Say You Love Me (Double Love Trilogy Conclusion)

Falling At Your Feet

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Monday, February 13, 2023
(6:30 am)
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"I didn't think you'd be in here this early...I'll get out of your way."

That was what immediately came to Karen's mind to say when she saw Stevie in the kitchen at six-thirty the next morning. She was wearing her black silk robe and her glasses and pouring two cups of coffee, and as soon as she saw Karen backing away, she stopped her. As difficult as her conversation in the backyard with Lindsey had been the night before, she knew the situation wasn't entirely resolved; she knew she had to apologize to Karen.

"No, Karen...stay." Stevie offered a slightly guilty smile as she reached out and touched Karen's arm. She gestured towards the two cups of coffee and asked, "Do you want one of these? I was going to take coffee up to Lindsey but he's still asleep, so..." The two cups of coffee were still black; she had yet to add milk and sugar to the one she'd poured for Lindsey to surprise him.

Karen couldn't help but smile back; she knew immediately that this was Stevie's way of waving a white flag. Raising an eyebrow in teasing, she said, "You're offering me coffee? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"No, it should be just like this," Stevie said. "I owe you about thirty years worth of coffee...and the biggest apology ever for screaming at you last night." She sighed, looking into the eyes of the woman who was not even her assistant but her best friend, her family. Moving towards her tentatively, she said, "I owe you one of these too." And she pulled Karen into a hug. "I am so sorry, Karen...I swear to God I didn't mean it all how it came out...I love you."

"I love you too, Stevie, you know that." Karen hugged Stevie back as ferociously as she was being hugged. "I'm sorry if you thought I was keeping it from you...it was not that way at all."

"Thirty-two years of brutal honesty whether I wanted it or not...I should have known better than that," Stevie said, and the two women shared a laugh. When they pulled away from their embrace, she said, as if just coming to the realization, "All those times since we've been here, when you were trying to get me to pay attention to my emails...it was because you were trying to show me the ones from Joe, wasn't it?"

"I was trying to avoid exactly the kind of a scene that happened last night. Stevie." Karen watched as Stevie poured a splash of almond milk into one of the coffee cups and stirred, smiling. "I have to admit, I wasn't sure how you'd react to Joe reaching out...I was a bit hesitant, sure, but I would never have just kept it hidden from you...I would never do that to you."

"I know you wouldn't." Stevie turned to her with two cups of coffee in her hands, and Karen took the one with the almond milk. Stevie said, holding up her coffee, "To us, to friendship...and hopefully, to forgiveness."

"To forgiveness and friendship, and to us," Karen echoed. They clinked their mugs and sipped their coffee, and both took a seat around the kitchen island. They drank in silence for a few minutes until curiosity got the better of Karen and she asked, "So what are you doing up so early? I mean, this is what time you usually go to bed!"

Stevie let out a long, tired sigh. "Actually, it's because I was thinking about you," she admitted. "After I talked it over with Lindsey we went up to bed and I slept for a little while...but then I woke up to pee and it was all over...I spent like two hours just lying there, looking at Lindsey and wondering how the hell men sleep so fucking soundly but women are awake thinking all the damn time...about people, relationships...guilt..." She looked at Karen seriously from across the counter. "Last night aside...have you been happy with this whole thing...us...for the last thirty-two years?"