Add Romance and Mix

by Shannon M Harris

  Leah arched her brow. “Should we not sit with them?”

  Briley groaned but decided to take the good with the bad. “Let’s go.” They were good people. Just talkative. There wasn’t much room at the picnic table and Briley realized her and Leah would be separated. Nothing she could do about that now. She had to squeeze in next to Mrs. Bonds, who patted her shoulder. Her son Travis was seated across from her and Leah sat on the other end of the table beside Mr. Brink. Mrs. Dundley rounded out Briley’s side of the picnic table.

  As everyone introduced themselves to Leah, Briley took the opportunity to shove a forkful of food in her mouth. She moaned when the mac and cheese crossed her lips. The right ratio of cheese to pasta. “Oh my goodness. I hope you got some mac and cheese, Leah, because it’s what I picture Jesus serving in Heaven along with sweet tea.”

  “Amen,” everyone at the table said.

  Leah laughed and held up a spoonful to show Briley, then put it in her mouth and closed her eyes. “Wow.”

  “Told you.” Briley shoved another spoonful into her mouth to keep from saying anything inappropriate at the look of pleasure on Leah’s face.

  “So, Leah,” Mrs. Bonds said. “How do you know Briley?”

  “We live next to each other,” Leah answered.

  “Isn’t that convenient?” Travis sneered and Briley narrowed her eyes at him even as he smeared his roll with butter and took a giant mouthful. Travis wasn’t a bad guy. A tad on the creepy side, but harmless.

  “Quite,” Briley said, smearing her own roll with butter and dipping it in her gravy before taking a bite. Her focus was drawn away from him when Mr. Brink asked Leah a question.

  “How are you enjoying our town? I know you haven’t lived here long.”

  “I love it and so does Evan, my son. Although, he’s disappointed he is missing all the fun. I told him I would be sure and take plenty of photos.”

  “Do you have any other kids?” Mrs. Bonds asked.

  Briley kept one ear on the conversation as she ate. She knew she was asking for trouble, but couldn’t help the pull she now felt with Leah. One could only hope she wouldn’t screw this up or fall too far into the abyss that she couldn’t climb out of. Who was she kidding? Falling was the only option at this point. She knew Leah liked her, or they wouldn’t be spending time together. It was the kind of like she felt for her that was the issue.

  What she needed was some more time with her. They needed to make breakfast a daily occurrence. She’d gladly get up earlier to make that happen. As she chewed, she stared off into space, contemplating how to go about that. How could she ask her out without it being a date? Would she find daily breakfast weird? Maybe she should ask Kat, because she knew any invitation that came out of her mouth would stray to the dating side of things. She jerked her head up when someone touched her hand. Leah sat in front of her and Briley’s eyes widened when she realized everyone else had left and her plate was empty. How long had she been lost in thought?

  “They only just left.” Leah ran her finger along Briley’s hand. “What’s got you so preoccupied?”

  She pushed her empty plate away. “I think we should make breakfast a daily thing.” Briley blurted out then cringed. That’s…not how she wanted to do that.

  “Really?” Leah kept her eyes glued to Briley’s, but never stopped playing with her hand.

  “I…mean.” She licked her lips. “Yes.” She waved her free hand in the air. “I enjoy spending time with you. The time we’ve spent together.” She frowned. “Also, maybe increase our dinners and maybe a movie sometime.” That sounded too much date-like. “Or, Kat and I have movie and game nights. Evan would be welcome, of course, when he gets home from spending the summer with his mom. There is always some festival going on, as you know, and I’ve always wanted to join a bird watching group.” What were the words coming out of her mouth?

  “Briley, take a breath.” Leah worried her bottom lip and seemed to be having an internal struggle. “I would love to increase our breakfasts with you. I’m not sure every morning is viable, but we can up our weekly count. Dinner and a movie also sounds good.”

  “That’s workable,” Briley hurried to say.

  “Glad you think so.” Leah squeezed Briley’s hand.

  “Okay.” That wasn’t as hard or as awkward as she thought it would be. She could do this and Leah didn’t seem bothered in the least about her invitations.

  Leah frowned. “Briley, don’t be afraid to ask me something. The only way you’ll know the answer is if you ask the question.” She drew her hand back. “Now, I do believe you said something about dessert.” Her eyes held a touch of glee.

  “I did. No one can ever accuse me of leaving a woman wanting.” She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth.

  “My, my, Briley.” Leah tried to hold back a laugh.

  Briley coughed and pulled her shirt away from her neck. “That’s not what I meant.” Leah laughed. “Tell me what you want and I’ll throw our plates away and go get it.”

  “Split a piece of chocolate cake with me?”

  “Sounds like a plan. Be right back.” Briley picked up their trash and threw it away. She made the mistake of looking back and almost tripped when Leah winked at her. Get it together. She nodded at the people she passed on the way to the dessert table that was situated by the back doors of the church.

  “Briley, what will it be?” Haley asked when she made it to the front of the line.

  “Choices. Choices.” Briley looked down at the dessert table and the only two choices available. “Everything looks so good. I’ll have one of each.”

  Haley rolled her eyes. “You know as well as I do ever since Mrs. Dallas donated her fruitcake and things went south, the only dessert we can serve has to be donated from a reputable source.” She waved her hand over the table. “I hope she appreciates what she has,” Haley said, looking in Briley’s eyes.

  Briley’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Leah. I hope she appreciates you. Do I need to give her the shovel talk?” She held up the knife she used to cut the cake.

  “No.” Briley waved her hands in front of her. “No, it’s not like that. We’re friends. Please, Haley. No shovel talk.” Haley, the daughter of the pastor, was friendly, but she was also quite protective of the members of their church.

  “Hmm.” She eyed Briley then Leah. “If you say so. Which one is yours?”

  “Oh.” Briley rearranged her glasses. “I’m taking the cherry pie home to Kat and Leah and I will split the piece of cake.”

  “Hmm.” Haley gave her a knowing look when she handed her a larger than normal slice of cake, two forks, and a wrapped piece of cherry pie. Briley dropped a twenty in the church jar that sat on the dessert table and accepted the two plates.

  “Have a good day, Haley.”

  “Looks like you’re already having one.”

  Briley chuckled and shook her head, but couldn’t disagree with her. After dodging two teenagers and stopping to share a word with an older gentleman, she made it back to their table. “Best chocolate cake around,” she said, setting the plates down and handed over a fork.

  “Better than yours?”

  “Yes.” They ate in silence until only a forkful of cake lay on the plate. Briley pushed it in Leah’s direction.

  “Why, thank you.”

  “I do what I can.” Briley licked her fork clean and placed it on the table.

  Leah dropped her fork on the empty plate. “Evan would love the cake. Who donated it?”

  “Brew and Bake. They’re up on Tenth Street.”

  “I’ll have to go sometime.”

  “We could go sometime.” Briley forced herself not to look away from Leah’s penetrating gaze.

  Leah eyed her over the rim of her cup. “I don’t see why not.”

  “Fantastic.” Briley cringed as the word left her mouth and chastised herself. Fantastic was the best word she could come up with.

  Leah cleared her throat and placed he
r hand over Briley’s on the table. “I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into.”

  “Maybe not, but it sure will be fun to find out.”

  “I do believe it will.”

  Briley shifted on the seat. “I’m heading to the riverfront next and was wondering if you wanted to go?”

  “I have to run to the bank. They close at two, but I can join you after that.”

  “I would like that.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Briley drove straight to the riverfront, parked, and headed toward the chaos. She may or may not have eaten both rice crispy treats on the way over and didn’t feel one ounce of guilt. Tomorrow she would run a few extra miles to offset all the food she was eating. A glance at the clock confirmed the dragon boat races would be starting soon. Before she left the church, she called Kat, but she had begged off. There was something up with her and she would get to the bottom of it.

  She eyed the crowd, trying to determine the best course of action when the smell of fried dough wafted her way. Before she knew it, she stood in front of the funnel cake truck and everyone knew turning away from a funnel cake was blasphemy.

  With her plate filled with a small funnel cake, strawberries, whip cream, and powdered sugar, she slowly made her way to the riverfront. Years ago, they used to have free summer concerts on the small stage that hung out over the water. Concrete stairs that were twice as long as the stage ran up the side of a large hill that overlooked the river. She found an empty space and sat down. She’d just torn off a corner of her cake and popped it in her mouth when she spotted a familiar face headed her way.

  She smiled and took a drink of her water as a body landed beside her and a hand picked up a strawberry off her plate and plopped it in her mouth. She and Nina had known each other ever since she moved to Garriety. They’d met at a bar one night and had been friends ever since. Lately, they hadn’t been spending as much time together as Briley would have liked, because of their jobs, and she missed getting together with her.

  “By all means, have a bite.”

  Nina laughed and kissed her on the cheek. “Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to ask first?”

  “Shut up, dork.” Briley tore off another chunk of the funnel cake and handed it to her. By the time they’d finished eating, the races had just begun.

  “We need to get together more often. It’s been almost a week. That’s too long.” Briley knew it was her fault and she felt like a terrible friend for spending all her down time with Leah. She’d do better in the future balancing everyone in her life.

  “I agree. We should get dinner tonight. Me, you, Kat, and Ashley, at Midway.”

  “Sounds like a plan. How is Kat?” They spent the next twenty minutes catching up, when Nina slipped her arm through Briley’s and whispered in her ear. “There’s a really hot woman coming this way.”

  Briley’s heart raced and she sucked in a breath. Leah.

  “What? Who is she?” Nina squeezed her arm.

  “My neighbor.” Briley couldn’t take her eyes off Leah.

  “The one you’ve been telling me about? The one you like?”

  “Yes. It’s scary, though. I-I don’t…where do I go from here? We’re going the friends route and I hope we take a detour along the way. It feels like it’s more than that and I hope I’m not creating something that isn’t there.” She wrung her hands together. “But, I am not going to push her. Whatever this is between us will have to work itself out. In the meantime, I’ll just show her how awesome I am and try not to make a complete idiot of myself.”

  “Nobody can resist you once they spend enough time with you.”

  Briley groaned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You have it bad, my friend, and she’s almost here.”

  You’ve got this. You just saw her not forty minutes ago and you invited her here. She jumped up and pulled Leah into a quick hug. Where the hell had that come from? She quickly let go and adjusted her glasses. “Leah, I’m glad you could make it.” How did Leah look even better than from when she left her at the church? The sun played off the highlights in her hair and her eyes sparkled.

  Leah for her part didn’t give anything away in her facial expression. “It didn’t take as long at the bank as I had expected.”

  Briley motioned toward Nina. “This is just Nina. She found me and here we are.”

  “Yes. I’m just Nina.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Briley groaned.

  “I know.” Nina turned back to Leah. “And you are?” She held out her hand.

  Leah took Nina’s hand. “Leah, Briley’s next door neighbor. Briley has told me a lot about you.”

  “Sadly, I can’t say the same.”

  Briley patted the spot beside her. Leah settled on the empty space.

  The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but Briley started to get anxious with Leah so close. “Have you ever been to a dragon boat race before?” Leah turned her head, their lips only inches apart. Briley jerked her head back.

  Leah glanced at Briley’s lips, then her eyes. “No, I haven’t. They seem to be having fun though. Have you ever competed?”

  Before Briley could answer, Nina chimed in. “Has she ever.” Then she proceeded to tell Leah an embarrassing story about her and Kat’s first and last dragon boat race.

  “I would have loved to have seen that,” Leah said.

  Briley groaned. “Trust me, the story was more dramatic than the event.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I have a feeling there’s never a dull moment with you.” Leah tucked a loose strand of hair behind Briley’s ear, her finger lingering for a moment on her cheek and Briley felt the breath leave her chest.

  “Well, there is a time for everything,” Briley mumbled.

  “Oh, I know, Briley,” Leah said, softly. “A woman of many talents. There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun. You know Evan and I cosplay. Although, he’s getting to that age where he doesn’t want to be seen with me like that. I might be hanging up my cape sooner than I would have expected.”

  “Don’t be silly, I would go with you. We could play off each other.” The moment fled with a cell phone ringing. Briley broke away from Leah when Nina stepped away from them and answered the call.

  “That was Ashley. I need to go. Leah, it was a pleasure meeting you.” Nina leaned down and kissed Briley on the cheek. “I’ll see you and Kat tonight. Love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Oh, Leah.” Nina turned around. “If you don’t have plans, you’re welcome to join us tonight.”

  Leah looked from Briley to Nina. “Tonight?”

  “We’re having dinner at Midway. Seven, Briley.”

  “Seven,” she squeaked.

  Leah touched her hand and Briley’s heart flipped when Nina walked away. “Should I join you, Briley?”

  “Of course you can join us. You would meet my other friends eventually.” Briley ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath.

  Leah smiled and moved the hair out of her eyes. “We can ride together, if you like?”

  It was the best idea Briley had ever heard. “Sounds sensible.”

  “You and Nina seem close,” Leah said, after a moment of silence.

  “We are. She and Ashley own an interior decorating business and we hire them quite a bit for our houses. It all works out and I wouldn’t trade our friendship for anything. She was the first person that I met when I moved here.”

  “Did you two ever date?”

  “No. Nina’s straight.” Briley closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze, but was startled when Leah laid her hand over her knee. She opened her eyes, watching the fingers as they played with the material of her jeans. “It’s a beautiful day.”

  “It is.” Leah agreed.

  “You mentioned you started cosplaying with Evan when he was six, but you never explained what it was like early on.”

  “Overwhelming, is what it was. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I c
ouldn’t just go out and buy him the costumes. He’s always been a fan of comics and superheroes in general. For our first comic-con, he wanted to be Spiderman, and it took me seven months to make the costume.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t awful, but I’ve learned a lot since then. How about you?”

  “It feels good to be someone else occasionally. It’s not only fun, but freeing. You’re putting on a personality that is already well established and you know what to expect from people. Shit,” she groaned. “That sounded deep even to me.”

  Leah laughed and bumped her shoulder. “I understand. It is freeing and fun.”

  “Captain Marvel, huh?”

  “She’s not my favorite character, but I loved the outfit.”

  “It was a fantastic outfit.” A smile broke out on Briley’s face as she remembered the way the material hugged Leah’s curves. She flinched when an elbow poked her in the ribs.

  “Earth to Briley.” Leah chuckled.

  “Sorry, tiny.” God, could she embarrass herself anymore? Get it together, Briley.

  “Don’t be. That’s exactly the reaction I hoped for. The Doctor was a good pick, but I was partial to Supergirl.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  “Please do.”

  They spent the next hour mostly in silence, with Leah throwing a question in here and there about the races they were watching.

  Briley opened her mouth to say something else when Leah looked at her watch. “I hate to be the one to break this up, but if I’m having dinner with you and your friends, I have more errands I need to run before then. I also need to pick up Mrs. Hanlin’s photo albums.”

  “Of course.” Briley schooled her features not to show her disappointment and stood up, shoving her hands into her pockets. She rocked back on her heels. “Me, too. I mean…I should go, too.”