Pure Connections

Chapter 20

      Lisa shifted at the ding in her head, drifting out of her sleep fog into consciousness. Jennie hummed, the soft tendrils of her hair tickling Lisa's nose as she snuggled closer, one arm draped across Lisa's stomach, their legs entwined. For morning people, they'd both taken to staying in bed later the more the days progressed. Maybe Lis had never really had a reason to sleep in. Maybe she'd always been too taken by the prospect of the day's adventure to even consider sleeping it away with someone she barely knew. But the soothing weight and warmth of Jennie's body against hers, the more they unraveled each other's hearts and desires, the more Lisa was beginning to realize she'd always wanted this. The last seven years of her life had been spent in a whirlwind of flings and wanderlust, and anything that fed her desperate need to never feel this emotionally bare ever again.

      Memories of last night flipped through her mind—the breathless rush of having each other in a lust-filled haze, the clothes sans a button or two, and the broken frame awaiting them in the living room... The breakfast-for-dinner they'd made, dressed in t-shirts and underwear. Souffle pancakes topped with whipped cream and every variation of berries in the fridge. They'd eaten the whole thing standing by the counter, feeding each other bites between questions about their families and friends and debating which Taylor Swift album was superior. It was the moment before she'd drifted off to sleep that stayed with her, though. The way they'd laid there staring at each other for the longest while—Jennie's features soft in the low light of the lamp, fingertips faint on Lisa's cheek, the gut-wrenching ease when she brought her forehead to Lisa's and whispered, "I want to know everything about you. Is that scary?"

      "Only a little," Lisa had answered. Falling for someone always is.

      The ding that had woken her reverberated in her head. This time, she had a clarity of mind to identify it as the doorbell. She crinkled her brows, reaching for her phone on the nightstand. 6:37 a.m. What the fuck?

      Jennie groaned, pressing fingers to her eyes. "Is someone actually at the door right now?"

      "It's okay," Lisa said, smoothing a hand along the back of Jennie's head. "I'll go check it out."

      "Isn't it like 5 a.m.?"

      Lis chuckled, slipping out of bed. "Closer to seven. They probably have the wrong loft. I'm sure it's nothing." She pressed a kiss to Jennie's right brow. "Close your eyes babe. I'll be back."

      Jennie mumbled something unintelligible into her pillow, one hand blindly outstretched to hold Lisa's hand until their fingers slipped apart with the distance.

      Lisa trudged down the steps, the metal cold beneath her bare feet. A subtle buoyancy prevailed within her, despite the morning intrusion. Only three people knew where she was staying. Since one of them was now asleep in her bed, Blake never woke before nine and Maya was still back in LA, the trek to her front door would be a sure waste of time. Even so, she couldn't roll over and go back to sleep with the insistent ringing echoing through the loft, and this person seemed too persistent and oblivious to take the lack of response as a hint to go away.

      She gripped the handle and swung the door open. "I think you have the wrong—"

      "Pranpriya!"

      Only one person ever called Lisa by her middle name with such unrestrained jubilance, but she blinked at the woman before her, shaking her head as if she didn't quite believe it. "Mom?"

      Mom beamed, surging forward to wrap Lisa in a hug she was still too bewildered to reciprocate. She took a step back, cupping Lisa's face. She looked good—her graying pixie cut gleaming with natural curls and her ochre complexion wizened but vibrant—and she smelled of something sweet Lisa couldn't place. Something like fresh baked pastries. A favorable trade for Bourbon. "Up with the crack of dawn, as always."