Never Say Never

Chapter 9

The incessant buzzing of her phone on her nightstand wakes Camila up on Sunday morning. Groaning, she rolls onto her side and reaches blindly for the offending item, wondering who's disturbing her at nine a.m.

When she sees it's Lauren, she's quick to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Camila, thank god." Lauren sounds relieved. "I am so sorry to bother you on a weekend again, but... well, my mother decided to call me this morning to tell me she's in town and wants to have lunch, and I'd really rather not subject Leo to her. Is there any way you could take him for the day?"

"Uh," it takes Camila a moment to process the request, still blinking sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah, I can."

"Are you sure? You can say no."

"No, no, it's fine."

"You don't have any plans?"

"My sister and her girlfriend are supposed to be coming over to my place later today but that's about it. And we can rearrange."

"No, you shouldn't have to do that."

"It's fine, honestly."

"How about..." Lauren trails off, sounds uncertain. "Perhaps I could bring Leo over to your apartment and you can keep him there for the day?"

"That depends on whether that's okay with you?" Camila asks – she knows that Lauren trusts her with her son, but it's different, taking him to an unfamiliar place that Lauren herself doesn't know. "My apartment isn't a bombsite, but it isn't exactly toddlerproof, either."

"I trust that you'll keep a good enough eye on him." Camila smiles. "Are you sure that would be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." She rattles off her address, and when Lauren tells her that she'll be there within the hour she starts to panic, because her apartment is kind of messy and she definitely needs a shower.

Oh yeah, and there's also a woman in her bed.

"Everything okay?" When Camila hangs up the phone she turns to see a pair of brown eyes looking up at her – she'd gone on another date with Veronica last night, and when Veronica had walked her home, Camila had invited her inside.

She's only slept with one other person since Diana, and that had been a drunken mess, but last night had been fun, and casual, and exactly what she'd needed.

It didn't hurt that Veronica was amazing in bed, either.

"Yeah, fine." She smiles, and has to admit that she likes the sight of the other woman in the morning, her hair a tangled mess and her eyes soft. "Turns out I have to work today, too." Veronica has the afternoon shift at the coffee shop where she works.

"You weren't kidding about your job being unpredictable."

"Nope. So I have..." She glances at her clock, "about fifty minutes to shower, get dressed, and make my apartment suitably tidy for a three year old."

"Piece of cake," Veronica grins, and Camila leans forward to press a kiss to her lips before she drags herself out of bed.

She showers first, and leaves her hair to air dry as she returns to her bedroom, hunting for something clean to wear (Sunday is usually her laundry day, and she's running low). She settles on sweats and a loose sweatshirt, and as Veronica slips into her bathroom to have her own shower, she starts to tidy.

Clothes get thrown into the hamper, dishes get washed and put away, and she makes sure to clear some space on her coffee table in-case Leo wants to color on it later. Then she does a cursory sweep of the place for anything that could be dangerous to toddlers, and, when she finds nothing, she lets out a long breath and makes her way to her kitchen, brewing a pot of coffee.