“Now, I just need flowers to go with it.” She walked it to the counter as well.
“You should get some fake ones that are blue and green. They’d contrast well with that,” Keira suggested.
“Maybe I will.” Emma smirked at her and found one of those kinetic desk knick-knacks with the balls that go back and forth. “I’ve always wanted one of these.”
“It’s cool. I’ve never seen one made with marbles before.” Keira liked the clear marbles with the cat eyes in them. In this case, they were different colors, and she pulled one of them back and let it go. They stood and watched it move back and forth for a moment before there was a throat being cleared from the woman behind the counter. “We should probably go.” She noticed the clock on the wall.
“This is good anyway. I’ll see how it all looks and get some other stuff later if I want.”
Emma paid for her purchases and carried the large bag out of the shop.
“My place is just over there,” Keira revealed with a point across the street and down half a block.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Let me drive you home so you don’t have to carry all that on the train.”
“No way. You’re literally steps from your own apartment. You’d have to drive all the way back,” Emma objected.
“It’s like a twenty-minute drive this time of night. It’s not a big deal.”
“I can’t do that to you, Keira.”
“I took up the entire night talking about Michelle and my job. You still owe me a story about your Hailey.”
Emma laughed and said, “I told you she’s not my Hailey anymore. She’s Charlie’s Hailey now.”
“That sounds like a good story to me.”
Emma looked back toward the BART station and then to Keira again.
“As much as I’d like to hang out with you more tonight, I think I’d rather let you go home, take the train back, and continue with that story another time.”
“Another time?”
“Yeah, another time,” she repeated. “Thank you for tonight. I really needed it.”
“I had fun, despite some of the not fun topics of conversation.”
“Me too.” Emma bit her bottom lip, turning halfway toward the station. “I should get going. I have a long week ahead of me.”
“Can you just text me when you get home so I know you got there okay?” Keira asked.
Emma laughed lightly but nodded and said, “I can do that.”
“Okay.” Keira paused. “Good night then.”
“Night.” Emma walked backward a few steps, smiled, and then turned toward the station.
Keira stood still for a few more moments until she too turned and headed home. About forty-five minutes later, she received a text message from Emma, saying that she’d made it home safely. Keira smiled and replied with another goodnight message, readying herself for bed.
◆◆◆
When Emma woke Tuesday morning, it was with a smile. She brushed her teeth with the same smile. She headed for work trying to hide that smile. People might think it was strange that she was walking down the street with a huge grin on her face. She made it to work earlier than usual. She was determined to get through everything in order to get home at a reasonable hour. She breezed through her morning meeting and returned to her office to check her email for a report she was slated to receive for approval. She reviewed it, sent it off to Ivy in record time, and even grabbed a second cup of tea; not out of necessity but because she liked tea and the kitchen area was near her team’s cubicles. It gave her a chance to check in with some of them as well. Lunch was delivered by Mason to Joanna’s office, and the three of them ate together while they discussed the pertinent items of the day. By five, Emma was out the door and on the train back to her apartment.
“Hey, I have news,” Hailey revealed only a minute after Emma had called her for a chat and, hopefully, a chance to talk about Keira.
“You do? What’s up?”
“Hold on,” Hailey said. “Charlie, it’s Emma.” There was the sound of movement in the background as the call was placed on speaker.
“Hey, Emma.”
“Hi, Charlie. What’s this news she’s talking about?”
“I’ll let her tell you,” Charlie said. “Go ahead, Hails.”
“Okay.” There was the sound of Hailey taking a deep breath. “So, we made a decision. We’re going to try to get pregnant.”
“Oh,” Emma stated after a moment. “I knew that already. You two have been talking about kids since forever.”
“I know, but it’s officially official,” Hailey added.
“She means we’ve been to the doctor,” Charlie shared. “We’ve started the process. Well, we started the tests. Then, we’ll start the process.”
“Which one of you is going to have the baby?” Emma asked.
“We’re both doing the tests to check for fertility. We both would like to have one. But we don’t know if after one we’ll really want another or if we’ll end up with the jackpot like Alyssa and Hannah with their twins. We’ll both get tested. Whoever has the best odds, according to the doctor, will try it first.”
“That’s actually pretty practical,” Emma nodded as she said it.
“She read an article about it.” Charlie laughed lightly at her wife’s quirky habit of reading articles and reciting their findings on random topics fairly regularly.
“I did not.” Hailey laughed. “She’s a liar. It just makes sense. We’re really doing it, Em. We’re going to be parents” she added excitedly.
“I’m so happy for you guys,” Emma replied.
She was happy for her friends, and especially for Hailey who’d once been her everything. She wanted Hailey to be the happiest she could be. Charlie and their soon to be family made her that way. But Emma also couldn’t help but do the human thing in that moment too. She thought about herself and how behind she was again compared to her friends. She listened to the two of them talk about the timeline and that they didn’t care if they had a boy or a girl. They even mentioned possible names. Emma laughed at some of the more ridiculous ones and agreed with the ones that sounded good. Unfortunately, though, she didn’t get to mention her possible new crush on Keira Worthy because of the late hour there and her friend’s early doctor’s appointment.
After hanging up, she made herself a quick dinner and settled on something to watch on TV when her phone rang. She smiled at the hope that it was Keira calling, but the smile disappeared when she saw that it was a number she didn’t recognize. Normally, she wouldn’t answer these calls, but she was still in the process of getting all the phone numbers of the people she worked with. On the off chance it was one of them, she picked up.
“This is Emma Colton.”
“Hi, Emma. This is Olivia.”
“Olivia?”
“From the bar. From speed dating.”
“Oh, Kellan’s friend.”
“Yes, Kellan’s friend. I’m sorry to call you. Normally, I wouldn’t do this… But do you remember Angela from Friday night?”
“Angela?” Emma tried to put a face to the name. “Oh, Angela. Blonde hair, brown eyes?”
“Yes, with the glasses.”
“I remember her.”
Angela had been one of the few women she’d enjoyed talking to on Friday. She’d been a little shy. The glasses she’d worn made Emma think, just for a moment, about some of those sexy librarian fantasies. She’d also been sweet. But they’d only had two minutes together. Emma hadn’t thought about her since that night.
“Well, she checked your box on her form, but you left before we got a chance to get to the next part of the evening. She’s actually a friend of mine. She told me today at lunch that she really enjoyed talking to you.”
“She did?”
“She’s normally not this forward, but she wanted to make an exception.”
“Exception?”
“She was hoping I’d give her your number. But friend or not, I didn�
�t want to just give your phone number away,” she stated. Emma had forgotten she’d filled out the questionnaire and provided her cell number. “She told me today that I could give you her number instead. If you were interested, you could call her.”
“Oh, wow!” Emma set her plate of half-eaten food on her coffee table.
“She’s great, I promise. I’ve known her for about three years now. She teaches kindergarten at a private school. She’s smart and funny. I told her I wouldn’t gush about her because she said that would be embarrassing. So I’ll stop there.”
“I guess you can give me her number.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Things are kind of crazy for me right now. I promise I’m not just saying that as an excuse not to call. I just moved here and started a new job. I wasn’t at the bar to speed date. I ran into someone who knows Kellan. I kind of got roped into it. No offense.”
“None taken. It’s not for everyone. I do love it though. I like the idea of helping women find love, and particularly lesbians since I’m one myself.” She paused. “If you have a pen and paper I can give you her number now. By Kellan’s friend, did you mean Keira?”
Emma smiled at the mention of Keira’s name. She got a flash of Keira sitting across from her in the Indian restaurant with the candles’ flickering light creating little flashes of gold in her light blue eyes.
“We met through work last week. I ran into her there Friday night.”
“She really broke Kell’s heart,” Olivia replied.
“She did?”
“I know it’s not technically cheating when you’re not officially exclusive, but Kell was in love with that girl. Keira just brushed her aside when she met someone else. I shouldn’t be saying this to you. I’m sorry, that was inappropriate of me,” Olivia explained.
“That’s okay,” Emma said but wished she could hear more about whatever had happened between Keira and Kellan.
“Anyway, are you ready for the number?”
“Oh, sure.”
CHAPTER 10
Keira had pep in her step on Thursday morning. She’d be spending all afternoon with Emma, finalizing everything they could think to finalize. And Friday, they’d head to the park to do a quick site visit. They couldn’t start setting anything up yet, but she wanted to tell Emma about the plan she had for the space and how she’d organized the vendors. That would take most of the day. And Saturday was the event itself. She’d have three straight days with Emma after spending more than twenty-four hours without her. She parked her car in the lot and straightened her hair before taking the elevator to Emma’s floor.
Emma was gorgeous, but she was also talented and humble. Every time Keira managed to get her to talk about work, Emma spoke about her previous teams and how good they were, leaving herself little to no credit. She could imagine Emma was a great boss. She’d always imagined herself as a great boss. When she and Michelle started the company, the plan had been to make a name for themselves, align their vendor relationships, and bring on one or two people as needed. They’d planned for a staff of twenty by the time they hit the five-year mark. Now though, Keira was doing it all alone.
“Hey, you.” She leaned in the doorway of Emma’s office, feeling suddenly better after those down thoughts just at the sight of Emma.
“Hey.” Emma looked up. “You’re early,” she added and glanced down at her computer.
Keira’s smile disappeared when she saw Emma clearly either wasn’t in a good mood or wasn’t happy to see her.
“First time for everything,” she joked.
“Huh?” Emma asked and closed her computer.
“I’m usually late.” Keira straightened in the doorway. “I’m only like ten minutes early. Should I come back? The receptionist told me it was okay to–”
“No, it’s fine,” Emma interrupted. “Sit down.”
Keira did. She felt more like she was in trouble and being asked to sit in front of the principal’s desk. She glared at Emma, who didn’t seem to be paying her much attention. She had no idea what had happened. Just the other night, they’d spent the entire evening together. She thought they’d both had fun. But now Emma was back to the first version of herself that Keira met the day she nearly hit her with her car.
“Okay. What happened?” Keira asked after a moment of what could only be described as awkward silence.
“Sorry?”
“You’re back to hating me all the sudden. What did I do?”
“I don’t hate you,” Emma argued. “What are you talking about?”
“Are you having a crappy day or something? You’re definitely in a mood.”
“I’m not in a mood,” Emma defended. “I’m just ready to get to work on this.”
Keira didn’t believe her. Emma’s eyes weren’t connecting with Keira’s at all, so she knew it was a lie. But Emma was right in that they should be working. So she’d deal with that later.
“Your office looks nice.” She decided to change the subject. “I like the artwork.”
“You picked it out,” Emma replied as her eyes followed Keira’s to the picture on the wall.
She turned back to Emma and met her dark eyes.
“Let’s just get to work,” Keira gave in. “I have a million things to do today to get this done.”
“Where do we start?” Emma asked, ready to get down to business.
They worked together for over an hour, amiably but with a tension in the air that hadn’t been present the last time they’d seen one another. Around 2:30, Emma said she wanted tea and needed a walk. Keira thought it might be a good time to bring up whatever was bothering her. They were out of the office and on neutral territory as they entered Philz Coffee, a favorite among the locals that Emma hadn’t visited yet.
“So, what kind of coffee do you like? This menu is a little different than a regular coffee place. I can help you pick something out,” Keira offered.
“I will drink coffee, but I’ve been more of a tea girl for the past five or so years.”
“Dark or light?” Keira persisted with the coffee order and a smirk.
“Am I ordering chicken?” Emma questioned and tossed Keira a glance as they stood in line.
Keira resisted the urge to laugh. Emma’s tone was a little playful, which was drastically different than what it had been earlier in the day. But her stubbornness wouldn’t give Emma the satisfaction.
“Coffee. You’re ordering coffee,” she reminded and nodded toward the menu on the wall. “Do you like a dark roast, light roast, or something in-between?”
“I guess something in-between.” Emma’s eyes were on the menu. “Is Philtered Soul any good? I like hazelnut.”
“I haven’t had that one. I usually get Ether.”
“That’s pretty hardcore,” Emma replied in that playful tone again.
“It’s a dark roast. I like my coffee strong.” Keira let out a small chuckle and ordered for them both when they arrived at the counter. She got Emma the Philtered Soul and got herself the usual. She stood by the condiment bar watching Emma add what seemed like an unnecessary amount of skim milk to her coffee after dumping out nearly half of it into the trash can. “Okay, you just committed like two major coffee sins. You’re in Philz. They take that kind of thing very seriously around here,” she explained.
“Coffee sins?” Emma replaced the lid.
“They hate when you dump the delicious coffee they just made you into a trash can when all you have to do is ask for room for cream when you order.”
“You ordered for me, and you didn’t ask.”
“I asked you what kind of–” Keira cut herself off and wave a dismissive hand with a smile. “Unimportant.”
“What’s the other sin?” Emma laughed at Keira’s reaction.
“You’re drinking milk with a splash of coffee. It should be the opposite,” she explained as they walked toward the door, bumping into other coffee drinkers in the packed house as they went.
“I told you, I’m more of a tea girl. I don’t
like the bitterness.”
“You’re drinking coffee. It kind of comes with the territory.” She laughed. “And you’ve been pretty bitter most of the day today, by the way.”
She hadn’t prepared to share that last part, but Emma’s reaction when they hit the street was enough to tell her she was right to say it. Emma nodded and then sipped her coffee that was likely almost cold already due to the amount of milk she’d just dumped in it.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized after a moment and then motioned for them to keep walking.
“What’s going on?” Keira asked.
◆◆◆
“I’m not being fair to you,” Emma pronounced. “I’m sorry.”
Since hearing about Keira and Kellan from Olivia, she’d had this funny feeling that she just couldn’t shake. It had taken a call to Hailey the previous night where she rolled out everything that had happened between the two of them so far. She included Olivia’s comment about how Keira treated Kellan to almost snap her out of it, but then seeing Keira in her office only made that funny feeling return. She liked Keira. She had hoped that, after the event on Saturday, they could go on a real date. But hearing that she’d apparently dismissed Kellan when something else came along and that Kellan had been broken up about it made Emma flashback to her own situation with Eli. She’d known it wasn’t the same thing. She wasn’t irrational. Every situation was different. Keira wasn’t her ex-girlfriend. But she couldn’t help the gnawing in her stomach that if Keira treated Kellan poorly, she could do the same with her.
“Can you explain, because the other night I thought we had fun. It felt like things went well. I mean, I kind of thought that we were…” Keira faded as she took a drink of her coffee.
“Before I moved here, I was in a long-term relationship. It ended when I found out she’d been cheating on me for months with her ex. After we broke up, I was kind of lost there for a while. I’ve had several girlfriends in my lifetime, but there have only been two women that I actually thought I could end up with.”
San Francisco Series- Complete Edition Page 9
