Keep Tahoe Blue

by Nicole Pyland

  She’d gotten little sleep last night after she and Remy had spoken yet again about her problem. Hearing her sister say time and again that she wished it had been her was hard for Reese to hear. Remy was her other half.

  There were two major differences between Reese and Remy outside of the fact that Remy had dyed her hair blonde when they’d gone off to college together. She’d kept it that way ever since. Remy was straight and had a boyfriend, Ryan, that she’d been with for the past six months. Reese had only ever had one boyfriend, and that had been when she was fifteen and a freshman at high school. It hadn’t taken long for her to realize he was not what she’d wanted. She’d come out to her sister as soon as she’d figured out she was gay. They’d had a long conversation about that between the two of them, trying to figure out – if they were identical in DNA and in many of their experiences – how Remy had turned out straight while Reese preferred women. The other major difference was Reese’s little problem.

  Reese worked at the visitor’s center twice a week as a volunteer. Her mother had done it for years, and when she’d passed, Reese felt like she needed to pick up the slack. Tourism was a vital part of the community. While there were natives, many of the town’s inhabitants on any given day were temporary and would return to their homes either prior to the start of the weather changing to autumn, because they’d come for the summer activities, or just after the last big snowfall, because they’d been in town for the winter activities. The permanent population was just over twenty-one thousand. That was a hamlet compared to the near seven hundred thousand of Las Vegas. She’d been a resident there for five years when she’d gone to school at UNLV with Remy. She’d been an education major and had gotten her five-year teaching certificate, while Remy had studied physical therapy and now practiced in South Lake.

  For the past year, she’d spent at least a few hours each week explaining trails and pointing out the best views of the lake along with the best activities for tourists to partake in. She’d led hikes for groups every so often but stopped that part of the job when she’d tripped over an overgrown tree branch on one of the trails and broke two toes and her pinky finger from trying to catch her fall. She’d gone to the doctor too late then, too, and had to keep off her feet for an extra week because of it. That had been over a month ago. And now, fully healed from her own klutziness, she was ready to get back out there. Unfortunately, Remy and Stan, the man that ran the visitor’s center as a paid employee, both wanted her to stay inside the center and not get back on the trails anytime soon.

  “Hi. I’m looking for an easy hike. It’s me and my wife, and she’s never been hiking before.” A tall man, dressed in a light jacket, a pair of worn jeans and hiking boots, approached as she reorganized the stack of Keep Tahoe Blue bumper stickers the center gave away for free.

  “Sure. Let me grab a map for you.” Reese slid the stickers back into their organizer before moving back behind the long counter. “Are you looking for something with a view during or at the end, or just the hike itself?”

  As she asked the question, she noticed one other person enter the center and begin perusing the book section against the far wall. The woman had shoulder-length blonde hair and was wearing weather-appropriate gear. She sported some old, worn in hiking boots complete with dried mud on the heels. The woman wasn’t facing her, and she wondered if the beauty of her face matched the beauty of the rest of her body. Her jeans were tight, but not overly so. They provided Reese with a nice view of the woman’s ass. She thought back to the last female tourist she’d found attractive and their weekend together prior to the woman leaving Tahoe.

  “A view would be nice,” the man replied.

  “Sorry?” she asked when she realized she hadn’t been paying attention to the man standing right in front of her.

  “A view. I think she’d like a reward at the end.” He smiled.

  Reese pulled out one of the folded maps they used for marking destinations for tourists. She circled two trailheads before turning it around for him to see. As she did, she glanced over at the woman who was now moving in the direction of the stickers she’d just organized.

  “These two are the easiest trails that get you up high enough to get a great view of the lake.” She pointed her red pen at the two circles.

  “And I just take a right out of here?” he asked.

  “Left is faster. Then, turn right past the grocery store. You’ll get to both of them from there. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

  “Great. Thanks.” The man folded the map into his pocket and walked off toward the exit.

  Reese gave him a nod with a polite smile before her glance moved to the woman who was reviewing a pamphlet. Reese turned around behind the counter to the back office to see that Stan was staring at the computer screen, likely engaged enough to not notice or care that she was about to approach this woman because she wanted to and not because the woman needed help. When she turned back around to the open room though, she could just make out the woman’s back as she made her way through the exit.

  CHAPTER 3

  Kellan’s feet were killing her. It had been far too long since she’d been hiking like that. Doing ten miles on her first full day was probably too much. She’d chosen three separate intermediate trails, had lunch overlooking the Emerald Bay, and then made her way back down just in time for dinner. She had nothing in the cabin, and she was regretting that as she parked her car at the small grocery mart down the street from her cabin.

  She picked out some easy to cook meals from the freezer section and a steak with fresh vegetables for one night when she’d cook something good for herself. She grabbed one and then two bottles of wine before she decided to add a bottle of white to the reds. She made her way to the frozen food section, reached for the last pint of mint chocolate chip and added it to her cart.

  “Mint chip, huh? Hitting the hard stuff.”

  Kellan turned around to see a woman standing behind her. She looked to be around her age and was pointing to the items in Kellan’s cart.

  “I’m sorry?” Kellan asked.

  “You’ve got wine, comfort food, and ice cream. All you need now is the breakup music.” The woman shrugged. “Sorry, that’s rude of me.”

  “Oh,” Kellan stated, glancing at her cart cliché.

  “Tourist, right?”

  “I’m here for a couple of weeks. Just stocking up.”

  “Welcome to our little town.”

  “Thanks.” She paused. “And it’s not because of a breakup.”

  “Huh?”

  “My choices. I didn’t break up with someone, and no one broke up with me.”

  “Then, I feel really bad. I’m sorry. I’m kind of an asshole.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “I’m cooking for my sister and I tonight. I needed to pick up some stuff. I was hoping to get her favorite ice cream, which you just grabbed a second faster than I could get to it.” She pointed to the pint in Kellan’s cart.

  “Oh, sorry. You can have it. I just grabbed the first one I saw.”

  “So, not an ice cream connoisseur?”

  “No, I like it all,” Kellan stated with a smile. “Here.” She reached down to pull out the pint and held it out for the woman to take. “Take it to your sister.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.” The woman nodded and smiled wide. “And she will, too.” She dropped the ice cream in the red basket she held over her left arm. “I’m Remy, by the way.”

  “Kellan.”

  “Kellan? That’s an interesting name.”

  “I get that a lot.”

  “And you’re here for a couple of weeks?”

  “I rented a cabin down the street,” she answered.

  “I’d invite you to dinner with my sister and I, but it’s just a sibling thing. If you’re interested, a few of us get together on the weekends. This time of year, we play flag football on Saturdays on the beach. We drink while we play, so it’s not exactly a real game. It’s early because
we’re all old.” She laughed at her comment. “And then, we pack it in and get home to soak our sore muscles.”

  Kellan thought the woman attractive to be sure, but she wasn’t certain if the woman was merely being polite or if she was flirting and maybe even asking her out by inviting her to hang out with her friends.

  “I don’t want to intrude on your friends,” she offered with a slow shake of her head.

  “You wouldn’t be. We invite random people all the time. It’s a constantly evolving group. But if you don’t want to join, it’s no big deal. Just wanted to repay you for the ice cream that is now melting in my basket, so I should run.” She laughed and met Kellan’s eye again. “My sister will be there. She can’t play, so she’ll be on the sidelines. You can hang with her if you aren’t the sporty type, or you can play wide receiver. Either way, turn right out of this parking lot, go about three miles, and park on the lakeside. You’ll see a short trail and the beach. That’s where we’ll be at noon.” She took a few steps backward. “Nice to meet you, Kellan.”

  “You too,” Kellan replied, feeling like an idiot.

  She gathered up her purchases and loaded them grumpily into the back of her jeep. On the very short trek home, she silently chastised herself for the fact that she might have just been flirted with and had absolutely no response to it. The woman had been attractive. Her eyes were gray, or maybe it was a light green that resembled gray in the unflattering bright lights of the market. Her blonde hair was long and had been pulled back into a ponytail. Kellan thought the blonde was a few shades too light for the woman’s face, but that wasn’t exactly her place to say.

  She unloaded her groceries and stabbed at the plastic cover of one of the frozen dinners before shoving it into the provided microwave, setting the timer, and opening one of the bottles of wine. She grabbed a wine glass that seemed far too small for the amount she planned to consume, filled it to the top, and plopped onto the sofa. She picked up the remote and turned on the television. She gulped once at her wine before deciding she’d need water, too. As she reached for the bottle in the fridge, she heard her cell beep. She’d turned it back on earlier in the day to use the GPS and had forgotten to turn it off. She took a long pull off the water and walked to her pack, pulling out her phone to switch it off again and draw out any notifications when she noticed it was a text from Macon Greene. Greene had been one of Keira’s friends and one they’d then shared, but not one she’d ever felt particularly close to.

  “How are you?” Kellan read Macon’s text out loud and chuckled. “How am I?” She laughed again. “My ex doesn’t even consider herself my ex because we were never an official couple. She’s moved on so easily with the new girl in town. They’re in love. And last week, I saw you on a Facebook post with some woman named Joanna at a bar, smiling and having fun. So you seem to be doing fine in the woman department. Hillary won’t admit the woman at the coffee place is totally into her. And when she does, I’m sure they’ll finally fall madly in love. And then there’s me...” She paused as the microwave beeped. “I have feelings for a woman I want to go away, but they won’t, and that pisses me off. A beautiful woman may or may not have been flirting with me earlier. I couldn’t tell because I froze like an idiot.” The microwave beeped again after not being opened the first time. “I heard you,” she yelled at the appliance. “So, I’m great, Greene. I’m just great.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Reese only came to these weekly games because it gave her an excuse to be outside. Reese loved being outside. She used to hike a lot and found herself missing the activity more and more each day. Sitting on the beach wasn’t exactly a substitute, and part of her wished she’d get out there and play instead of drinking a beer and watching everyone else enjoy themselves. The other part of her knew she was terrible at football and most other sports that involved a ball and possible contact with another human being. She settled for watching her friends have fun and occasionally going for a short walk to the water’s edge to dip her toes in.

  “Hi.”

  Reese looked up to see someone slightly familiar standing next to her on the beach. She did a double take to confirm that it was indeed the woman from the visitor’s center the other day. And it took even longer for her to realize the woman was saying hello to her.

  “Hi,” Reese replied.

  “I came.” The woman offered a shy wave from her hip, and Reese smiled, thinking it was cute.

  “Okay.” Reese nodded.

  “You dyed your hair.” The woman pointed to Reese’s head. “And cut it.”

  “Oh.” Reese understood now. “The woman you’re looking for is over there.” She stood from her beach chair and pointed in the direction of Remy, who was running near the edge of the water, attempting to catch a pass from her boyfriend.

  “Oh.” The woman did a quick turn of her head back to Remy and then again to Reese. “Sisters?”

  “Twins.” Reese shrugged. “Happens all the time. One of the reasons we have different hair. Makes it easier for people to tell us apart.” She took in the tightly clasped hands at the woman’s side. “I’m Reese, by the way.” She held out her hand for the woman to shake.

  “Kellan.”

  “That’s an interesting name.” Reese waited as the woman shook her hand and then lowered her own to her side.

  “Yeah. Sorry about the confusion. Your sister invited me to watch the game.”

  “Because you let her have the ice cream? I remember now. You’re the ice cream woman.”

  “I guess I am.” Kellan laughed.

  Reese smiled at the sound and said, “Thank you for that.”

  “The ice cream?”

  “It’s my favorite. They don’t always carry it there. Sometimes, I have to go to the big grocery store. I hate going to the big grocery store.”

  “No problem.”

  “Aren’t you going to ask me why I hate the big grocery store?” Reese chuckled.

  “Why don’t you like the big grocery store?” Kellan asked and glanced to the side as the football landed a few feet away from her, and Remy approached to pick it up.

  “Hey, Kellan!” Remy took the ball from Kellan’s outstretched arms. “You came?”

  “I did.”

  “This is my sister, the ice cream-holic.” She pointed with a thumb toward Reese.

  “We’ve met.” Kellan nodded in Reese’s direction.

  “You want to play?” Remy asked her. “Morgan can tap out for a few. She’s missed the last two passes thrown her way,” Remy half-yelled this, and Morgan came up behind her, jerked the ball out of her arms, and scowled.

  “The pass was behind me.” She looked toward Kellan.

  Reese took a step toward Kellan instinctively and wondered why for a moment, before Morgan reached out her hand, tucking the ball under her other arm.

  “This is Morgan Burns,” Remy introduced. “She’s terrible at football but brings the beer. So, we forgive her.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Morgan and Kellan shook hands.

  “Kellan Cobb,” Kellan introduced herself

  “So, you in?” Remy asked.

  Reese glanced with a side-eye at her twin, wishing their twin powers would activate so Remy would know Reese didn’t want Kellan spending any time with her ex-girlfriend. She also wanted Kellan to sit on the sidelines with her.

  “I’m not much of a football player. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever played football.” Kellan smiled in Morgan’s direction.

  Remy finally met Reese’s eye and then she nodded. Every now and then, the fact that they were identical twins and had this power to understand one another without words paid off.

  “Morgan, you’re quarterbacking now. Maybe you can pass better than you can catch,” Remy suggested.

  “Cool, but Kellan can take my place as a wide receiver. Laurie has to leave anyway. She has to pick up the kids from the sitter.”

  “Lame.” Remy rolled her eyes. “Fine. Kellan, you’ve never played before?”

>   “No.”

  “Well, you don’t know how good you could be then, right? And you’re dressed for it.” Remy motioned to Kellan’s outfit.

  Kellan was wearing navy yoga capris with a black short-sleeved V-neck shirt that looked like a nice nylon-cotton blend made for outdoor activities. Her tennis shoes were well worn in without being too worn in. She’d brought a pack with her that Reese finally noticed was on the sand next to them. Kellan was no rookie. Reese smiled at the thought.

  “I dressed for a short beach hike just in case.” Kellan gave an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders and glanced at Remy. “Sorry, I haven’t been the most social person recently. I came here to get away for a couple of weeks. I wasn’t sure I’d be up for a big beach day.” She pointed to the group that continued to play, despite missing a few players.

  “I’ll throw; you catch. It’s pretty easy.” Morgan took Kellan by the forearm and off they went to where the rest of the group had paused between plays.

  “She came.” Remy turned to stand beside Reese.

  “I guess.” Reese resolved herself to be unaffected by Morgan’s hand on the small of this stranger’s back as they made their way to join their team.

  “Morgan seems interested,” Remy said.

  “I guess.” Reese turned her face to her sister’s. “Your point, Rem?”

  “You seem pretty interested there too, sis.” She winked. “Who exactly are you interested in though? The new arrival, who you can sleep with, she leaves, and you never see her again – which is usually your MO, or the ex-girlfriend you dumped?”

  “Go play your stupid game.” Reese gave her a light shove and moved to sit back down in her beach chair.

  Remy only laughed as she made her way back to join the next play. Reese’s eyes darted from her ex to Kellan and back to Morgan, who did look really good in her sports bra and tight shorts. Reese had missed when she’d peeled off her shirt. For a moment, she thought back to their last time together, and how Morgan’s skin had been almost as sweaty from a different activity. She shook her head rapidly. Her eyes flitted back to Kellan, who was running down the beach close to the water. She was the only one wearing shoes, but that seemed to give her an advantage as she sped past her defender, caught Morgan’s pass, and kept running until the entire group began yelling that she’d scored and could come back. They never bothered marking the end zones on the beach, but no one had told her that the yardstick, painted blue, that had been there for as long as any of them could remember, indicated a score for her team.