Keep Tahoe Blue

by Nicole Pyland

  “I was okay,” she replied.

  “I’d like to get the whole story about your ex and what brought you here. Maybe we could consider it a date or something.” She was blushing. Kellan’s eyes got big at the word date. “Or not.”

  “It’s not–”

  “No, it’s fine. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said date. It can just be a kayak tour.”

  “How about we compromise?” Kellan suggested.

  “Compromise?”

  “We do the kayaking tomorrow, and if that goes well, we can consider the other thing.”

  “The date thing?” Morgan checked.

  “Yes, the date thing.” Kellan laughed at Morgan’s hopeful smile. “You do know I’m leaving in a little over a week, right?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Is this a sex thing?” Kellan asked.

  “What?” Morgan laughed.

  “Well, it can’t exactly go anywhere.”

  “You’re asking if I just want to get in your pants?”

  “I guess.”

  “No, I don’t just want to get in your pants, Kellan.” She paused. “And who says it can’t go anywhere? San Francisco isn’t that far away. People do have long-distance relationships. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Kayaking tomorrow, and then we’ll see.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “Oh, hey.” Reese noticed a very sweaty looking Kellan standing at the end of aisle seven in her local market.

  “Hi.” Kellan seemed to be struggling to bend over to pick something up. “Is your friend Morgan a sadist?” she joked as she grabbed for a large bag of Epsom salt to load into her cart.

  “What?” Reese approached with her basket and laughed at Kellan who moved to reach back down. “I’ll get it.” She sat her basket on the ground and grabbed a bottle of alcohol. “How many?”

  “All of them,” Kellan replied and stood hunched over her cart.

  “What happened?”

  “Advanced hike.” Kellan looked up as Reese placed four bottles of alcohol into her cart. “I thought you were getting this stuff last night.”

  “I did. I used it. Now, I need more.”

  Reese laughed and picked up one more bag of Epsom salt to add to Kellan’s nearly empty shopping cart.

  “Rough hike?” she asked.

  “I didn’t think it was that bad earlier, but I started driving back, and the soreness in my back just kicked in. I should really stop pushing myself this hard.”

  “Seriously, you’re supposed to be on vacation,” Reese offered with a smile and glanced at the only other items in Kellan’s cart. “Is that your dinner?” She pointed at a TV dinner.

  “It might be. I have a few more at the cabin, but none of them sounded good, so I picked up this one.”

  “No, you’re not eating this after you’ve hiked all day. I’m here for baking powder. I’m making cookies. Ryan’s favorite is chocolate chip. It’s my mom’s recipe. I don’t make them often. Why don’t you go home to change, shower, and get ready? Come to our place around seven.”

  “Our place?”

  “Remy and mine. We share a house. Ryan’s there most nights.”

  “I don’t want to intrude on your dinner.”

  “You won’t,” Reese insisted. “I’m sure you could use a home-cooked meal. Remy’s making my dad’s meatloaf, and Ryan’s making the sides. It’s a team effort.”

  “What can I make?” Kellan asked.

  “Wine.”

  “Okay, but that might take a while. I should get some grapes and start stomping,” she joked.

  “Just bring it.” Reese laughed. “No need to go all Lucy and Ethel on me.”

  “You’re a Lucy fan?” Kellan asked.

  “More Mary Tyler Moore.”

  “Me too. I have the box set at home,” Kellan replied with a wide smile.

  “Maybe we can watch an episode sometime.”

  “Sure,” Kellan agreed. “I should go if I’m going to make it by seven.”

  “Make it 7:30 then. Take a long bath in this stuff, and then come over.”

  Reese made it home and immediately got started on the cookies. She wanted them baked and cooled in time for dessert. Initially, she’d promised a batch to Ryan to take home with him, but now she wanted them for their dinner tonight. Ryan could take what was left over. Once the cookies were in the oven, she showered and dressed, paying special attention to her hair. She’d loved the shorter cut since she’d chopped it off a couple of years ago. Morgan had told her it looked like Erika Linder’s hair in Below Her Mouth, which they’d watched together and subsequently had the best sex of their relationship after. It was the same cut, only brown instead of Erika’s blonde, but it worked for her all the same. She put a little gel in it so it still moved but stayed in place enough and made her way back out to the kitchen, where Remy was working on the meatloaf.

  “Well, you look dressed up,” she said when Reese made her way to the refrigerator.

  “I’m dressed normally.”

  “No, you’re not. You changed. Did you shower?” she asked.

  “I’m not allowed to take a shower before dinner?” Reese asked.

  “You’re wearing my sweater.” Remy pointed with a spatula.

  “I borrowed your sweater, so what?”

  “You’re acting weird. Ryan, isn’t Reese acting weird?” Remy asked of her boyfriend, who was sitting on the couch, trying to find something on TV.

  “What?”

  “Never mind. Why are you acting weird?”

  “I’m not acting weird.” Reese closed the refrigerator, not having pulled anything out, and noticed her cookies had been taken out of the oven. “They’re done?”

  “I pulled them out when your timer went off. You’re welcome.”

  “Thanks.” Reese made her way over to the stove and inspected her cookies. “Oh, and Kellan might stop by for dinner. We should set another place.”

  “Aha!” She turned all the way to her sister. “Kellan’s coming over.”

  “She might. She said she would, but I don’t know. The hike took a lot out of her. She could cancel.”

  “That’s why you got all dressed up.”

  “I’m not dressed up. I’m in jeans and a sweater, Rem.”

  “You were wearing sweatpants when you went to the market.” Remy squinted at her for a moment while Reese exhaled a deep sigh. “You’re interested in Kellan, aren’t you?”

  “I am not interested in Kellan,” she defended.

  “Yes, you are.” Remy shoved both hands into the bowl and began mixing her meatloaf ingredients by hand. “And I think it’s great.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you haven’t been interested in anyone since you broke up with Morgan. That was a while ago. Yesterday, she was obviously flirting with Kellan. I worried you might be jealous. I just didn’t know whom of.”

  “I wasn’t jealous.”

  “Kellan’s cute, Reese.”

  “She’s here for another week, Rem. There’s nothing going on, and nothing will happen because she’s leaving.”

  “But you’d be interested in something happening if she was staying?” Remy asked.

  “This is dumb. I invited her for dinner because it looked like she could use a real meal.”

  “If that’s what you’re sticking with, I won’t bother you about it anymore.”

  “Really?” Reese asked.

  “No. Of course, I’ll bother you about it.” Remy laughed and finished mixing the meatloaf while Reese plated the cookies.

  Right on time, the doorbell rang. Reese tried to get to it before Remy, but Remy cut her off at the table and opened it before she could get there.

  “Hey, ice cream girl,” Remy greeted Kellan.

  “Is that my new nickname?” Kellan asked with a light laugh.

  “I think your regular name is better, and my sister is an ass.” Reese approached behind Remy. “Come on in.” She waved Kellan through the door. “Everything’s ready. You’re right on time.�
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  “Hey, Kellan,” Ryan acknowledged as he sat two large bowls on the table.

  “Hi.”

  “Are you playing with us next Sunday?” he asked and took a seat at the table.

  “I don’t know. I might leave Sunday,” she replied, and Reese looked at the floor.

  “I thought you were here for another week and a half.” Remy sat down.

  “Here. Let me take those.” Reese pulled the wine bottles from Kellan’s hands. “You look nice, by the way.” She lowered her tone to deliver that close to Kellan so her nosy sister wouldn’t hear.

  “I didn’t have anything nice to wear,” Kellan replied. “I brought outdoor stuff. I happened to have this in my car.” She tugged at the hem of a tan cable-knit sweater.

  “I’ll open one of these.” Reese held up a bottle and made her way to the kitchen.

  Kellan had worn the sweater with a pair of nice jeans, from what Reese could see, and with her hiking boots as well. She likely hadn’t planned on being invited for dinner anywhere and seemed fine with eating microwaved meals alone instead of going to any of the lake’s quality restaurants.

  “So, you’re leaving on Sunday?” Remy questioned again as all four of them sat down.

  “I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided. Technically, I have next week off too,” Kellan revealed. “I just only planned on staying in Tahoe for a couple weeks. I kind of took a leave of absence. A short one, but it’s got an indefinite timeframe on it.”

  “How’d you work that out with your boss, and can I work there?” Ryan asked as they all began making their plates.

  “My boss is sort of an old friend. It’s her vet practice. I’ve known her since I was a kid. She went to vet school before me and started her own clinic. When I graduated, I joined her. She’s been great with giving me time off.”

  “That’s pretty cool,” Remy stated.

  “It came in handy,” Kellan agreed. “I want my own place one day, though.” She paused and glanced over at Reese. “My own practice. It’s just not possible for about the next two decades or so.”

  “It’s a nice goal to have though.” Ryan bit into his meatloaf.

  “The vet we have here is pretty good. Dr. Sanders is like sixty. He’s been here for years and sees all kinds of animals. Mainly the regular ones you’d expect, but he gets some wildlife in there occasionally,” Remy explained. “They get hit by cars sometimes.”

  “I did an internship with an exotic pet vet in the city. It was great experience.”

  “How are your muscles now?” Reese changed the subject. “After your bath, I mean.”

  “Oh, they’re okay. They’ll kill me when I wake up. I’ll probably just climb down to the beach tomorrow and hang out there most of the day with a book and my music.”

  “Sounds like a pretty relaxing day,” Reese said.

  “Reese is a teacher. Did she tell you?” Remy asked.

  “She did, yeah.” Kellan finally took a bite of her meatloaf. “Preschool and kindergarten, right?”

  “It’s a small school,” Reese explained. “We combined the preschoolers and kindergartens last year since we didn’t have enough kids for both.”

  “I went to a huge city school. I bet it’s much better than that.”

  “How huge?” Ryan asked.

  “About four thousand students in my high school.”

  “That is huge. My school has two hundred in preschool through eighth grade,” Reese informed. “I have fifteen in my room.”

  “You handle fifteen kids every day?” Kellan laughed a little. “How do you do that?”

  “You handle animals who can’t tell you where they hurt every day. How do you do that?” she tossed back with a smile.

  “Sometimes I can tell. I just have to really listen.”

  They continued their light banter until the meal was complete and both bottles of wine were empty. Kellan had smiled and laughed throughout. Reese found she greatly enjoyed the woman’s company. When she’d first seen Kellan in the visitor’s center, she’d thought about flirting her way into Kellan’s bed. Now that she’d gotten to know her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that. Sex was sex, and she’d done that before when she’d needed to, but she didn’t just want to have sex with Kellan Cobb. She grew sad when the cookies had been enjoyed by all, and it was presumably time for Kellan to leave.

  “Thank you for this. I had fun, and the food was great,” Kellan told her as they headed to the door.

  “Of course.” Reese turned to see Remy and Ryan sitting on the couch, watching them. “Do you maybe want to sit outside on the porch for a minute?”

  “Sure,” Kellan agreed.

  Reese opened the door, ushered Kellan out, and promptly turned to her sister to stick her tongue out at her before closing the door behind them. The porch was old but taken care of. It had a swing that her father had fixed a few years back on the left side of it. The front of the house faced the trees and the street beyond. The view wasn’t great, but it was nice to come out sometimes to read or just think.

  “So, it’s the beach for you tomorrow, huh?” Reese asked once they were both seated and the swing moved slowly back and forth.

  “Oh, shit. I almost forgot. I’m going kayaking with Morgan tomorrow. I completely spaced it.”

  “Kayaking?” Her smile turned into a straight line. “With Morgan?”

  “She asked me earlier today, after our hike.”

  “I see.” Reese looked off into the trees.

  “She actually asked me out. She wanted it to be a date,” Kellan continued.

  “I bet she did,” Reese muttered more to herself than to Kellan.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” she deflected. “So, you’re going on a date with Morgan tomorrow?”

  “No.” Kellan relaxed more into the swing. “I told her we could go kayaking tomorrow. If that goes well, we’ll see about a date. I doubt we’ll go through with it. I’m leaving soon. What’s the point?”

  “Right,” Reese agreed. “So, you’re…”

  “Gay?” Kellan finished as she turned her head toward Reese. “Yeah. Morgan is too, I guess.”

  “She’s my ex-girlfriend. We dated for over three years a while back.”

  “Oh.” Kellan sat nearly straight up.

  “No, it’s okay. I’m not telling you because I want it to determine what you do or anything.”

  “Why are you telling me?” Kellan asked.

  “I’d thought about asking you out myself.” Reese shrugged and leaned back against the hardwood of the swing.

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. I saw you at the visitor’s center the other day when I was working. I thought about it then, but by the time I got done with the tourist, you were gone.” She hesitated. “My intentions on that day weren’t exactly pure. I should probably admit.”

  “Yeah?” Kellan lifted a leg under her body and turned more toward Reese.

  “You’re, well… you know.” She waved her hand around for a moment, as if that would explain it. “But we talked a little yesterday, and I thought I’d ask you on a date. We’d see if it got that far. Morgan got there first, though.”

  “You really wanted to ask me out?” Kellan sounded surprised.

  “I did.”

  “I haven’t been out with anyone in a while,” Kellan revealed.

  “Why not?” Reese turned to Kellan to match her posture.

  “Her name is Keira Worthy,” Kellan began, and Reese listened intently as Kellan told the story of their short-term relationship and an attempt at friendship followed by Keira’s new relationship. “I just needed to get away for a while.”

  “Still not over her, huh?”

  “I don’t know; that’s the thing. I thought I was. It’s why I left. Seeing her with Emma was hard, but… I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what?”

  “If I’m actually still in love with her or if I just thought I was because I saw her moving on and wanted that for myself.�
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  “Been there. My first girlfriend in college broke up with me after six months. I thought I was over her. Then she got a new girlfriend. When I’d see them together, suddenly the pain was back.” She paused. “I met my second college girlfriend after. And even though it was only about a month after my ex found someone else, I realized I was over her and ready for a new relationship. I’d thought I was still in love with her, but it was more loneliness than anything, I think.”

  “I think that’s what it is, yeah. I’d been single for a long time before Keira. I’d had a girlfriend here and there, but nothing really long-term. When I met Keira, we fell into bed. She told me we should just be friends after, but I’d flirt with her and touch her a little when I could get away with it. Just on the arm, or on the back,” she added when Reese’s eyebrows went up at her comment. “I think she wanted to be friends all along. I might have pressured her inadvertently into more because I wanted more back then.”

  “Once, I told a girl in high school that I liked her. Actually, I used the phrase like like.” She used air quotes around the last two words. “I told her, ‘I like like you and would like us to be more than friends’. When she told me she didn’t like like me and only wanted to be friends, I asked her to think about it. I asked her to reconsider. Maybe if she thought about it some more, she’d change her mind and like me how I liked her. I think it’s in our nature for us to want the people we like to like us back. When they don’t, we need to understand why.”

  “Yeah.” Kellan nodded and smiled at her almost wistfully. “Did she reconsider?”

  “No, she is Stacy. And you met her yesterday.”

  “Stacy with the husband and–”

  “Yes.” Reese laughed. “We’ve remained friends throughout. She told me that day that there was nothing to think about because she knew how she felt, and she had to trust it.” She paused. “I think when we meet someone that isn’t interested in us like that, it’s best to just move along. I don’t think you should have to convince the person you’re meant to be with to be with you.”

  “You are very smart.” Kellan looked off into the trees. “I should probably go. I have kayaking tomorrow morning.”

  “Right. Kayaking with Morgan.”

  “It’s not a date,” she reminded. “She just offered to take me to the island. I’ve never been there.”