“What? That’s not what I’m saying. I’m simply stating the facts. Work is work. When we’re working, you’re just like anybody else I supervise. I can’t give you special treatment or pay you more attention than I do any of the other girls.”

“I know that,” she snapped.

“Then I fail to see what it is you’re mad about.”

“We…” Mary checked their surroundings again and lowered her voice. “We did what we did and you haven’t even acknowledged that. I don’t know about you, but that was pretty important to me. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing that’s ever happened in my life.” She choked on a sob and angrily wiped at her eyes.

“Hey,” Nora said softly. “It was every bit as important to me, okay?” She raised a hand, presumably to wipe away Mary’s tears, but let her hand fall away without making contact.

“Don’t you love me?”

“Don’t I…?”

“In all the time I was dating Sam, I never once felt about him the way I felt about you in the first five minutes we spent together. I always said that when the real thing came along, I’d know it. It’s confusing and confounding. I mean, we’re two women for gosh sakes. But, we’re the real thing, Nora. I can feel it in my heart and in my bones, but if you don’t feel the same way…”

Nora sat down under the largest tree and patted the ground next to her.

Reluctantly, Mary sat next to her. Please, don’t break my heart. I don’t think I could take it.

“What transpired between us the other night was incredibly special. I’ve never experienced anything like it, either, and I’m seven years older than you. I’m just trying to figure out where we go from here. It’s complicated—a lot more complicated than whether or not I’m ready to say I love you. And yes, the fact that we’re two women makes it even more disconcerting.”

“There’s nothing complicated about knowing whether you’re in love or you’re not. It’s yes, or it’s no.”

Nora let out a growl of frustration. “What if I am, Mary? What then? If we ever got caught—”

“We won’t get caught.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“We’ll make sure of it.”

Nora shook her head. “Impossible.”

“Then, what? We forget about what happened and just go about our lives? I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that.”

Nora stared off into the distance, and Mary was surprised to see that she, too, had tears in her eyes.