“Sure does.” Sophie had never lived anywhere but New York, though, so she couldn’t really imagine celebrating Christmas without the cold weather. They didn’t always have snow, but it was still a world away from the selfie Jules had sent earlier of herself outside in a sweatshirt and shorts, walking on the beach. At the thought, she pulled up the photo just to see Jules’s face, her vibrant smile, and the way her hair blew around her face, tossed by the sea breeze.
Before her mom noticed and ribbed Sophie over her infatuation, she tucked the phone back into her pocket and poured the brownie batter into the pan. She slid it into the oven before sticking the spatula in her mouth to lick off the batter.
Her mom rolled her eyes at her good naturedly. “Some things never change.”
Sophie shrugged, grinning around the spatula. She licked it clean and rinsed the bowl in the sink. Then she and her mom joined her dad in the living room. Tanner and Melanie arrived soon after, and they had dinner and played board games until her parents starting yawning around ten. Sophie, tipsy from beer and happy from a fun family night, excused herself to her room to curl up in bed and call Jules, hoping to catch her before it got too late.
“I was just thinking about you,” Jules said as she connected the call.
Sophie lay in bed, twirling a strand of hair idly between her fingers. “Good thoughts, I hope?”
“Always. Hang on a minute.” There was a pause and the sound of a door closing, and then the background music and conversation from Jules’s end of the line disappeared. “Okay, now I should be able to hear you better.”
“Sounds like a party at your house,” Sophie said.
“Just my mom and grandma watching TV, actually.”
“Okay, that’s hilarious.” Sophie snuggled against her pillow, wishing Jules was here in bed with her. “I’m so jealous that you were outside in shorts today.”
“Well, you won’t be shocked to know that I was freezing my butt off,” Jules said, and Sophie could hear the smile in her voice. “It was only about sixty-five today.”
“Only,” Sophie teased.
“What did you do this weekend?” Jules asked.
“Not much of anything, and it was glorious. I spent a lot of time with the fam and finished my Christmas shopping. You?”
“About the same,” Jules said. “And missing you, of course.”
“Yeah. Same.” She stared up at the rainbow-striped canopy above her bed. “I finally have my own bed to sleep in, and I can’t even share it with you.”
“A real shame,” Jules agreed. “Is it the same room you grew up in?”
“The very same.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Let’s just say, there are a lot of rainbows,” Sophie told her. “And pictures from all the plays I acted in at the local theater.” She felt a pang in her chest as she looked at the photos on her dresser. Those years had been magical for her. She’d been so excited to chase her dreams on Broadway, so sure she’d be a leading lady by now.
“Aw, take pictures after we hang up and send them to me,” Jules said. “I want to see where little Sophie grew up.”
“Only if you send me pictures of yours too,” Sophie told her.
“I will, but mine’s not as nostalgic. I basically moved out of this house when I was fourteen, even though I came back for summers and school vacations. All my teen flair happened in the apartment where I lived with my mom in Manhattan, and most of it got tossed when we moved, I’m afraid.”
“So what does your childhood bedroom in Miami look like now?” Sophie asked.
“Well, my mom’s been using it as a guest room, so it’s got a lot of beige that teenage Jules would have hated.”
“Is that where you are now?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah.”
“In bed?”
“Yes.” Jules’s tone dropped, as if she was imagining Sophie in bed with her, the same way Sophie was right now.
“What are you wearing?” Sophie asked, picturing Jules in the pink bra and panties she’d been wearing the first time she undressed her.
