“Take another sip. It’ll make you feel better.” Robin slid Micky’s glass a little closer in her direction. “Not that I’m pushing you toward alcoholism or anything.”
Micky drank, then drank some more. Christopher would never believe she’d gone for a walk when he smelled the wine on her breath. She’d have to brush her teeth as soon as she got home.
“Okay. I’m ready now,” Micky said, though she was nowhere near ready and she didn’t even know what to be ready for.
“Do you want to get together this weekend?” Robin asked. “I’ve only been in Sydney for a couple of months. I could do with a friend showing me around.”
Micky’s brain was rapidly—and madly—trying to interpret what Robin had just said. Did she mean anything by it? Would they end up at Robin’s place again? Would they be able to wake up together on a peaceful Sunday morning?
“The kids are at their dad’s, so yes. I would love that.”
“Can you believe I haven’t been to the beach yet? The first few months in a new city are always crazy. Finding a place, making it feel a bit homely, trying to meet people, all squeezed in between getting acquainted with a new workplace and new colleagues.”
“That must be tough, moving from one city to another like that.”
“It’s what I chose, but mind you, after Singapore and Hong Kong, coming to Sydney is a walk in the park, really. I shouldn’t complain.”
“I’ll take you to the beach. We might even get lucky with the weather.”
“Look, Micky.” Robin’s facial expression turned serious. “I find it very important to not lead you on. Though we discussed it last time, I feel I should repeat that I’m not really in the market for anything too serious. It’s not really what I do. I’m only going to be here until the end of the year, anyway. I just want to put that out there.”
“All right,” Micky heard herself say, while pangs of anguish burrowed their way through her flesh. “I’m not exactly relationship material either.” She managed a weak chuckle.
“I would like for us to be friends. Very much so.”
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
“Have you thought about what I said the other day?” Robin had lowered her voice. “About being friends with benefits?”
“Er, yes, I have.” Micky hadn’t thought of much else. “I guess we could give that a try.”
“I don’t want you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.” Robin started taking faster and faster swigs from her wine—quickly emptying it like she did with her coffee at The Pink Bean.
“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable,” Micky mumbled. “I basically don’t have much of a clue of what I’m doing.”
“I really enjoyed our time together last week.” Robin painted on that smile again. “Really.”
“Me too.” Micky sipped more wine, hoping to hide the blush that she felt creeping up her neck. “I, er, am just curious. Are you…” If Micky ever had any defined plan of how her entrée into lesbian life would go, having a conversation like this was never part of it.
“Yes?” Robin leaned over the table, creating more intimacy between them.
“Are you friends with benefits with other women as well?” There, she’d said it. Micky could imagine getting to know Robin better and looking forward to spending more time with her in the bedroom, but drawing a firm line at friendship. What she couldn’t fathom was Robin courting other women and bringing them to her apartment and rocking their world the way she had done with Micky. That just felt totally off—wrong even.
“Not at the moment.”
“I’m going to be very honest here. I was married for eighteen years, and that is all I know. Any new relationship forms out there, I’m not very aware of. You’re going to have to spell this out for me without being coy, because I do feel like I have a right to know.”
“I’m not in the habit of seeing multiple women at the same time, nor am I in the habit of attaching myself to one person too closely. I can’t afford to do that.” Robin refilled both their glasses. “Before I moved here, I lived in Hong Kong for two years. I had one sort-of relationship, but we kept it casual because we both knew I would be leaving.”
“Wasn’t that hard to do?”
“Not if you know from the start and you act accordingly. Michelle and I never went on romantic breaks to Thai islands together like other couples did, for instance, because we weren’t a couple.”
“You were friends with benefits.”