he scrolled distractedly through Reddit.
“How am I full of surprises?” I asked.
“Well for one, you’re a divorcée.”
“That’s not a surprise anymore. And can I please start my thirties with a clean slate?”
“Maybeyou should start with a romp to clean the palate? ‘What happens in upstate New York ...’” he said, nodding in Charlie’s direction.
I looked at Emilie, who quickly came to my defense.
“She’s got a bit much on her plate, mate. I don’t think she needs to jump into another relationship.”
I wrinkled my nose. “And not everything revolves around finding a partner.”
