“Ah, typical Cora. When there was no time to face the repercussions.” Lisa’s tone softened her hard words.

“Pretty much. She asked me why I did it.”

“Good question. Did you answer?”

“That’s my homework.”

Lisa wrinkled up her nose. “Ew. Homework. And here I thought we’d moved past high school.”

“Well, apparently, if you act like a teenager, you have to be treated like one.”

Lisa chuckled. “Lucky you.”

Cora pulled her feet up on the chair, the towel clamped between her legs and chest. It still held some warmth.

“You okay?”

Cora looked up from her tea. “I don’t really know.”

“Are you still seeing the guy?”

Cora swallowed. Took in a deep breath. “It was a woman.”

Lisa blinked at her, mouth dropping open slightly. Then she closed it again. A disbelieving smile pulled at her lips. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Like seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Lisa put her mug on the table, staring at her with the same incredulous look. “You know, I told you about my little fling in uni to highlight your need to have some fun. Not so you’d think I was awesome and try to be like me.”

Cora snorted. “What can I say? I want to be just like you.”

“Are you gay?”

“What?” Cora sat back, shaking her head. “No. Lisa, God. It was… I don’t know. A distraction. An accidental one.”

“For three months?”

Cora winced, clutching her tea closer. “Yeah.”

“Was it good?” Lisa’s lips were quickly dragging themselves up into a grin.

“It was—” Amazing. “It’s not important.”

“And you’re not gay?”

“No! I’m married! To a man!”

“So? People discover that stuff late. Or are you bi?”

Cora stared at her. Something weird was happening to her heart. It beat so fast it almost felt like a hum in her chest. “No.” She licked her lips. “No. It was—it was stupid. She was a friend, and it got messy because she was, she was there.”

Lisa winced. “Ow for her.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, Lise. She’s a friend.”

“Are you still friends?”

Were they? “I hope so.”

“You miss her?”

Cora looked up sharply, brow furrowed. “What?”

“Well, that sounded like you’re not seeing as much of her. Do you miss her?”

“I—I miss being friends, yeah.”

Lisa looked like she was trying to solve a puzzle, brow furrowed as she pieced things together. “And you were having sex for three months?” At Cora’s nod, Lisa asked, “And you don’t miss that?”

“I mean, I miss the—I miss parts of it; it was…nice. But I just want my friend back.”

“So.” Lisa was staring at her intently. So intently Cora felt like squirming under her gaze. “You miss her friendship. And the sex was good, but you’re not…”

“What?”