Don’t freak out—it’s not your Saturday to work.
Sultana was curled up next to her, completely unconcerned.
Alice worked every other Saturday at the library. And today wasn’t her day. Still, she never slept in. On her mornings off, she liked to do chores and laundry and shopping lists and journaling. And yoga and meditation and reading. Anything but sitting around listless.
She got out of bed, stretched, and wondered what Beau was doing. She smiled. After her parents had so rudely barged in on them, Beau had (finally!) put on a shirt, and then they’d all set about the ritual of awkward chitchat.
Goodness, Beau. You’ve grown up.
Alice, do you still meet with those women in Austin? The ones who hate men?
She actually giggled out loud sitting in her bed. Yes, Beau had grown up. And no, actually, she hadn’t met with her group in a while. She’d been busy tutoring and all of the delightful things that apparently went with it.
At some point, the awkwardness had morphed into comfortable, casual conversation. They’d looked at her parents’ photographs of Costa Rica and heard all about their many adventures. It had been . . . easy. Relaxing. Fun.
The yoga mat was rolled up neatly in the corner of the room. Alice eyed it, looked at Sultana, who was snoring softly, and decided yoga could wait. In fact, everything could freaking wait. The world wouldn’t grind to a halt if she stayed in bed for a while, so she leaned back and lazily watched the pretty patterns the sun made as it shone through the lace curtains.
She heard a car pull up. It was probably Dolly. Or maybe it was Mr. Dean, the letter carrier. The rest of the world was busy as usual, but Alice felt as if her little corner had slowed down. And it was nice.
There was a knock on the door. Who the heck could that be? It figured that the one day she decided to sleep in was also the day someone stopped by unexpectedly to catch her at it. Whoever it was, they went from knocking to pressing the doorbell.
Holy guacamole. What was the emergency?
Alice scurried to the living room in her pajamas. She parted the curtains to see Claire standing on her front porch, baby Rosa on her hip. And behind her, a red Porsche pulled up. Carmen was here, too?
Alice opened the door and Claire rushed in. “Wait for me,” Carmen shouted, slamming her car door and jogging up the walk.
“I don’t have much time,” Claire said. “Rosa and I are on our way to open the store.”
“I’m actually not in a hurry,” Carmen said. “Jessica is home from her honeymoon and back at work, so I’m not even going into Chateau Bleu today. That means you don’t have to leave out any juicy details.”
“Details?”
“Oh, please,” Carmen said, heading into Alice’s kitchen. “Beau took you home last night. Also, why don’t I smell coffee?”
“I just woke up,” Alice said, following her friends into the kitchen.
Claire started opening the cabinet doors.
“The coffee is next to the fridge,” Alice said, watching Carmen grab the carafe and fill it with water. “I’m going to go, you know, brush my teeth and use the restroom.”
“Be quick about it,” Claire said. “Chop, chop!”
By the time Alice came back in the room, Carmen was pouring coffee and Claire was scrounging around for spoons. “They’re—”
“Found them!” Claire said, holding up a spoon.
Alice nearly tripped over the baby, who was sitting on the floor having a staring contest with Sultana.
Alice wasn’t used to having people show up unexpectedly. And she definitely wasn’t used to them opening drawers and cabinets and putting their babies on the floor like they owned the place. She sat down at the kitchen table as Carmen poured the coffee.
A huge smile took over her face. These two felt at home in her kitchen. And she loved it.
“First of all,” Claire said, sitting next to Alice. “You don’t have to tell us anything.”
“I didn’t agree to that rule,” Carmen said, taking a seat. “I want to hear every little detail.”
“Well, I don’t think I’m going to give every little detail. It’s personal, you know. Just between me and Beau.”
“Oh my God,” Claire said. “Look at that smile.”
“That is not a virginal smile,” Carmen said. “That is the smile of carnal knowledge.”
Alice laughed. She wasn’t even going to get into the virgin thing with them. There was no point, and besides, it absolutely didn’t matter. “We did not have sexual intercourse.”
The disappointment on the women’s faces was enough to make her start laughing again.
“He did give me a spectacular orgasm though, which was something I didn’t think could happen, because generally speaking, women are in charge of their own—”
“Was it oral?” Carmen asked.
Alice nodded her head shyly.
“You should definitely keep that cowboy,” Claire said.
Alice sighed. “I’m not sure that keeping the cowboy is an option. Our contract expires after the wedding—”
“Wait. There’s an actual contract?” Claire asked.
Carmen and Claire shook their heads as if trying to wrap their minds around it, and Alice had to admit that it sounded kind of silly.
“Listen,” Claire said, reaching out and touching Alice’s hand. “I know you can’t tell us what your agreement with Beau is actually about.”
“And we wouldn’t want you to,” Carmen assured her.
“But, honey,” Claire said. “From where we’re sitting, it doesn’t look like Beau is your fake boyfriend.”
Alice bit her lip. “What does it look like?”
“Like he’s your real one,” Carmen said.
“You don’t dance the way y’all danced because of a contract,” Claire said.
Carmen nodded in agreement. “And you don’t look at someone the way you look at Beau—”
“Or the way he looks at you—” Claire said.
“Because of a contract,” they said together.
Alice had only had one sip of coffee, but her pulse was racing. Her relationship with Beau certainly didn’t feel fake. And neither did the friendship she had
