The university department where Sheryl spent her days was a hotbed of gossip and being all up in each other’s business. Perhaps it was the sort of subjects they studied, or the way their analytical minds were always busy looking for more meaning, more of everything. Their everyday lives were not exempt from the same level of scrutiny. Their work relations depended on having everything out in the open at all times, it was at the very core of what they did, because if it wasn’t, what they studied lost a lot of its meaning.
Sheryl didn’t own a car herself, she got by on public transport, as did most of her friends, and didn’t like how unsure she was behind the wheel. Thank goodness it was early on Saturday morning, and there wasn’t that much traffic to negotiate. She was grateful for the short drive to Kristin’s place so she could get her bearings in the car, tap into an air of confidence she mostly had to fake because she didn’t possess it naturally when she was in the driver’s seat.
She waited for Kristin in front of her building, leaning against the hood of the car, her mouth curling into a smile as soon as Kristin exited the front door.
“Wow.” Kristin quirked up her eyebrows. “Is that the surprise?”
Sheryl shook her head, drew Kristin near, and kissed her full on the mouth—how was that for following her gut instinct?
Once inside the car, Kristin let her gaze roam around. “I just thought you were more of a VW van kind of girl, you know?”
“I’m not any car kind of girl, as a matter of fact. This is my boss’s car, so please treat it with the respect it deserves.”
“You should have said. We could have taken mine.” Kristin sat there beaming for some reason.
“Then I wouldn’t have been able to drive you.” This morning, Sheryl was operating fully on instinct, and she put a hand on Kristin’s thigh. She was wearing a pair of light linen trousers and Sheryl felt the warmth of her skin come through.
Kristin put her hand on Sheryl’s, and they drove in silence for a while. A silence for which Sheryl was grateful so she could focus on the road and get them out of the city and onto the highway. Once they got there, she would be more relaxed—able to rely on gut instinct even more. This whole trip was an exercise in following her intuition. The place she was taking Kristin, though on the surface not that special, held a lot of meaning for Sheryl. And for some reason, she had, out of the blue, invited Kristin there.
The cabin was a two-hour drive out of Sydney. Two hours during which Sheryl had luxuriated in Kristin’s proximity and, the more distance she put between them and the city, the surer she grew that this had been an excellent idea. She’d never taken a woman on a road trip for a second date—or third date if their quick lunch of Wednesday was to be counted. Although to Sheryl that lunch felt more like an intermezzo, a quick check-in to see if what they’d felt initially the previous weekend was still there. It had become clear very swiftly that it was, the way they’d sat giggling like schoolgirls, ignoring their food and staring into each other’s eyes.
“It could be a whirlwind romance,” Caitlin had said. “One of those when-you-know-you-know affairs.”
“We’re almost there.” Sheryl turned into a small private lane not very suited for Aimee’s Porsche, so they hobbled in their seats for a few minutes, until there it loomed. The cabin Sheryl’s grandfather had built. It now belonged to her Aunt Rita, who never came here. As far as she knew, Sheryl was the only one in her family who made use of the cabin. Most people preferred more luxury than what this particular means of accommodation offered, whereas for Sheryl, the real luxury lay in the solitude of the place.
She’d written the best parts of her master’s thesis in this cabin, longhand, papers strewn all around her in an organized chaos only she knew the order to. She would come back to do the same when it was crunch time for the dissertation she was currently working on. But this day was no day to think about her thesis—though it was always hard to not have an inkling of it rummaging around in the back of her mind. This day was all about Kristin. Perhaps it was a bold move to bring Kristin here, but it matched Sheryl’s bold feelings for her entirely.
“Wow.” As soon as the car had come to a standstill, Kristin jumped out. She stood looking at the cabin, hands on her waist, then swiveled her head to take in the surroundings, which were the real draw of the place. Rolling green hills giving way to the mountains that loomed ahead. The sound of a nearby creek, soothing to ears that were used to relentless city noise.
Kristin turned around and looked at Sheryl. “Now I’d better hope I judged you right. What with you dragging me to a remote place like this and nobody knowing where I am.”