Begin Again Read online

  “You ready?” she asked.

  “Let’s do this,” Paxton replied. “Pick your race. We’ll do best two out of three.”

  “Then, it should be the fifty, because I’m already wiped from the day.”

  “Not exactly official size here. How about we just do one back and forth and call that a race?”

  “Three of those? Best two out of three?”

  “Let’s get out and do it right, though. Dive in from the deep end.” Paxton swam to the shallow end of the pool and walked out. Chris watched her for a moment until she did the same. They walked around to the other end of the pool where the water was at six feet. They lined up about five feet away from one another, since that was about all the space they could safely take. Chris looked over at Paxton and nodded at her. Then, Paxton said, “Three. Two. One. Go!”

  Chris jumped into the water, instantly remembering her old training. The muscle memory launched her forward and then up in the water. She had no idea where Paxton was in relation to the lead. She knew she was close by the other woman but had no clue who was technically winning as they took the turn and headed back in the direction from which they’d come. When she tapped the wall under the water, she looked over and found Paxton was already well above the water.

  “I guess you took the first one,” Chris said through heavy breathing.

  “Well, I was kind of warmed up already,” Paxton replied. “Round two?”

  Chris won the second race, but not by much. She also wasn’t completely sure she’d won. It wasn’t like anyone else had been standing above them to see who touched first. They didn’t actually finish the third race. The pool didn’t have ropes preventing them from running into one another. Neither knew who was actually at fault, but their legs ended up smacking into one another halfway through the final lap. They both popped up out of the water.

  “Pax!” Chris half-yelled and gave Paxton’s shoulder a shove.

  “That was all you! I was in my lane, Chris.”

  “We have to start over,” Chris suggested as she trod water.

  “I think we should call it a night. Your leg is all muscle or something, because that actually hurt.” Paxton reached down to her thigh.

  “I hurt you?” Chris moved a little closer. “Where?”

  “I’ll be fine. But I should probably stop, since I’m driving tomorrow.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “See? You’re apologizing. That means it was your fault,” Paxton argued.

  “Bullshit, swim champ.” Chris swam back toward the shallow end of the pool. “And for the record, you just forfeited. That means I’m the winner.”

  “If you’re the type of person that likes to win because of a technicality,” Paxton replied, following her out of the pool.

  “I’ll take any win I can get with you,” Chris said.

  CHAPTER 12

  It was the strangest thing to Paxton. She’d spent the past three days and nights with Chris, and she hadn’t felt truly alone the whole time they were together, even though they’d had their own rooms that last night. She’d just dropped Chris off at home, though, and within five minutes, she felt alone.

  They’d taken a little longer to get back than she’d planned. They’d stayed at the hotel that morning, opening the door between their rooms, had room service brought up, and talked while they ate. Then, they checked out and took a scenic drive, as they’d done the previous day. They also took a look at another bed and breakfast and even stopped at a beautiful mountain overlook for a few moments so that Chris could take some pictures. They’d laughed some in the car. They’d talked about their swim race from the previous night as well as some of their good races from when they competed. Chris had begun to open up to her. After Paxton dropped Chris off, she went to her apartment to shower and change for bed. She smiled at the thought of Chris finally opening up to her as she checked the alarm on her phone to ensure it would wake her up on time the following morning. Then, she fell asleep.

  ◆◆◆

  “How’d your trip go?” Kinsley asked Paxton.

  “Fine. We took the long way back. It was nice,” she replied.

  “We?” Kinsley asked.

  “Oh, I took Chris with me. We made a business trip out of it.”

  “Where is Chris?” Kinsley asked as she looked around the mostly demolished property.

  “She went to get us lunch. She should be back in a minute. I didn’t know you were stopping by or I would have gotten you something,” Paxton said.

  “I was driving past this place on the way back from a showing, saw your car was here, and thought I’d check it out. It looks…” Kinsley glanced around, probably trying to figure out what to say next.

  “Terrible?”

  “Yes,” Kinsley said through a laugh.

  “I know. That’s the idea. I want all this crap gone. Then, we’ll make it look good.”

  “We again?”

  “Yes, Chris and me. I mean, she’s my only full-time employee. Wes helps on the weekends, and we had a crew in here this past weekend while we were gone, finishing the demo. I’ve got a contractor coming over tomorrow to check things out. We’ll go from there.”

  “So, you’re keeping the place?”

  “I think so.” Paxton smiled at her new friend. They were both sitting on the only remaining structure in the place, the front desk. “I have no idea how successful I’m going to be at owning or even running a hotel, but I’m going to try.”

  “I think I remember Kellan saying she knows someone who knows someone who runs hotels. Have you asked her about that?”

  “No, I didn’t know that,” Paxton replied. Then, she saw Chris’s car heading toward them and turning into the lot. She smiled. “I’ll ask her about it, though.”

  “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” Paxton turned to Kinsley.

  “What’s going on with you two?”

  “Who?”

  “You and Chris,” Kinsley replied.

  “Oh, nothing. We’re working together. Why?”

  “I just saw you smile when she pulled in,” Kinsley said.

  “She’s bringing food, Kinsley. I skipped breakfast this morning.” Paxton climbed off the desk.

  “She’s single. You’re single.” Kinsley jumped down, too.

  “So, because we’re two single, gay ladies, we must be into one another?”

  “Are you?” Kinsley asked with a lifted eyebrow.

  “Hey. Oh, hey Kinsley,” Chris said when she entered.

  “Hi, Chris.” Kinsley moved in Chris’s direction. “I was just heading back to the office.”

  “Do you want to stay for lunch?” Chris asked as Kinsley walked past her.

  “No, Riles and I are having lunch together today. Thanks, though. I’ll see you guys later. Have fun.”

  Kinsley walked out. Moments later, Paxton saw her car leaving the lot. Chris approached the front desk and laid out their food.

  “Everything okay?” she asked Paxton.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I don’t know. Just thought something might be off or something,” Chris said.

  “What would be off?”

  “I don’t know, Pax. I was just asking a question,” Chris replied. “God, just eat your damn lunch. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and I didn’t have breakfast because I had to deal with a garbage disposal that Wes accidentally dropped a spoon into before flipping the switch.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that you’re hangry?” Paxton asked with a smile.

  Chris laughed, despite her attempts to stop herself, and said, “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

  ◆◆◆

  It was a few days later, when Wes arrived to get started at work, Paxton realized that not only did she really like Wesley Florence, she also kind of missed his older sister. Chris worked with her Monday through Friday. Wes was there Saturday and Sunday. It was Sunday. The two of them were talking about Chris picking him up in a few min
utes when her heart started to race at the thought of Chris being there. She actually looked down at her tattered jeans and dusty shirt and wished she’d thought to bring a change of clothes.

  “Chris, what are we doing for dinner tonight?” Wes asked Chris almost as soon as she’d arrived.

  “I don’t know yet. Why?” Chris asked him, ruffling his hair. “Hey, Pax.”

  “Hi,” Paxton offered with a wave from the front yard where she was loading up debris to take to the bin off to the side of the yard.

  “Can Pax come over?”

  “What?” Chris asked.

  “She just told me she has nothing in her kitchen and was going to get fast food. I was thinking she could come over to our place instead. I could make burgers on the grill.” He turned a little to Paxton. “My burgers are legendary.”

  Paxton laughed and stopped working.

  “I bet they are,” she replied.

  “Paxton, do you want to come to our place for dinner?” Chris asked because she really had no choice.

  “I don’t want to intrude on your family night,” Paxton replied because she also really had no choice.

  “We don’t have a family night,” Wes said. “Come on. I’ll make tater tots, too.”

  “Oh, well, if there are tater tots, I’m definitely in.” Paxton laughed.

  “Cool.”

  “Chris, is it really okay? You can say no,” Paxton said softly so only Chris could hear.

  “It’s fine. I’ll run to the store to get everything. Can you give us, like, an hour?”

  “I have to go home and change, so that’s fine. What can I bring?” Paxton asked, rubbing her dirty hands over her jeans.

  “Nothing,” Chris replied. “Just you.”

  Paxton smiled at that. Then, she saw Chris smile, too.

  “I’ll see you soon then,” she said.

  An hour or so later, Paxton pulled into the driveway of Chris’s house. She’d taken the extra time to stop for a bottle of wine, flowers for Chris, and grabbed a giant bag of candy for Wes, since she had no idea what teenage boys liked. She knocked but then heard Wes yelling at her to come around back. She walked around the side of the small house and saw Wes working an old charcoal grill. The backyard was small and butted up against another house’s yard and chain link fence. In lieu of a patio, they had a slab of concrete on which rested a card table with three folding chairs.

  “Hey, Pax,” Wes greeted with a wave.

  “Hey. I brought you this. I didn’t know if you’d like it. It’s a variety bag.” She held up the huge bag of candy.

  “Well, that’ll get him through college,” Chris replied as she made her way outside. “Hey.”

  “Hi,” Paxton said.

  It was as if something had changed between them without either of them knowing. There was a new kind of tension now that hadn’t existed around them before.

  “I got you this.” Paxton held up the wine easily since Wes had taken the bag of candy. “And these, too.”

  “Flowers?” Chris asked with a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever been–”

  “Chris, are the tots done?” Wes asked, covering the burgers.

  “Yes, I just pulled them out. You want to go grab everything?” she asked him.

  “You guys sit down. I’ve got this.” He pulled out two chairs, one for the each of them, and went inside the sliding glass door.

  “He really is a great kid,” Paxton said.

  “He is. I’m proud of him,” Chris replied.

  “You should be proud of yourself, too, Chris. You helped make him this way. He’s respectful at work. He does everything I ask him, and sometimes before I ask him, too. He told me he’s studying like crazy to get his grades up, and he’s a great tennis player. Now, he’s cooking us dinner. I don’t know many seventeen-year-old boys that are like that. Give yourself some credit.”

  “I’ll give myself credit when he graduates college with a degree in something he’s passionate about,” Chris replied, sitting in one of the folding chairs. “Should I open that? I don’t even know if I have a corkscrew here.” She pointed at the wine Paxton had placed on the table.

  “Next time,” Paxton replied. “We can open it next time. I’ll buy a corkscrew for you.”

  “Next time?” Chris asked with a lifted eyebrow.

  “Everything on your burger, Pax?” Wes peeked his head through the door.

  “Everything’s fine,” Paxton replied.

  “No onions for me,” Chris added.

  “Then, no onions for me,” Paxton said with a glance in Chris’s direction.

  “I’ll get it ready in there and then bring the plates out. We can add the burgers then.” He disappeared inside again.

  “And, yes, next time,” Paxton said.

  CHAPTER 13

  The work had officially begun on the remodel. Chris and Paxton had moved their stuff out back to the patio to work. They’d set a table with two chairs and worked most days side by side. They’d been doing so for a full week. Chris had noticed a difference in their ability to work together since they’d returned from Seattle. They’d been joking a lot more, exchanging glances they never had before, and Chris was happy. She smiled at the thought as Paxton walked away from their space to take a phone call from one of her employees back in Seattle.

  “I have the samples you wanted.” A man approached. “Should I wait for your…” He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “Your partner?”

  “Oh, this is Paxton’s place.” She looked up at him. This had happened twice before, with various members of the crew coming and going. One had even called Paxton her wife. “I work for her.”

  “She works with me,” Paxton clarified, approaching the man from behind. “And are we talking tile samples or paint samples?”

  “Paint today. Tile samples should be in tomorrow,” he replied, placing a book of paint samples on the table.

  “Okay. Thanks,” Paxton replied, sitting down next to Chris.

  He walked off. Paxton dove into the sample book. Chris moved in a little closer to take a look herself. When she did, though, she smelled Paxton’s shampoo or lotion. It was fruity but mixed with sweat, that came from hard work, and the heat, from sitting outside. The breeze from the water was a Godsend. She glanced down at the samples Paxton was flipping through, and she had the strangest thought. What would it be like, doing this with Paxton for real? The hotel was real, obviously, but she was considering what it would be like to paint a house with Paxton or pick out tile for a bathroom they shared. She shook her head and turned out to the lake.

  “Beautiful day, huh?” Chris said.

  “It is.” Paxton looked up at her. “Hey, Adler and Morgan are back tomorrow night. I was thinking about having a little thing for them at their place. Nothing big. Maybe just a dinner and some drinks. I’d do it at my apartment, but it’s tiny, and I haven’t unpacked.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Chris replied, running her hand through her hair.

  “I’m probably going to take off from here tomorrow, to pick up the stuff I need to cook. I have to be extra careful, since my sister thinks I’ll burn the house down any time I cook.” She laughed a little and looked back down at the swatches. “Do you want to maybe cut out of here with me and hit the grocery store?”

  “You need me to supervise your grocery shopping?” she joked.

  “No, I was thinking you could come to the dinner thing. I could bring you with me.” Paxton looked up at her for a moment and then averted her eyes to the water. “We could cook together. I know Adler would feel safer if I had a chaperone in her kitchen.”

  “So, you need a cooking supervisor?” Chris asked with a smile.

  Paxton met her eye again and replied, “Sure.”

  Then, she looked back at her samples. Chris knew something had happened there, though. Paxton’s smile had disappeared with Chris’s last couple of questions. She’d only been joking, but that hadn’t come through to Paxton, apparently. Chris didn’
t know what to say now. She wasn’t certain if she and Paxton were going to cook together tomorrow or not, after all. She looked over at the water again and wondered why it mattered so much.

  ◆◆◆

  “Morgan doesn’t like tomatoes,” Chris explained. “She eats tomato sauce, but not uncooked tomatoes.”

  “How do you know that?” Paxton asked her while she chopped the tomato on the cutting board in front of her.

  “Hi, I’m Chris. I waited on Morgan at Donoto’s for nearly a dozen years.” She waved at Paxton and laughed at her own joke.

  “I guess you would know, then. Do you like tomatoes?” Paxton asked.

  “You can put them on my salad, yes.”

  “What about peppers? Onions?”

  “Are you putting onions on the salads?” Chris asked.

  “No, I just wanted to know.”

  Chris stood on one side of the kitchen island while Paxton stood on the other. Chris was getting the dishes out of the cabinets before taking them to the table where she’d set it for the surprise dinner to welcome back Adler and Morgan.

  “I like onions okay; just not on burgers. And I’m not a fan of onion rings.” Chris placed four plates around the table. “I can do without peppers, but I’ll eat them.”

  “What about carrots?”

  “Carrots are fine,” Chris replied, placing the silverware next to the plates. “What about you?”

  “I hate cooked carrots. Raw carrots are fine, though. Peppers are good. Onions are okay.”

  “I already know you like asparagus, since I’ve seen you eating that. What about broccoli or cauliflower?”