If Jo were interested in her, how would Emma know for sure? Jo would never make a move. Not on an employee, and especially not on an employee who had been sexually harassed in theworkplace. Jo would never do anything to make Emma uncomfortable. She hadn’t even been the one who initiated the almost kiss. That was all Emma. If anything was going to happen between them, Emma was pretty sure it was going to have to be her. And with Jo’s speech about going for what she wanted—yeah, that was about her job, her career, but Emma knew what she wanted.
She wanted to go back to that day in Jo’s office after her father left, to have Mason not call and interrupt.
She wanted to go back to that moment on the sidewalk with Jo’s hands on her scarf.
She wanted to kiss Jo, more than anything, and Jo had told her to go for what she wanted.
—
Back in LA, Chloepicked them up from the airport. It was past midnight as they headed toward Emma’s apartment first.
It was late and maybe Emma was sleep deprived and imagining things, but the ride home felt tense. Like the moment was a bowstring pulled taut. Emma’s hand rested next to Jo’s on the middle seat. She would have had to move it only a few inches and they’d be holding hands. Chloe had the privacy divider up; Emma didn’t know why. It was closed when they got into the car. It was probably because it was late, and Chloe thought Jo might want to rest, might want the privacy to sleep, but it felt like it meant something more. Jo looked out the window and Emma looked at Jo’s hand on the seat next to her and this was their last business trip together. This ride felt like the end of something. Emma wondered if it could be the beginning of something else. Her heart thudded in her ears.
Jo broke the silence in the back of the car. “I had a good trip. I hope you did, too.”
“I did, boss,” Emma said quietly.
Jo glanced at her, glanced away. Emma pulled her hand back to her side of the car. She swore Jo watched her do it.
When they pulled up to Emma’s apartment, Chloe hopped out to take Emma’s luggage out of the trunk. Emma stood on the sidewalk, slightly uncomfortable, the way she always was when someone did something for her she could’ve done herself. The rear window was rolled down and Jo smiled out at Emma as Chloe got back into the driver’s seat.
“I’m glad we didn’t have any asthma incidents,” Jo said. “Like last trip.”
Maybe Jo was only talking about her asthma. Maybe Emma shouldn’t have read into this.
It was just that asthma had been a stand-in, of sorts. For when Jo wanted to talk about something more, something bigger.
It was fitting that asthma should be the metaphor for whatever was between them. Because sometimes Jo looked at Emma and Emma felt like she couldn’t breathe. Jo smiled and Emma’s chest clenched. Right now, Emma felt like she needed to kiss Jo more than she needed oxygen.
“Happy birthday, Ms. Kaplan,” Jo said. “I hope it’s a good one.”
Emma had forgotten it was her birthday.
It was her birthday. It was her birthday and Jo told her to go for what she wanted. Still, she couldn’t believe what she was doing even as she did it. She took a step closer and put one hand on the car door, holding where Jo’s window was rolled down. Jo looked up at her and Emma leaned over, leaned closer.
It was the buildup of the trip, of Jo adjusting her scarf in front of the restaurant and letting Emma fall asleep on her shoulder. It was the buildup of the past year, even. Emma leaned closer and Jo straightened up, maybe unintentionally, maybe out of surprise, butshe straightened up enough that Emma’s mouth could land easily on hers. It was just the soft press of their lips together, no desperation, no tongue. Jo pushed herself closer. A shiver ran through Emma’s entire body. She wanted to capture this moment, take a picture in her mind so she could never forget it.
As quickly as she leaned over, she stood back up, hand still clutching the door. Her eyes stayed closed for a moment.
“It’s pretty good so far,” she said, and turned to climb the stairs to her apartment building.
Her skin tingled everywhere. Her mouth was numb without Jo’s against it. It took her two tries to get her key in the door, and she didn’t look back when she went inside.
When she got to her apartment, she looked out the window. Jo must have had Chloe wait to see the lights go on in her apartment—her car was only just pulling away. Emma rubbed her fingers over her lips and couldn’t believe herself.
—
The first thing Emmadid when she woke up was check her phone. She scrolled through a huge variety of birthday messages and found nothing from Jo. That was... good, probably. She’d see her tomorrow at work. They could figure things out then.
Jo had kissed her back. Of that Emma was sure. There wasn’t tongue or anything; it wasn’t a big kiss, but she had kissed her back. She’d leaned closer. Emma shivered just thinking about it. Maybe Jo would change her mind, maybe she wouldn’t want whatever Emma wanted—though Emma herself wasn’t sure what that was yet, not really. But she’d kissed back. Emma was always going to have that.
She was still thinking about it when Avery showed up at her door with cinnamon rolls and a cupcake with a candle in it.
Avery grinned and sang all of “Happy Birthday” to her.
Emma closed her eyes. As she blew out the candle, she wished for Jo to want to kiss her again.
“What’d you wish for?” Avery asked.