Keep Tahoe Blue

by Nicole Pyland

“Why not?” Remy argued. “I’ve never understood your need to keep this to yourself. You, mom and dad always wanted no one to know because they’d treat you differently. Reese, you are different. They should have treated you differently.”

  “I don’t want another lecture about this from you.” She finished up and turned off the water.

  “I put up all that stuff around the house for you when I moved back in. You took it all down.” Remy moved into the bathroom while Reese exited the shower in her towel. “It’s not safe, Reese. Look at what happened last night. You didn’t even know you were cold. What if you’d been out there alone?”

  “I wouldn’t have been out there alone. I was out there on a date. And I let you put all the stuff back up,” Reese reminded her sister and ran a brush through her hair.

  “You took it down when you invited Kellan over.”

  “Because that’s a lot to explain. I let you put it back up after she left. It’s up right now. It’s the reason I didn’t invite her inside and looked unbelievably rude to a woman I want to have a second date with.” She pushed at a rubber protection barrier on the corner of the bathroom counter.

  “Second date?” Remy leaned against the doorframe.

  “Yes,” she confirmed.

  “She’s leaving in a few days, Reese.”

  “I know that.”

  “Earlier, you made it seem like it was different than how it was with the other tourists.”

  “It is.” Reese glanced at her sister in confusion.

  “But it’s not.” Remy shrugged. “She’s still leaving just like the others.”

  “I didn’t sleep with her, Remy. I want to; but we didn’t last night. The others were sex first and everything else either later or never. But Kellan’s different.”

  “Because you didn’t sleep with her on the first date?”

  “Because I really, really like her.”

  “Baby sis, this is a recipe for disaster. You know that, right? You fall for this woman, and she leaves. Then what? Long-distance relationship?”

  “I know. I know.” She shoved Remy out of the bathroom. “I just don’t want to be reminded about this right now. Let me have my moment.”

  “Okay.” Remy laughed. “I’ll wait in the living room.”

  Reese stared at herself in the mirror for a moment and thought about Kellan and their very interesting date. She wondered if the woman thought her strange or rude for not inviting her inside, or if she was worried about the same thing Reese was worried about. Maybe Kellan only wanted a vacation fling and nothing more. Maybe that was all Reese could handle anyway. She hadn’t prepared herself for liking Kellan as much as it turned out she did. She hadn’t thought about what it would mean if their date went as well as it had; how it would feel to have Kellan’s skin pressed against her own. She’d assumed it would either be bad or, at best, an okay date. And she’d been wrong. Now, she’d have to deal with that and everything that came with it.

  CHAPTER 12

  Kellan was both excited and bored at the same time. She hadn’t been sure that was possible, but as she sat on the sofa of her cabin eating a very late lunch, she’d been proved wrong. She was bored because she had nothing to do except wait for Reese’s promised call, but she was excited because she was waiting for Reese’s promised call. She hoped that once school let out, Reese would call to arrange a dinner date.

  Unfortunately, that time had come and gone. As Kellan grabbed her jacket to grab dinner on her own, her phone rang.

  “Oh, thank God!” She grabbed it off the counter and saw Hillary’s name on the screen. “Damn,” she said to herself. Hillary was one of her closest friends. She’d left several messages Kellan had yet to reply to since she’d arrived. “Hey, Hill.”

  “You answered? Greene, she actually answered,” Hillary exclaimed.

  “Wait. Greene’s with you?” she asked.

  “Hey, Kell!” Macon Greene greeted her. “You’re on speaker.”

  “I am?”

  “What’s going on, Kellan? Why haven’t you been answering your phone or returning messages?” Hillary chimed in.

  “I’m on vacation,” she reminded. “You guys know why.”

  “Keira’s not with us if that’s what you’re worried about,” Greene offered. “We were worried about you and wanted to make sure you’re okay. Jo’s here though.”

  “Jo?” Kellan asked.

  “Oh, I forgot you guys haven’t met. Joanna’s here. She’s friends with Emma. We all met when we–”

  “Anyway…” Hillary stopped Greene’s ramble. “We’re hanging out at my place. We were talking about you. How are you? We didn’t think you’d actually pick up.”

  “Hi. I’m Joanna,” a foreign but kind voice introduced.

  “I’m Kellan. And I’m okay,” she answered honestly. “It’s been good for me, actually.”

  “Yeah?” Greene asked.

  “Surprisingly good.”

  “Are you coming back this weekend?” Hillary asked her. “We have After Dark next Thursday.”

  The group went to the event at the museum monthly. Keira would be there. Likely, so would Emma. Kellan bit her lower lip at the thought of the two of them together. Then, she released it. For the first time, she didn’t feel that pang of jealousy and hurt at the image of Keira and Emma holding hands or flirting back and forth with one another. Her mind pushed those images aside. They were replaced with one of Reese running her hand through her hair, and she smiled.

  “I haven’t decided yet. I probably won’t go to After Dark even if I do come back, though.”

  “Because of Keira?” Hillary asked.

  “No. I don’t know. I just don’t feel like doing the same things I used to do when I get back. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

  “Are you ditching us?” Greene asked.

  “No.” Kellan laughed. “I love you, guys.” She paused. “I might stick around here for a bit.”

  “Yeah?” Greene and Hillary asked at the same time.

  “I feel good here. I’ve been hiking and canoeing. It’s been fun. I feel better.”

  “That’s great, Kell,” Hillary replied. “How long can you stay?”

  “I left things kind of open-ended. I’m technically on leave.”

  “How long will you stay if you do?” Greene asked. “Jo, you look great in that. Can we go?” she said to someone else. “Sorry. We’re heading out to a movie. Joanna has tried on three sweaters already,” she added to Kellan.

  “Is she you’re new… I don’t know what you call them,” she admitted to Greene in a hushed tone.

  “Call what?” Greene checked.

  “I think she means your hook-ups,” Hillary explained in an equally hushed tone.

  “What? I told you, she’s Emma’s friend from work. Oh, and she’s straight,” she answered.

  “Sorry, I guess I’ve missed some stuff,” Kellan admitted and heard a beep on her phone. She lifted it from her ear to see that Reese was calling. “Hey, guys, I’ve got another call.”

  “You’re answering two calls in one day?” Greene asked.

  “I’ll call you guys when I decide how long I’m staying. Okay?” Kellan tried to move their goodbye along.

  “Fine. Fine,” Hillary agreed. “Jesus, it’s like she’s got a hot date on the other line or something.”

  “Or a hooker,” Greene joked. “Is it a hooker?”

  “Goodbye, Hill. Bye, Greene.” Kellan clicked over without waiting for a response. “Hi.” She noticed the change in her own tone instantly.

  “Hey.”

  “How are you?” Kellan asked and fell back onto the sofa.

  “I’m good. You?”

  “Good. I was just talking to my friends.”

  “Oh, sorry. Do you want to call me back later?”

  “No,” Kellan nearly shouted. “No, they’re good,” she added more softly.

  “Okay.” Reese laughed. “What are you up to right now?”

  “I have something
I was about to do, but that shouldn’t take more than about twenty minutes. Why?”

  “I was thinking about asking you out to dinner.”

  Kellan glanced over at the sink where she’d just placed her bowl of mostly uneaten soup.

  “Really?” She smiled and knew Reese could tell from her tone.

  “Yes, really.” Reese laughed. “But no big adventure tonight; I’m still recovering from our last one.”

  “You’re still recovering? I still have the iPhone indentation on my thigh, remember?”

  “No, I don’t. Maybe you can show me to prove its existence.”

  “Maybe.” Kellan threw back and found herself toying with the denim of her jeans with her fingers on that very thigh.

  “There are a few places I can recommend. Are you a picky eater?”

  “Not really.”

  “Okay. Would you want to go for a drive?”

  “Drive where?”

  “North Lake. Truckee. There’s a nice place up there. Shouldn’t take too long to get there since the weather’s good and tourist season is over.”

  “Still about an hour away though, right?”

  “Probably. Why? Are you starving?”

  “No, it just sounds like an adventure.”

  “It’s likely that every date with me will be an adventure. You up for it?”

  “I am.” Kellan smiled.

  “I’ll pick you up in thirty?”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  ◆◆◆

  “You’re taking me all the way to the other side of the lake? That’s a long time to spend in a car with someone. You sure about this?” Kellan joked with Reese just after they hit the road.

  “I’m sure.” Reese laughed. “What did you do with yourself after you dropped me off this morning?”

  “Just hung out near the cabin. How was work?” Kellan asked.

  “The kids were extra crazy today,” Reese began. “Sometimes, I think I want one or two of my own. Other times, I reconsider. Today was one of those days.” Reese glanced over at her. “I got a call from Morgan earlier.”

  “Yeah?”

  “She’d gone by the outpost and saw the canoe had been returned. The guy that works there told her you’d returned it this morning. That got her attention.”

  “Oh, shit.” Kellan sighed. “Am I in trouble? I paid for the rental for the night. I didn’t think–”

  “You’re not in trouble.” She turned back to the road. “I am.”

  “Why?”

  “Morgan’s always been protective of me. She and Remy both think it’s their main job in life. It is actually Remy’s since my main job in life is to protect her, but that’s a sister thing.”

  “I have siblings. We’re not all that close, but I understand what that’s like. I can only imagine it’s even stronger with twins.”

  “She’s a part of me; I’m a part of her. We’ll always look out for each other. But Morgan shouldn’t be this concerned about me, if you know what I mean.”

  “Is it a jealousy thing?”

  “I asked her that question. She never seemed to mind when she found out about other women I was with before. She’s never been the jealous type. It’s honestly one of the reasons I knew it wouldn’t work between us after the accident. She’d never seemed to care when other women flirted with me. Honestly, it never bothered me all that much when they flirted with her either.” She paused. “I asked her if it was because she’d asked you out and you’d turned her down.”

  “I didn’t actually turn her down. I just…” Kellan tried to consider how to complete her sentence when Reese lifted an eyebrow at her. “Never mind.”

  “She told me she texted you last night.”

  “Oh, she did. I didn’t get it until today when I turned my phone on. I haven’t replied yet.”

  “She had your number, but I didn’t, huh?” Reese asked playfully.

  “She had my number because I called to cancel on her for kayaking so that you and I could go to the island together.”

  Reese laughed and placed a hand on her thigh. Kellan stared down at it for a moment, but then it was removed and placed back on the wheel.

  “I’m teasing you, Kell.”

  “She asked me out again in the text,” she confessed. “I checked the time it came in. It was after she saw the two of us together. I chalked it up to some kind of competition thing she has with you or something.”

  “How does it feel having two women compete for your attention?” Reese smirked in her direction.

  “Really weird,” Kellan chuckled in response. “And you’re not fighting over me; you’re fighting with each other.”

  “We are, are we?” Reese laughed and stopped them at a light. She turned to face Kellan a little more fully. “Care to tell what you think you know?” she asked playfully.

  “She asked me out again via a text message, after I’d turned her down once already. And it was after she’d seen you and me alone together, when she knows you haven’t done that in a long time. She’s in a weird position and doesn’t know what to do about it. Maybe she likes me a little, I don’t know. But I’m sure she still has some feelings for you even if they’re not the same old ones she used to have.”

  “She admitted as much today.”

  “She told you she still has feelings for you?”

  “Not like that.” Reese turned when the light changed and drove on. “She said it was the canoe thing that got her.”

  “I figured.”

  “You did?” She glanced toward Kellan curiously.

  “She’s fine with you having sex with a passer-by you’ll never see again because she knows that’s just sex. But when she sees you doing something you haven’t done since her, since your accident, it’s different.”

  “How’d you know that?”

  “Because that’s how it felt with Keira.” Kellan stared ahead. “She’d dated a little here and there. It was weird, but it never really bothered me until Emma.”

  “Because it was real?” Reese asked.

  “Yes, because then it was real,” she confirmed, only partially talking about Keira.

  ◆◆◆

  “Did you take care of what you needed to before I picked you up?” Reese had been particularly curious about Kellan’s errand or chore since the woman had been somewhat ambiguous when they were on the phone.

  They were sitting at their small dinner table in the restaurant she’d chosen based on its view of the lake at sunset. They had patio seats, which she’d been able to reserve. Kellan was sipping her red wine while staring out at the orange and pinks hues of the sunset. The sight made Reese want to lean over and kiss her.

  “I did, yes,” Kellan replied and sat her glass back on the table.

  “Is it a government secret?” Reese laughed and finished the last bite of their shared dessert.

  “What? What I had to do?” Kellan laughed and turned more fully to Reese.

  “You’re being pretty vague.”

  “What do you think I had to do?” She smiled at her. “That I had to wrap up another hot date or something?”

  “Well, Morgan did text you, so it’s a possibility.”

  “You know I turned her down, Reese,” Kellan reminded. “You really want to know what I had to do?”

  “Not if you don’t want to tell me,” she replied. “I’m just being nosy.”

  “Part of me doesn’t want to tell you because it might change things. The other part of me really wants to tell you because it might change things.”

  “What?” Reese chuckled.

  “Can we go sit over there?” Kellan pointed to the long row of bench seats the restaurant provided to allow guests to further enjoy the view. They butted up against the rocky shore. “I kind of want to enjoy the view for a while. The sun’s about to disappear.”

  “Sure. Let me get the check. Go on over and save us a spot,” she instructed.

  Kellan headed in the direction of the bench seating while Reese stood and wen
t to find their waitress. Once she’d taken care of the check, she went back outside and joined Kellan, who was already sitting facing the water. The sun was almost entirely engulfed by the horizon. The restaurant’s heaters and outdoor lighting had turned on, allowing them to still see the water fifty yards ahead. Reese sat down next to Kellan but left a few inches of space between them, as if to prepare herself for whatever Kellan might tell her. Kellan’s arm went over the back of the bench. She turned herself slightly toward Reese.

  “It’s not a big deal. I’m not an agent for the CIA or anything.” She smiled. “I just talked to my boss and the rental company and extended my stay here.”

  Reese’s smile grew wide as she turned to face Kellan.

  “You did? Wait. Why didn’t you want to tell me?”

  “I think part of the reason you called me today and asked me out for the next night after our first official date was because you thought I was leaving.” Kellan paused. “I had no idea this would happen, Reese. I didn’t plan to come here and meet someone I wanted to go out with.”

  “I don’t know; I might have. I had a really good time last night.” Reese considered Kellan’s comment and wondered if she would have reached right back out to her like she’d done today if Kellan was staying for longer. “I might have waited until tomorrow, but that’s because I’m exhausted from last night and work today. It doesn’t have to do with wanting to delay seeing you. I like this,” Reese explained. “I don’t really know what this is, but I like it. I like you.”

  “I like you too,” Kellan told her. “Me staying could be good because it gives us more time to figure this out.”

  “But it could be bad because you think I won’t want to see you as often or something?”

  “I don’t know.” Kellan chuckled and turned back toward the water.

  “How long are you staying?” Reese asked.

  “I’m renting the cabin week to week. I just asked for a week-long extension.”

  “Oh.”

  “I can ask for another week if that would make you feel better,” Kellan offered.

  “You have a life back in San Francisco, Kell. You can’t keep putting that off for me.”

  “I want to, though,” Kellan returned. “And my life is not all it’s cracked up to be back there.” She hesitated a moment. “I don’t want you and I to slow down with whatever this is. I like the pace, okay?”