Carly said reverently, still touching her. With her other hand, she cradled Lauren’s cheek and then kissed her softly. “Can there be more of that later?”
Lauren struggled to regain sentence structure, still in recovery mode. She nodded, however, imagining all the ways she’d even the score. The things she wanted to do to Carly entered her mind with gusto. It was shaping up to be a wonderful night off.
* * *
Tiny details mattered. The early afternoon sunshine on Lauren’s back patio caught the tiny hints of red in Lauren’s brown hair. Carly wasn’t sure she’d ever noticed them before and took joy in learning more tiny things about Lauren. She liked her coffee warm, but not hot. She liked to take walks in her neighborhood but preferred to do so at night after a show. She loved having her back tickled as she fell asleep and knew way more about football than Carly would have guessed.
“So I’m doing this?” Lauren asked, with a nervous smile.
Carly held up her palms. “I’m merely a supportive bystander.”
She watched Lauren take the pen and sign her name with a flourish, finishing with a twist of her wrist. “There. Done.” She raised her gaze in triumph.
Carly grinned back. “It’s official. You have an agent. A really, really good one, too. UTA is top-notch.” She shrugged extra-casually. “So, you’re going to give your acting career a second shot.”
Lauren hesitated. “Yes and no. I think it just means I’ll dip my toe in the water and see if it’s warm. My plan is to go on an audition or two and decide from there.” She shook her head. “It’s strange because I’m not unhappy stage managing.”
“I could tell. You were in your element.” The wind hit and Carly snuggled farther into her oversized sweatshirt.
Lauren winced and stared at the contract with uncertainty. “In fact, I really like it. But what if I like acting more?”
“I think you owe it to yourself to find out. One thing I know? You’re really good at both.”
“First world problems.” Lauren shook her head, highlighting how torn she felt.
Carly’s stomach tightened. They’d talked on and off about the possibility of Lauren coming back West with Carly, but she’d never quite committed fully. From Carly’s perspective, she couldn’t imagine anything better than the two of them in LA, the town she loved. Though she hadn’t yet wrapped her head around what it all meant, she’d never had feelings as powerful as those she was experiencing for Lauren. While still mysterious, she knew they were too important to just wave to Lauren in her rearview mirror when she left Minneapolis in ten days. In fact, she couldn’t.
“Pack a bag and come with me.” There. She’d flat-out said it. Again. “Just think. You, me, palm trees, and blue water.”
Lauren turned to her. Those sparkling green eyes carried hope and what looked to be interest. Jackpot. “I think that might be a nice idea. I think maybe that’s what I’d like to do.” Carly stared. So conservative. So cautious.
“I think maybe you should lose the maybe,” Carly said and leaned in. She paused just centimeters from Lauren’s lips, savoring the anticipation. Her favorite damn part.
Lauren closed the gap and kissed her softly, lingering. “Done. It’s gone.”
Carly’s jaw dropped. She’d said yes. “We’re LA bound. Look out, City of Angels.”
Lauren took a deep breath and reached for her phone. “I guess I should look around for somewhere to live for a few weeks.”
Carly shook her head. “You’re impossible. Do you have any understanding of that?”
“Impossibly beautiful, sexy, and in charge, you mean?”
“Definitely, hell yeah, and”—she tilted her head back and forth—“all things are negotiable.”
Another kiss. A longer one. Kissing Lauren, she’d learned, was a fantastic way to warm up in the colder weather. “I can live with those terms,” Lauren said, with that sensual look she always got right after being kissed, almost as if it left her a little dizzy. Carly could identify. “How about before I race off to LA with you, we have lunch, then later meet in a fake airport and face destiny again?”
“You’re on.” Carly grinned.
“I could go for some fries.”
Carly wanted to give Lauren the moon and stars. Fries shouldn’t be so hard.
* * *
No, no, no. Lauren was late for the matinee and she hated it with every fiber of her being. Traffic had clearly been out to get her, and she’d just barely make her call time, which was unheard of. She preferred to be extra early, and when