“Yeah.”Grey was quiet for a moment.“How about you? How was your day?”
“Long,” Lauren said, smiling at the way Grey chuckled softly. “I forgot how tiring New York is.”
“It’s definitely not the islands,”Grey agreed softly.“Work good?”
“Yeah. It was just work. Nothing exciting.”
“All fingers and thumbs still attached?”
Lauren blew a raspberry into the phone. “Yes. All digits are uninjured and accounted for.”
“Good.”Grey sighed, and Lauren pictured her running a hand through her hair.“I have plans for those fingers when I get up there in February.”
“Do you, now?” Lauren chuckled. She looked up at the feeling of Jenks landing lightly on her legs, and she patted the bed beside her, calling him closer. She smiled at the way he purred softly and nuzzled her face, his bright blue eyes filled with the kitty equivalent of concern. “Hey, buddy,” she whispered as she scratched behind his ear.
“Jenks?”
“Mmm, he’s giving me snuggles.”
“Lucky bastard,”Grey muttered.
Lauren smiled. “If it makes you feel any better, yours are better.”
“Damn right they are.”Grey blew out a soft breath.“I miss you.”
Sheets rustled as Grey tried to make herself comfortable, and Lauren smiled sadly as she imagined how beautiful Grey must look in that moment. She rolled onto her side, facing the half of the bed that Grey had always taken, and closed her eyes. “I miss you too.”
It was too late for idle small-talk but neither seemed particularly eager to lose the tenuous connection they shared, so they fell into an easy silence, listening to the other breathe as theyeach pretended that they were together. Lauren was not sure when she fell asleep, but she woke up some time later to find her phone on the mattress beneath her chin. The screen was dark, and she blinked sleepily as she swiped it open. Instead of the open call screen she saw a text notification, and she smiled as she read Grey’s message.
Sleep well, beautiful. Skype date later?
Will be moored in Jost by 1500…
Three o’clock gave Lauren a few hours before she was to report back to Clarke’s, and she grinned at the idea of actually seeing Grey—not just talking to her.
It’s a date. I’ll be waiting, call when you can.
Be safe.
XO
She fell back asleep with her smile still firmly in place, her right hand curled loosely in the middle of the bed as if she were waiting for Grey to reach out and take it.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
LAUREN FELL BACK into her usual routine of visiting vendors with Paul Laine—the executive chef at Clarke’s—first thing in the morning for fresh ingredients they would need for that night’s menu, and then going for a run through the park afterwards. She ate lunch at home with Jenks sitting on the table in front of her, and then tried her best to not stare at the clock as she waited for Grey to call. After a week of falling asleep with the phone at her ear, she and Grey agreed to check in with each other during the late-afternoon, after Grey had moored the Veritas for the night and before Lauren had to leave for work. There were days where the ability to call just did not happen, of course, that was the unfortunate truth of their situation, but for the most part it worked out nicely for each of them. Lauren missed falling asleep in the early hours of the morning knowing that Grey was just on the other end of the line, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that at least Grey was getting a good night’s rest.
The holidays had come and gone in a blur, and it was strange for her to think that she and Grey had spent three times the number of days apart than they had together, but every day she found herself missing Grey more. It would have been easier for both of them if their separation had dulled the connection they felt, but it only grew stronger with every passing day. Christmasgifts had been exchanged via Skype, and New Year’s had been rung in over the phone as Lauren snuck off into the alley behind the restaurant at midnight to call Grey and wish her a happy New Year.
They had broached the subject of what they should do the week after New Year’s—but they had yet to come to any kind of an agreement. TheVeritaswas booked for the rest of the season, which meant that Grey was stuck in the islands until at least July, and Lauren had heard her name being mentioned several times as a potential replacement for an executive chef who was on their way out.
The only thing they both could agree on, was that they were anxiously looking forward to the day when Lauren would pick Grey up at La Guardia. Their time together would be short, but after so long apart even four days together sounded like heaven.
Lauren was sitting on the couch in her living room on a Wednesday afternoon the week before Grey was scheduled to visit, listening to a nature track she had purchased off iTunes on repeat—pretending that the sound of the waves crashing from her speakers were real and remembering the way Grey looked standing at the helm of theVeritasas they raced over the waves under a full sail. She smiled as her phone on the coffee table in front of her buzzed and came to life, rich violin slurs filling the room and announcing that it was Grey on the other end. “You’re early today.”
“I am,”Grey replied, her voice light with the sound of her smile.“Do you need me to call back later?”
“I want you to call whenever you can. Even when you’re drunk,” Lauren said, chuckling softly at the memory of the night of Grey’s seemingly endless drunk dials that had started with Grey confessing how much she missed Lauren and ended with phone sex. “How was your day?”
