by Jae
Yeah, Leo definitely needed a beer or ten to survive this evening. After a moment’s hesitation, she squeezed in next to Holly. While she was curious about how Ashley had fared since graduation, keeping her distance might be a good idea.
Speaking of distance…or lack thereof… She was very aware of the way Holly’s breast pressed into her arm. Well, in these close quarters, it couldn’t be avoided.
“What do you want?” Chris asked. “Looks like Johnny is busy, so let me get your drinks, or it’ll take forever.”
“I thought you work at the diner?” Leo asked.
“I do, but I help out at the bar every now and then too. So, what can I get you?” His gaze lingered on Holly, not on her. It should have been a relief—she got enough attention anywhere she went—but his puppy-eyed look got on her nerves.
“Thanks,” Holly said. “A Bud Light for me, please.”
“Do you have Blue Moon?” Leo asked.
He shook his head. “No, but we have Boulevard Wheat on tap.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
Ashley stood to let Chris out of the booth, and he marched off toward the bar.
Everyone at the table stared at Leo, so she had ample opportunity to study them too. Well, there really was only one person she was looking at—Ashley Gaines.
Usually, when people said someone hadn’t changed a bit since high school, it was a bold-faced lie. But Ash really looked like the gorgeous girl she’d had a huge crush on. Her curves had filled out, but her hair, the same color as the wheat on her father’s fields in summer, still reached down to her waist, and she still exuded that farm-girl innocence. Back then, she’d been class president and homecoming queen, and Leo wouldn’t be surprised if she became the mayor of town one day—or ended up being married to the mayor.
Ash looked up from the label of the beer bottle she’d been scratching at with her thumbnail. She smiled at Leo, but it was the polite smile you gave an acquaintance you hadn’t seen in more than a decade. Maybe Leo was nothing more to her after all those years. She couldn’t read Ash anymore.
“I can’t believe you’re back,” Ash said.
“I’m not back. I’m just visiting for a while.” She wasn’t here to stay, and she wanted to make that clear from the get-go.
“You look stunning,” Travis said, drawing her attention away from Ash.
A deep frown settled on Jenny’s face, and she dug her elbow into her husband’s ribs.
“Thanks.” Leo gave him a stiff grin. “I’ve been eating my vegetables.”
Chris returned with their beers, and everyone moved together to make room for him, bringing Leo into even closer contact with Holly’s body to her left. It distracted her so much that she even looked away from Ash.
“No need to ask what you’ve been up to for the last dozen years,” Zack said. “We’ve all been following your career. Must be pretty exciting to jet all over the world, get to see Paris, Rome, and all those fancy places.”
Leo snorted. “All I usually get to see are the airports, my hotel room, and the backstage area, and trust me, they look the same all over the world. Nothing exciting about that.”
“Oh, yeah, you lead such a boring life. As if I’d believe that for a minute.” Travis slid to the edge of his seat and leaned across the table. “Is it true that pop stars like you have groupies that throw themselves at you in every city?”
“Only in your fantasies.” Leo took a sip of beer and then wiped a bit of foam off her upper lip. “Whatever you read in the tabloids, it’s hopelessly exaggerated.”
Travis eyed her over his beer bottle—probably not his first one of the evening, she suspected. “Nuh-uh. You’re holding out on us. Come on. Tell us. What’s your craziest groupie story?”
“I don’t have one.” Sure, there were always groupies around, but she wasn’t interested in the men, and after her first few months on tour, she had learned to stay away from the women too. They didn’t really want her; they wanted the idea of her and the bragging rights of being able to say they had slept with Jenna Blake. It got old real fast.
“No juicy stories?” Travis was almost whining now.
“Cut it out, Travis. She said no.” It was Holly who had come to her rescue.
Even though she was the youngest, Travis seemed to listen to her. He finally shut up and focused on his beer.
Leo raised her glass to Holly and nodded a thank-you. “Let’s not talk about me all night. My life isn’t half as interesting as you might think. So, what have you guys been up to since graduation?”
“Would you believe I’m an insurance agent?” Zack said.
“Sounds, um, interesting.”
“It pays the bills. I’ve got a family to feed.” He whipped out his phone to show off photos of his wife and kids.
“I’m pumping for a living,” Travis said with a smirk and some provocative hip movements.
God, this guy was really getting on her nerves. He hadn’t gotten any more mature since their high school days.
“He means he’s working at the gas station at the edge of town.” Holly rolled her eyes.
“And I own the flower-and-gifts store across the street,” Ashley said. “It’s small, but it’s all mine.”
“Are you still playing the keyboard?” Leo asked.
Ash peered down at the table, then back up. “No. I gave that up.”
Along with women? But then again, if you didn’t count that one kiss on prom night, Ashley had never allowed herself to become involved with a woman, at least not as far as Leo knew.
Jenny started to talk about her part-time job at the corner grocery store.
Leo nodded in all the right places, but her mind was on the past.
“Tell us more about yourself,” Ashley said after a while. “We all know each other’s stories, but we only know what the tabloids are writing about you. Not that it’s much about your private life, mind you.”
Leo shrugged. “Being on the road for most of the year doesn’t leave much time for a private life.”
“Is there a man in your life?” Ash asked.
Oh please. “You mean woman.” Leo looked her in the eyes. Ashley had been the first person she had come out to and the first girl she had kissed. Why pretend that Leo was interested in men, even though the entire world knew different?
Ash fiddled with a loose corner of the beer label. “Um, yeah.”
“Not right now. Not for some time, actually. Like I said, life as a recording artist doesn’t lend itself to a successful relationship. How about you?”
The label nearly ripped off the bottle as Ash’s fingers slipped. “Me? Um, no, I’m single.”
Chris sighed into his beer. “Me too.”
The others at the table laughed.
“Yeah, and we all know who you’re holding out for.” Travis thumped him on the back. “Forget it, man. You don’t have the right appendages for Zack’s little sister.”
Blushing to the roots of his crew cut, Chris lowered his head. “Seems to be a lot of that going on around here.” He peered from Holly to Leo.
“And let’s not forget our perfect Ms. Homecoming Queen,” Travis threw in.
For several seconds, everyone at the table froze and sat in silence. Someone’s shoe squealed across the floor.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jenny asked.
The others muttered in confusion, while Leo stared at Ashley, who looked as if she were facing a serial killer who came at her with an ax.
“Oh, come on! Didn’t anyone notice?” Travis looked at each of his friends in turn.
“Notice what?” Chris asked.
“A couple of years back, Holly’s car was sometimes parked in front of Ash’s place—all night long. What did you think they were doing? Braiding each other’s hair?” Travis slapped the table and roared with laughte
r.
Leo stared along with everyone else. Holly and Ashley? Holy fuck. She hadn’t seen that coming. So her gaydar hadn’t been off—Holly was a lesbian or bi…and so was Ashley, the crush of all her teenage years.
Zack had gone pale. “You’d better watch your mouth, buddy. You’re talking about my sister.”
“I’m only telling the truth that the rest of you are too blind to see,” Travis muttered.
“Ash?” Jenny whispered. “Is it true? Do you…? Are you…um, like Holly and Leo?”
Ashley let out a nervous chuckle. “He’s imagining things. It’s called wishful thinking. You know, that thing guys have about two women together. If one woman as much as hugs another, it gets their little fantasies going.”
Holly didn’t say anything. She sat without looking at Ashley, her back ramrod straight, and took a big swig of her beer.
“Holly?” Zack said. “That’s all it is, right? You and Ash weren’t…? I mean, if you were, you would have told us, right?”
She focused her glacier-blue gaze on him. “I’ve already got enough on my plate dealing with my own sexual orientation. I can’t speak for anyone else. If Ash says she’s straight, you’ll just have to trust her.”
“Yeah,” Chris said. “She should know, right?”
The others laughed, but the lighthearted atmosphere from before was gone.
Leo sat with her head turned toward Holly, still watching her. They didn’t really believe her, did they? Had no one else seen that flash of hurt in her eyes when Ash had denied being involved with her?
“So, is anyone up for a game of pool?” Zack nodded toward the lone pool table in the back.
Ash finished her beer with one long pull. “Not tonight. I’d better head home. I have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Oh, come on, Ash. Tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Well, you know how it is. A store owner’s work is never done. I’ll beat your ass at pool next week.” Ash tucked two bills beneath her empty bottle and stood. She was out the door before anyone else could protest.
Holly’s gaze followed her. She looked as if she would have loved to leave too—either to confront Ashley or to go home and nurse her wounds. But she didn’t. She let herself be dragged to the back of the room and proceeded to clear the pool table.
Leo leaned on her cue and watched her. She couldn’t help admiring her—and it wasn’t just because of the way her jeans pulled tight over her butt whenever she bent over the table. Would she have held up so well if she and Ashley had gotten together and Ashley had denied her in public?
“Earth to Leo,” Zack called.
Leo wrenched her gaze away from his sister. “Hmm?”
“You’re up. Unless, of course, your dainty little celebrity fingers are only good for holding a mic, not a cue stick these days.”
Leo strode to the head of the table and racked the balls. “Watch these dainty little celebrity fingers beat your ass, Drummond.”
“Drive carefully,” Zack called as he unlocked his car.
“I’ve had one beer, and it’s not like I’ll have to drive halfway across the state.” Holly appreciated his concern, but sometimes, his big-brother routine was just too much. Or maybe she had run out of patience after the stunt Ash had pulled.
He held up his hands. “Just saying.” He got in and drove off.
Travis and Jenny waved goodbye and climbed into their pickup.
Chris shuffled his feet and jingled his keys. “Guess I’ll see you next Saturday.”
She nodded, too tired to make small talk.
When he got into his car and pulled away from the curb, the only one remaining behind was Leo.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”
“You don’t need to,” Holly said. “I’m parked right across the street.”
“Then we’re headed the same way anyway, because I’m parked right behind you.”
They crossed the street in silence. Holly unlocked the Jeep and opened the driver’s side door before turning back around.
In the light of the single streetlamp, the golden highlights in Leo’s hair looked like silver. She shoved both hands into her jeans pockets and tilted her head. “So you and Ashley, hmm?”
And here she had hoped she would be able to make her escape without anyone bringing it up again. But of course Leo wouldn’t let it go. Holly clenched her fist around the car keys. “Leo, I…”
“Don’t bother denying it. It’s really not fair of her to force you to lie for her.”
Holly’s defensive posture deflated. No, it wasn’t fair at all. She had taken a huge risk by coming out to her family and living her life openly, despite the small-town mentality some of their neighbors held toward anyone who wasn’t straight. Leo’s coming-out, years ago, had paved the way, but it still hadn’t been easy. Finally, after a couple of tense situations, she felt as if she had weathered the storm—only to be forced back into the closet by Ash’s insecurities. “Yeah. I don’t like it, but if she ever comes out, it has to be her decision. I can’t force it on her.”
“So you’re still dating?”
“God, no. That’s old news. We only saw each other for a few months after I got back home from college. I have no idea why Travis brought it up now.”
“I take it, it didn’t end well?”
Holly grimaced. “You could say that.”
“No wonder. Ash seems to be so deeply in the closet, she’s finding next year’s Christmas presents.”
Despite her tension, Holly couldn’t help chuckling. “Yeah. But it wasn’t that. Well, not just that. Of course, her reluctance to even be seen with me didn’t help, but there were other issues as well.”
Leo nodded but didn’t ask what they were, as if sensing that Holly didn’t want to talk about it.
Holly was grateful for that silent understanding. “You didn’t seem very surprised when Travis said… Well, you know what he said about me and Ash.”
“Oh, I was surprised. Somehow, I can’t see the two of you making a good couple.”
“Then you’re wiser than me,” Holly said, suppressing a sigh. “Wait a minute… That’s what surprised you? That Ash and I got together, but not that we like women?”
“I had a feeling about you.”
“And about Ash too?”
“Um, you could say that.”
There was something in her voice—that voice that could effortlessly express a range of emotions in her songs. Holly squinted at her. “You don’t mean…?” No, she couldn’t possibly mean that, could she?
Leo sighed. “Let’s just say you and I have more in common than our awesome pool skills.”
“You and Ash?” Holly’s voice cracked like that of a teenage boy, so she paused and cleared her throat. “You’ve been together?”
“No. It never went that far. All we shared was one kiss—one pretty hot kiss,” she added with a crooked grin, “on prom night. Didn’t she ever mention it when you were together?”
“No. She never talked about you, period. I thought you and she had some sort of falling out, so I didn’t force it.”
“Falling out,” Leo murmured. “Yeah, I guess you could call it that. She didn’t have the courage to face what had happened between us. After that night, I only saw her one more time. I asked her to come to New York with me, but she told me it was just one kiss and didn’t mean anything. She was straight. Or so she said.”
Holly snorted. “Yeah, right.” Only one of them had been eager to have sex—and it hadn’t been Holly. She leaned on the open car door and watched Leo. “I still can’t believe we kissed the same woman.”
Leo gave an exaggerated shiver. “Pretty weird, right? But I guess that’s what happens if you grow up in a small town with only three lesbians.”
Strictly speaking, it was two lesbians and one asexual who was romantic
ally attracted to women, but that distinction didn’t matter at the moment. “Yeah, things can get messy when your dating pool is the size of a puddle.”
Leo’s laughter rang out into the night. “More like the size of a shot glass.”
That reminded Holly that she really wanted a drink after the debacle with Ash. For a moment, she wondered whether she should ask Leo to come. Haven’t you learned anything? That’s so not a good idea. Inviting a woman home for a drink could easily lead to her jumping to conclusions, and she had reached her limit of drama for the night.
She lifted one foot to climb into her Jeep.
“See you on Monday,” Leo said. “Drive carefully.”
For some reason, it didn’t annoy her when Leo said it. “Will do.” About to close the door, she remembered something. “Oh, wait. What do you want for breakfast?”
“Uh, breakfast?”
“Yeah, you know, the meal people usually eat in the morning.” Holly added a smile so Leo would know she was teasing.
“Thanks for the expert definition, Ms. Merriam-Webster. I know what it is. Are you buying?”
“Yes. I bring breakfast most Mondays so your mother doesn’t always have to make it. So, bagel, croissant, blueberry muffin…?”
“Are you going to Slice of Heaven?”
Holly nodded. It was the only bakery in town after all. “My baking skills are a bit… Um, let’s just say my baking is about as good as my singing.”
“So I shouldn’t hire you as a background singer anytime soon?” Leo asked with a grin.
“Only if you want to end your career.”
Something flickered across Leo’s face, but it was gone before Holly could identify it. Probably just an effect of the streetlamp’s dim light. “If you’re stopping by Slice of Heaven, I’d love to have one of their apricot-orange cream scones. It’s one of the few things I miss in New York.”
“Yum. Good choice. They’re my favorite too.” Holly’s mouth watered.
“Then it’s established. We’re women of good taste. Well, maybe except for our taste in women.”
They chuckled, and Holly marveled at the fact that she could laugh about it, especially so soon after Ashley had basically called the thought of them together ridiculous.
