That night, Ainsley was alone in her new house.
Throughout her day and evening with Rachel, Ainsley had battled with herself about whether or not she really wanted to spend her first night in her new home alone. She just hadn’t wanted her time with Rachel to end. But it was Rachel who insisted she do so.
“Get to know your house,” she had told Ainsley. “Houses like to reveal themselves to us at night and this first night is a special one. It’s part of the bonding process.”
And so Ainsley had gone home by herself and spent the night continuing to unpack and letting the house “reveal” itself as the night grew longer. She paid attention to the little creaks and snaps the structure made as the temperature outside continued to drop. She noted which rooms got pitch black and which only got somewhat dark due to the streetlights shining through the windows. She realized that at night her bedroom got chillier than her living room for some reason, and that past ten o’clock, the tile of her kitchen floor suddenly became so cold that she wanted to put fuzzy socks on her bare feet. And a host of other things.
At eleven, she went to bed but couldn’t fall asleep, even after having had a couple of glasses of wine not too long ago. And she knew it wasn’t just the newness of this—still messy and disorganized—bedroom. She had never been one to have trouble falling asleep in new places. Being a doctor meant training yourself to get sleep when- and wherever you can. No, she was having trouble sleeping for another reason.
Rachel answered on the first ring, which told Ainsley that her girlfriend had also been awake.
“Hey, everything okay?” Rachel asked.
“Please come over and spend the first night in my new house with me,” Ainsley replied.
Chapter 27
“And she cooks!” Krissy said. “Has Ainsley cooked for you yet?”
“Not for me, per se; but we’ve cooked together,” Rachel informed Krissy from the back seat of Becca’s Jeep.
“That’s so cute,” Krissy insisted. She was turned around in the front passenger seat so she could more easily talk to Rachel. “You two are cute together.”
Becca rolled her eyes.
“Stop trying to marry them off already,” she chided Krissy.
Krissy sucked her teeth and looked at Becca.
“I’m not trying to marry them off; I’m just making sure Rach knows what a catch Ainsley is.” She returned her attention back to Rachel. “Oh, and by the way, I already went on and on to Ains about what a catch you are.”
Rachel laughed.
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
In the rearview mirror, she shared an amused look with Becca.
It was Sunday and they were driving down to Solana Beach together. This morning, Ainsley had been called in early to Scripps Memorial for an urgent surgical consultation but had said she’d still make the volleyball game and then suggested Rachel carpool with Becca and Krissy.
Last night, after Ainsley had called, Rachel had gone over to her house and their night together had been…incredible. But it hadn’t been incredible because they’d stayed up until the wee hours of the morning having multi-orgasmic sex. In fact, she and Ainsley didn’t even have sex.
Rachel had arrived already wearing her pjs (by then it was close to midnight), brushed her teeth and gotten into bed with Ainsley. Then, they had simply laid there for what seemed like hours but was probably only twenty minutes or so, facing each other, stroking one another’s hair, and not saying a word.
And Rachel had let Ainsley’s house reveal itself to her. The little noises, the not-uncomfortable chill in the bedroom and the way the bedroom was already beginning to smell a lot like the bedroom in Ainsley’s condo used to.
Eventually, Ainsley had whispered, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
And Rachel had smiled and whispered back, “I’m so glad you wanted me here.”
And then they had fallen asleep and Rachel had slept soundly and deeply and when she woke up she had felt as if she was right where she belonged.
It had been…incredible. And a little scary.
“So, Becca, how did you end up a firefighter?” Rachel asked quickly now, as a way to divert the conversation from Krissy’s well-meaning attempts to ensure she never let Ainsley get away.
And so Becca told the story of how, when she was eight-years-old, she had seen an apartment building burning not far from her family’s house in Oceanside.
“There were actually two female firefighters in the brigade that responded,” Becca said. “And they were kicking ass! One of them even carried out—by herself—an unconscious victim from the building. I was hooked and I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”