The Best Lines

by Nicole Pyland

  The Best Lines

  NICOLE PYLAND

  Chicago Series Book #1

  Eva Dash has her career on track. After earning her Ph. D in Literature, she became a professor at the same college she’d called home as a student. When she loses the only job she’s ever wanted, she’s forced to consider leaving the only home she’s ever really known.

  Ember Elliot, the reformed player, has finally committed herself to looking for the right woman while struggling to find herself in other ways. She’s tired of being misunderstood by her family and hiding a very important part of herself from them. Being gay isn’t her secret. Wanting to be more than just a manager at her family’s restaurant is and she’s ready to take steps to get what she wants.

  The two women meet when Ember does her best to keep Eva from being a notch in another woman’s bedpost. They find each other at the time when both of them have lives and careers in flux. It starts with a scribbled warning on a napkin, continues with a tree house kiss and ends with a wall covered in chalkboard paint.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

  Copyright © 2018 Nicole Pyland

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9996221-5-5

  By the Author

  All the Love Songs

  Chicago Series:

  Introduction – Fresh Start

  Book #1 – The Best Lines

  Coming Soon:

  Book #2 – Just Tell Her (Available for pre-order)

  To contact the author or for any additional information visit: https://nicolepyland.com

  You can also subscribe to the reader’s newsletter to be the first to receive updates about upcoming books and more: https://nicolepyland.com/newsletter

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

  COMING NEXT

  CHAPTER 1

  “Get out while you still can. Trust me.”

  The small white paper napkin had been discreetly placed in her lap by a passing woman. Eva felt it land and a body pass behind her as she sat at the tiny two-top table in the crowded restaurant. She picked it up immediately and looked across the table at her date who was chatting with their waiter about dessert options. Eva wasn’t sure she’d read it properly the first time, so she re-read it to herself. She turned her head to see a woman staring back at her from the front door of the restaurant. She was holding it open for herself but had paused to make sure to catch Eva’s eye. The woman nodded in the direction of Eva’s date and then met Eva’s eye again with a smile and a wink. Eva shrugged knowingly and watched a couple enter the restaurant in front of the woman. She tried to move her head around to find the woman again, but once the couple had made their way to the hostess podium, she was gone.

  “Should we go with the molten chocolate cake or the tiramisu?” Kayla asked from across the table. “Eva?”

  “I’m sorry. What?” Eva clasped her hand around the napkin and tucked it into the pocket of her skinny black jeans. “Either is fine,” she finally answered.

  “We’ll have the tiramisu with two forks,” Kayla told the waiter who nodded and walked away. “Are you alright? You’ve been a little off tonight,” Kayla said and leaned toward her, sliding the red candle to the side and reaching out a hand that Eva guessed she was supposed to take.

  “I’m fine. Sorry.” Eva glanced back to the door as if she expected the woman to be still standing there, but she wasn’t, so Eva returned her eyes to Kayla.

  “We’re here to celebrate your big accomplishment. Why don’t you seem happy?” Kayla pulled her hand back when Eva failed to take it.

  “I am happy. I just wasn’t expecting this,” Eva admitted and leaned forward. “You said we couldn’t go out because of work and then you asked me out tonight.”

  “I’m sorry. I guess I had to give up trying to resist you and those eyes.” Kayla wiggled two seductive eyebrows at Eva who had to let out a small smile in return.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten a compliment about her gray eyes. They had been compared to charcoal on multiple occasions during her twenty-nine years. She often paired her eyes with smoky makeup, accentuating them even further. She was convinced that this look alone had gotten at least two of her long-term girlfriends to notice her for the first time and could take credit for a couple of her college hookups as well.

  “How long have you been resisting the temptation of my eyes?” Eva asked as their waiter served their dessert and placed two forks on either side of the plate.

  “Since we met,” Kayla replied with a smile and then forked the tiramisu.

  “Since your first day at the university?” Eva asked and picked up her fork to stab at their dessert.

  Kayla had started at the university at the beginning of the last semester, and Eva met her at the faculty meeting on her first day. Eva had started teaching at the same university after her mentor retired and left her his job. She’d been at it now for two years and loved her work.

  They’d sat in the large conference room and listened as Doug, the department chair, talked about the department’s goals for the upcoming semester and the changes they’d likely notice. Everyone also chose their committees for the upcoming year.

  Eva had noticed the brown-eyed woman with the dark hair and caramel skin when she first entered the room wearing a business suit that showed she was dressed to impress. The rest of them wore business casual choices, including Eva’s black slacks and white collared button-down with flats, since at 5’9 and relatively thin, she often felt like she towered over most people, especially the women she dated, and she didn’t need to add another two to three inches to that difference. Eva guessed that the new woman was only about 5’4 or so, but she compensated for that by wearing three-inch heels.

  As members of the same department, dating was frowned upon, and Kayla had given her that excuse when Eva approached her with the idea after their second monthly faculty meeting. They’d spent that meeting chatting and soon discovered that the other was gay and single. At first, Eva had joked that perhaps they should go out on a date since they’d both been single for over a year after getting out of rocky relationships, but Kayla replied that she was on the tenure track and didn’t want to risk messing that up. After that conversation with Kayla, Eva had given up on anything ever happening.

  But earlier that day when they ran into one another in the campus library stacks Kayla asked Eva out on a date for that very night. Neither of them realized that it was Valentine’s Day. They only figured that out when they arrived at the jam-packed restaurant and had to wait forty-five minutes for the tiniest table right by the kitchen, squeezed between a wall and another table just like it.

  “I wanted you when I first saw yo
u,” Kayla confessed. She leaned in over the table and Eva watched her eyebrows lift and her brown eyes widen. “I heard from Doug before that first faculty meeting that you and your most recent lady had ended things.”

  “Timing seems right,” Eva replied.

  “I’d forgotten all about this stupid holiday though, I swear. I’ve been in research mode trying to publish an article in a journal. I completely forgot about it being tonight,” Kayla replied.

  “So, did I,” Eva told her. “I’m surprised I did though because normally I’m into Valentine’s Day.”

  “You are?” Kayla asked and rested her fork on the plate of their nearly untouched dessert.

  “Yes, I guess I’m one of those romantic saps. When I’m in a relationship, I like to make a big deal out of it and hope the person I’m with does the same.”

  “But it’s just about the cards and flowers and chocolate,” Kayla replied. “You can do that stuff any day of the year.”

  “I’m surprised that a doctor of British Literature isn’t into this holiday, what with all those romantic poets and stories about love.”

  “I can respect the art form, but not buy into it myself.”

  Eva turned back toward the door again but only saw another couple enter the restaurant. She then turned back toward her date with a little less excitement.

  “Sure, I guess,” Eva replied after a moment and took a sip of water, not wanting to finish the wine because she’d have to drive home.

  “How about we get out of here?” Kayla slid her credit card into the slot. The waiter took it right away and Eva suddenly found herself grateful for that. “My house is only about ten minutes away.”

  “Oh,” Eva stated as she understood where Kayla wanted to take the evening.

  “You didn’t think about what we’d do after dinner?”

  “I figured we’d have dinner and maybe go out again sometime if there was something here.”

  Kayla leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her wine.

  “You don’t sleep with a woman on the first date, do you?”

  “Not a rule or anything, but not typically.”

  “I’m starting to understand you a little more.” Kayla put her glass down as the waiter returned her credit card and receipt for her to sign. “I did the relationship thing before and as it turns out, I kind of suck at it.”

  “Weren’t you just in a relationship?” Eva asked.

  “No.” Kayla laughed heartily and signed the receipt before putting the card back in her wallet.

  “I thought you were dating someone? Christina, I think.”

  “Oh, Christina,” she seemed to recall. “Christina and I went on one date and then we… well, we didn’t really date after that.”

  “You didn’t? I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand.”

  “We both understood each other. I kind of thought you understood this too. You’re single and we’ve been flirting for a while.”

  “So, you just want to sleep with me?” Eva blurted out and, despite the noise in the restaurant, the people at the small table next to them turned to glare.

  “I didn’t just want to sleep with you,” Kayla said. “I bought you dinner first.” She smirked and then put her wallet in her purse.

  “Wow!” Eva slid her chair back. “I did not expect this. We definitely did not understand one another today when we talked.” She paused and then stood up. “You asked me out on a date. I said yes. In what world does that mean I just want to sleep with you because you bought me dinner?”

  “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t a real apology. Eva thought about the napkin in her pocket. “I told you the other day that I’m not really in relationship mode and I’m just enjoying myself. I apologize if I was unclear about that.”

  “Unclear?” Eva grabbed her coat, pulled it on, and picked up her purse off the back of the chair. “You failed to mention anything about this, Kayla. You asked me out on a date. You didn’t say anything about just wanting to get into my pants.” She turned to walk away and then turned back. “Let’s just forget this night ever happened, okay? I’ll see you at work when I see you.”

  “Fine. If that’s what you want, but we can also have a good time tonight, and then forget it-”

  “Good night, Kayla,” Eva interjected. She felt a little better before she walked toward the door and out into the crisp, freezing air of the Chicago winter. She buttoned her long black coat as she walked to her car and then cursed at the winter that had covered the Mini Cooper she’d splurged on when she got her job two years ago in a layer of new snow. “Damn it,” she said to herself.

  Her quick getaway was turning into a slow one as she clicked the button on the key, opened the back door, and picked the window scraper up off the floor of the back seat. She drove the ice-covered streets, glad that it wasn’t below freezing and things were starting to melt, turning the roads and sidewalks into a much less picturesque version of a white winter. The brown and black slush of melted snow mixed with the dirt and grime of the city made her even more depressed as she drove carefully in the direction of her apartment. She didn’t usually drive to campus. She typically took the train, but that morning her stop was under construction and instead of walking to the next one in the cold, she’d opted to drive.

  She pulled into the parking garage and turned off the car. As she climbed out and grabbed her bag and purse to walk up to her small apartment, she wondered how she’d gotten this whole situation so wrong. She was smart. She was a doctor for crying out loud. She’d been the valedictorian of her high school class and was on the Dean’s list all through college. She’d had a paper published as a grad student and finished her doctoral program on time, which was an accomplishment in and of itself especially considering she had to work full-time as a TA and part-time waiting tables to help pay off her student loans. But she’d gotten Kayla so wrong. She seemed like a confident, competent woman who was striking in profile and owned both her body and intellect. Eva found Kayla attractive as she’d always been drawn to confidence in women. It was the thing that drove her interest in her very first girlfriend in high school and continued to drive her attraction to women years later.

  As she unlocked her front door, Eva surmised that she and Kayla hadn’t spent nearly enough time together for her to have agreed to go out on this date. For a stranger or casual acquaintance, it would have been fine, but for someone she worked with, she should have used better judgment. Eva was lonely. She’d been lonely for a while now and hated having to admit that to herself. She tossed her coat and purse on her couch and then placed her computer bag on the chair in front of the kitchen island. She pulled the napkin out of her jeans and pressed it flat on that same island. She stared down at the scribbled writing again. “Get out while you still can. Trust me.”

  As she unbuttoned her shirt and untucked it from her pants, she stared down at the note that had been so covertly tossed into her lap by a stranger. The stranger had made sure to stick around just long enough to somehow try to alert Eva to Kayla’s intentions. How had the strange woman known about Kayla’s desire to merely bed her? Had she been through this with Kayla? Had she seen Kayla in that restaurant before with different women and knew what was about to happen? What was it about Eva that told the stranger that she wouldn’t be interested in a one-night stand or a hook-up? Did she give off a vibe that said she was a relationship only kind of girl? If so, how had Kayla not picked up on it herself? She left the napkin on the island and made her way to her bedroom to try to forget about the night’s events.

  As she fell asleep that night after a long day at work and then the nightmare of a date, she couldn’t help but think of the stranger’s face as she stood in the doorway. She was tall and lanky, perhaps even athletic. She wasn’t overly muscled but appeared to be in good shape. She wore a dark double-breasted overcoat that she held closed. Eva had caught sight of her black pants. She had ash-colored hair, which had been down and perfectly framed her face. She couldn’t tell the exact color
of her eyes due to the distance and the low lighting of the restaurant, but she’d guess they were a shade of blue that countless classic authors would describe as electric.

  CHAPTER 2

  Eva woke up at her normal time without her alarm clock. She’d grown accustomed to doing so ever since she started going on morning runs. She’d begun the routine during the pleasant autumn weather in the city and felt herself getting healthier with each three-mile trek, but the winter weather had slowed her progress and her three miles had turned into one. She kept telling herself she needed to join a gym, but she was uncertain whether this new exercise kick would last or if it was only a phase.

  When James had passed away the previous October, it hit her harder than she expected. He had been her mentor throughout her undergrad years and into her graduate program and her doctoral work. She’d stood behind his wife and children at the funeral with tears in her eyes. She’d never been athletic and had failed on more than one occasion to develop a good exercise routine for herself, but something about losing James to a heart attack had made her stick to it for longer than ever before.

  The runs had started shortly after his death and she ran six days a week. She took Sunday mornings off to rest her body and began eating healthier as well. It had been a struggle, since she’d been a junk food addict her entire life, choosing a bag of chips over a piece of fruit any day of the week.