Symphony in Blue

by M. J. Duncan

  “Looks good,” Brooke commented as she took a slice of prosciutto from the package and popped it into her mouth. “You want any help?”

  “Nah. It’s okay.” Gwen shook her head and gave the last of the pepper a quick chop. “I got it.”

  “All right.” Brooke opened the fridge and reached inside. “You okay with a multigrain bread?”

  “Sure.”

  Even though she didn’t really know Brooke all that well, Gwen was pleased to find that they worked well with each other, effortlessly moving around the other as they prepared breakfast.

  “So what time did Regan and Luke call it quits with the game last night?” Gwen asked as she slid an omelet onto a plate and used the edge of the frying pan to fold it over on itself. She pushed the plate toward Brooke, who dropped a couple pieces of buttered toast onto it while she served up the second omelet.

  “I honestly don’t know. Three, maybe?” Brooke shrugged as she placed some toast onto the second plate. “It was late. I’ll be surprised if she comes down before noon, honestly. But, whatever, we’d already planned on not doing anything today anyway because those events are always such a pain in the ass to put on.”

  “Then why do it?” Gwen asked as she sat down at the island, leaving a seat between her and Brooke so they could spread out the paper without getting in each other’s way.

  “It’s something her grandfather started doing decades ago to try and make their employees feel appreciated, and when he passed away a few years ago she just picked up where he’d left off.”

  “Surely it’d be less stressful to do it at a venue somewhere…”

  “Oh, no doubt.” Brooke chuckled. “But Grandpa Mark always hosted them at his house down in Beverly Glen because he thought that holding these things at his home made them feel more intimate and less corporate, if that makes sense, and so Regan just carried on the tradition.” She shrugged as she used the side of her fork to cut off a corner of her omelet. “It’s honestly not that bad since we staff out pretty much everything; it’s just exhausting having so many people at your house, ya know?”

  “I can imagine,” Gwen murmured as she cut into her omelet.

  “This is incredible,” Brooke half-moaned around a mouthful of eggs. “You are now the official omelet maker if we’re all doing breakfast.”

  Gwen smiled and nodded, rather liking the idea of weekends like this becoming a regular thing. Luke and Mallory’s mutual dislike for each other had made things like this impossible—she had been forced to choose one or the other from the very beginning because they could only maintain a civil air around each other for so long before the bickering began—and it was so nice to be able to just spend time with with a group of people whose company she genuinely enjoyed. “I can absolutely do that.”

  “Good.” Brooke traded her fork for her coffee cup and hummed appreciatively as she took a sip. “So what’s up with you and Dana?” she asked as she set her mug down and picked her fork back up.

  Gwen choked on the bite of omelet she she had been in the middle of swallowing and dropped her fork to her plate as she reached for her coffee to try and wash it down. “I’m sorry?” she asked after she had managed to swallow.

  “Sorry.” Brooke smiled apologetically. “I really wasn’t trying to kill you there.”

  Gwen nodded and focused on her plate. “No. Of course.” She used the edge of her fork to break off a piece of omelet. “Why do you ask?”

  “You mean besides the fact that you two were cuddled up together almost all night?” Brooke asked, the right side of her mouth lifting in a small, sad smile. “I just want to make sure you guys know what you’re doing. She was so hurt after you ran out on her in Maui and then when she saw you at the gala…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “It wasn’t pretty. I’m just worried about her, you know?”

  “She’s lucky to have friends like you guys,” Gwen murmured. She laid her fork on her plate and gathered her coffee cup in both her hands. The warm ceramic was soothing, and she brushed her thumbs over the sides of the mug as she tried to organize her thoughts. Part of her wanted to tell Brooke to mind her own business, but she also knew that Brooke was only looking out for Dana.

  That was something she could more than appreciate.

  “Honestly, I don’t know what we’re doing ninety percent of the time.” Gwen sighed. “We’re both painfully aware of the situation, but it’s just so hard, sometimes, to…” She set her coffee mug back onto the island. “I care about Dana very much, and the last thing I want is to have her hurt again. But at the same time, it’s getting harder to pretend that I don’t feel the way I do. From the moment I met her, she…she’s just so wonderful and amazing – and I’m sure you know all of that already,” she ended sheepishly.

  That elicited a smile. “For what it’s worth”—Brooke reached over and gave Gwen’s arm a light squeeze—“as Dana’s friend, I appreciate the way you’re trying to do the right thing.”

  “Yeah, well…” Gwen’s voice trailed off as she remembered what she had done in the shower not even an hour before. She might be trying to do the right thing, but it was getting tougher and tougher to keep herself from crossing the line she knew they could not cross.

  “Maybe you’re not such a bad person after all, Gwen Harrison,” Brooke mused gently, “even if the situation is definitely less than ideal at the moment.”

  “You sound like Luke,” Gwen whispered, rubbing the backs of her hands against her eyes.

  “Please don’t say that.” Brooke nudged Gwen’s knee with her own. “Because that means I’d sound like Regan, and one of us has to be the adult in this marriage.” Her tone softened as she asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

  “Honestly, I’m not the one I’m worried about,” Gwen admitted quietly.

  “And that”—Brooke titled her head and smiled—“is why I’m asking. Because, for as much as my loyalties lie with the woman sleeping upstairs in my guest room, I’m also worried about you. I didn’t think I would after the wedding and everything, but seeing you with Dana, I get it. You two just can’t stay away from each other.”

  “It would be easier if we could.”

  “Maybe,” Brooke agreed. “But would you really rather not have her in your life?”

  Gwen swallowed thickly as just thinking about it made her heart ache, and shook her head. “No.”

  Brooke sighed and turned on her stool to pull Gwen into her arms. “You’ll be okay,” she whispered, smoothing a hand up and down Gwen’s back.

  “Gwen?” Dana’s voice, soft and unsure, called from the kitchen doorway. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” Gwen replied quickly, glad that she hadn’t let the tears in her eyes fall when Brooke had pulled her into that hug because there was no way she’d be able to hide them from Dana.

  “We’re just having some girl-talk,” Brooke explained.

  “Girl talk?” Dana repeated, watching Gwen warily.

  “Without me?” Jay’s deep baritone asked in mock horror as he came into the kitchen wearing his clothes from the night before with his shirt untucked. He waved at Brooke and asked, “Coffee?”

  Brooke pointed at the Keurig. “Over there. Pods are in the cupboard above the machine. Help yourself.”

  “You are a goddess,” Jay groaned as he padded through the kitchen in his bare feet.

  Dana rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet before she started for the island, her eyes dancing over Gwen’s face even as she asked Brooke, “You didn’t threaten her or something stupid, did you?”

  “She didn’t,” Gwen said, quick to come to Brooke’s rescue. She smiled reassuringly as she took Dana’s hand and gave it a light squeeze, knowing by the deep furrow in her brow that she would not be calmed by words alone. “I promise.”

  “Yeah, down, mama bear,” Brooke teased, winking at Dana. “Your girl makes a damn good omelet, by the way.”

  Dana rolled her eyes and nodded. “I’m sure she does.”


  “Would you like one?” Gwen asked.

  “I do,” Jay interjected.

  Brooke laughed and slapped at Gwen’s leg. “Let’s finish eating and then you can show me your evil ways while we make breakfast for these two.”

  “Evil ways?” Gwen asked.

  “Dude, this omelet is fucking sinful. So yes, evil ways.”

  “Wow.” Dana chuckled as she took the empty stool to Gwen’s right. “I can’t wait, then. Jay, can you make me a cup of whatever?”

  “You got it.” He snapped off a salute.

  “How’d you sleep?” Brooke asked Dana as she spun her plate to get a better angle to cut into her omelet.

  “Like a dream,” Dana half-moaned, half-sighed, stretching her arms up over her head.

  Brooke chuckled as she lifted her fork to her mouth. “Of course you did,” she murmured.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Dana asked.

  “Be nice to my wife,” Regan warned, smacking Dana upside the back of the head as she shuffled into the kitchen.

  “Hey!” Dana protested, her knees hitting Gwen’s thighs as she spun on her seat to face her attacker.

  “Stop beating our guests.” Brooke lifted her face to accept the kiss Regan dropped to her lips, and smiled. “I didn’t think we’d see you before noon.”

  “Yeah, I’m just full of surprises like that.” Regan yawned loudly and shook her head. “Or, maybe Gino called and woke my ass up.”

  “Gino?” Gwen asked Dana softly.

  “He’s the party planner we worked with for the thing last night,” Brooke answered, rubbing a gentle hand over Regan’s hip. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” Regan scrubbed her hands over her face and nodded. “He just wanted to let me know that they’ll be by a little later than usual to clean up.”

  “So why didn’t you just go back to sleep?” Brooke asked as she cut off another bite of eggs.

  “Because you weren’t there,” Regan replied, looking at Brooke like she was stupid for even asking. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked around the kitchen. “Where’s Luke?”

  “Snoring his ass off upstairs,” Jay answered as he slid a cup of coffee across the island to Dana.

  Regan laughed and, suddenly looking much more awake, clapped her hands excitedly. “I’m gonna cannonball his ass. Who wants to come?”

  “What…” Gwen leaned over and whispered in Dana’s ear, “Do I want to know?”

  Dana chuckled against the rim of her coffee cup and shook her head.

  “Jay,” Brooke said, “do you have your phone on you?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

  Brooke grinned. “Because you’re gonna want to video this shit.”

  “Oh, well, if there’s gonna be a video, should I get the floaties?” Regan asked.

  Brooke shook her head and waved her off. “You’ll be fine without them. Have fun cannonballing your new friend and we’ll be making breakfast by the time you get back.”

  “What is cannonballing?” Gwen asked when Regan skipped out of the kitchen with Jay hot on her heels.

  “She’s gonna cannonball jump his bed and, if history plays out, send him flying onto the floor,” Brooke explained.

  Dana nodded, her expression saying that she had been on the receiving-end of that wake up call on at least one occasion. “Worst fucking way to wake up ever.”

  Gwen laughed. “I’m almost sorry I didn’t go up with them to watch, then.”

  “Eh, Jay’ll get a video.” Brooke shoveled the last bite of omelet into her mouth and pushed the plate toward the far side of the island. “I’ll nosh on the toast while we’re cooking.”

  “Is there anything in particular you’d like in your omelet?” Gwen asked Dana.

  “Other than a third omelet?” Brooke teased.

  Dana flipped Brooke off and popped up enough to reach across the island to steal a piece of Brooke’s toast. “Nah, I’ve got toast to tide me over.”

  “Did you just steal my food?” Brooke asked.

  Dana lifted her shoulders in a small shrug and smiled as she took a big bite of the pilfered toast. “Maybe.”

  “HOLY FUCK!” Luke’s voice bellowed through the house.

  “Wow, he’s got a set of pipes on him,” Brooke observed with a laugh.

  Gwen chuckled and reached over to give Dana’s leg a squeeze. “I’ll make your omelets now.”

  “Omelets? Plural?” Brooke hiked a disbelieving brow at Gwen. “God, she’s got you so whipped.”

  “Hey!” Gwen argued with a laugh.

  “Shut up, Waterman,” Dana chuckled, covering Gwen’s hand on her thigh with her own and giving it a light squeeze. “You forget, I know all your dirty secrets.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s great and all, but it only matters if I’m actually embarrassed by them—which I’m not,” Brooke retorted.

  Dana laughed and pulled her hand away from Gwen’s. “Good point.”

  “YOU ARE AN EVIL LITTLE SHIT, REGAN WATERMAN!” Luke’s voice carried into the kitchen.

  Gwen chuckled and shook her head. “I think we better get going on that food,” she told Brooke as she got to her feet. She shoved her plate with her untouched toast over to Dana and said, “Knock yourself out.”

  “See”—Dana picked up a triangle and pointed it at her accusingly—“Gwen shares her toast.”

  “Yeah, well, Gwen must like you more than I do, then,” Brooke retorted with a wink. She pushed the mixing bowl Gwen had used for the eggs earlier toward the trash can and said, “You crack?”

  “I can do that,” Gwen agreed as Luke, Regan, and Jay ambled into the kitchen, the former looking much less amused than the latter. “Hey, Luke.”

  “Fuck you,” Luke grumbled.

  Jay laughed. “He’ll be better once we get some food in him.”

  “Yeah, well, Dana gets the first two,” Gwen replied as she pulled the carton of eggs closer to get started on cracking enough for the first round of omelets. “The rest of you can figure out for yourselves who gets one next.”

  “Why does Dana…” Regan’s voice trailed off and she shook her head. “Never mind. I get it. She’s your favorite.”

  Gwen laughed and glanced at Dana through her eyelashes as she nodded. “Yep. She is.”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  “Great job today, guys.” Gwen smiled at the trio of cellists that made up her performance cello master class. “Keep working on Dvorak’s Violoncello Concerto, and I’ll see you next week.”

  She clasped her hands in front of herself and nodded as they chorused their thanks for the class, pleased about the way the day’s session had progressed. The students chatted amongst themselves as they began gathering their things, and once Gwen was convinced there would be no additional questions coming her way, she made her way over to the small instructor’s desk at the front of the practice room to check her phone. She ran her seminar in a way that left the hour or so of class for the students to practice what had been discussed during the main portion of the class, which meant that her own cello was already safely stowed in its case and resting in the corner behind the desk, and she habitually used this time to respond to any messages she had missed during the three-hour session.

  Her stomach growled as she plunked her purse onto the desktop, and she chuckled to herself as she pulled the phone from her purse despite the fact that she had been full-to-bursting after her lunch with Dana earlier. Somehow, though she had no idea how, exactly, she seemed to be acquiring Dana’s ridiculous metabolism.

  Her home screen showed that she missed three texts and she glanced up at her students to see how they were progressing in their packing up as she opened the app. She was not all that surprised to see that Luke and Dana had texted her, but the sight of Brooke’s name in her message feed was still new enough to make her arch a brow in surprise even though the text was just a quick—Hi, hope you’re having a good day—that she replied to with a smiley emoji and a similar sentiment. Luke’s message—Good
luck @ dinner with Mal. Call me if you need me—made her smile as she shot back a quick reply of thanks with a promise to call later.

  She hummed softly to herself as she pressed her thumb to Dana’s name in her message list, and her eyebrows lifted as she saw the picture Dana had sent. One of her athlete’s must have taken it, as she was caught at the top of completing a pull-up in a cardinal and gold bedecked weight room during what Gwen guessed had been the team’s lifting session. She was wearing the knee-length charcoal gray hiking shorts Gwen had last seen her in, but had changed from her team tee into a tight royal blue tank. The fact that Dana was in exceptional shape was no surprise to Gwen, but as her eyes roamed over the defined, bulging muscles of Dana’s upper back and shoulders, she had to admit that she honestly hadn’t realized there were so many muscles in a person’s back.

  “Shit,” she muttered, the low curse morphing into a soft laugh when she saw that Dana had also included a quick note-slash-caption for the picture—Just hanging out while the kids lift that was punctuated with a monkey emoji.

  A chorus of goodbyes from the back of the room drew her attention from her screen, and she waved at her students as the phone in her hand began to ring. She was a little surprised to see Mallory’s name on the screen just because she wasn’t supposed to meet her for another half an hour, and she blew out a soft breath as she accepted the call. “Hello?”