Page 37 of Echoes

“Great,” Felicity said with a smile.

The time on the ship had been chaotic initially, but once they’d sorted out the technical difficulties, it had passed rather quickly. In fact, it had passed a little too quickly for Rosie, who hadn’t wanted to leave. They’d had one week in the lab where they’d cataloged what they’d found, and then, she’d needed to get home. Felicity had actually joined her on the same flight, and they’d spent more time getting caught up. She was in town to get her stuff out of storage after leaving it there for her Portugal move. Then, she would drive hours south until she’d arrive at the three-bedroom house with a wraparound deck that she’d bought on the coast just recently. Felicity had been really excited about that deck, and Rosie had been excited for her, too. It had also been during that same conversation that she’d asked if Felicity was moving into that house with anyone.

“No, just me,” she’d replied then.

“No one special?” Rosie had asked.

“Not in a while, no,” Felicity had told her. “I dated a few women in Portugal, but nothing serious. One was for about a month. Another one was for a few months. And the last one was for just a few dates, really. That’s about it.”

“Really? That’s all?”

“I was there for work at first, and, well, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be in a serious relationship,” Felicity had shared.

Now, Felicity was sitting at the kitchen table next to her, drinking white wine, while Rosie was finishing her beer.

“Um… Hi.”

Rosie turned and said, “Hi.”

“Hi, Ami,” Felicity offered. “Nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too. I didn’t know you were in town.”

“Oh,” Felicity let out and looked at Rosie. “Yeah, just for a few more days.”

Felicity hadn’t mentioned anything about them flying back together, which Rosie was very grateful for. She hadn’t seen this jealous side of her wife when they’d dated the first time around, at least, not where a woman was concerned – Ami had been more jealous of theocean than a woman – but now that Rosie knew for sure that Ami had been aware of Felicity’s old feelings for her, she could see things in hindsight more clearly. Ami had been jealous all along.

“Well, I got us dinner because I didn’t know we had company,” Ami said and held up a large brown bag. “I can try to turn two entrées into three.”

“Oh, no need,” Felicity spoke. “I was just about to head home, anyway.” She stood. “Thank you for the wine.”

“Sure,” Rosie replied and stood up as well. “I’ll walk you out.”

“I think she knows where the door is, Rosie,” Ami said.

“Ami!”

“No, it’s okay. She’s right: Idoremember where that door is.” She looked at Rosie. “It was great catching up with you.”

“You too.”

“I’ll maybe see you around.”

“Maybe in the seminar?”

“Yeah. It’s not a long drive. I can come back for a lecture or two.”

Rosie smiled at her.

“Bye, Ami,” Felicity said.

“Goodbye, Felicity,” Ami replied.

Ami and Rosie stood silently in their kitchen until the door closed behind Felicity.

“That was very rude,” Rosie remarked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“What was she even doing here, Rosie?”