“Duh.” She bumped Sawyer with a hip. “Okay.”
Sawyer blinked in clear surprise. “Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay. Sounds fun.”
“Oh my God. Fantastic. Excellent. I’m so excited.” There was that radiant smile, and it warmed Jenna, lit her up in all the dark corners.
Jenna paid for the books she’d picked out, then they put on their coats and strolled together out into the brisk November air. “Snow stopped,” Jenna observed.
“More’s coming tomorrow.”
Jenna looked up at Sawyer, her dark hair slightly tousled, her arms folded in an obvious attempt to ward off the cold. “Thank you for coming today. I didn’t expect to have company. It was nice.”
“You’re welcome.” Sawyer glanced at her with a soft smile. “I had a good time with you. It’s fun to watch you in your element.”
They reached their cars, which happened to be parked side by side. Sawyer’s was running, as she’d used her remote starter to warm it up. She took Jenna’s keys and started hers, and they stood there.
“It’s funny that we’re, like, saying goodbye when we’re driving to the same place.” Sawyer’s breath left her mouth on a cloud of vapor.
“I was thinking the same thing.” Again, Jenna’s proximity to Sawyer was doing things to her body, causing heartbeats she could feel and a throbbing she couldreallyfeel. She wet her lips and said, “How do you feel about Thai food and a movie at my place?”
Sawyer leaned close, her lips only a couple of inches from Jenna’s as she said softly, “I feel very, very positive about those things.”
“I was hoping you would. Meet you there?”
“Deal.”
Sawyer’s plan had been to pop into the library, say hi to Jenna, drop off some coffee, and leave. But there was something—she couldn’t put a finger on it—justsomethingthat made her stay. She hadn’t had any plans for her Sunday other than doing some cleaning and maybe watching a movie, but she’d ended up at the library for hours, and she wasn’t even the slightest bit mad about it.
And now she had a date.
In her own house, she took off her jeans and sweater and switched them out for joggers and a cozy hoodie, as she’d been ordered to change into comfy clothes for her stay next door. Big, fluffy socks came next. She pulled her hair into a messy bun, slid her glasses back on, grabbed a bottle of white wine from the wine rack she’d just refilled last week, stepped into her slippers, and headed across the porch. A quick knock and she let herself in, once again enveloped in the warmth and inviting feeling of Jenna’s home. The fireplace crackled, a couple candles burned on end tables, and the whole place smelled deliciously like cinnamon.
Jenna came down the stairs then, all cozy like Sawyer in joggers and a sweatshirt, hair up, feet bare, looking at her phone. She glanced up and smiled at Sawyer, and Sawyer was pretty sure something inside her melted. Simply melted.
“Hi.” Jenna held up the phone. “Know what you want?”
“Pad Thai,” Sawyer said.
“Wow. You didn’t miss a beat.”
She shrugged. “I love Pad Thai.”
“Protein?”
“Chicken, please.” Arnold had wandered in from the kitchen, licking his lips, saw Sawyer, and picked up the pace. She squatted down to love on him. “Hi, buddy. Hi. Hi. How are you? How was dinner? Delicious, I hope?” When she glanced back up at Jenna, there was an expression on her face Sawyer couldn’t specify. It was soft, held a bit of yearning, definitely positive. A beat passed and Jenna cleared her throat.
“Could you let him out back? He just ate. I’ll finish up ordering.”
“You got it.” She gave Arnold a pat on his side. “Come on, big guy.”
Standing at the back door and watching Arnold as he sniffed, peed, sniffed some more, peed again, had a domestic feel to it that Sawyerdidn’t expect. A comfort. It covered her like a warm blanket around her shoulders with its familiarity and coziness.
She liked being here.
She liked it a lot.
Less than an hour later, they were on the couch, side by side, plates of Thai food and glasses of wine on the coffee table in front of them, a drama ready to go on the TV.
