Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was less the doorbell that woke Nicole Haught and more the launching of her terrified cat off her thigh. Alarmed mewling accompanied sharp pinpricks of hind claws as the ginger cat disappeared down the hall (presumably to the hall closet: Calamity Jane’s favorite hiding place).

Nicole started to swear after the damn cat, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort it as she sat up in bed. Exhaling in a slow hiss, Nicole ran her fingertips over the clusters of scratches on her thigh. (If only this was the first time this had happened… or if only it was to be the last.)

Perfect. Just perfect.

The doorbell chimed again. Reaching for her phone, Nicole noted the time: 5:36AM. The darkness outside her bedroom curtains confirmed the early hour.

What the hell?

Nicole padded down the hall in socks, flannel pajama bottoms and a light long-sleeve shirt, shivering slightly against the settled chill of the rest of her house (her bedroom had the luxury of a small heater). She vaguely thought about grabbing her gun, but dismissed that idea (considering burglars don’t usually ring first).

Approaching the front door, Nicole stepped into a pair of tan, hard-soled house slippers. She clicked on the porch light before throwing open the door, revealing…

Waverly Earp?

“Good morning!” Waverly chirped, jostling a pair of travel coffee cups enticingly.

The old porch lamp threw harsh yellows across a Waverly Earp dressed in warm-up pants, a dark crop top and her usual heavy leopard-print coat. Her hair was tied in a side ponytail, a light dusting of make-up accented her eyes and lips, and a range of gold bracelets jangled down both wrists.

Of course it would be Waverly. And as “Waverly” as ever, even this early.

Stepping onto her door mat, Nicole rubbed her arms against the cold (and resisted the temptation to smooth down her hair). “Uh, morning? I thought—“ Nicole paused and looked at her phone again. “—I thought we were meeting before my shift at 9.”

A sunshine-sweet reply. “We are!”

“Oh…” Nicole blinked blearily, trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. The distant sky was starting to purple slightly with the dawn, but stars still twinkled in the (very early) morning twilight.

Waverly’s smile faltered. “It’s not too early, is it? I was afraid it would be…” She took a step back, eyes apologetic. “I—I wanted it to be a surprise. I’m not great with surprises but I thought it was a good plan and I…“ A line appeared between her eyebrows.

Nicole interrupted her with a hand wave. “Waves.”

Snapping her mouth shut, Waverly tilted her head.

“Sorry. It’s not too early. I just wasn’t expecting you. Neither was CJ.” Nicole smiled at Waverly as warmly as she could before shooting a mock-glare over her shoulder and raising her voice. “Who is a worthless protector, by the way!” Through her pajama pants, she rubbed at the small burning scratches down her right thigh.

The worry line smoothed from Waverly’s brow. “Cats usually are! …the protectee rather than the protector, is what I meant. Not that Calamity Jane is worthless.”

“Oh, but she is worthless,” Nicole corrected with a good-natured smile.

Stepping forward, Waverly offered Nicole one of the coffees. She made a nodding head motion. “Check it out!”

Confused, Nicole slowly accepted the cup. At another enthusiastic head nod from Waverly, she moved a hand to the plastic lid. And with a final confirmation nod, Nicole popped off the lid. Inside appeared to be a delicious Shorty’s cappuccino with one difference: mixed with the espresso was milk-foam drizzled into a picture-perfect heart shape.

Waverly’s smile was broad and proud. “I’ve been practicing! Just for you!”

That smile was infectious. Nicole found herself more pleased at the gesture than she should have been. “You have! It came out awesome! …wait.” She looked at her phone again, then the coffee, then up and down at Waverly. “…how long have you been up?”

With a sheepish shrug, Waverly mumbled, “Like 5… 4… 3…AM?” Her eyes didn’t quite meet Nicole’s as she took a long sip of her own coffee.

“Waverly…” Nicole warned.

“…Okay, so I haven’t technically gone to sleep yet.” 

“Waverly!”

Waving a dismissive hand, Waverly stole another sip of her coffee. “Remember I work at a bar, Nicole. Not my first rodeo this week, even. …Plus, Wynonna came in crazy late then by the time she passed out I would have had to get up to get everything, so…” She trailed off as she threw a thumb behind her at the still-running Jeep. Vapor clouded around the rumbling vehicle.

Nicole took a step back and opened the screen door on the porch to welcome the woman inside. Waverly shook her head and pointed behind her again. “Up for a little road trip?” She grinned, eyes glittering in the low light.

“Absolutely.” Hesitation didn’t even cross Nicole’s mind. It didn’t matter that it was 5:30 in the morning or that it was Goddamn cold out. Nicole did pause to pull at the bottom of her shirt, though. “…Uh, can I change first?”

“No need! I have blankets!” Waverly reached out and snagged the cuff of Nicole’s shirt and tugged. “And if it makes you feel any better, we probably won’t leave the car.”

At Nicole’s raised eyebrow, Waverly hastily added, “I just… want to show you something.” There was a quiet shyness to her words, a soft gaze that she dropped after a second too long.

Without even thinking twice, Nicole replied, “…Let me get my keys.” She pulled out of Waverly’s grasp, but not before running fingertips down the woman’s wrist. Possibly on accident.

She didn’t run so much as fly over to the side table near the kitchen to scoop up her keyring. Nicole then detoured around the pantry to grab a handful of dry cat food from the open bag (after looping the keys over her coffee-hand index finger). She dropped the pellets with a loud clattering into Calamity Jane’s bowl. An excited meow could be heard from the ajar closet. Ginger fur was a blur in Nicole’s vision as she smoothly exited the house and locked the door behind her.

Waverly was still on her front porch, drinking coffee and staring off into the brightening eastern sky. At the creaking screen door, she turned to Nicole with a wide smile.

“Ready,” Nicole affirmed with a playful twirl of her keys.

Gesturing at her car with her head, Waverly’s long ponytail snapped behind her shoulder. Both women climbed into the small Jeep and buckled in (though Nicole did spare a moment outside to rake fingers through her messy hair).

Nicole was struck by how warm it was inside the car. There was a soft brown blanket folded up and waiting on her seat, which Nicole draped over her long legs. In between their seats was a large brown paper bag with some visible grease stains. A heavy scent of egg drifted up from it, making Nicole’s stomach rumble.

At Nicole’s intrigued glance downward, Waverly tsked before shifting gears to back out of the gravel driveway. “Not ‘til we get there.” She smiled widely at Nicole’s attempt at a sad-but-hopefully-endearing face. “…it’s not a long drive. Promise.”

Purgatory was always dark at night. Small town, not a lot of wasted energy for street lamps outside of the main town areas (or ambitious neighbors with fancier automatic gates). The headlamps ahead only picked up the passing dirt/snow-covered road. Nicole was tempted to look at her phone for a map, but instead drank her coffee and savored the suspense.

“Ever seen a Purgatory sunrise?” Waverly asked, eyes intent on the windshield. Her palms rolled with the steering wheel from instinct and practice.

Nicole stopped to think. “Twice. So far.” A sad smile twitched at the corner of her mouth, which she hid behind her coffee.

“When was the first?”

“End of my third night shift. Nedley kicked me off early. He showed up at the station, hat back on his head with a giant cup of coffee. He told me ‘Dismissed, rookie. ‘Bout time you appreciate why you’re here.’” Nicole thought her gruff Sheriff Nedley impression was pretty good.

Success: Waverly chuckled. “What happened?”

“I was dog-ass tired from logging drunks in the tank… That was the night of that big brawl at Pussywillows. Like eight arrests, most of whose wives’ were not keen on picking them up.”

Nicole smiled as she looked down at that vague heart shape in her cup, the foam half gone. It made the memory all the sweeter. “So I walk outside, tired and irritated… and there’s that big sunrise lighting up the street. It was right after the first snowfall which hadn’t gotten a chance to melt, plus no one was out in town yet to disturb it. Just beautiful… the way the light hit the buildings and street. I didn’t want to take a picture, I just wanted to remember it, y’know?”

Nodding, Waverly glanced over at her. “What was the second?”

An awkward swallow. “Uh… when—when I woke up in that ditch… After that ‘Jack the Ripper’ or whoever…” She trailed off, wincing when she saw the pained expression on Waverly’s face. Nicole tried to salvage the story. “When I woke up, I was looking straight up and it was so quiet and I wasn’t cold anymore. I saw the light change so quickly and I turned my head and there it was. Filtering through the trees and so so bright. And a second later, I saw Nedley step out of the sun and tell me I was ‘gonna be okay, kid.’” No mocking impression this time, just a soft drop in pitch for imitation.

It was strange to think of the stern Sheriff as her guardian angel, but in that moment: he definitely was. Nicole had passed out immediately after and woken up in the hospital, just aching all over.

She felt fingertips on the hand in her lap and looked down. It was Waverly. A few of her bracelets tickled Nicole’s thigh as the woman gripped her hand.

“…Nicole. I’m so sorry.”

Why?

“It’s not your fault, Waves. It just happened. And I’m so glad Wynonna got away. I hope that sonofabitch got what was coming to him.” Nicole didn’t like to advocate violence, but deep down she had a few exceptions.

“He did.” The sad, knowing way Waverly said that made Nicole’s head jerk up. Nicole studied her, but her expression was neutral other than a tightening in her jaw.

Nicole had to bite her tongue against the sea of questions that sprang to mind. She just knew it had to have been Wynonna… but how?

Did it matter?

Clearing her throat, Nicole squeezed Waverly’s hand back. “When was your first sunrise, Waverly?”

A sad smile through that tight jaw. “It’s not a good story.”

“I’d like to hear it,” Nicole said softly. “But I understand if you don’t want to tell it.”

There was about 10 seconds of silence. Nicole felt Waverly’s hand start to slip out of hers, but then suddenly grip harder.

Staring hard at the road, Waverly’s voice was soft and stuttering. “I was—I was six. On the Homestead. The night Willa was taken and… and Wynonna shot Daddy to try and—try and stop them. I remember just standing there. Aunt Gus kept asking me to come in the house, but I just couldn’t move. I was still staring at where they—the cops—had driven off with Wynonna. And that little point on the horizon I was staring at… suddenly there was a little spark of light. And it just grew and grew and I stared until I couldn’t see anymore.”

“Oh God… I’m so sorry, Waverly.”

“Not your fault either,” Waverly echoed. She pulled her hand out of Nicole’s finally to wipe at the single tear that had stained her cheek. Smiling at Nicole, Waverly shrugged. “I’ve seen happy ones, too. Some good ones on the MacCready farm between the hills. On the roof of Shorty’s. Even on the Homestead with Wynonna.”

She nodded ahead of them at a curve in the road. “This should be a good one, too.”

“I’m sure it will be,” Nicole agreed.

A few minutes later, the fat Jeep tires crunched as the road angle steepened. Nicole thought she saw a small white sign, but it passed too quickly for her to read. The dark purple had started to lighten and gave Nicole just the barest hint of surroundings: scrubby trees and a rock face to their right.

They meandered up the trail with the occasional errant swerve, but Waverly steered into any skids with practiced calm. Nicole pressed her body into her seat in alarm when she saw the Jeep heading directly for a close grove of bushes that appeared to dead-end into the cliffside.

“…Waverly.”

The woman only smiled back wickedly and tapped the gas. Nicole braced herself as they crashed through the underbrush into a secret clearing just at the edge of a cliff. There, Waverly jerked the wheel into a small circle to point them directly at the edge and slow to a stop.

Shifting into park, Waverly leaned over and pulled up the paper bag to show Nicole. Inside, Nicole saw stacks of aluminum foil-wrapped mounds. A few had scribbles of letters on them with permanent marker.

“Ta da! Breakfast tacos! Courtesy of JD’s Restaurant—well, courtesy of Debbie who owed me a favor,” Waverly announced and crinkled the bag at Nicole (whose stomach rumbled again). She peeked inside and started listing, “The P’s are for potato and egg, B’s are for bean and egg, anything else is bacon. You like bacon, right?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh shit! Sorry!” Waverly gave an awkward laugh. “I wasn’t trying to make a cop joke!”

It took a second for Nicole to register those rapid-fire words. Mostly because she was staring at Waverly’s lips.

Unh? Cop joke?

Oh right. Bacon. Pig. “Cops are pigs.” Right.

Nicole laughed as selected an unmarked bacon and egg taco. “Purgatory must be a rare exception, cuz I actually haven’t heard many cop jokes. Well… from people who aren’t cops, anyway.” She mock-glared at Waverly before covering it with a warm smile.

Waverly pulled out a cylindrical piece of foil with a distinct “P” indention on top for herself and set the bag back down. Nicole started to unwrap the taco, but a hand on her wrist stopped her from taking a bite.

Glancing at the dashboard, Waverly pulled on Nicole’s wrist as she nodded straight ahead. “Wait for it.”

Ever the polite guest, Nicole waited (and definitely did not jerk her hand out of Waverly’s grasp).

The almost clear sky blossomed into warm pinks, then reds, then oranges. Ahead of them, the spectrum of color was mirrored across the smooth water of the Purgatory Reservoir. Bands of light trickled between the ridges of the reservoir cliffs. Steam billowing from the hot car engine refracted the light through a haze. And a few seconds later, a familiar bright orb crested the horizon. Ripples in the water sparkled with white light.

Turning to Waverly, Nicole was surprised to see the woman was already looking at her. Her hazel eyes caught the light and brightened to an almost-green. Waverly’s soft smile suddenly turned to a more broad, smug one. “See? Told you.”

Waverly “toasted” with a tap of her foil-wrapped taco against Nicole’s as she let go of Nicole’s hand. “Welcome to my spot, Nicole Haught.” Manicured nails peeled back the aluminum within seconds.

“I’m honored.” It was supposed to sound light and sarcastic. But instead, Nicole found herself smiling and sincere. “It’s a good spot, Waverly Earp.”

Nicole bit into her own taco, savoring the crunch of bacon and the still-warm egg. There was finally enough light to look around.

The Purgatory Reservoir was a pretty standard carved hole in the ground to create an artificial lake. Rusty piping scaled up the northern end before disappearing towards the town itself. There were definite paths cut into the rock with a small, empty dock on the eastern end. Otherwise, they were alone at this oddly serene little perch overlooking a distinct hiking trail.

Small town indeed.

“How did you find this place?” Nicole asked through another bite.

“By accident.”

“Like most good things,” Nicole nodded.

Waverly took a long sip of her coffee. “I was 16 and mad about something. I don’t remember what. Curtis had just fixed up this Jeep so I just wanted to get away. I wanted to go down to the lake and just… I dunno, skip rocks or something. I was going too fast and a pair of hikers were coming up the trail. I had to turn hard and went through this little underbrush and ended up here. The hikers were drunk and didn’t even notice. I sat here for hours, but no one came looking.”

“Well that’s… dangerous.” Nicole offered a cringe-smile at Waverly’s glare. “Hey, you could have just careened into the lake.”

Then who would I be in lo—having breakfast with? Nicole wanted to say but held her tongue.

“But I didn’t!” Waverly squawked defensively. She grumbled into her coffee. “…you sound just like Uncle Curtis.”

“I will assume that’s a compliment.”

Waverly wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “Depends.” But she did smile. “I used to come up here to practice cheerleading… lots of space plus privacy to shout at the top of my lungs. I was trying to make varsity. It was hard to practice at home when Wynonna was still there and always fighting with Gus and Curtis… or running off.” Waverly balled up her fist and mock-punched her other open palm. “I love Wynonna to death… but she could be a shit. …Still is, sometimes.”

“I can see that,” Nicole calmly agreed, though she was still internally digesting the “cheerleader” factoid. It was… not an unpleasant path for her mind to go down.

Balling up the foil and chucking the trash into her back seat, Waverly drummed her fingers on her steering wheel. “I think everyone here has Their Spot, y’know? Which is so weird to think about. We live in a small town to get away from people… And yet with all this space, we still need more space to get away from everyone… usually the people we love.” That sad smile was back.

Nicole leaned back in her seat to appreciate the view once more, though she did have to flip down the sun visor to shield her eyes. “I guess I’ll be a true Purgatorian when I find my own Spot, yea?” She shot a grin at Waverly.

The return smile from Waverly was soft and sweet. “You can—you can borrow mine if you want. Until you find your own.”

“When and if I do: you’ll be the first person I tell,” Nicole promised. She started to say something, but instead opted for a teasing retort. “It’ll be hard to top this spot, though. You set the bar pretty high, Earp.”

In more ways than one.

Waverly gave a humble bow of the head. “It’s what I do, Haught.”

Suddenly, they both picked this moment to go for the bag of tacos at the same time. Leaning over, they accidentally smacked their foreheads together. They both jerked back, Waverly swearing “Dammit!” while Nicole’s vision was flooded with sparks of light. A second passed before they both burst out laughing and rubbed their heads.

Leaning back in carefully this time, Nicole reached her hand out to put it on Waverly’s neck. She guided their foreheads into a gentle touch as she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ll forgive you if you forgive me.”

A bright, familiar chirp. “Deal!”

It was supposed to just be nice. Simple. But Nicole’s hand stayed too long, their foreheads touched too long, Waverly smiled too long. Clearing her throat, Nicole dropped her gaze (and that hand) to select another taco while Waverly pulled back.

“What—what does the ‘N’ stand for?” Nicole asked, pulling a particularly large one out.

“Huh?” Waverly was still staring before she registered what Nicole had said. Her eyes blinked quickly. “Oh! That’s the Nedley Special.”

“The what?”

“Don’t ask me what’s in it. Debbie knows. Probably full of red meat and cheese. Chrissy and I keep telling him he needs to watch his cholesterol.”

Nicole still stared, not quite understanding.

That ponytail at Waverly’s shoulder bounced with her head tilt. “For the station? I figured you could look like a hero showing up for work with breakfast for everybody. Well…” Waverly amended with a sweet smile. “More of a hero than usual.”

A melodic ping sounded in the car. Nicole’s phone was silent in her blanketed lap, so it must be Waverly’s. Ignoring it, Waverly reached in to snag the last potato and egg taco. “There you go. Take as much as you want, and the boys can have the rest… or pull a Wynonna and just eat it all in front of them.” She wrinkled her nose in mock-disgust.

“Thank you, Waverly. I really apprecia—“ Nicole started before another text sound.

Waverly’s jaw tightened, but not before she placed the large sack on Nicole’s lap. And another ping.

“Goddammit! She always does this!” Waverly’s voice was almost a breathless shriek from the high pitch.

“Waverly…”

A few seconds later the phone rang, which Waverly angrily tapped to send to voicemail.

“So, what time do you—?“ Waverly started to ask before the phone in her hand buzzed again. A vein twitched at her temple.

Nicole had to try very hard not to laugh. “Waverly. It’s okay. It might be important.”

The phone rang for a third time. Wynonna was being persistent. Exhaling loudly through her nose, Waverly stabbed a finger at the phone. “I’m here I’m here! Jesus! What’s going on?”

Nicole could hear Wynonna’s voice through the phone, loud and breathless.

[“What the hell, Waverly? You scare the shit out of me when you don’t answer! Where are you?”]

Waverly shot a significant glance at Nicole before her eyes returned to the dashboard. “I was—I’m just running an—I’m out with—none of your business! What’s going on?” She repeated, cheeks reddeningly slightly.

Ah.

Nicole remained thoughtfully silent, though a little ember of hope was kindled.

Rekindled, if she was being 100% honest.

Maybe… If—If it didn’t mean anything, it would be easy to just say “I’m hanging out with Nicole.” …but she didn’t. So… maybe…?

Wynonna’s muffled voice was accusing. [“You’re running errands?! At seven in the morning?!”]

“I have a life, Wynonna. A job, too,” Waverly hissed back defensively. “Plus, what are you doing up this early? You didn’t even make it to bed last night. I had to leave you on the couch.”

[“Hey, I just needed a power nap! A little Red Bull and this little lady will be firing on all cylinders in no time!”]

Nicole reflexively made a silent retching noise at the thought of Red Bull. No thank you, ma’am.

Sighing, Waverly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Uh huh…”

[“Anyway, Dolls is up my ass about some new case. And he very specifically asked for you to show up. You know how he loves his pep-talk briefings. Whole new meaning to ‘fire and brimstone’ with that guy.”]

“Right,” Waverly sighed again. “…right.”

[“See you at the office in 30?”]

Checking her watch, Waverly shook her head. “Gonna take me a little longer than that. But yea. I’ll be there.”

[“Thanks, babygirl. …where are you anyway?”]

“I said none of your damn business, Wynonna.”

[“You better not have gotten back together with that idiot Champ. Or his pair of ‘braincells.’”]

Waverly’s eyes flicked to Nicole’s again and her nose wrinkled in awkward—but suppressed—anger. “No, I am not with Champ. Just… see you at the office. Bye.”

Nicole would be lying if her ears didn’t perk up every time she heard about a case falling into BBD’s lap, especially when she heard Waverly was consulting on it. But Nicole simply sat politely and kept a sympathetic smile on her face.

Something a friend would do, right?

Apologetic, Waverly asked if they could head back. Nicole obliged with a nod; she had to get ready for her shift. And there was still time to squeeze in a shower. A run was out of the question now.

Totally worth it, though.

The warm, idled Jeep growled to life and Waverly shifted gears before turning back down the road they came. The gravel crunched under fat tires as they bounced back towards Purgatory proper in silence.

“Why—” Nicole started, before clearing her throat and clutching the bag of tacos tighter. “—Why didn’t you tell Wynonna you were hanging out with me?” Thankfully, it didn’t come out emotional or accusing, but just politely curious.

Waverly was silent. She offered a small shrug which pushed her side ponytail over her shoulder.

Part of Nicole wanted to press the matter. Get an answer once and for all. Get whatever this was—this silent, unspoken thing—out in the open.

Or end it once and for all?

But that was Nicole’s impatience talking. She was only half the equation. The other half was Waverly, who obviously wasn’t ready for… whatever this was. That wasn’t fair to put everything on Waverly to decide right this second… Especially after she was up all night dealing with Wynonna and God-Only-Knows what else.

Granted, not every discussion was going to have the luxury of a right-place, right-time. But at the very least, Nicole could give her the space to decide when she was ready.

Which clearly was not this moment.

Instead, Nicole leaned over and clicked on the radio. The dial was set to the local pop station, the signal crisp this close to the radio tower (which visibly crested the hill north of the reservoir). A heady beat accompanied female vocals that Nicole didn’t recognize, but she did notice a small rhythmic bobbing of Waverly’s head to the beat. The uncomfortable silence was only interrupted by the radio DJ cracking bad jokes between Top 40 tracks.

It wasn’t until they pulled into Nicole’s driveway did Waverly finally answer. “I just…”

The sound of Waverly’s voice stopped Nicole from folding up the blanket over her knees. She looked up to see a very intense, brow-crinkled look from Waverly.

“…I’m not like, ashamed of hanging out with you. I hope you know that, Nicole.”

Nicole gave a cheek-pulling smile of acknowledgement. “I know. I’m not ashamed of hanging out with you either, Waverly.” She waited, running her fingertips down the now-cold bag of tacos.

“I just… I want something separate from Wynonna, you know? I just… I always feel like I’m working around her. Or Gus. Or this town. …Or being an Earp. And I… I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” Waverly trailed off, collapsing into her seat with an angry sigh.

“Okay.”

“’Okay?’” A high-pitched mimic of Nicole. Waverly frowned at her. “What do you mean: ‘okay?’”

Nicole offered Waverly the folded blanket as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “I mean okay.” She turned to face Waverly and looked her dead in the eye. “It’s okay for Wynonna to not know everything. It’s okay to feel like you’re always doing things for everyone else and not yourself and be frustrated by it. It’s okay that you don’t know what to say. And I’m okay with all of that.”

“Nicole, I…” Waverly bit her lip.

“Thank you for breakfast, Waverly,” Nicole said warmly. She reached out and touched Waverly’s wrist. “I’ll see you at the station later?”

Waverly nodded, confused. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t.

“Okay,” Nicole repeated, though with a slight teasing twinkle this time. “Have a good morning. I know I did.” And with that, she turned and headed for her front door.

Excited scratching could be heard as Nicole put her key in the lock after balancing the large bag under her armpit. When she got the door open to a waiting Calamity Jane, Nicole turned to wave at Waverly, who was still staring back at her. Eventually, the woman gave Nicole a small nod and smile before turning over her shoulder to back out of the driveway.

Nicole watched the small red Jeep disappear down the road with a flurry of snow and dust.

Her phone pinged a few minutes later as she turned on the knobs for a hot shower.

[Waverly says: “I’ve never told anyone about my spot”]

[Nicole says: “I’m honored”]

[Waverly says: “I’m glad I could show you”]

[Nicole says: “Me too. It was worth the trip”]

A series of “…” appeared and reappeared for close to 60 seconds. Just as Nicole gave up and put the phone down to hop in the shower, the device pinged again.

[Waverly says: “So are you”]