Now, Delilah had no idea what time it was, but it was still dark outside, and Claire’s phone was making a hell of a racket on the nightstand.
“Claire.” She shook her gently.
“Hmm.” Claire just burrowed in deeper, her arm flopping over Delilah’s waist.
“Claire, your phone. Hey.” She moved the other woman’s hair out of her face, moonlight filtering in through the gauzy curtains and silvering her skin.
Fuck, this woman was gorgeous.
Bzzz.
Delilah reached over and grabbed the phone, an unfamiliar name flashing across the screen.
“Claire, it’s Maria.” Whoever the hell that was.
“What?” That got her attention. Claire sat up, blinking, the sheet falling down to her waist. “Where?”
“On the phone?” Delilah handed it over, and Claire scrambled out of the bed, naked and perfect, before she grabbed her robe from a chair by the window. She slipped on her glasses and then pressed the phone to her ear. “Maria? Is Ruby okay? Oh no. Yes, put her on, absolutely.” She turned to face Delilah, worrying her thumbnail in her mouth. “Ruby? What’s wrong, honey? Okay . . . sweetie, calm down. Take a deep breath for me . . . You sure you can’t just go to sleep and . . . Okay . . . Yes, of course you can come home. Tell Tess’s mom I’ll meet you on the sidewalk . . . Okay, honey. It’ll be all right.”
Then she hung up, sloughing off her robe and pulling on a pair of yoga pants and a tank top.
“Everything okay?” Delilah asked.
“Yeah, yeah, that was Tess’s mom. Tess and Ruby had a fight, and she wants to come home. Says she can’t sleep.”
“Oh.”
“They’ve been arguing a lot lately.” Claire shook her head and rubbed her eyes, her hair a total mess and falling around her shoulders. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.”
Claire paused at the door. “Um . . . stay in here, okay? I’ll get Ruby to bed fast. She’s probably exhausted. Just . . .” She trailed off, her eyes uncertain as she bit her lip.
Delilah understood what she was saying. Please don’t let my eleven-year-old know we’re sharing a bed. Delilah got it, but still, her chest sort of tightened up, and she suddenly very much wished she was wearing clothes.
“I should probably just go,” she said. She rarely stayed overnight after sex anyway. Why should this time be any different? Still, she couldn’t seem to move her ass off the mattress.
“No, don’t,” Claire said. “Just give me ten minutes, okay?”
Delilah nodded and then Claire was gone. Delilah heard the front door open and close, and she exhaled into the empty room. She really should go. She’d had sex with Claire, scratched the itch, and now she was done. Satisfied. And she’d definitely proven Astrid completely fucking wrong with her whole Claire would never go for you proclamation.
Yeah, this was over. Claire didn’t want her here with Ruby in the house anyway. Delilah shoved the covers back, located her bra and underwear, her jeans, but her shirt was nowhere to be found, because it was still in the middle of the kitchen floor.
“Shit.”
She went to the door, but before she could open it to try and sneak out, reclaim her clothing, and possibly bolt out the back door like a teenage boy running from a dad with a shotgun, she heard the front door open and shut again, Claire’s and Ruby’s voices mingling as they neared the hall.
“I . . . just . . . she’s . . . so . . . mean . . .”
Ruby was crying, words falling out in stuttering breaths.
“Honey, shh. Let’s just go to sleep, okay?” Claire said. “We can talk tomorrow and figure it all out. I promise.”
“Can . . . can I sleep with you?” Ruby asked.
Delilah stiffened. She looked around the room, wondering if she needed to dive into the closet or jump out the window.
This was ridiculous.
She was two seconds from crawling under the bed when Claire spoke.
“Oh, honey, I think you’ll sleep better in your own bed. But remember, we’re going camping tomorrow, and you can share your tent with whoever you want, okay?”
Ruby said something in response, but Delilah couldn’t hear the words as their voices faded down the hall. She slumped back onto the mattress, her head in her hands. Had she seriously been about to hide under the bed?
Yes. Yes, she absolutely had been.
The door opened and Claire slipped inside. “Hey.”
Delilah sighed. “Hey.”
“Sorry. She’s in bed now. Do you—”