“The right moment might have been one of the times your mother tried to fix you up with a man,” I said in exasperation. “Unless you’re thinking that you might be bi after all?”
She shuddered. “Nope, definitely not bisexual.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
This was super strange. When I was young I knew several people who hesitated to come out, and I’d seen some people come out in midlife, but I’d never seen a grown adult who’d been keeping their sexuality a secret for so long. Unless…
“Are your parents fundamental Christians or something?” I asked. “I thought you guys were Jewish.”
“No, we are Jewish,” she confirmed. “It’s allowed in my faith if that’s what you’re asking. I just… well, I think my parents won’t be happy about it and I never wanted to get into a whole thing with them.”
“A whole thing?”
She shrugged again.
“I can’t believe how much you allow your parents to run your life,” I said.
The more I got to know her, it was increasingly clear that Nicole had turned her obedient daughter act into an art form.
Her eyes narrowed in irritation. “I don’t do that.”
“You work for your parents…,” I started.
“So do you.”
“But you’re not even doing what you want to,” I reminded her. “You want to be an architect.
When she didn’t respond I added, “You told me your mother picked out your house, and it’s next door to them.”
“So?”
“So you don’t think it’s weird that you live next to your parents, work with your parents, and they don’t know anything about the real you?” I asked, getting annoyed on her behalf. “They’re running your life like you’re a teenager instead of a grown woman.”
“Look, I don’t want to fight about my parents,” she responded. “We have stuff to celebrate tonight, so how about I go do this stupid dinner and then I’ll come over with some champagne? We can spend the night at your house.”
“Why can’t we spend the night at your house?” I couldn’t resist pushing her.
“You know why, Grace. Don’t push me on this. I’ll tell them eventually.”
“When? The day they come to your wedding and see that there are two brides?”
Nicole rolled her eyes, then reached out a hand to pull my head down to her level, pressing her lips against mine.
“I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
***
The next month passed quickly. With the application behind us, both Nicole and I were able to focus on the rest of our jobs. A lot of work had piled up during the time we’d been working almost exclusively on the Grant Park College project, so things didn’t really slow down. At least for me.
Nicole had become a regular fixture at my place, spending several nights a week there, enough that her parents had noticed her absence. She’d apparently told them that she was dating someone, but that it was new and she didn’t want to talk about it, which both irritated me and hurt my feelings. Irritated because she was still acting like a naughty teenager instead of telling her parents the truth, and hurt because it felt like she was too ashamed to introduce me to her parents.
We hadn’t put a label on what we were doing, but as far as I was concerned, she was my girlfriend. I was head over heels in love with her and while I assumed that Nicole and I were on the same page, something was keeping me from discussing our relationship with her.
Other than our lack of talking, everything was going great. Without any work issues between us, we were getting along well. We got together once or twice during the week, making dinner, watching movies, reading, or just working together on opposite sides of the dining room table. On Fridays she came over with a bag right after work and didn’t leave until Monday morning.
When we weren’t being domestic or making love we hung out with my friends. It was impossible to hide our relationship for very long with how often my besties and I were in and out ofeach other’s houses, but that was okay. I was proud of Nicole and happy to include her when we did stuff with my friends.
Ariel and Maeve loved her, and both Theo and Sadie gave us their seal of approval as well. We were heading down a good road, and I grew cautiously optimistic that I’d finally have the happily ever after I’d always secretly wanted.
