Symphony in Blue

by M. J. Duncan

  “One or two?”

  “One.” He laughed. “I don’t burn the calories as quickly as Luke.”

  “I hear ya,” Gwen commiserated wryly as her gaze traveled to Dana, who turned around at just that instant with generous glass of wine in her hand and a soft, enchanting smile curling her lips.

  “Where’s this Snickers cheesecake my brother from another mother was talking about?” Regan asked, eyes twinkling with laughter as she ambled into the kitchen with Brooke and Luke right behind her. She grinned and plucked the purple glass from Dana’s hand. “Thanks.”

  “That was for…” Dana sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome.”

  Gwen laughed and shook her head as she pinched two more glasses between the fingers of her left hand and held them out to Dana. “Brooke, wine?”

  “Please.”

  “Pinot gris, merlot, or Syrah?” Dana asked as she took the glasses from Gwen and turned back to the wine

  “Ooh, pinot gris sounds great, thanks.”

  “Cheesecake?” Gwen asked.

  “I’ll just pick at the fruit and cheese I saw out on the dining room table,” Brooke answered with a smile. “Thanks for having us over, by the way.”

  Gwen smiled and tipped her head in a small bow as she plated Jay’s piece of cheesecake and a piece of white chocolate raspberry for herself. “Of course. It’s my pleasure, really.”

  “Your wine, ladies,” Dana announced as she set a blue glass in front of Gwen and handed the hot pink one to Brooke.

  “Thanks.” Gwen pointed at one of plates with two pieces of cheesecake and added, “That one’s yours.”

  “Luke, take our plates,” Jay said as he set Storm on her feet. The kitten gave a mighty yawn and then padded out of the kitchen to find a place to sleep. “I’ll grab our wine.”

  “Okay,” Luke agreed as he sidled up next to Gwen. “Which ones?”

  “Those two.” Gwen pointed at their plates with one hand as she gathered Regan’s in her other. She turned and offered Regan her plate. “Your dessert, Miss.”

  “You rock,” Regan enthused, smiling widely as she leaned in to drop a playful smackeroo kiss to Gwen’s cheek.

  “Wow,” Gwen mused, chuckling softly.

  “She does have that effect on people,” Brooke agreed as Dana laughed and nodded her agreement.

  “Hey, would you guys be up for a game or something after we eat?” Luke asked as they all made their way from the kitchen to the attached dining room.

  “Only if you’re prepared to get your ass handed to you,” Regan quipped.

  “I’d like to see you try,” Luke sassed as he claimed the head of the table.

  Gwen chuckled and glanced at Dana as they set their plates and glasses next to each other at the table.

  “I know,” Dana murmured, rolling her eyes.

  “You don’t know anything,” Regan retorted. She hiked her chin at Luke. “What games does she have?”

  “Like, all of them.” Luke shook her head. “You don’t want to play Scrabble with her, though.”

  Gwen beamed as Dana nodded solemnly in agreement.

  “She beat you?” Regan asked, her voice rising in surprise.

  “Handily.” Dana sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “It was embarrassing, really.”

  Gwen laughed. “To be fair, you did better than most people do against me.”

  “Damn,” Regan drawled.

  “You two are more than welcome to go through the games I have and pick something,” Gwen told them.

  Regan arched a brow at Luke. “You up for the challenge, Benoist?”

  “Bring it, Waterman,” Luke replied. “After I finish my dessert, though. Playing for a couple hours makes me hungry.”

  “You guys were awesome tonight, by the way,” Brooke said, nodding at Gwen and Luke.

  “Best concert I’ve been to in a while,” Regan agreed. She pointed her fork at Luke. “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to mop the floor with you later, though.”

  Luke laughed and shook his head. “I guess we’ll see about that one soon enough, Waterman…”

  THIRTY-NINE

  “Seriously?” Gwen put her hands on her hips and stared at Regan, who had just interrupted her and Dana’s turn for the fifth time to try and steal the game. Granted, group games like this weren’t her specialty because her friends and personal life just hadn’t mixed recently, but she honestly could not remember a single game of Taboo that had become this cutthroat.

  “Keep going,” Dana instructed. “Brooke, don’t kill me,” she added as she pulled Regan into a headlock and clamped on hand over the redhead’s mouth. “Gwen, go.”

  Gwen rolled her eyes and looked back down at the card she was holding. “We met in one of these.”

  “Elevator.”

  Gwen nodded and tossed the card onto the table as she picked up another. “World wide…”

  “Web,” Dana answered

  “Also known as the…” Gwen prompted.

  “Internet.”

  Gwen grinned and pulled her next card as Luke recorded their correct answer on his tally sheet.That one put them ahead of Luke and Jay and two more would give them the win over Regan and Brooke.

  “Oh my god, would you stop licking my hand!” Dana yelled, loud enough to make Storm, who was sleeping in the little bed on top tier of her condo by the window, startle and shoot them a disbelieving kitten glare. She yanked her hand from Regan’s mouth and wiped it on her pants. “That’s gross.”

  “You deserved it,” Regan sassed smugly.

  “Focus,” Gwen said, snapping her fingers at Dana. There were only twenty-five seconds left on the timer and they needed two more answers to win. “Kara Danvers’ cousin.” Luke made a small sound like he wanted to shout out the answer, and Gwen pointed a warning finger at him. “Not you, too.”

  “Superman,” Dana answered, her expression serious.

  Gwen nodded and quickly pulled another card. Oh fuck. She clicked her teeth together as she tried to come up with a good clue.

  “Ten seconds,” Luke called out.

  “Shit,” Gwen muttered. She shook her head. This one was all but impossible. The only thing that might work was—“Natalie Merchant song. Ooh….” she sang the opening of the classic song as best she could and stared at Dana hopefully, praying she understood the reference. This was one of those things where their age difference might make a really disastrous difference.

  Dana jumped to her feet with her arms in the air. “Jealousy!”

  “Nice clue!” Jay said, clearly impressed.

  “No way!” Regan protested as Jay’s phone, which they had been using as their timer, began beeping.

  Game over.

  Dana pulled Gwen into a victorious hug, swaying them from side to side as she gloated, “Ha ha! Take that, Waterman!”

  Gwen laughed as she clung to Dana to keep her balance, her smile wide and untamable as she soaked up the feeling of Dana’s arms around her and their win.

  “That was impressive,” Luke said, nodding at them as he set his empty wine glass onto the table. “Were you even out of elementary school when that song came out?”

  “Probably not. But my sister is four years older than me and she loved her,” Dana shared, giving Gwen one last squeeze before relaxing her hold so that only one arm remained looped around Gwen’s waist. “And, I mean, come on, 10,000 Maniacs are amazing. That’s like, my childhood right there.”

  “Fuck you very much for making me feel old, but you’re definitely not wrong.” Luke grinned. “Good win you two.” He slapped his hands on his knees and looked at Jay. “It’s getting late. You about ready to head out?”

  “Yeah.” Jay motioned to the empty glasses spread around the coffee table in the living room. “You want us to help clean up?”

  “I got it.” Gwen shook her head. “Thanks for coming over. This was fun.”

  “It was,” Jay agreed. “We’ll have to do it again soon.”

  “We’ve got
Cards Against Humanity,” Regan offered.

  Luke pointed at her and nodded. “Fuck. Yeah. Game night is at your place next time.”

  “Oh god, the two of them and that game is going to be insane,” Dana chuckled.

  “I’ve got a premier next weekend that I have to work with one of my clients, but maybe the weekend after that?” Brooke suggested.

  Gwen nodded. “I’m in.”

  “Us too,” Jay said when Luke turned to look at him hopefully. He laughed and shook his head. “Though Dana is right, it’s going to get entirely out of control.”

  “Nah, that’s only if we’re drinking tequila,” Regan said. Her eyes widened and she looked at Luke. “Wait…”

  “We’ll bring the tequila,” Luke assured her with a mischievous wink. “Jay makes an amazing margarita mix, too.”

  “Lord help us all,” Brooke muttered as Regan whooped and clapped her approval.

  Gwen laughed and nodded as Dana murmured her agreement to Brooke’s statement.

  “You sure we can’t help clean up?” Brooke asked as she pushed herself to her feet and held her hands out to help Regan up as well.

  Dana shook her head. “I’ll hang out for a few and help her get all this picked up.”

  Regan smirked at Dana as she allowed Regan to haul her to her feet. “Sure you will…”

  “Shut up,” Dana warned.

  “What?” Regan asked, her face full of faux-innocence. “I’m just sayin’, you’re a very helpful person, is all.”

  “Brooke, take your wife home before I have to take my leg off and beat her with it.”

  “Oh my god,” Luke laughed. “That’s the best threat I’ve ever heard!”

  “Yeah, but she’s all talk and no action,” Regan quipped. “She can totally run me down on two legs, but I can outrun her ass if she has to hop after me.”

  “So wrong,” Gwen chuckled, shaking her head.

  “True, though,” Regan pointed out with a laugh.

  “Waterman,” Dana groaned, though she nodded her agreement. “Go home.”

  Brooke chuckled and hooked her arm through Regan’s. “Come on, babe. Leave them alone.”

  “But it’s so easy!” Regan protested playfully as she allowed Brooke to pull her toward the foyer. “Ugh, fine. You’re lucky my wife is making me leave!”

  “Believe me, I know,” Dana shot back.

  Gwen rolled her eyes at their antics and tipped her head in the direction of the front door. “Come on. I’ll walk you guys out.”

  Dana touched Gwen’s wrist. “I’ll start bringing this stuff into the kitchen.”

  Gwen smiled her thanks and allowed Luke to pull her into a one-armed hug as he and Jay made to leave as well.

  “Did you have fun tonight?” Luke asked softly.

  “Yeah.” Gwen glanced over her shoulder at Dana, who was watching them with a small, soft smile that made her pulse jump, and nodded. “I did.”

  “Good.” Luke squeezed her shoulders. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Me too,” Gwen murmured as his hand slipped from her shoulder. She sighed and smiled at Regan and Brooke, who were lingering near the front door. “Again, thanks so much for coming over tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this. It was fun.”

  “You’re ridiculous.” Regan shook her head fondly as she pulled Gwen into her arms. “Thank you for the tickets and having us back here. It was a great night.”

  Gwen gave her a light squeeze. “It was my pleasure,” she whispered.

  “Group hug!” Luke called out as he wrapped his arms around Gwen and Regan.

  “Oh god,” Gwen laughed as Brooke and then Jay joined in. “I can’t breathe!”

  “You know you love it,” Regan teased.

  Gwen smiled and nodded, too happy to even try and pretend that she didn’t love every minute of it. “I do.”

  Regan chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Gwen’s cheek. “Of course you do. Because we’re awesome. We’ll see you soon, cutie.”

  “Yeah, cutie,” Luke parroted as he kissed Gwen’s other cheek. “See you at rehearsal on Monday?”

  “Of course,” Gwen replied as the arms around her began to loosen.

  “See you then, then,” Luke said, pointing a finger-gun at her and winking as he reached for the doorknob.

  “You did not just do the finger-gun thing,” Regan groaned as she walked past him and out the door.

  “What? Guys love it!” Luke called after her.

  “Keep on thinking that,” Brooke told him with a smile. “We’ll see you guys soon,” she said, offering the three of them left in the foyer a little wave as she followed Regan toward the stairs.

  “We really don’t,” Jay added, dropping a quick kiss to Gwen’s cheek. “Thanks for everything, sweetie,” he added over Luke’s gasp of mock-outrage.

  “Rude!”

  Jay rolled his eyes. “Yep.”

  “You’re lucky you’re cute,” Luke huffed as Jay walked past him.

  “I know.” Jay grinned and cocked his head toward the street. “Race ya home?”

  “Oh, it’s on!” Luke accepted the challenge as he smiled at Gwen. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Don’t get a ticket,” Gwen warned as she wrapped her right hand around the edge of the door.

  “Who, me?” Luke asked as he began backing toward the stairs.

  “Yeah, you, Mister Three-tickets-in-two-weeks,” Jay retorted.

  Luke laughed and held his arms out to his sides as he turned toward Jay. “That happened one time!”

  “Tell that to our premiums that have yet to recover,” Jay teased as he waved at Gwen.

  Gwen chuckled as she waved back, and sighed as she shut the door. The night had been fun, but the peacefulness that filled the house now was a welcome relief after the hyper-energy of Luke and Regan playing off each other for the last couple hours.

  “You really don’t have to do that,” Gwen said when she entered the kitchen to find Dana at the sink, giving the dessert plates they had all stacked in the porcelain bowl a quick rinse before loading them into the dishwasher.

  “I want to,” Dana said, her expression soft as she glanced over her shoulder at Gwen. “Sounded like Luke and Regan were in top-form out there.”

  Gwen rolled her eyes and nodded as she crossed the kitchen to stand on the other side of the open dishwasher. She held out a hand and motioned for Dana to hand her the plate she had just finished cleaning. “Of course they were. It’s almost crazy to think that a month ago they didn’t even know each other.”

  “Right? Though,” Dana added with a small, shy smile as she handed Gwen the plate, “sometimes I find it hard to believe that we’ve only known each other for a couple months.”

  “Yeah,” Gwen murmured. She looked down at their hands on the plate and sighed. “It feels like I’ve known you forever.”

  “I know,” Dana breathed. She cleared her throat softly. “I can’t believe we actually beat them all in Taboo. Twice.”

  Grateful for the change in topic, Gwen agreed, “Right? I figured we’d totally get our asses handed to us since they’ve all been together for years. Though, I think you actually getting that Natalie Merchant reference I threw out there is almost more impressive.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” Dana drawled.

  Gwen laughed softly and nodded. “Yeah. You are.”

  Dana winked as she turned off the tap and handed the plate to Gwen. She dried her hands on the dishtowel that had been sitting on the counter beside the sink as Gwen set the plate into the dishwasher and closed the door, and ran a hand through her hair as she stepped into the now open space between them.

  Gwen smiled as she met Dana’s gaze, so open and warm and searching that it stole the breath from her lungs. “Hmm?”

  “You know that I think you’re pretty awesome too, right?”

  “I’m glad you think so.”

  Dana nodded, the corners of her eyes crinkling with her smile. “I do.”
She blew out a soft breath and lifted her right shoulder in a little half-shrug. “Are we still on for brunch tomorrow?”

  “Of course.” Really, for as much as Gwen had been looking forward to playing with Pentatonix and having everyone over after the show, she was looking forward to spending a quiet morning at the beach with Dana even more. “Do you want me to meet you at your place or at the café?”

  “Why don’t you just come over to my place whenever you’re ready in the morning and we’ll go over together. If it’s not too hot, we could always walk there. It’s only like a little less than a mile away from my house.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Gwen agreed with a smile. She glanced at the clock on the microwave and sighed. It was after midnight, and she knew that Dana would need to get going soon. “Are you going to be okay to drive home tonight? It’s kinda past your bedtime.”

  Dana nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Will you text me when you get home anyway?” Gwen asked as they began making their way toward the front door.

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Dana ran a hand through her hair as she stopped on the rug in front of the door, and sighed as she turned toward Gwen and reached out to take her hand. She gave it a little squeeze and murmured, “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

  “I did too,” Gwen whispered, squeezing Dana’s hand for emphasis, enjoying the way Dana’s expression softened at the touch.

  Dana licked her lips and edged closer, her eyes dancing over Gwen’s face. “I’m glad,” she breathed as she lifted her left hand to cradle the curve of Gwen’s cheek. Her head twitched in a barely noticeable shake as she dragged her thumb over the arch of Gwen’s cheekbone, like she knew she shouldn’t be doing this but she just couldn’t help herself. She swallowed thickly as she drew a feather-light line down to the corner of Gwen’s lips with the tip of her thumb, her eyes darkening when Gwen’s lips parted with a sigh in response. A quiet, plaintive sound rumbled in Dana’s throat as she dragged her thumb back to the point of Gwen’s cheek, her fingertips pressing just that little bit harder into the sensitive skin behind the hinge of Gwen’s jaw.

  The hold was so ferociously tender that it made Gwen’s heart ache for more, and her eyes fluttered shut as she turned her head into the touch, her pulse pounding an irregular rhythm against Dana’s fingertips. She wrapped her right hand around Dana’s bicep to steady herself as she felt her step closer, her entire body coming alive as shallow, ragged breaths crashed against her lips. “Dana…”