Rebecca’s voice was firm but slightly slurred after the three—very large—glasses of red wine.

Mandy grinned. “All right, all right—point taken. Okay, I’ll factor in a fourth member of staff. I guess she could also help me out at the front desk or when I need a break too.”

“Exactly!” Rebecca waved her glass for emphasis, sloshing a dollop of wine onto the tiled floor beside her. She glanced down at it, then at the papers spread across Mandy’s table, and then up at Mandy, her sheepish expression making Mandy’s heart do that little lurch it often did when Rebecca was near. “Oops, that was a bit close.”

Mandy giggled. “Don’t worry, all of this is on my laptop, so if anything got damaged, it’s easily replaceable.”

Rebecca stood up and stumbled over to the kitchen sink to grab a cloth. Coming back to mop up the wine, she grinned at Mandy. “Have I told you lately how fucking glad I am that you are finally going through with this?”

“No, you haven’t, but I’m glad too. And I’m really glad I confided in you what I wanted to do, and you didn’t run a mile but have helped me instead.” She met Rebecca’s warm eyes and swallowed. “It really does mean a lot to me.”

“I know,” said Rebecca quietly.

Finding the courage to share her plans for a new type of club with Rebecca had been harder than Mandy could have imagined. In telling her what she planned to do, she’d had to tell her why, and the “why” involved revealing a lot more of herself than Rebecca had ever known. That night, six months ago, when they’d both had a bit too much red wine—again—had been scary and cathartic and wonderful, all in equal measures. Rebecca had always known Mandy was lesbian, obviously, but Mandy had been deliberately vague about her love life over the years. The fact that she’d never introduced Rebecca to a girlfriend had not gone unnoticed, but Mandy had led Rebecca to believe that she was simply too busy for a relationship. When Mandy finally confessed all that night, not only did Rebecca not judge Mandy’s…proclivities, she got fully on board with Mandy’s dream to open a lesbian sex club. Many planning nights later, as they liked to call them, they’d got truly excited about what this club could be.

Going over it all tonight had also helped. They hadn’t looked at the whole plan together for about a month, and the distance had let them come at it with fresh eyes.

Rebecca broke the moment between them with a big yawn. “Hey, can I crash here tonight? I’m knackered, and I don’t fancy heading out into that right now.” She pointed out of the living room windows at the rain that was hammering down.

Mandy cleared her throat, shaking off the emotion of the moment before. “Sure, guest room is made up.”

“Then I am going to crash—stick a fork in me, I’m done. See you in the morning, honey.”