Yet she rarely smiled or giggled when she was in the firehouse. Probably because she watched those kittens like a hawk, convinced that everyone with firefighting training didn’t know two shits about caring for small animals. Joke was on her. Young had more experience with cats under his pinky nail than Krys would ever have in her lifetime.
“Care to have a moment outside?” Krys gestured to the blue sky clearing beyond the windows. “Kinda rare we get sunlight like this right now.”
“All right, but I’m warning you,” Siobhan said, “it’s really cold outside. You better have… never mind.”
Krys knew what she was about to say. “You better have a jacket!” Sure, Krys had a jacket, but did she need one? Nah! She had finished a workout and a shower an hour before Siobhan’s arrival. Young was in there preparing a protein load. All Krys could think about was drinking in some Vitamin D and sharing some quick canoodling with her girlfriend.
They weren’t outside for one minute before Krys saw someone rolling down the street.
“Does your woman know you’re out and about without supervision?” Krys asked Joan, who tore up Main Street in her manual wheelchair. She’s gonna have bigger biceps than me by the end of the year! How far did upper body strength go toward childbirth, anyway? ‘Cause last Krys heard, Joan was giving birth in Wal-Mart. Until she wasn’t.
Joan hit the brakes in front of the firehouse. She drowned in her winter coat and the muffler around her face, which she had to lower with one gloved finger to speak. “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you, too,” she said. “I’ll have you know that the doctor encourages me rolling around like I’ve got business everywhere I go. Says this baby is clearly thinking about coming out after what happened a few days ago.”
Siobhan looked between the pregnant woman in a wheelchair and Krys, who laughed like it was the craziest thing she ever saw. “I take it you’ve had a few false alarms?”
“Just the one, so far! You ask me, this baby’s a Capricorn. I’ve got until the solstice until I give real birth.”
Siobhan glanced at Krys, as if to ask, “Is she for real?” Krys no longer asked questions. Her line of work led to her crossing paths with many pregnant women, and whatever got them through the day? They could have it. By all means.
“Know what happens at the solstice?” Krys said to her girlfriend. “The tree lightning!”
The look on Siobhan’s face once more said everything.
“It’s done a little late here,” Krys explained.
“Right before Christmas? Yeah. A little late.”
Joan rolled past them with purpose. “This town doesn’t do anything in a hurry!”
“Not unless it’s you rolling toward the post office, Joan!” Krys called. “You and Lor gonna be at the Christmas Tree Lighting?”
“If I’m not in labor! Not too far from our house.”
That was the last they heard from her before she turned the corner. Krys let out a low whistle. “Joanie’s always been a bit anxious,” she said in a lowered voice, as if Joan could still hear her. “Those pregnancy hormones have really eliminated the filter on her mouth.”
Siobhan snorted. “If I were that pregnant, I’d say screw you to my filter, too.”
“You mean you don’t, already?”
They were soon joined by another couple rounding the bend in Main Street. Both were barely recognizable in their layers of winter clothing that covered them from head to toe, as if it were below zero in Paradise Valley.
More like they were avoiding prying eyes looking for the town’s most “famous” couple.
“Jay!” Krys destroyed that veneer of anonymity like it was nothing. Like they could actually hide from the local media dressed like that! There was such a thing as sticking out too much in one’s normalcy. “Didn’t think I’d see you around town, yet! Get over here and say hi!”
Ever since Jalen got with the actress on her arm, she had been scarce around Paradise Valley. Didn’t help that she was either in California or hiding away from the paparazzi that now occasionally drove up and down Main Street looking for the famous Fleur Rosé. Sure, Krys saw them at the house parties their social circle threw, but it wasn’t the same as catching her out on the street like this. Jalen more or less gave up her plumbing business, so there was no more seeing the tell-tale white van zooming up and down Main Street.
At least she wasn’t tanned. Krys didn’t think she could handle tanned Jalen Stonehill.
“Hey! We were actually stopping by for a bit!” Jalen was such a pro at handling the press now that she and Fleur automatically stood behind a hedge that separated Main Street from the firehouse. “The schedule got a bit wonky after Fleur’s costar suddenly ended up in rehab. Again.”
The actress in question gave Krys an awkward smile. “I’m starting to think I’m cursed. All my costars are addicted to something and end up in rehab. Multiple times.”
Siobhan slowly shook her head. Krys thanked the stars she now lived in a town where that was a lot less common. She had a feeling her hometown of Portland wasn’t much better than the set of Fleur’s show.
“You guys got anything planned for Christmas?” Jalen asked. “Preferably, before Christmas? ‘Cause we’re swinging by Newport to see my folks before heading back down to LA for New Year’s. I guess she’s got a lot of parties she needs to make an appearance at.”
You have to be seen with her, huh? Jalen might say otherwise, but she absolutely lived for the attention dating a celebrity gave her. Krys had no idea how her friend was paying her bills without doing her job, but she also didn’t want to know. Fleur’s too nice for me to know otherwise. Well, if Jalen was going to sell her soul to Hollywood, she could do a lot worse than Fleur, who was nothing but nice and accommodating to her girlfriend’s old friends.
“We were talking about the Christmas Tree Lighting on the first day of winter,” Krys said. “You guys gonna be in town long enough for that? We could probably take things over to my house if Lorri and Joan don’t feel up to hosting.” That was where they usually had their lowkey house parties, since Jalen and Krys both lived with roommates, but that year might be different. Hell, every year after that one might be different once a kid was in the picture. At least that kid’s gonna have the best aunts in town. Assuming Jalen stuck around long enough.
Ah, wasn’t that one of the biggest things bothering Krys lately? This idea that everything was changing and she might never know her old life again?
Siobhan took her girlfriend’s hand. “Looks like I’m dragging my aunt into town on winter solstice. For a Christmas lighting. Sounds Pagan when I put it that way. So, she’ll love it.”
Right. While there were a million changes happening in Krys’s life, nothing beat the acquiring of the prettiest gal in town for her own girlfriend. Look at her. Absolutely amazing. Krys and Jalen hadn’t done too badly for themselves that year. Jalen got a fun-loving lady for a girlfriend, one who could go toe-to-toe with Ms. Stonehill over who had the loudest friends and craziest stories. Meanwhile, Krys had found a hidden jewel in a town she thought she had plundered like any diligent pirate. Pirate? More like Viking. Yup. Lady Viking right here looting and pillaging a town for the perfect future Mrs. Madison. Yeah, right. Like Siobhan would settle for anything less than a Mrs. Dr. O’Connor.
Krys O’Connor. She kinda liked that. Krystal O’Connor. Oh, hell, no.
Siobhan announced that she had to leave. Yet by the look in her eye, she knew exactly what her girlfriend was thinking, and she agreed. “Krystal O’Connor” would never see the light of day!
Chapter 13
FLEUR & JALEN
There was one place in this tiny town where Fleur felt like she had a little personal space. Ironically, that was the pizza parlor, where the surliest of employees slung greasy slices of pizza like this was what they were condemned to do for the rest of their miserable lives.
Or maybe that was the blonde Fleur always saw when she walked in, ordering two slices of cheese pizza.
If I feel really frisky, I go for one cheese and one veggie. In that town, veggie pizza was always available. Somebody had to eat it! Might as well be the woman from California, land of vegans and gluten-free afficionados.
Then again, neither of those things were foreign to Paradise Valley.
That cold yet sunny day, she ordered two slices of veggie pizza, but only because the cheese looked insurmountably sad. Skylar, the sad blonde who would rather be anywhere but there, pulled the slices onto a plate and garnished it with a cup of ranch dressing. She always did this, even when Fleur specifically requested no ranch. I didn’t know people took their ranch dressing and pizza so seriously until Paradise Valley.
Such a strange town, wasn’t it? Of all the places she went unmolested, it had to be the pizza parlor, which hung far enough back from Main Street that nobody could see her through the window, as long as she kept her sunglasses and hat donned. She changed which rental car she drove from PDX every time she flew in to visit Jalen. The only way the paps found her was if someone called in a tip, and that required a call in ahead of time, for unless the paps were already there when she arrived, nobody cared.
At least she didn’t feel bad about gumming up the town’s functions, now. She was hardly a novelty anymore. People stopped pointing and awkwardly asking for autographs, but they still stared. Like now, when Skylar stood behind the register and stared at Fleur as if she were someone’s ticket out of Paradise Valley.
Sorry, already have a girlfriend. Fleur politely avoided eye contact with Skylar, who eventually went back into the kitchen and rolled some pizza dough while bobbing her head to the Christmas songs playing on the radio.
Fleur pulled out her phone, although she had to lift her sunglasses to read her message.
“I know we said you would be completely off on Christmas to visit your family…” her manager, Carmen, wrote, “but we received an opportunity for you to make an appearance at…”
Fleur stopped reading. What was the point, when she knew she would turn it down? I haven’t spent a holiday with my family all year. She was busier than ever, and that included having a girlfriend who had a family of her own. Jalen and Fleur had planned to have Christmas with the Stonehills since Halloween. We actually haven’t had much time together since then. Fleur spent Thanksgiving in Italy, attending a fashion show that one of her dear friends headlined. Her parents would meet them in Los Angeles for New Year’s, where they would have a nice few days to themselves in Fleur’s gated community.
Which was why they were spending time in Paradise Valley now. This was Jalen’s last chance to see her friends for the rest of the year, and Fleur couldn’t say she hated hanging out with them, either. They were delightfully normal compared to everyone in Hollywood! Even Fleur’s parents couldn’t compare now!
“Hey!” The door flung open. Jalen popped in and sat across from Fleur at her table. “Sorry I’m late. Heaven had a problem with her sink, and you know how she is. Even when I tell her I’m not really in the biz at the moment, she keeps saying she’d rather have me do her work!”
Fleur grinned. “That’s because she trusts you.” She flipped over her phone. “Lots of people in this town do, and I think that’s awesome.”
“Aw, you know you don’t need to be a random Tumblr post to make me feel good, hon!” Jalen finished taking off her coat and draped it over the back of her chair. “Hang on. Gonna go bother Skylar for some pizza.”
“There’s no cheese left.”
“Cool. You see any Canadian bacon in there, though?”
Fleur grimaced. “Like I’m checking for pineapple.”
“Did you hear what Joan ordered the other night? Krys told me they came here to pick up pineapple and anchovy.” Jalen waited for Fleur to make a sour face before getting up to order her lunch. “Right? Nasty.”
I’d love to see that show up at a party in Beverly Hills. Fleur snorted. Maybe she’d try it at her next party. See how quickly the Hollywood types ran screaming from her house and spread the news to the tabloids that “Fleur has the strangest taste in pizza!” Would Carmen consider that good image management?
Jalen sat back down with two slices of pepperoni. The smell of greasy meat instantly gave Fleur a headache. Every time she attempted to shake it out of her nostrils, Jalen picked up a slice and presented it right in front of her girlfriend’s face.
Fleur loved her. She swore it.
“What’s up with your phone?” Jalen asked that with a mouthful of pepperoni. Fleur had been so distracted by her girlfriend’s choice in deli meats that she didn’t notice her phone was ringing. “Been going off ever since I got here.”
“It’s Carmen.” Fleur could say that without looking. “It’s the end of the year, so she’s trying to cram my January schedule when I’m not filming the show, since she has to take the last couple of weeks off.”
“Carmen? Taking time off? Does she know how to do that?”
“Considering she’s trying to schedule me stuff to do on Christmas, I highly doubt it.”
Jalen dropped her pizza onto her plate. “A schedule? On Christmas?”
“I’m going to turn it down, obviously,” Fleur said with a scoff. “We already have plans, and I might have the crazy idea to do something personal on a national holiday. Crazy, right?”
“Hell, yeah! Christmas at my folks’ place! Can’t wait for you to taste my mom’s cookies. She makes the best no-bake cookies on the coast. Pretty sure they’re illegal in Lane County.”
Fleur couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds great. Exactly what I need after a crazy year like this one.”
“A good kind of crazy, right?”
Fleur cocked her head. Yeah, it had been a crazy year. Even before she met Jalen, everything had pulled her in ten different directions, and she constantly feared drawing and quartering was her ultimate fate. Hollywood was relentless like that. Yet the day she decided to shirk all responsibility and run away from her adult life had brought with it an unexpected boon.
I’m looking at that boon right now.
“It’s been a great kind of crazy.” Fleur took Jalen’s hand on top of the table. “I can’t wait to slow down for a little while and simply focus on us and my job. And, you know, maybe figure out where we want to go in twenty-twenty?”
Jalen’s grin was always big enough to suck Fleur in like it was nothing. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever dated who said that and it didn’t sound ominous.”
“You know me. I try to keep things light.
“Me, too!”
The great thing? Jalen was so earnest in the way she said that. No sarcasm. No cynicism. Fleur knew that a bitter attitude wasn’t limited to Hollywood, but she was always pleasantly surprised to find someone as straightforward as Jalen. She’s become my rock. Love didn’t always have to be about sex and romance. Sometimes it was about realizing the person in front of you is the one who will see you through everything. Everything.
Who else would hold back Fleur’s hair when she had the flu? Who would replace cotton balls in her mouth when she had dental work? Who would massage her feet after a long day standing on sets in heels?
Jalen would do it. With a smile on her face.
“What?” Jalen put down her pizza. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Blushing, Fleur pretended that she was more interested in her phone than the conversation.
“Fleuuuurrr,” Jalen purred, the only woman on Earth who could make her girlfriend’s name sound like that. “You’re thinking about me, aren’t you?”
“No way!”
“You are. You totally are.” Jalen puffed out her chest and folded her arms onto the table. “To be fair, if I were you, I’d think a lot about me as well.”
“Bit self-centered, aren’t we?”
Jalen leveled her gaze upon the woman squirming in her plastic chair. “You would be too if you were going out with you.”
From anyone else, that would have been terrible. Coming from Jalen, though? She total
ly means it. Truly, the sweetest thing. Fleur couldn’t help but giggle into her next bite of pizza.
Chapter 14
SKYLAR
“Have you talked to Ari?” said a text from Mik. Skylar wasn’t expecting that when she sat down for her final lunch break of the work week. Skylar and Ariana? Talking without Mikaiya present? Anyone who spouted that was spouting fake news. The two of them had nothing in common besides Mik.
“No. Can’t say I’ve seen her. Why? Is she looking for me? Oh, did something happen between you two?” Things hadn’t been totally rosy for the pair of high school sweethearts since they reconciled earlier that year. More than a few arguments erupted, with Skylar’s favorite having to do with Mik’s brand-new neuroses she picked up after university and a high-pressure marketing job. How many times had Skylar heard, “Would you calm down, Mik? It ain’t a big thing! It’s a little cereal on the floor!” Only for Mik to respond, “It’s never just some cereal on the floor, Ari! Sometimes it’s milk, too!”
Never cry over spilt milk. Or something.
When Ari wasn’t insecure about Mik’s education or Mik wasn’t in disbelief over Ari’s lifestyle, the two of them were lovey-dovey enough. But at least once a month, Mik came home with a huff about her girlfriend. Then three days later she was spending the night at Ariana’s place again. I’d say it must be a lesbian thing, but I’m as guilty with guys.
Should she be annoyed that Mikaiya responded so quickly?
“She’s acting cagey about something. I think she got me a big ticket item for Christmas. You know Ari, she can’t keep a freakin’ secret. I also know she can’t afford big ticket items, so I was wondering if maybe she picked your brain about what I want for Christmas.”
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