The atmosphere was thick with joy and happiness and once again, she was struck by the fact that an event so awful had led her to meet some of the most incredible people on the planet, people she knew would be part of her life forever.
As conversation continued and alcohol flowed, Abby and Erica touched like any couple would, finally unconcerned about making their relationship known. Abby laid a hand on Erica’s knee as she leaned over to talk with Corinne. Erica toyed with the ends of Abby’s hair as they listened to Michael tell the story of how he and Gwen had met.
Brian and Corinne exchanged a knowing look at one point, then grinned like fools.
Abby tipped toward Erica a little later and asked, “How long before Brian asks Kate out?”
“There will be a date planned by the end of the night,” Erica said. “I’m certain of it.”
“I don’t know, they say that long-distance thing never works out.”
Erica turned to her. “Well, they are obviously mistaken.”
Abby held her gaze for a moment, then said, “I’m happy here.”
“Me, too.”
“I love Gander. I really do. There’s something about it—” She tapped her chest with one finger. “I feel it here. You know?”
Erica squeezed her knee. “I do.”
They watched the room, scanned their own table, reveled in being around people who made them feel warm, loved, like family.
A realization hit Erica then and she turned to Abby. “Hey, hear anything about the job?” Abby hadn’t given her many details about the interview she’d had the previous week, said she didn’t want to jinx it.
“I got it.” Abby bit her bottom lip.
Erica blinked. “What?”
“I got the job.”
“Oh, my god, that’s great!” Erica said, practically squealing. The others stopped their conversations and looked. “Abby got the job she interviewed for last week,” Erica told them.
“That’s terrific, Abby,” Claire said, her face lit up. “Can you tell us about it now?”
“She didn’t give you any specifics either?” Erica asked with a good-natured roll of her eyes.
“She was afraid of jinxing it,” Brian told her.
“So I heard.”
They all turned expectantly to Abby.
She wet her lips, nodding slowly. Moment of truth, she thought, though she hadn’t expected it to take place in front of everybody. “It’s a small, up-and-coming company that a friend of a friend turned me on to. There’s some great potential and it’ll be an opportunity for me to use my degree again. Finally. Which will make my parents very happy.”
Chuckles went around the table.
“Good for you,” Michael said.
“Whereabouts is it?” Erica asked, sipping her wine.
Abby cleared her throat. “The company’s in Raleigh.” She immediately took a swig of her beer, afraid to look at Erica, though she could feel her eyes on her. The rest of the table had gone quiet, as if everybody was bracing for a reaction. If it had been unclear to anybody what was going on between the two women, it was apparent now.
“You mean,” Erica began, having a hard time stating the obvious. “You mean, you’ll be working in Raleigh?”
Abby nodded, still not able to look her in the face. Instead, she spoke to her beer bottle. “I’ll get a little apartment, don’t worry. I don’t want to crowd you We can each have our own lives. If you want. I’m good with that as long as it means—” She swallowed hard and finally shifted her gaze to meet Erica’s. Her words came out in a long stream of run-on sentences, as if she was afraid to give Erica any room to speak, lest she bring it all crashing down. “As long as it means I can be closer to you. I know we promised to take things slowly and we have and it’s been good. But, Erica, once a month is hard. Isn’t it hard for you? It’s hard for me. It’s really hard for me. It’s harder than I thought it would be. When I’m with you, not only am I ridiculously happy, but I’m content. I feel safe and sure, like it’s the way things are supposed to be. And when I’m not with you, I’m waiting until the next time I will be. So once a month, I’m giddy and ecstatic and the other three weeks I spend in limbo. And I don’t want to do that any more. I want to be with you. It doesn’t have to be all the time, because I know that might freak you out, but I want to see you more often. I need to see you more often. Once a month isn’t enough for me. I need to see you more and oh my god could I just shut up now?” She covered her face with her hand and shook her head slowly back and forth, bracing for the wrath of Erica.
Instead, she felt warm fingers prying her own hand off her face, then using her chin to turn her head so she faced Erica. Erica, whose crystal blue eyes were misty and shining. In that moment, everybody else at the table, the room, the entire hotel simply fell away. There was nothing, there was nobody but Erica, holding her by the chin and smiling at her.
“Abby?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Hm?”
“Answer me one question. Okay?”
Abby nodded once. “Okay.”
“Why?”
Brows furrowed. “Why? Why what?”
“Why do you need to see me more often?”
A slow grin began to creep across Abby’s face as she thought, not for the first time, She’s going to make me say it. Surprisingly, it didn’t scare her. It didn’t freak her out. It didn’t make her feel like she was breaking out in hives. Rather, it felt like the next logical step. It felt like the truth. It felt right. She cleared her throat as if about to make an important announcement.
“I need to see you more often because I am in love with you, Erica.” A delighted gasp issued from Corinne and Abby had to stifle a smile. “I am in love with you and once a month is not often enough to see the person you’re in love with. That’s why.”
“Sounds like a damn good reason to me,” Brian said, raising his glass over the table. “To being in love.”
As the table clinked glass against glass and made statements of “hear, hear,” and “cheers,” Erica stroked a fingertip down the side of Abby’s face, stunned, impressed, and relieved by her admission. She’d been wondering. She’d been waiting. She’d been patient, letting Abby set the pace for the relationship, but she’d been getting restless, wondering what the next step should be. Wondering if there even was a next step for them, hoping there was, but afraid to ask, afraid to push. And today, Abby had grabbed her by the hand and taken her there.
“Well?” Abby said quietly as the friends around them fell back into conversation.
“Well what?” Erica teased.
Abby rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me here. You know that, right?”
Erica laughed, squeezed Abby’s thigh. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“So, what do you think? About what I said.”
“Honestly, there really is only one response I can give.”
Abby chewed on the inside of her cheek, bracing.
Erica’s face broke into a wide smile. “I love you, too.”
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