Lucy sat there for a moment, listening, and realized she couldn’t hear Erica typing any more. She wondered if that meant Erica had gone out. She might have, Lucy supposed, and was almost a little relieved. It might make things simpler if Erica had. She wondered if she should just slip out and leave too. To be gone when Erica came back. It seemed rude, she thought, but it might be for the best. It might be less awkward for both of them, after last night.
She decided just to check and see whether Erica was still around, and decide what to do once she knew. She stood up, and went out into the hallway, and then down it to the house’s main room.
It really was a nice house, she thought. All comfortable and beachy and sparse, with sunlight and bare wooden floors. She really liked the floors. Her floors at home had always been carpets and tiles. Pretty much everywhere she ever remembered living had been tile floors and carpets, and the wood was a nice change. It was more pleasant to walk on, she thought, warmer and softer than tile, and it had an almost comforting feel under her feet.
She walked, concentrating as she did. There was a slight grittiness underfoot, presumably sand which had been walked inside, but it was a pleasant kind of scratchiness, a reminder they were at the beach, which was actually quite nice. The wood was warm against her feet, presumably from the sun. It was softly smooth too, a different, silkier kind of smooth to tile, and she thought about that, idly wondering why. It was still a hard surface, not carpet, but it had a softer kind of hardness than tile, and in an odd way it reminded her of the difference between Erica and Jake, and the way Erica’s body had always seemed to have a softer kind of smoothness to Jake’s, a nicer smoothness, a silkiness and odd familiarity which his had never had.
Lucy stopped, surprised at that idea, and thought about it for a moment. She thought, and then, quite ruthlessly, made herself stop. This really wasn’t the time for comparisons, or memories like that. Especially after the way she’d thrown herself at Erica last night.
She went into the main room of the house, and looked for Erica, but couldn’t see her. Erica’s computer was still on, though, and her email open, but Erica herself wasn’t around. And the bathroom door had been ajar, as Lucy went past it, so Erica wasn’t in there.
Lucy stood there for a moment, wondering where Erica was, then she heard Erica’s voice, slightly muffled, and looked out the front windows. Erica was talking on the phone, outside on the deck. She was talking, and from the way her empty hand was making a tight, frustrated fist against her hip, and the way her voice was raised, she seemed angry, and almost upset.
Lucy stood there for a moment, and decided she’d better wait. Erica was obviously talking about something important, so Lucy shouldn’t interrupt, but now she was standing there looking at Erica, she also knew she couldn’t just slip away, either. Not really. Even if there had been a back door, which she didn’t think there was, she couldn’t just leave like that. It would be completely thoughtless and ungrateful.
She ought to wait for Erica, she decided. So she did. She stood where she was, and waited.
YOU ARE READING
Losing Everything
RomanceLucy loses everything that matters to her, her partner and job and business and all her money. She loses everything, and in doing so she reconnects with an old friend, Erica, and begins to fall for her instead. And as she does, she realizes that e...
