And so, she found herself having perfectly civil dinner conversation at Holly’s place over a lovely bottle of Borolo, as promised. They talked about Sophie, about how she had won first place in the science fair at her school last week with her project on forensic fingerprint lifting techniques, based on a book Gail had yet to return to Holly’s collection. They talked about Holly’s new dream job as a research fellow at a prestigious university teaching hospital with a huge endowment. They fell into long silences, their eyes saying what neither one of them would put into words. It was all well and good until the dishes were cleared and Holly asked if Gail would like to stay and watch a movie. She knew she had to be a better person, to do the right thing.

“Uh, yeah Holly, about that,” She began. She could be strong, “I have an early day tomorrow, I really should get going…”

“Oh.” The disappointment was clear on Holly’s face and in her voice.

“Yeah.” Gail said.

They stood there looking into each other’s eyes for one eternal moment. Then just like that, it was over and Holly walked her to the front door. She found herself standing on the front step in a shaft of soft golden light as she turned to kiss Holly tenderly on the cheek.

“Good night Holly.” She murmured as she turned to go feeling like someone had dropped a brick into her stomach.

She was halfway down the stairs when she felt a hand on her wrist. She froze for a moment and that was all it took. Suddenly they were back inside with a tug and the slam of a door, desperately kissing and tearing at each other’s clothing. There were hands and lips and skin, and stumbling into walls, and tripping over an end table with a crash, and landing hard on the couch, and not caring that Holly’s teeth left a blissfully painful mark on her throat, and foolishly falling so fast and hard again it set her soul on fire. When the cries of passion and the tears were all spent, and the world came apart only to be remade, they made their way upstairs in silence, to Holly’s bed where they fell asleep wrapped tightly around each other.