"Did I pack the chargers with the plates?"

Lily gave an almost exasperated sigh as she watched Allison frantically searching cabinets. "Yes, mon chou. That was the first thing you put in your car."

"Oh...right. I packed the wine glasses, too, didn't I?"

Lily's fingertips drummed impatiently on the granite countertop. "At the same time, yes."

Allison's eyes swept over the entirety of Lily's kitchen several times. "Wait...what did I do with the blanket?"

"You used it to wrap around the plates and glasses."

With an expression that was vaguely reminiscent of defeat, Allison sighed and began taking slow, reluctant steps toward the living room. Just as Lily was beginning to smile with relief, Allison gasped as she turned on her heel. "My pie!"

Lily eyed Allison with increasing suspicion as she continued to dart from one end of the kitchen to the other, searching high and low for various supplies before discovering that what she was trying to find was already secured in her trunk. While she initially thought it cute to see Allison so flustered, Lily looked as though she felt the humor in the situation had run its course. It was one thing to be nervous but, as time went on, it began to look less like nerves and more like stalling.

Standing from her stool at the counter and looking slightly frustrated, Lily marched across the kitchen to the stovetop and retrieved the apple pie that had been cooling. She hastily packaged it in its covered dish, secured the lid and then turned to Allison with a hard stare.

"You've already packed the plates, chargers and glasses. The blanket is wrapped around them all as a cushion. You've already packed the cutlery, all of the dishes are in their containers and the cooler is filled. Everything is secured safely in your car. You look amazing, by the way, so don't bother checking that, either. Here's your pie, the thing you actually came in here for—ten minutes ago."

Allison stared at Lily in confusion for a moment, blinking in silence. Reaching out for the pie, her expression turned sheepish. "I did it again, didn't I?"

Lily's expression softened immediately. "Don't worry about it. That's why I'm here—to keep you grounded. I know you're nervous, but you're not dealing with it in the healthiest of ways. I'm glad you seem to have gotten past trying to talk yourself out of it, but you've replaced it with trying to make everything perfect."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Everything if you end up missing the date because you're running around and looking for things that you've already packed."

Allison sighed as she looked down at the apple pie in her hands, its lattice crust glistening with the sparsely scattered granules of sugar that were intricately placed for no purpose other than catching the light. The pie on its own had taken hours, and that said nothing of everything else she'd been preparing since leaving work the night before. She hadn't driven herself so hard toward excellence since her last exams. Nothing less than absolute perfection would suffice; even the smallest misstep could be grounds to discard an hour's work without as much as a second glance at it. In a moment's frustration, she'd even gone as far as to ask Lily to use the café's gas range as the coils on the electric range in her apartment were creating heat variances and she was struggling to account for them. Sensing what was happening and how far out of hand it would get if not brought under control quickly, Lily instead packed all of Allison's equipment and ingredients into her car and brought them to her house instead. Allison vaguely wondered why Lily was so uneasy about finishing preparations for the date in the café but wouldn't give any explanation as to why, but she was too grateful to press the issue.

Thinking about it with a clearer mind now that she'd caught herself at it again, she started to worry about the toll that her seeking perfection had taken on Lily. The call that Allison made had been at just after three that morning and, between helping her move half of her kitchen across town that morning and sitting with her through her salon appointments that afternoon, Lily had been by her side the entire day. Allison looked up at her, her expression already apologetic.

"Don't you dare." Allison, her mouth already open to apologize, jumped in surprise when Lily cut her off before she could begin. As if reading her thoughts, Lily continued before Allison could collect herself. "I don't expect you to apologize for being nervous. I know how much this means to you; why do you think I won't let you miss it? Now stop thinking about it before you upset yourself. If you start crying and ruin that makeup, I really will be angry."

Allison sputtered, still set on chastising herself but caught entirely off her guard. "But...you've been holding my hand all day—"

Lily scoffed as she led Allison to the living room. "Nothing more than you'd have done."

Though it was absolutely true, guilt kept Allison from feeling that it was good enough. "You moved my entire kitchen—"

"It was important."

"It was three in the morning!"

Lily made a show of rolling her eyes even as she laughed. "Je m'en câlisse."

"Honestly, Lily. Such language..."

Allison flinched as Charlotte's voice hit her ear. It had a gentle lilting not unlike Lily's aside from being much deeper, reminding Allison of old movies she'd seen starring Lauren Bacall. It wasn't the only similarity, but it was the one that stood out to her the most. She turned to see Charlotte approaching, smiling mischievously as she gently patted her loose brown curls with a towel. Her hair still damp and wearing a bathrobe, she looked as if she had just finished a shower which, given the time, stood to reason as she had likely just gotten home from the school where she studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was a sign of just how distracted Allison had been that she'd failed to notice Charlotte's coming home, though her reaction would've been the same either way. She could never place exactly why, but something about Charlotte made her instinctively wary. It wasn't a logical fear; Charlotte had never expressed any ill intent toward her, had always attempted to be welcoming and, as best as Allison could remember, she had never even seen Charlotte angry. It was like sharing a room with a calm tiger, knowing it could crush the life out of you on a whim and wondering why it was choosing not to.

"Oh, dear...still not used to me yet?" Charlotte smiled kindly at Allison, making it clear that no legitimate offense had been taken.

"I...well...no, not really," Allison shyly admitted. She continued looking down at her pie; looking up at someone just several inches short of six feet tall didn't help her feel any less intimidated. "I'm pretty distracted anyway, though."

Charlotte's eyes lit up, her excitement making Allison imagine a tiger as it ambushed a wild boar. "Oh! That's right, tonight is the big night, isn't it? Are you ready?"

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Despite Lily's stern gaze, Allison couldn't deny that she was a nervous wreck. "My heart won't stop racing, I feel like I'm going to faint, my stomach is in knots and I keep walking into rooms and forgetting why before I can get there.

"Sounds like you're ready to me." Charlotte gave another mischievous smirk as Allison knitted her brow in confusion. "If you're that worked up about it, then I can't imagine you have anywhere else you'd rather be tonight."

Allison stared blankly for a moment as the realization set in. For just a moment, she considered for the first time what she would be doing that evening if any of her attempts to back out of her plans had succeeded. The thought didn't last long; for a moment, a terrible wrenching sensation somewhere deep within her made her think she was about to be sick. Any vision for the night ahead that didn't include Remy had the same effect. Even with new fears and old habits doing their best to drag her in any other direction, Charlotte's logic held fast and kept her on her path forward.

"I seriously don't know why I'm like this."

For the first time in all of the time Allison had known her, Charlotte looked surprised. "What do you mean? It's only natural to be nervous."

Allison gave a weak smile as she shook her head. "No, not that...well, not just that. I mean, I don't know why I feel this way. I barely even know her."

With a huff, Lily stepped closer to Charlotte and wrapped her arms around her while still giving Allison a hard stare. "And why should that matter?"

Lily rested her head against Charlotte's chest with a sigh. Her left hand found Charlotte's, sending the soft click of metal against metal into the air as their wedding bands found each other. The sound was distinct, something Allison always heard at some point when they were all together and too clear to think that it wasn't entirely deliberate on Lily's part. Charlotte's reaction was always the same, her eyes becoming unfocused and staring blankly as a faint smile took shape. It was enough to make Allison tremble, feeling that she was seeing into something private and sacred. She always maintained a respectful silence in those moments. This time, Charlotte returned to her senses to see Lily looking up at her expectantly. Words seemed to pass silently between them, and Charlotte took a cue that only the two of them understood.

"She's right, you know. You feel how you feel about her and, for now, that's enough. If you want to know why, by all means, explore the feeling. Knowing her better will take care of itself in the process."

Lily nodded slowly, her eyes now fixed on Charlotte. "You don't have to wait for things to be perfect or make sense or meet any requirement other than that you both want to. Feeling that you have to wait any longer than that...nothing good can come of it. Ask me how I know."

Watching them standing there in each others' arms, Allison couldn't help thinking that there was more to their assertions than mere observation, particularly where Lily was concerned. She was reminded of a moment several days earlier in which Lily made mention of the early days of their relationship and made it clear that there was even more to it than she'd mentioned up to that point. Allison suspected that this would eventually prove to be another case of speaking from experience, a thought that filled her with hope as she watched Lily looking up with adoration and Charlotte looking down with a burning intensity that made Allison wonder how Lily could bear its weight. That they could be this happy after starting from anything like what she was experiencing herself inspired confidence in Allison to not allow another opportunity to pass.

Suddenly desperate to move time forward, she politely excused herself and left through the front door, something that had apparently come none too soon. As she turned to leave, Allison noticed Charlotte's free hand gently tugging at the collar of Lily's blouse. She didn't think much of it until she stepped through the door and heard a faint, deep rumble in Charlotte's throat take shape as a barely audible whisper.

"Enlève."

Blushing furiously and stifling her giggling until she could get far enough from their front door to not be heard, Allison was certain that, though she didn't know exactly what it meant, there was more than enough context to guess. Scrambling into her car's driver's seat and slamming the door shut behind her, she took a full minute to collect herself.

Is that something to look forward to, too?

The thought came from seemingly nowhere, though a bit more consideration made Allison wonder if some earlier teasing from Lily was at least partially to blame. Not that she was opposed to the idea; it was more that there was entirely too much demanding her attention to be able to focus on it. All things considered, it felt too much like putting the cart before the horse to be worrying about things like that when she hadn't fully mastered having a conversation with her yet. Lily had been oddly insistent that she at least consider the possibility in their preparations, though Allison thought it to be a bit much for a first date and chalked it up to the fact that it was something that tended to occupy Lily's thoughts far more often than her own. Thinking about it in that moment, though, Allison began to wonder about the possibilities as she started her car. Giving herself a quick glance in the mirror, she smiled at the thought more than her reflection.

Well, she was right about that much, at least. I do look good tonight.

Even putting that thought aside, Allison couldn't help wondering about what expectations to have of the future, if any at all. She couldn't entirely get past the feeling that it was too early to expect anything at all, but the conversation she'd just had certainly gave her cause to reconsider her position. Putting it into a slightly different context, Allison stopped thinking of it as having expectations and instead as having a desired eventual outcome. Surprisingly, she went from not wanting to think about the future to not being able to. In spite of her best efforts, she couldn't think of any specific desires that she could even use as the basis of any expectations...except one.

Stay with me.

It wasn't an expectation, and it wasn't even a desire as much as it was a desperate plea. It was the only thing that she ever wanted of anyone, but it was too hard to find. She felt foolish for building any hopes on the idea, instead preferring to be pleasantly surprised when it happened in spite of her expectations. It was a much easier way to live, especially considering that Lily and Charlotte were the only ones to not disappoint. Both had made it abundantly clear that they wouldn't be going anywhere, and neither had any reservations about repeating their intentions whenever Allison seemed that she needed to hear it. It had been months since it last came up but, at one point, it was a conversation that was had at least once a week. Coming to Violet Meadows was the greatest journey of Allison's life, but it cost her dearly. One of the most difficult challenges to follow was being willing to believe that it was a price that she was finally done paying.

Thinking about how much of themselves they had given to help Allison rebuild herself, it seemed outlandish to ask anything remotely close from Remy, much less expect it. Much of the reason for her waning interest in a serious relationship or even close friendships in recent months stemmed from questioning just how feasible it was given what she wanted. It felt like a miracle that she'd met Lily and Charlotte; wasn't that enough? As much as she wanted to tell herself that she was being greedy, she knew the answer before she thought to pose the question. There was still a piece missing and, now that she'd met Remy, there was no putting the genie back into the bottle. She still had more questions than answers, but she was beginning to have some difficulty in caring. Now more than ever, there was only one place she wanted to be that night.

Driving along the streets, Allison attempted to remain focused on anything other than where she was headed, but the effort was in vain. She wasn't particularly surprised to find that, as had become her new normal, her thoughts could only go so far before eventually drifting back to Remy. The silver lining was that, unlike how time usually dragged on excruciatingly slowly in those moments, she seemed to be hurtling toward the future instead. She blinked and was halfway across town; she blinked again and she was pulling into a parking space the Square. The entire time, her thoughts were only of one thing and in one place. Instead of tempering expectations and holding back, she began to let go and found herself once again in familiar territory. She didn't know much of anything about how to meet needs, but fulfilling desires was a talent and she was finally beginning to play to her strengths.

There was a momentary interruption to her new train of thought when, after several minutes of wandering aimlessly while scanning the growing crowd in the park, her eyes fell on the wisteria tree in the center of the square. Towering above, its gently raining lavender petals were already being illuminated by spotlights in the ground near its trunk as the sun began to sink below the horizon. On a bench surrounded by fallen petals, beauty personified caused all else to pale in comparison. Eyes looked up to meet Allison's, and the rest of the world faded away. There was nowhere else she wanted to be, no significance to be found outside of that place in that moment.