Hearts of Emerald Bay

by D G Barnes

  “Really? That’s a fair drive from here. Don’t they have bars in White’s Bay?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve heard so many people rave about this place, my friends and I had to check it out.” Kayla used her thumb to indicate a table not far away where a guy and three girls sat.

  “All your friends are over there, but you want to sit with me?”

  “Do you want me to leave?” She placed a hand on Mac’s knee.

  “No. No. Just making an observation. I’m rather enjoying the company.” Mac allowed her thoughts to drift to the possibilities and tingles flashed through her.

  “My friend Greg over at the table is my ride home. He told his husband that he would be home by midnight. So, I have until then to um…”

  “Secure a ride home in the morning?” Mac offered.

  “That’s certainly one way of putting it.”

  The slow song the DJ had been playing ended, and he spun the latest popular song with a fast beat. Kayla stood and took Mac’s hand. Mac looked up into those dark eyes that sparkled with mischief.

  “Come on, not important Mackenzie. Dance with me.”

  Mac stood and followed her to the dance floor, taking the opportunity to let her eyes travel the length of her body. The woman was Mac’s height and thin. The tight jeans she wore hugged her curves, accentuating the ass that was almost as hot as…Dana’s. Damn it all! Mac shook her head, pushing the thought away, and moved onto the dance floor. Mac spun Kayla around and pulled her close. They moved together in sync, bodies barely touching. The sweat glistened on their skin, and Mac felt the tingles of pleasure flash through her when skin brush against skin.

  As the night wore on, their dancing became more and more suggestive, hands touched and caressed body parts for fleeting moments. Mac’s heart raced, both from the physical exertion of the dance and from the desire building in her.

  Kayla moved against her, pressing her body close. Her thigh pressed against Mac, and she sucked a breath. She squatted, running her palms down Mac’s legs and up again. When she stood and leaned close to her ear, Mac felt the heat from her rapid breaths.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said hungrily.

  The invitation was all Mac needed, and she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Kayla’s hand and pulled her toward the back of the tavern. As she passed the bar, she caught Sara’s surprised expression, her always-present bubbly smile fading to sadness. Mac frowned for a second, not sure of what to make of it before she dismissed the thought.

  “Where are we going?” Kayla asked as they pushed through the employee doors and headed toward the stairs.

  “My place,” she answered as they climbed the staircase.

  “You live above a tavern?”

  “I own the tavern, honey.” Mac was tired of talking. She needed this woman naked and in her bed. Closing the door of the apartment behind them, she pulled Kayla into her arms and kissed her. Damn, but didn’t that feel good. Her lips were full and soft and moist and tasted like cherry. She pulled back; Dana’s lip gloss tasted like cherry. An image of Dana’s smiling face just before she kissed her flashed in her mind’s eye.

  “Mac? What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” she said, shaking the image from her head. “Nothing at all. Let’s go to the bedroom.”

  “Okay,” Kayla said, sounding confused and a bit nervous.

  As they moved toward the bedroom, the caricature hanging above Ellie’s desk caught Mac’s eye and brought her to an abrupt halt. She stopped so quickly, Kayla bumped into her. The imagine on the wall—more precisely Dana’s smiling face—held her attention, freezing her in place. As if someone threw a switch, the lust and desire she felt for the beautiful woman that stood beside her disappeared, and guilt took their place. She didn’t understand why she was feeling this way. Dana was out of her life. There was no reason to feel guilty for having sex with another woman. Yet, there it was. Mac sighed and turned to Kayla.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” she said softly as she glanced at Dana’s likeness again.

  “Oh,” Kayla replied, shocked and confused and probably a whole lot pissed off. “Wife? Girlfriend?” she asked, not sounding nearly as annoyed as Mac thought she would be.

  Mac snorted. If she were cheating, it would make her guilty conscious easier to explain. “She was my girlfriend.”

  “And you’re not over her yet, I take it?” Kayla asked, then pulled out her phone and typed a quick text.

  Mac shook her head. Maybe Kayla was right. Perhaps she wasn’t over Dana. “I guess not. I feel bad though. I didn’t mean to lead you on. You must think I’m a jerk.”

  Kayla frowned at her phone, then looked at Mac for a long moment. “Jerk is a bit mild, but yeah. It would be a lie if I said I’m not disappointed, but I understand. I’ve been there.” She gave Mac a reassuring pat on the arm. “This would be the point where I’d say goodnight and go back to my friends, but they’ve already left.”

  Mac thought for a moment. She liked Kayla, and there wasn’t any reason why they couldn’t be friends. Maybe down the road, they could go where this night had been heading. “You’re welcome to spend the night. I mean, I have a spare bedroom. I can break out the junk food, and we can hang out, chat, get to know each other more. To be honest, I could use the company.”

  Kayla studied Mac for a moment as if pondering her suggestion, and her expression eased. “Okay, I guess making a new friend is a good consolation prize to not getting laid.”

  They broke into laughter, and Mac felt relieved this night wasn’t going to end badly, not as fun as either of them had hoped but not a total loss. She retrieved chips, dip, and a bottle of wine from the kitchen, then they settled onto the sofa and sipped at their wine as they talked. Their conversation started with the typical generalities of family, jobs, and childhood adventures and eventually led to Mac telling her everything about her relationship with Dana.

  “Mac, not only are you not over Dana, I think you’re still in love with her,” Kayla said matter of factly.

  Mac cocked her head, surprised at the bold statement. “Even if that were true, it’s too late to do anything about it.”

  Kayla shrugged. “If you say so. But I think if you do love her, you should at least try.”

  Mac entertained the thought for a moment. Was there a chance they could make it work? Would Dana want her back? Then all reasons she had ended it in the first place came back to her. No, ending it was still the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?

  Glancing at the clock, she was surprised at how late it was. Kayla agreed it was time to call it a night, and Mac showed her to the guest room and gave her a robe to put on in the morning if she wanted to shower…like she had done for Dana the night they had first met. Sigh. How long does it take a broken heart to mend?

  ***

  The cursor blinked and blinked and blinked. Dana stared at her computer screen and read the sentences for the hundredth time. Cassandra sat on the bench, hunched forward, watching the Koi dart about their pond. She knew what she had to do; she knew how to get Jessica back! Unfortunately for Cassandra, Dana hadn’t typed a word since ending that sentence two weeks ago. Cassandra might have been ready to salvage her relationship and get her happily ever after, but Dana was having a hard time writing that, especially with the chances of her own being highly unlikely.

  Closing her laptop, she walked to the kitchen and poured herself a coffee, turned on her sound system and selected a playlist of mellow tunes. It had been a rough few weeks filled with sleepless nights, lots of crying, and copious amounts of chocolate ice cream, her go-to comfort food when she was upset.

  When Jenny had shown up at the beach house, just over an hour after Dana had left The Rusty Anchor, she brought with her a giant tub of chocolate ice cream and her overnight bag. Jenny left her bag at the door, dropped the ice cream into the freezer, then sat with Dana on the sofa, holding her until she cried herself out. She had already been tired after her day in Vancouver, then the all-night f
light back to Halifax. The good cry into Jenny’s shoulder sapped the last of her strength, and she soon fell asleep in her best friend’s arms.

  Dana’s eyes fluttered open sometime later, and her lips curled seeing Jenny sitting in the armchair adjacent to the sofa. “Hey,” she said hoarsely. Her throat was dry, and she had to swallow a couple of times as she pulled the throw off and pushed herself into a seated position.

  Jenny looked up from her phone and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Hey, sweetie.” She moved quickly from the chair to a spot on the sofa beside Dana and took her hand. “How are you feeling?”

  She shrugged. “I’m okay I guess.” She leaned her head against Jenny’s shoulder. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Are you kidding? As your bestest buddy, it’s my sworn duty to be here when you need me.” She put her arm around Dana’s shoulder and gave her a firm squeeze. “I would have been here sooner, but I had to pack a bag and pick up ice cream.”

  Dana tilted her head to look up at her. “Chocolate?”

  “Naturally. Why don’t you hop in the shower and get into your PJs, then we can sit and talk and pig out on ice cream.”

  She straightened and realized, not for the first time, how lucky she was to have Jenny as her best friend. Just having her here was an enormous comfort to her. “Well, you have fulfilled your duty admirably, and I love you to death for it.” She leaned in and kissed her cheek. “A shower sounds wonderful. God knows I probably need one.”

  “I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah, ya do.” Jenny pinched her nose and waved a hand in front of her face.

  Dana snorted and gave her a playful swat. “You didn’t need to agree with me.” She headed off down the hall.

  Feeling refreshed and clad in her favorite blue pajama bottoms, the ones with little white kittens, and an oversized Micky Mouse tee shirt, Dana sat cross-legged on the sofa, a large bowl of chocolate ice cream in her hands. Across from her, on the other end of the couch, Jenny too wore a miss-matched set of PJs and cradled a bowl of ice cream.

  “Did she really say you were just a distraction?” Jenny asked and put a spoonful of the chocolaty goodness into her mouth.

  Dana nodded and played her spoon around the bowl for a second. The thought of those words stabbed at her. “Yeah, that’s what she said.”

  Jenny shook her head. “I don’t understand that. It certainly didn’t seem like that to me when I talked to her.” She paused to take another spoonful. “What did she say when you told her how you felt about her?”

  She sniffed, and a tear ran down her cheek. “I never got a chance.”

  “Oh, sweetie, no. Maybe you should; if you really do love her. Not right now, but in a few days when she’s had time to calm down.”

  “No. She made it clear what the important things in her life were, and I didn’t rate,” Dana replied with another sniff. “Can we talk about something else before I start crying again?”

  “Sure, sweetie, anything you want.”

  They sat and talked, trying to avoid anything that reminded Dana of Mac. They indulged in a second serving of chocolate ice cream. Almost done with this bowl, she noticed the time. Midnight.

  “Huh. Midnight Chocolate,” she muttered.

  Jenny cocked her head. “What was that?”

  Dana shook her head and pointed at her bowl with the spoon as she swallowed what was in her mouth. “Midnight Chocolate.”

  “You’ll need to elaborate.”

  “It’s from a series of books by one of my favorite authors.” Dana set her empty bowl on the coffee table. “See, the books revolve around four women who are longtime friends and business partners. They have a long-standing tradition that whenever one of them has an issue that needs to be worked out, they’d call a Midnight Chocolate.”

  “Okay, and what does this Midnight Chocolate entail? Chocolate at midnight I presume?”

  “Exactly. If any of them were to call an MC, they would meet at a designated apartment, dressed in PJs, of course, and there would be an assortment of all things chocolate. They would talk and eat until said problem was solved.”

  “Sounds cool,” Jenny said with a chuckle. “Hopefully they don’t have too many problems, or they will all weigh a ton in no time.”

  Dana laughed. “Nice thing about fiction. The calories are fictional too.”

  “If only that were true in the real world. Speaking of which, we should get our real-world butts to bed.” Jenny collected their bowls.

  “You’re right.” Dana followed her into the kitchen, and once she had deposited the dirty dishes into the sink, she pulled her best friend into a hug. “Thanks again, Jen, for being here.” Her voice cracked, and tears threatened to flow again.

  Jenny held her tight and sniffled. “You’re welcome. Now get to bed before we both start bawling again.”

  She chuckled, sniffed again, and gave Jenny a peck on the cheek. “Right. Good night then.” She released her and headed to her room. Sleep didn’t come easy though. Images of Mac filled her mind and the harsh words she had said in her office struck her again, unwilling to let her forget the horrible scene. The hurt renewed itself, and she softly wept into her pillow until she finally dozed off.

  The following day, Jenny helped her pack and load her suitcases into her car. She followed Dana back to the city and hung out with her at her apartment for the rest of the day. Maggie, her landlord, had also stopped by to say hello with the hope of getting a juicy tidbit of information to gossip about.

  Dana’s phone chirped, bringing her back to the present. Ellie had sent her a text. Not the first since she had left Emerald Bay.

  Hey, Dana. How are you?

  I’m well, Ellie. You?

  Good. I wanted to let you know that I’ll be reading my story aloud at the library. So will the winners of the other age groups.

  Wow! That sounds great.

  Ellie had texted her a while back to let her know she had won in her age group. Dana had been happy for her and regretted not being there during the judging.

  I would really like you to be there. Please. If you can’t, I’ll understand.

  Dana stared at the screen, not sure how to respond. She would love to be there for Ellie to show her support. But, Mac might be there, and she didn’t know if she was ready for that.

  I don’t know if that would be a good idea.

  There was a pause before she responded. Please, think about it. It would mean a lot to me. Pouty face emoji.

  Damn. The girl knew how to push buttons. I’ll think about it but no promises.

  That’s all I ask. Smiley face

  How’s Mac?

  Good. Court date is in a couple of weeks.

  She found a lawyer then?

  No. Doing it herself.

  Dana suddenly felt sick. What the hell was she thinking? The chime of her doorbell interrupted her thought.

  Oh, I see. Someone’s at the door. Got to go.

  Okay, bye. And think about it!!!

  Shaking her head in disbelief at what Ellie had said, Dana peeked through the peephole. Jason casually stood on the other side of the door, glancing down the left hallway, then the right.

  “Hey, Punk!” he said when she opened the door.

  “Hey, there, big brother.” She wrapped her arms around him. “To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?”

  He laughed and stepped inside. “Do I need an excuse to visit my favorite sister?”

  She swatted his arm. “I’m your only sister, you goof, and no you don’t. Now come in and sit. Can I get you a coffee?”

  “Sure.” He took off his jacket before taking a seat in the living room. “How have you been, Dana?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, pouring the coffee. She loved that everyone was concerned about her and wanted to make sure she was okay. But enough time had passed, and she was starting to tire of it. “Mom called to check up on me again this morning. Jenny stops by regularly. Of course, that’s normal for her. I even get texts from Ellie every now
and again.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how is Miss Ellie?”

  “Good.” She handed him his coffee and sat in the armchair. “She won the writing contest she entered.”

  “Yes, I remember you mentioning she entered a contest at your party. Good for her.”

  “She also said the court date is coming up and Mac is going to represent herself.” Jason’s brow furrowed. “I’m worried for her and Ellie.”

  He shook his head. “It’s never a good idea to represent yourself. With Pennington as counsel, it will be worse. He’ll use all the underhanded tactics he knows, no doubt.”

  “Jesus.” She slumped back in her chair. “Do you think Doris could actually win?”

  He shrugged. “I would like to think not. But like I said, with Pennington, you never know what he’ll pull.”

  She stared into her coffee cup and tried hard not to think about Ellie having to live with that horrible woman. And Mac, she’d be devastated.

  “You still have feelings for her,” he said matter of factly.

  She looked up at him, his expression solemn, and she frowned. He always had an uncanny way of knowing her feelings even if she didn’t. “I care about what happens to Ellie, and I don’t want to see Mac lose her.” She sipped her coffee. “As for feelings for her. I’m not sure.”

  “Well, I am.” He sounded quite sure of himself. Before she had a chance to protest, the doorbell chimed.

  She walked to the door with him only a few paces behind. After checking the peephole, she opened the door for Jenny. Her pretty eyes sparkled from behind the two steaming cups of Tim Horton’s coffee she held up in front of her.

  “Hey, Jen. Come on in.” Dana stepped aside to let her pass. “I see you’re bearing gifts.”

  “I am,” she replied and looked up at Jason. “Sorry. I would have brought you one had I known.”

  “No worries. I’m on my way out.” He turned to his sister and pulled her into a bear hug. “Take care, Punk, and don’t worry about Mac. I’m sure things will work out for the best.”

  “Thanks, Jason. I will try,” she said, returning his hug.

  “I’ll see the two of you later then.” He grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.