"Ugh, my leg was so hairy and scaly. I'm disgusting," Jen lamented as she exited the bathroom, but she was barely limping and the smile on her face was evident.

"Oh, you could never be disgusting. We'll have you back on that Peloton and sweating like tomorrow, and tonight we celebrate," Judy cocked her head and regarded her friend. Dinner was ready and the boys were weirdly excited to see their mom's leg.

"That's overly optimistic, but that's you," Jen remarked as they both headed slowly down the stairs.

...

"It's like it just got out of jail," Henry said in awe as Jen let him inspect her pale skin that was scarred, and still tender.

"It feels that way," Jen laughed.

"I'm glad you can walk," Charlie said as he tilted his head back and dripped a forkful of spaghetti and marinara in his mouth.

Judy held Jen's hand under the table, and gave her a loving look. Judy knew how close they all were to losing Jen and it was something that the boys didn't really grasp so those words kinda stung even though the intentions were pure.

"We're celebrating your mom's leg, so have more garlic bread," Judy passed around the bowl of bread and the Harding family eagerly each dipped in for another slice.

Aside from Jen, no one was more pleased that the cast was off besides Judy, the stiff plaster would no longer be a hindrance to their sleeping arrangement and that was a huge relief. Little did Judy realize it would also be a problem of sorts. As soon as they were in bed for the night, Jen rather aggressively wrapped Judy's whole body up in her own and squeezed her legs around her.

"Aww, this is nice," Jen murmured and her warm breath ghosted Judy's neck causing her nerve endings to light up in every erogenous zone on her body. See, this whole sharing a room and zero personal space thing was great for a codependy like Judy, but since she was on a cocktail of hormone replacement therapy due to her early menopause she was knee deep in a certain side effect of estrogen that ratcheted up her libido— and every touch from Jen made her want to whimper in pleasure.

She was so horny it hurt. Here she was night after night, aching to get herself off in peace, but having zero privacy and a completely oblivious woman stroking and tickling her sides lazily as she full-body hugged her. Judy's clit had it's own heartbeat while Jen was dreamily sleeping next her. It was shameful and Jen would be mortified if she knew the effect she was unwillingly having on her personal cuddle nugget. (And yes, she had actually whispered that in Judy's ear back when she was still on the heavy painkillers.)

...

"You won't believe this, Lorna's going out with a guy she met on .com. It's an online dating site for older singles who love guns," Jen could barely wait to spill the gossip to Judy as she got home. She greeted her in the kitchen.

"Aww," Judy turned away from the stove where she was cooking and smiled.

"No, Judy, not "aww"—it's gross," Jen corrected her and made a face as she rifled through the day's mail.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe she'll find love."

"Would you ever try it?" Jen asked absently.

"Online dating? No, I don't know. I like a more organic connection," Judy said after giving it a bit of thought.

Jen mumbled something and Judy had to ask twice before Jen repeated herself clearly.

"I've thought about it."

"Really? So you want to get back out there and like what date?" Judy was definitely interested in hearing more of Jen's thoughts on this matter. She spoke so rarely of any thoughts of love or romance Judy was beginning to think that part of Jen's heart was just gone for good.

"Nothing serious, just maybe to prove that I could. Like to still feel attractive. Maybe someday," Jen barely had the sentence out and Judy was already downloading dating apps and curating a profile for Jen.

"Honestly, I think yeah, you might just try it, just to see who is out there," Judy agreed wholeheartedly even though knew there was no one out there who was good enough for Jen. Not in Laguna and not in the world.

"Judy! What the fuck? I said someday maybe, not immediately now," Jen reprimanded her and swatted her playfully on the ass, and Judy stiffened at the contact. The woman was trying to kill her. Maybe if Jen went out on a date, Judy could masturbate for once and get this ever growing tension out. Then she wouldn't be so amped up around Jen all the time and things would just be cool. Judy let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"Okay, so we will just find a guy who is totally not your type and that you'd never be into and then just arrange an early dinner date with an excuse of why you can't stay out late. You're goal is just to drive him crazy, maybe make out with him a bit and then you know... no harm, no foul," Judy was already swiping left and right on matches for Jen.

"I'm not following your logic at all and I'm concerned about what your plans are," Jen admitted trying to wrestle the phone from Judy's grasp.

"Wait," Judy yanked the phone out of her reach. "Okay, I found him. Big geek, lives with his mom, but recently got his personal trainer certificate so someone's been working out." Judy bit her lip and sashayed away from Jen, taking advantage of the fact that she was still very slow on her feet.

"Okay, okay...and message sent."

"What?"

The phone dinged nearly instantaneously.

"He's eager! He saw your pic." Judy teased.

"What pic?" Jen shook her head in a panic.

"I took a picture of you a minute ago. You look beautiful," Judy promised. This was fun.

Judy typed something back and squinted at the phone. "Okay, so tomorrow night you're going out with Gregory, nope, just Gregor at Applebees, 5:30pm and you can only stay out until 7pm because your babysitter (me) has a nude modeling gig at 8pm."

"You arranged all of that over text?" Jen looked impressed and pissed off as Judy finally relented and gave Jen back her phone so she could get a look at this Gregor dude.

"He loves Battlestar Galatica. What's that?" Jen asked as she scanned his profile.

"Doesn't matter, just have dinner. Let him fawn over you and then maybe make out with him for like a minute. The point is to just get out there and try it. It's just an experimental date to see if you even want to get into dating," Judy explained.

Jen clicked her tongue, but her eyes shot up in thought. "At least you didn't put me on take a shot .com. I'm not fucking this guy."