“Rach!” Amy nudged her. “Your order?”
“Oh, sorry!” she said to Vanessa, blushing. “I was a million miles away. Um…caramel latte, please.”
The two women returned to their table.
“Okay,” Amy began, “so who’s the guy who so obviously has you in a tizzy? Blech, by the way. Oh, hey! You cut your nails!”
Rachel swallowed. She knew she could trust Amy with her revelation but it just occurred to her that this was going to be the first time she told anyone.
“There’s no guy,” Rachel said, holding Amy’s brown eyes with her own.
“Oh!” Amy said, her face registering surprise.
“Aims…I’ve been having sex with a woman.”
If Rachel thought Amy looked surprised a moment ago, then she didn’t know what to call this expression. Shock, was probably the closest. Amy’s mouth was opened as far as humanly possible and the same could be said for her eyes.
“An actual, real-life woman?” Amy whispered.
Rachel nodded.
“Trust me,” she said, “she’s very real.”
“Oh my god! What…How…?”
They were interrupted when Vanessa herself delivered their coffees, Rachel feeling a little intoxicated when she caught a whiff of Vanessa’s perfume. Fortunately, Vanessa didn’t linger.
Amy suddenly gasped.
“Wait! Was it that woman you went out with on Valentine’s Day?”
“Ainsley,” Rachel said, unable to help the smile which came to her face when she said the name. “We had s
ex that night.”
Amy playfully smacked Rachel’s arm.
“Holy fuck, Rach! This is incredible! But wait! What’s Ainsley like? All Sally ever told me was that they had drinks together that one time.”
“She’s amazing!” Rachel enthused after sipping her coffee. “Aims, she’s…amazing! You’re going to meet her because I told her to meet me here.”
“Good!” Amy stated. “I want to meet this woman who dared go on a blind date with my Sally! I wonder how many times I can say ‘my Sally’ once Ainsley gets here?”
Rachel laughed.
“Oh, stop!”
“So what is going on, Rach? How did this happen?”
Rachel started at the beginning—the house showing—and what the effect was on her when she first laid eyes on Ainsley and how that attraction to the other woman just kept growing.
“Aims, I didn’t understand it,” Rachel said. “I mean…I wanted her! But at the same time, I was totally loving how she and I were becoming friends.”
“So, she’s cool?”
Rachel nodded.
“She is super cool! Like, if you met her, you wouldn’t know that she’s actually one of the top surgeons in this part of California. I Googled her! She’s, like, a big deal! Oh, and her dad happens to be Hank Janowicz.”