When Pam called Emily to let her know that she and Wayne had made it off of the plane and were on their way to baggage claim, Emily told her that Paige was waiting in the cell phone lot. "I'm running a little behind," she explained, "getting the house ready and stuff."

"Oh?" Pam's voice went higher and her eyes widened with excitement. She swiveled her head towards Wayne, her eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Yeah," Emily continued. "I'll text her to let her know you're there, and she'll swing around to pick you up. She's got my Toyota."

"Okay, Honey!" Emily heard something in Pam's voice; something unsaid, as if she were confirming that she was in on some secret that Emily was trying to hide. But Emily didn't have time to worry about that. There was still a lot to do.

"She sent Paige to come get us." Pam was trying to keep a lid on her excitement. She didn't want her expression to let Paige know that she was onto them, when Paige got there.

"Uh huh." Wayne was oblivious.

"Yeah. I guess she was 'too busy,' getting the house ready."

"Okay."

"And Paige is driving Emmy's car!"

Wayne couldn't ignore the insinuation in Pam's tone any longer. "And, in girl-code, that means..."

"Oh, Wayne!" Pam gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "Obviously, Paige has moved into the house, and Emily's busy hiding all of her stuff before we get there!"

"Hiding her stuff?"

"You know..." Pam playfully teased out the last word. " - hiding all of Paige's clothes, toiletries, and what-not, so that we won't figure out that they've moved in together!"

Wayne laughed. "And you got all this from the fact that Paige is picking us up in the airport?"

"A mother knows these things," Pam insisted. "I know my Emmy! Don't you ever wonder why they don't post pictures to facebook?"

"And, why would that be, do you think?"

"Because they don't want us to know that Paige is living in our old house!" There was a sing-songy lilt in Pam's voice. "In our old bedroom," she added, delighted at the thought of impending marriage and grandchildren.

There was a honk as Paige pulled the car over and jumped out to give Pam and Wayne a hug. "Sorry Emily couldn't come to meet you," she began. "She's..."

"Taking care of some things back at the house!" Pam winked and hugged Paige again. "We understand!"


Pam got into the front seat with Paige for the ride home. Paige called Emily to let her know that they were on their way. Pam spent most of the drive catching up with Paige, and getting Paige caught up on their lives and family in San Antonio. Wayne chimed in from time to time, mainly helping Pam remember a name or date that had eluded her.

Emily met her parents with a hug and an apology. "You don't realize how unpresentable things have gotten until you have guests over," she explained, wearily cheerful.

"Oh, that's okay, Emmy," Pam said with a knowing grin. "It can't be easy to take care of this big house all by yourself!"

Emily smiled uncomfortably at Paige, assuming that her mother was dropping a hint that the two of them should be married. Paige smiled back. She was game for whatever Pam and Wayne had in store for them.

"I'm afraid it's just take-out tonight," Emily said, pointing to the paper plates and plastic utensils on the table.

"That's fine," Wayne said. "We'll make up for it in the kitchen tomorrow!"


Over dinner, Pam seemed to have an inordinate interest in Paige's house: What improvements she had made to it, what kind of repairs it needed, how many years she had left on her mortgage. Paige wasn't surprised, attributing Pam's interest to the fact that she had lived in the neighborhood for so long and had known the former occupants.

Emily sat listening with her forehead squinched in confusion through the whole conversation. "Mom, since when do you have this big obsession with real estate?"

"Oh, Emmy!" Pam said, swiping Emily's forearm. "I'm just making conversation!"

"Okay..."

There was an awkward pause before Pam shrugged and said, "But, speaking of real estate, I hear that the market's on an upswing! You'd probably get a good return on your investment."

Paige nodded her head with a smile, acknowledging Pam's comment. Emily, confusion still showing on her forehead, looked back and forth between Paige and her mother a few times before looking at Wayne for some kind of guidance. Wayne was just shaking his head at Pam's lack of subtlety.

"And I know a great real estate agent!" Pam added perkily.


As dinner wound down, Paige helped clear the table and gave Emily a kiss good night. She went to hug Pam, but Pam waved her off. "Oh, Paige!" she said, her gruff voice going over-the-top. She smiled, first at Paige, then at Emily, then gave Wayne a knowing look. "It's okay!" She drew out the last syllable theatrically.

Paige smiled nervously at Pam, then at Emily, like someone who wasn't in on the joke.

"You don't have to spend the night at your old house just because Wayne and I are here!" Pam's voice was full of playful condescension.

Emily's head popped up. "Wait... what now?"

"Emmy, your father and I don't mind." Pam's smile became even wider. "We're all adults here," she said with a teasing lilt.

"Wait - you think that Paige and I..."

Paige got behind Emily and wrapped her arms in front. "I guess the jig's up, Em. They're onto us!"

Emily looked backwards over her shoulder at Paige, with a wide-eyed glared. Paige, smiling, gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Emily was trapped. She couldn't correct her mother after Paige's little comment. She didn't know what game Paige was playing, but she was definitely not in the mood for it.


When they had said their good-nights and finally gotten behind closed doors, Paige asked Emily to let her borrow something to sleep in.

Emily glared at her. "I don't care what the fuck you sleep in."

Paige shrugged and started to take off her top. Emily quickly stopped her and handed her some sweats, pushing her by the shoulders into the bathroom. "I am so angry with you right now."

"Do you want me to sleep in the chair?"

"No!" Emily said sharply. "You're sleeping in the bed, with me!"

"Okay... If you don't think we're moving too fast..."

"It's not funny, Paige. You're only getting in bed with me because I don't want my Mom waking us in the morning and thinking that I made you sleep in the chair because we had a fight!"

"Okay, but isn't this, what we're doing right now - doesn't that qualify as a fight?"


After Emily's turn in the bathroom, she pulled up the blanket and climbed into bed. "Do you want to be big spoon or little spoon?" Paige asked.

Emily turned her back to Paige. "Little spoon. I can't look at you right now."

"Okay." Paige's voice was decidedly peppy as she threw her arm across Emily's waist. Emily wriggled away from Paige, lifting Paige's hand and dropping it on the other side of the bed.

"Oh, Emily?" Paige's tone was still annoyingly pleasant.

"What, Paige?"

"Just one more thing: When I was back home? I broke up with Shana."


Emily was getting even angrier by the minute as she lay awake next to Paige, trying to make sense of the gigantic bomb that Paige had just dropped.

Why did Paige break up with Shana?

Why hadn't she said anything about it before?

Why did she decide that that moment was the right time to tell her?

Emily sat up against the headboard and looked at the clock. She had been thrashing over those questions for the better part of an hour. And Paige had the audacity just to lie there and sleep, as if she didn't have a care in the world. As if she hadn't just lobbed that huge grenade right into the bunker of Emily's mind.

Emily started poking Paige in the shoulder until Paige turned over, rubbing her eyes. "Emily? Are you okay?"

"What the hell do you mean, you broke up with Shana?"

"Huh?"

"It's a simple question, Paige." Emily was gesturing with her hands as she enumerated the possibilities. "Did she dump you? Did you decide that you couldn't do the hiding thing anymore? Or the long distance? And why didn't you feel the need to tell me this until you were in my fucking bed?"

"Okay, Emily, well, first of all, it's not as if we've had a real conversation in the past six weeks. Except when you wanted me to pretend to be your girlfriend again."

"Why did you break up with her, Paige?"

Paige noticed that Emily tended to say her name a lot when she was upset with her.

Paige opened her mouth, but it came out as a yawn. Emily poked her shoulder again. "No yawning!"

"I'm supposed to stop myself from yawning?" Paige asked through a giggle.

"Yes," Emily said, stone-faced. "I'm still angry with you."

"Emily." Paige's voice was suddenly deep and serious. "You know why I broke up with her."

"Say it, Paige."

"I broke up with her," Paige said with no hesitation, "because of you. Because of my feelings for you."

Emily's eyes narrowed. She grabbed Paige roughly, making tight fists around the collar of her Rosewood Sharks sweatshirt. She kissed Paige, feverishly. Passionately. Aggressively.

It felt good to be able to kiss Paige like that; to kiss her with the knowledge that it wasn't pretending. And that it wasn't one-sided. That Paige wanted it as much as Emily did.

It started to feel a little too good, given the fact they were in Emily's bed. Emily broke away from the kiss, turning her back to Paige as she lay back down. "I'm still angry with you," she said weakly. It wasn't an overstatement, though.

"O_kay," Paige chuckled, rolling over to lie on her back. Emily sighed, shook her head, and then peeked over her shoulder to see where Paige had gone. Spotting her, she reached back and tugged on Paige's arm, pulling it across her waist and holding it against herself tightly.