Page 28 of She Came Upon A Midnight Clear
“Because I need to feed my beautiful girl, you need a shower to help you wake up while I cook, then we’re going to decorate the tree. If you want to.”
I realize I do—I really do. I bite my lip, pretending to be thinking it over. “Well, if you insist. Raincheck, though?”
“Of course. Always. Well, maybe until we’re, like, ninety and unable to fuck.”
Did she just suggest we’ll be together when we’re ninety?
She yanks the covers back and helps me up, giving my sore butt a small swat. “Off to the shower with you, woman.”
I do as she says—I really was going to, anyway, although I won’t tell her that—and the warm water feels so good on my skin. There’s something so lovely about the way the room fills up with steam while the cold rain falls outside. Just knowing that it’s happening makes me feel even warmer and cozier.
I love this loft, I muse as I wash my body, then rinse off. The place is so gorgeous, plus there’s the puppies, and there always will be puppies here. And Dru will always be here.
Well, here at the rescue. But will she really always be with me?
I try to imagine us at ninety, and in my head we’re still rescuing dogs together, still fucking like we’re in our thirties. Still in love.
Have to tell her.
No. I just can’t take that chance. Can I?
I could use some advice, or at least someone to process it all with. And I realize I haven’t really talked to Gretchen at all. I need to get caught up on what’s happening with her and Sue, and talk to her about Dru and me.
I dry off and slip into Dru’s robe, and when I come out she’s in the kitchen on her cell. She hangs up and glances at me.
“I’m so sorry, baby, but there’s an issue in the kennels I have to attend to. Are you starving? I don’t think I’ll be more than twenty or thirty minutes.”
“No, I’m good. I’ll have some coffee. Go do what you need to do.”
“Okay. Be right back,” she says, stopping to kiss my cheek, then my nose, then my mouth before she slips into one of her flannels and a knit beanie, and heads out the door.
I pour myself a cup of cinnamon-scented coffee, then sit down on the sofa with a book, but I feel too restless to read. I put the book down and go to retrieve my phone from the table next to the bed, where I’ve left it plugged in. I tap the screen to call Gretchen.
She picks up right away.
“Hey! Evie, what’s up? You still up there at Dru’s place?”
“Yeah, I am, but she just ran over to the kennels, so I thought I’d call. We, uh…”
“I know your history with her; I was not at all surprised once I realized my boss was the same Dru you’ve been mooning over forever.”
“I… what? You know that?”
“I’m your best friend. Of course I know that. And I can’t remember you ever mentioning her last name, so I didn’t know it was her until the party.”
“Okayyy. Huh. I just realized you never actually said her name. You always just called her ‘the boss’, so neither of us had any way to know she was my Dru. But Gretch, do you think anyone else here knows what’s going on? I mean, obviously the entire staff knows I’ve been staying here, but do you think anyone else knows how I feel?”
“Dru, maybe? I mean, it was obvious every time you brought her name up, or told me a story about how you used to hang out with her and your roommate all the time, but I have no idea how much you’re letting on with her, so hard to say.”
“Shit.”
“Would that be such a terrible thing?” Gretchen asks. “She seems happy enough to have you there. Deliriously happy, from what little I’ve seen. She whistles whenever she’s working in the kennels, you know.”
“Ugh! I don’t know. Maybe not so terrible? It’s too early to tell. Well, no. That’s not true. Gretch, I think she feels the same way I do.I think. God, I’m not sure. That’s why I needed to talk.”
“You sound sort of happy and sort of confused, so maybe tell me what’s up before she gets back.”
“I am; both. Things have been great. Amazing, really. Um, we went to buy a Christmas tree together today.”
