by Harper Bliss
April cocks her head. “Do you have your phone on you?”
I nod.
“Do you have any pictures of your paintings on it?”
“Some.”
“Can I see?”
“Sure, but being able to paint is not a special skill. You can learn how to do it.” I unlock my phone and scroll to the folder with some of my paintings, then I hand it to her.
“Who taught you how to paint like that?” April asks.
“Nobody. I taught myself.”
“And you think that’s not a special skill—a gift, even?”
“If it is, I can’t really use it as a currency in society-at-large.”
She keeps looking at my phone. “Jesus, Anna. These are stunning. Your dog in particular is utterly adorable. What’s his name?”
“Hemingway,” I say, my chest glowing a little, as though I’m solely responsible for my dog’s cuteness, while all I ever did was adopt him.
“Is this Zoe?” She turns the phone screen toward me.
The glow in my chest changes into something else. Pangs of regret and guilt. I nod.
“She looks like a lovely person. Or at least you painted her as such.” She hands me back the phone.
“Oh, no, she is that gorgeous. The painting doesn’t even really do her justice.”
“I’m sure it does, Anna.” April straightens her back. “Right. I know what my mission is. Will you help me accomplish it?”
“Um, depends what it is,” I mumble while I put my phone back.
“My mission is to get you to accept yourself.”
“You sound just like Zoe now.”
“Good. Nothing like a gorgeous woman to get you where you want to be.”
I chuckle. “What?” April is not as therapist-y as I had expected her to be—far from it, actually. I kind of like it. I had expected a form of solemnness that reminds me of funerals, not this kind of playful energy.
“Your anxiety is hardwired, Anna. We both know that. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a life in which you’re not afraid all the time, in which you’re not afraid to be with Zoe—even though she might scare you because she makes you face some uncomfortable things about yourself.”
If you say so, I think, because I’m not entirely convinced yet.
“If you decide to come back, and I really hope you will, because I think we can do great work together, then I would like to give you an assignment. Homework, if you will.”
“I was always really bad at homework, what with the demand avoidance and all that,” I joke.
“I want you to go and see Zoe.” April ignores my joke, which is probably the best way to respond to it in this situation. “And I want you to tell her that you’ve taken the huge step of starting to work on your self-acceptance. And then I want you to see what happens and report back to me next week.”
“But… I haven’t even decided I want to come back yet.” Is the session over already?
“I know and that’s up to you. I know I can’t make you come back, but if you do, that’s your homework assignment.”
“You’re challenging me.” I purse my lips and look at April.
She nods. “I never said it would be easy. If it were, you wouldn’t be here.” She reaches behind her for something on her desk. “I’m going to write you down for an appointment at the same time next week. If you want to cancel it, email me three days in advance. My email address is on here.” She gives me an appointment card. “No pressure.” She throws in a smile.
“Wait… has an hour gone by already?” I check my watch.
“No, but I rarely have hour-long appointments with people with ASD. The sensory overload is too much, especially in the beginning. We need to work our way up to longer sessions.”
Smart, I think. Maybe April knows what she’s doing. I tap the card against the palm of my hand. “Okay.”
“I hope to see you next week, Anna,” she says.
15
Zoe
I wonder why Jamie asked me to wait to see Anna until today. Ever since he said it, I’ve been curious to the point of distraction. To the point that not going to see Anna is no longer an option, because I need to find out what Jamie meant. What did she do yesterday?
All week, I haven’t been able to get Anna off my mind. Yet, I’ve not even responded to her text message. It seems the time for that has passed, anyway.
By closing time on Thursday, I can no longer contain myself. No matter what Anna got up to yesterday, it didn’t entice her to walk Hemingway past Bookends today, unless I missed them, but that seems highly unlikely.
I’m just glad it’s not Friday, because if it were, I’d have to go find Anna at Lenny’s, and that’s not where I want to have a conversation with her.
I tell Brooklyn there’s soup in the fridge and that I might be back in either half an hour or in a few hours.
“Why so vague?” she asks.
“Why so many questions?” I retort.
“It’s only one question,” she says, “And because I’m your daughter.” I can’t really be snarky when she says that.
“I’m going to see Anna.”
That at least makes her pause whatever she’s watching on her phone.
“Have you made up?” she says in an accusatory tone—as in, why is the daughter always the last to know?
“No, but I’d like to.”
“Okay.” She nods. “Okay.” The second ‘okay’ sounds a touch more excited than the first.
“I don’t know how it’s going to go, hence the vague time frame.” I’m more nervous than excited.
“She’d be a fool to not give you another chance, Mom.” Brooklyn flutters her lashes.
“Are you making fun of me now? You? The only daughter I’ll ever have?” I want to give her an impromptu hug, so I walk over to the sofa. “How about you wish me luck instead.”
“You don’t need it. Anna might be difficult, but anyone can see she’s completely smitten with you.”
“Really?” I hold Brooklyn at arm’s length. “You can see that?”
“Of course I can. I’m not blind, Mom. And she looked miserable when I ran into her the other day. And you’re my mom and therefore a huge catch.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” I give her a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Do something other than be glued to your phone all night, please.”
“Sure,” she says, even though she might as well have said ‘yeah, right.’
I’ve barely made it out of the door, when I spot a familiar dog walking in my direction. Hemingway sees me and sprints toward me as though I hold the key to all the dog biscuits in the universe. Anna can’t be far behind.
I keep one gloved hand in Hemingway’s fur and look ahead. There she is—she’s made it onto my street. Anna’s not wearing a hat and her hair is sticking out in all directions again.
Hemingway and I walk toward her and as we approach, I see that slightly surprised look on her face again. It’s always there, but tonight, as twilight descends around us, I like to think she’s just happily surprised to see me.
“I found this dog roaming the streets,” I say, hooking a finger under Hemingway’s collar.
“We can’t have that,” Anna says. “But he seemed very keen to see you.”
“He was.” The corners of my mouth are turning upward already. “I was actually on my way to see you.”
“And I was on my way to see you,” she says, smiling back at me.
“Here we are, meeting halfway.” I feel something settle deep inside of me—as though my body knows more than I do. “Should we go to your place to talk?”
She slants her head. “Someone’s not going to be happy that his walk has been cut short.” She ruffles Hemingway’s fur.
“Let’s just walk then,” I say.
Anna nods but we don’t start walking yet.
“Why were you coming to see me?” I ask.
“Because…” She scratches her cheek. “It would appear, I might very well
be in love with you and, um, I missed you. And also because I made an ass of myself, and, um…” She stops and turns to me. “Why were you coming to see me?”
“Please, just finish what you were saying.” Did she just say that she’s in love with me?
Hemingway whines and raises a paw.
“Let’s walk,” Anna says. “Not that my dog is the boss of me.” She sends me a smile.
We walk slowly, side by side. Hemingway’s a few feet in front of us.
“I—” Anna starts to say. She looks straight ahead now, a little cloud of steam coming from her mouth when she opens it to speak. “I went to see someone yesterday. A therapist. Only briefly, but it helped.” She takes a deep breath. “It helped me get out of my head a little, which is where I spend most of my time… predicting my life and all the ways it can go wrong, especially when someone new comes along.” She glances at me now, but only furtively. “Someone like you.”
Ah. That’s what Jamie meant. I let Anna continue.
“I don’t even know what I was so afraid of. Honestly, it sounds so ludicrous now,” she says. “But that’s what happens when you’re stuck in a loop inside your own head.” She looks fully at me now. “If I hadn’t met you, I might never have gone to see the therapist. Jamie had to talk me into it. He practically had to drag me there, but it happened because I lost you. In many ways, even though I tried to convince myself otherwise, not being with you seemed much more unbearable than just moving on with my life.”
Hemingway stops to thoroughly inspect a bush with his nose. So I stop as well. “It wasn’t all you, Anna.” I turn toward her and find her gaze. Darkness is falling quickly around us but I can still make out her face. “I pushed you too hard. I do that sometimes.”
She shakes her head. “You have every right to push.”
“I’m glad you found someone to talk to so that you don’t have to go through everything on your own.”
“I’m not on my own.” Anna surprises me by reaching for my hand.
“You’re not,” I reassure her. “I really was on my way to see you.” I take a step closer to her. “Apparently, we need to watch The L Word together.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Anna knits her eyebrows together. “Does that mean you’ll give me another chance?”
“If you’ll let me.” Even though it’s almost dark, I can see her eyes sparkle. Or maybe I’m just imagining that. But I’m sure I’m not imagining how she pulls me toward her, slants her head, and moves in to kiss me. And when her lips touch mine, I know what I’ve missed. I know why I was on my way to see her tonight.
I’m falling in love with her too.
* * *
TO BE CONTINUED…
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the second part of Anna & Zoe’s story.
* * *
Find out how their story concludes in Two Hearts Forever (Two Hearts Trilogy - Book 3).
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About the Author
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Harper Bliss is a best-selling lesbian romance author. Among her most-loved books are the highly dramatic French Kissing and the often thought-provoking Pink Bean series.
Harper lived in Hong Kong for 7 years, travelled the world for a bit, and has now settled in Brussels (Belgium) with her wife and photogenic cat, Dolly Purrton.
Together with her wife, she hosts a weekly podcast called Harper Bliss & Her Mrs.
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Also by Harper Bliss
Next in Line for Love
A Lesson in Love
Life in Bits (with T.B. Markinson)
A Swing at Love (with Caroline Bliss)
No Greater Love than Mine
Once Upon a Princess (with Clare Lydon)
In the Distance There Is Light
The Road to You
Seasons of Love
Release the Stars
Once in a Lifetime
At the Water’s Edge
The French Kissing Series (Seasons 1-5)
High Rise (The Complete Collection)
* * *
the Pink Bean Series
More Than Words (Book 9)
Crazy for You (Book 8)
Love Without Limits (Book 7)
No Other Love (Book 6)
Water Under Bridges (Book 5)
This Foreign Affair (Book 4)
Everything Between Us (Book 3)
Beneath the Surface (Book 2)
No Strings Attached (Book 1)
* * *
For a complete list of all Harper Bliss titles, please visit harperbliss.com/books-in-order
Copyright © 2020 by Harper Bliss
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Edited by Cheyenne Blue
Proofread by Claire Jarrett
Cover design by Caroline Manchoulas
Published by Ladylit Publishing - Hong Kong
ISBN: 978-988-74415-0-2
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