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“Aw, why?”

Charlotte let her gaze drift up to the ceiling, the scene replaying itself. Every sound she made. The taste of her. Her entire being ached for more.

“You know how when you really like and connect with someone it makes the sex⁠—”

“Like your entire being comes alive?” Lizzie offered, plucking mugs from the hooks beneath the upper cabinets. “And it’s the only thing you can think about?”

Charlotte transferred half-charred pancakes to a plate. “Yes. I feel insatiable. I’m not sure I’ll ever have enough of her.”

Lizzie released a low whistle. “Charlotte Davenport, pussy-whipped.”

Charlotte didn’t even deny it.

“Have you made it official?” Lizzie asked, pulling creamer from the fridge.

“No.”

“Why not?”

She poured more batter into the skillet, cracking the oven door to check the bacon.

“I don’t want to sway her decision if she gets one of those residencies.”

“Well, that’s dumb.”

Charlotte lurched as she poured the scrambled eggs into a pan. “What—why?”

“Because she obviously likes you, too. I mean… you two are a walking rom-com, just as plagued with the inability to see what everyone else does.”

Heat spread through the eggs. Her stomach twisted in hunger and fear.

“I get it,” Lizzie said, her tone quiet. “It’s terrifying. To let someone in and take up all the room in your heart when they could leave or… die.”

Charlotte’s breath snagged, hand flitting up to rest over her chest. To the ache and fear woven like a cocoon around her heart. They hadn’t talked about it in years. How the loss of their father hit them even now. Lizzie never seemed to struggle expressing her feelings the same as Charlotte. She wanted to make sure everyone in her life knew how much they were loved. For Charlotte, opening up and allowing people into a place that held so much weight, it terrified her. Not in a bone-chilling way. But in a way that made her feel the need to erect a wall or run in the other direction.

“I want to tell her.”

“You will.”

Lizzie’s eyes were waiting for her. She understood. Lizzie always understood, even when Charlotte didn’t understand herself. “You think so?”

“I know so. It won’t end like the last time,” Lizzie said, leaning back against the counter as the coffee began to drip into the pot. “You should give her a call. Tell her you’re thinking about her and want to see her when you get back.”

“Maybe I will after breakfast…” Charlotte admitted, flipping each piece of bacon before sliding the tray back into the oven. “Why are you up so early? It’s not even eleven.”

“I wanted to call Sasha before she had to go to court,” Lizzie said, a soft smile tugging at her lips as she added the scrambled eggs to their plates. “By then, she’s too locked in to even look at her phone.”

Warmth spread behind Charlotte’s ribs. For all the questions she had when it came to Sasha, Lizzie had never been so in love. She loved everyone, but Charlotte thought she might love Sasha more than even her at times.

“You miss her?”

Lizzie rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m really glad we came out here… But yeah.” Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I miss her.”

“You replaced me,” Charlotte pouted as she flipped the pancakes, recalling a time in their lives when Lizzie claimed she couldn’t stand breathing the same air as Sasha. That kind of tension had nothing to do with hate and everything to do with magnetic attraction.

Lizzie’s brows drew together, mouth falling open. “No! I’d never.”

Sea-like beacons that didn’t quite match her own were fixed on her, worry pooling in a way Charlotte knew meant Lizzie was torn.