Emory shook her head in amusement and pointed at a photo near the center of the group held to the fridge by an Immaculate Home magnet. “How old is Grace in this one?”

Sarah frowned in concentration. “She would be four years old there. You can’t tell, but she burst into tears moments after that photo was taken. Santa kind of freaked her out until she was about six.”

“Her and me both.” Emory chuckled, turned around, and took Sarah’s hand. “I like that you have all of these photos up here. It just feels so, I don’t know, homey.”

“Is that a secret word for lame?”

“Nope. I like your place. It feels happy and vibrant, like you.” While that was true, Emory was also aware of just how strange it felt to her. She tried to imagine herself living in such a bright little busy world, but she was stalling out. She wouldn’t know how to go about creating “homey” if she tried. It was a problem.

“It’s excruciatingly small next to yours.”

Emory had to agree. The place was tiny. She was guessing less than nine hundred square feet, but Sarah had definitely made use of the space. There were potholders dangling from the oven, magnets of the alphabet on the dishwasher, and framed photos of family and friends all over the place. Organized chaos was a good word for it. “No, it seems perfect for you two.”

Sarah beamed back at her. Her smile could end wars. Unable to help herself, Emory leaned in for a soft kiss, lingering a bit longer than she meant to and sighing internally at the tingling sensation Sarah always seemed to leave her with.

“You know, I’ve missed you,” Sarah told her quietly. She brushed Emory’s cheek ever so softly with the back of her fingertips. “Is it mandatory that we wait a week to see each other? I know you’re busy but—”

Emory placed a gentle thumb to Sarah’s bottom lip, quieting her. “I can find more time. I’ll buy it if I have to.” For some reason, when she was with Sarah, the rest of the world seemed less important. It was an illusion, she reminded herself, but lately that was getting harder to remember.

Sarah kissed her thumb. “Good. Now that that’s solved, we have some vampires to watch. Let me rustle up my kid.”

Once at the theater, Grace bounded to the concession stand. Emory followed casually behind her as Sarah paid for their tickets, a condition she insisted upon. After settling on popcorn and Junior Mints, they found their seats in the theater, Sarah sitting in the middle.

“I guess I should update you on what’s happened so far in the series,” Sarah said.

Emory stared back at her blandly. “If you feel it’s important.”

“It is,” Grace chimed in. She leaned across Sarah in all seriousness. “Very.”

“Got it. Inform away.”

As Sarah recounted the trials and tribulations of Edward and Bella in precise detail, Grace waved to a boy a few seats in front of them, who waved enthusiastically back and continued to steal glances at Grace throughout the next few minutes. “I don’t mean to interrupt,” Emory said. “But I think the child has an admirer.”

Grace blushed and shook her head emphatically. “That’s just George. He’s my friend. Can I go talk to him, Mom?”

“Sure,” Sarah answered, seemingly amused at Grace’s sudden shade of red. “Be polite to his parents.”

Emory watched Grace scamper down to the front of the theater. As soon as Grace was out of earshot, she turned to Sarah. “How’s she been?”

“She’s had a great week, actually. Hasn’t mentioned camp once, and invited Mindy over to play, which from what I hear, I have you to thank for. I’m glad she felt she could talk to you.”

“I hope it was all right. I think she just wanted an outside opinion.”

“You are the cooler one, after all.”

“Well, obviously,” Emory replied. “What about the cardiologist? Tell me again what he said.”

“He doesn’t love that she had a second episode, but thinks it’s nothing to get too alarmed about, as fainting can be a symptom of this particular condition. But he did recommend we consider a pacemaker so Grace can live a more active lifestyle without worry of similar spells in the future. He wants to implant it over her Christmas break so she has time off from school to recover.”

“That sounds a little scary. Are you going to do it?”

“I think so. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t terrify me to have her operated on, but maybe it’s for the best when you think about it in the scheme of her entire life. I’ve talked to Grace and she’s all for it, but then she’s always been a little too fearless.”

“It sounds like you’re doing the right thing.”

Sarah elbowed Emory softly as the lights in the theater dimmed. “Shhh, vampires are about to make out.” Sarah snuggled down into her seat and smiled up at Emory. “Hand me the popcorn.”

Grace returned and the screen lit up with action, adventure, and romance. Emory, as hard as she fought, found herself actually sucked into the vampire storyline. About halfway through the movie, Sarah climbed over Emory for a quick trip to the restroom. It was less than a minute before Grace leaned across the empty seat between them.

“Can you keep a secret?” she whispered.

“Usually,” Emory whispered back, curious.

“It’s important.”

“Okay. I’ll do my best.”

Grace leaned in a little closer. “I think my mom likes you.”

“I like her too. I like both of you.”

“No. I mean, I think she has a crush on you.”

It was all Emory could do to not choke on her mouthful of Diet Coke. She was fairly certain this was not information Sarah would have shared with Grace. “What makes you say that?”

“She smiles a lot more when you’re around or when she talks to you on the phone, and it’s not like with her other friends. I’m telling you, it might be a crush.”

“All right, I’ll keep that in mind.” She leaned back into her own seat, still trying to process Grace’s very surprising revelation.

And then in a much louder whisper, audible to almost the entire theater, Grace asked her final question. “You are a lesbian, right?”

Emory didn’t have a chance to answer and pretended not to notice the several curious heads that turned her way because luckily, Sarah chose that exact moment to return to her seat, planting herself between them. “What did I miss?” she asked excitedly, looking from one of them to the other.

Emory offered her a wry smile.

*

“Are you sure she actually used the word lesbian?” Sarah eyed her skeptically two and a half hours later. They sat on the stairs in front of the door to Sarah’s apartment so Grace, now asleep for the night, would not overhear.

“I’m fairly certain, yeah.”

“Wow. Just when I think she can’t surprise me any further.”

“She’s a very intuitive little person.”

“Apparently, more than even I realized.”

Emory stood. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. She didn’t seem distressed at all. Strangely, quite the opposite. I have a feeling she’ll come around and talk to you about it sooner rather than later.”

“If she waits too long, I think I’ll have to broach the subject with her first. I want to make sure she’s not full of some wild notion she saw on television.” Standing up and joining Emory, she shook her head. “I could just kill my father, by the way. I’m pretty sure this is straight from their afternoons of CNN.”

“Don’t be too hard on him. At least he’s spending time with her. I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch television with my parents growing up, not to mention my grandparents.”

Sarah nodded and seemed to study Emory for a moment longer than usual.

“What?”

Sarah shook her head. “You’re so beautiful. Sometimes it just hits me.”

Emory didn’t know what to say. There were times when Sarah rendered her speechless, and this was one of them. All she knew to do was kiss her, Sarah, who could make her feel so many things. And she did just that, leaning in, and then sinking into that wonderful flood of pleasure that kissing Sarah always led her to. But what was meant to be just one kiss turned into much more as the always-present spark between them took hold and caught fire.