"One thing," Ellie said, and both women looked at her. "Add me to the chat too. In case we text after, all three of us are on the thread. No private messages, no side conversations. Everything in the open."
Kelly looked at Becca, then back at Ellie. "That's fair. Completely."
Becca reached across and squeezed Ellie's hand. "I'll set up the group chat now. Kelly, give us ten minutes and then head out."
Kelly smiled at both of them. "Ten minutes. I'll be there."
***
Ellie went back to find their friends while Becca waited near the entrance. Hannah, Leah, and Sophie were on the outdoor patio by now, deep in conversation with a group of women they'd met, the night clearly going well for at least one of them based on the body language Leah was directing at a redhead in a denim jacket.
"Hey, we're going to head out," Ellie said, leaning in so Hannah could hear her. "Becca's not feeling great, I think the mezcal caught up with her."
Hannah looked concerned. "She ok?"
"Yeah, just tired and a bit nauseous. Nothing dramatic. You guys stay, have fun."
"Tell her to drink water," Sophie said without looking up from her phone, a very Sophie response to any problem.
Ellie hugged them each and slipped away, finding Becca by the door. They walked out into the night air, cool and clean after the heat of the bar. Ellie took a deep breath and felt her head clear slightly.
They started walking towards the rendezvous without speaking. Ellie could feel Becca’s excitement next to her… not literally, but the energy coming off her was palpable, a mix of excitement, nervousness and residual arousal that Ellie could almost taste in the air between them.
After half a block Becca said, "That went well."
"The part where you came on another woman's fingers in a bar, or the part where I lied to our friends about you being nauseous?"
Becca burst out laughing, the sort of full, unguarded laugh that Ellie loved most, and Ellie started laughing too. For a moment the enormity of what was about to happen receded and they were just a married couple cracking up on a sidewalk on a Saturday night.
"Both," Becca said when she'd caught her breath. "Definitely both."
They reached the taco place on the corner and waited outside, Becca texting the group chat to say they were there. The street was busy enough to give them anonymity but quiet enough that they could talk, and they stood close, holding hands, waiting.
"She's nice," said Ellie.
"She is. She's really nice. And El..." Becca turned to look at her, and her expression was that same complicated mix from the booth, arousal, vulnerability and love all tangled together. "Looking at you while she was... while that was happening... that was the most connected I've ever felt to you. That sounds insane but it's true."
"It doesn't sound insane. I felt it too. Where I was standing, I felt it."
Both of their phones buzzed. A message from Kelly on their group chat:
Leaving now. Be there in five. x
They glanced at each other, and Ellie felt her pulse quicken again, the laughter of a minute ago giving way to the reality of what was about to happen.
"Last chance to change your mind," Becca said softly.
Ellie reached up and touched the two necklaces at her throat. She could feel them both, warm from her skin, the twin pendants resting side by side.
"Not a chance," she said. “Same for you?”
“Not a chance.”
Chapter 8
Kelly appeared around the corner a few minutes later, walking with a bounce in her step that made her honey-blonde hair swing, her phone in one hand and her jacket in the other. When she saw them she broke into a grin so wide it was practically luminous.
"Ok, I have been speed-walking for three blocks trying not to look like a crazy person and I need you to know that I texted Colt and he said, and I quote, 'hell yes, go have fun, send photos.'” She paused and looked at them. "Obviously I am not going to send photos. Unless you're into that. Are you into that? I'm getting ahead of myself."
