“You don’t have to buy me a drink,” Emma said as they made their way toward the bar.
“I said I would. What do you want?” Keira asked.
“Just a beer is fine.”
“Beer?” Keira lifted an eyebrow as she stood in front of the empty stools at the bar. “You want to be a little vaguer there for me?” She giggled.
Emma liked the sound she was barely able to hear over the music and couldn’t help but smile as a result.
“Okay, I’ll take that one.” She pointed at the tap with a blue handle.
“Okay. Done.”
Keira ordered Emma’s beer and a dry martini for Kellan. The way she ordered Kellan’s drink seemed familiar, as if she’d done it a million times before. It left Emma wondering about their relationship. She’d introduced Kellan as her friend, but that didn’t mean they weren’t more than friends. She might not have wanted to reveal that they were anything more to Emma. Keira ordered herself a glass of red wine, and they waited as the bartender placed each drink in front of them one after the other.
“So, I guess you know now,” Keira stated without turning to face Emma.
“Know what?” Emma grabbed her beer.
“That I’m gay.” Keira turned to her then. “I was going to tell you yesterday, after you kind of told me about you, but you got that call and had to go.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that,” Emma apologized.
“For what? Taking a call from your boss? You don’t have to apologize for that.”
“Should I apologize for not coming last night?” Emma asked and lifted the beer to her lips.
The beer was dark. It tasted terrible because she hated dark beer, but she drank it and tried to cover because she didn’t want to appear ungrateful to Keira, who’d just handed her credit card to the bartender. Emma had just pointed to the beer with the best-looking handle. That had clearly been the wrong idea.
“No, it was a last-minute thing. You don’t have to apologize. I just thought it might be nice for you to meet some people and see one of my favorite places in the city.”
“It’s one of your favorite places?” Emma watched the bartender pass back Keira’s card.
“Yeah, it started a while ago when one of my friends first moved up here. We’d go together and act like kids. It’s turned into something I do about once a month now.”
“Kellan?”
“What?” Keira turned to her.
“Is Kellan the friend you mentioned?”
“Oh, no.” Keira slid the card into her wallet and her wallet into her oversized purse. “My friend Michelle. I didn’t meet Kellan all that long ago.”
“Hey, Olivia says she needs participants. The turnout is pretty low,” Kellan interrupted them. “Want to pretend you want a date with me?” she asked Keira.
“Speed dating?” Keira’s eyebrows lifted again.
“Not for real,” Kellan replied. “I mean, kind of for real; we don’t want to ruin the thing for Olivia. But they need at least two more for it to work.”
“I guess I can help.” Keira sipped her wine while Kellan grabbed for her martini. “You in?” She’d turned to Emma, but Emma hadn’t noticed it right away since she was looking at Kellan.
“Me?” Emma asked.
“Yeah, you,” Keira answered.
“It’s about to get started. We need to fill out the forms,” Kellan said.
“Come on. It’ll be fun,” Keira prodded in a playful shove.
“Somehow, I doubt that.” Emma took a long gulp of her bitter beer to act as liquid courage. “But I’m in.” She would push through the awkwardness, and she’d have a fun story to talk to Hailey and Charlie about on their next call, or when Summer and Lena visited soon to spend time with Summer’s dad and brother, Seth.
“Let’s go.” Kellan walked in the direction of her friend.
“Have you ever done something like this before?” Emma asked Keira as they followed.
“No. You?”
“No,” Emma stated a little louder than was necessary.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?”
Emma wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t want to appear completely inflexible or unwilling to help another woman, so she stood next to Keira as they completed their enrollment forms and placed their nametags on their chests.
“Hello, ladies. My name is Olivia. Welcome to our event.”
Olivia went on and gave further instructions, but Emma wasn’t paying attention. She was too busy looking around at the other participants, trying to see if any of them were her type. She’d caught a few eyes apparently doing the same, and then she heard a bell. Keira moved to a chair that was in front of Emma. Emma glanced down at the card in her hand that had the number seven on it. She found the seven and headed to the other side, near the end of the long table. She sat down right before a woman with gorgeous, caramel skin and deep brown eyes. Then, the bell rang again.
“Hi,” the woman greeted. “I’m Carol.”
“Emma,” Emma replied.
“I’m kind of a veteran of these things. You look a little nervous. First time?” she asked and leaned in.
“Yeah. How many times does it take to make you a veteran?”
“I don’t know the rules, but I’ve done this about ten times.”
“Ten times?” Emma couldn’t imagine putting herself through this thing ten times.
“The first few times were because my friends put me up to it and I had some good dates come out of it. Now, I honestly just do it because it’s a nice way to get some numbers and have some fun.” She smirked a wicked smirk. “Don’t get me wrong, if a relationship comes out of it, I’m glad. But I’m also good with just having some fun with someone who also wants to have some fun.”
“That’s not me.”
Emma gulped her beer as a stall tactic. How much time was left? Hadn’t it been two minutes already?
“No?” Carol asked and lowered her head, trying to meet Emma’s eye.
“No.” Emma put her glass down. “I’m only interested in finding a girlfriend.” That was at least partly correct. She wanted someone to come home to at night and to wake up next to in the morning. She wanted what her friends had back in Chicago. “I’m a one-woman woman, and I want total commitment. I’ve never been a fan of those date around things in the beginning either. I like exclusivity from the start.”
“I guess we’re not likely to check each other’s boxes later then, huh?”
“I guess not.” Emma shook her head from side to side.
“Shame.” The woman leaned back and a few seconds later, the bell rang.
Emma met woman after woman. She found some more interesting than others. One woman named Nellie talked about the rock tumbler she had when she was eight for the entirety of their two minutes together. Emma would not be checking Nellie’s box. Another talked about her ex-girlfriend while a third one spoke about her ex-boyfriend for the entire time. There were a few, though, that had potential. Emma found herself sharing a laugh or enjoying their two minutes together, wishing it was longer. Then, Keira Worthy sat in front of her.
“Having fun?” she asked.
“A little, yeah,” Emma admitted with a smile.
“You really should smile more often.” Keira pointed at her. “It’s nice.”
Emma had finished her beer by the fourth woman she’d spoken with, so she was down a stall tactic.
“Thanks.”
“You hate this, don’t you?” Keira’s smile disappeared, and she glanced down at her wine that she’d yet to finish.
“No, I–” Emma cut herself off before she answered again without thinking. She leaned forward and pushed her empty glass aside. “Look, I’m sorry. I feel like you’re seeing a different version of me, and I don’t mean for you to.”
“Then, why?” Keira seemed to genuinely want to know as she leaned in.
“I’m still trying to figure that out, honestly. I’ve never been new somewhere an
d on my own before. It turns out, it’s harder than I thought it would be. The last time was when I went away to college, but I had all the other freshman who’d left home to talk to. I also had my girlfriend, even though we were long-distance, and my dad to talk. Now, it’s just me. And I think I kind of suck at this. The day you met me, I really wasn’t myself though. And I am sorry for that.”
“What happened?”
“It was the anniversary of my dad’s death,” she revealed. Keira leaned in closer and placed a gentle hand on top of Emma’s without saying a word. Normally, when Emma told people that’d she’d lost her father or even that she was technically an orphan, they’d make a comment about being sorry. But Keira hadn’t said that. That made Emma smile a little. The hand on top of her own was enough. “It was a long time ago. It just hits me each year, and I shouldn’t have started work the same week, but I didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry I took my attitude out on you.”
“It’s okay. I just assumed you’d thought I was the bitch that almost hit you with her car and then the flake that couldn’t show up for a meeting on time.”
“No–”
The bell rung. Emma’s head was on a swivel, trying to figure out who’d rung the bell early because it couldn’t have possibly been two minutes. But everyone else was standing and moving, so it must not have been early after all. Keira stood and moved over to the right, but she appeared to be doing so reluctantly. While Emma tried to engage herself in conversation with the next woman and the one after that, she kept sensing eyes on her. And gravity seemed to shift to the right because her own eyes kept drifting in that direction.
At the end of the two-minute round, Emma was faced with a predicament. She’d agreed to participate, so she needed to check at least one name, but she didn’t want to just check Keira’s name to find that she’d checked five other women’s boxes to talk to next. She also didn’t want to check the box for Keira if Keira didn’t check the box for her. They should have discussed this prior to agreeing to participate.
◆◆◆
Keira stood next to Kellan and watched as Kellan checked off the names of four women she wanted to spend more time with.
“This might actually work out,” Kellan said. “There are a few women in the bunch I might actually want to go out with. You?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Keira said. “I guess I like a couple of them, but we’re not really participating. So what do we do?” She noticed Emma standing off on her own, staring down at her own form.
“Check the boxes of the ones you want to talk to. You might as well see if you can get something out of it. You’re single. They’re single.” Kellan handed Olivia her form as the woman moved around the bar collecting others. “What about Emma?”
“What about her?” Keira replied a little too quickly.
“You’re into her whole thing, aren’t you?” Kellan asked.
“Whole thing?”
“Yeah, that brooding thing where she’s just angry at the world all the time.”
“What are you talking about? She’s not angry at the world.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“You’ve known her for what, like an hour? And you’ve talked to her for two minutes.”
“You’ve known her for about five days and talked to her for like an hour. How do you know I’m wrong?”
“Is this about us?” Keira stood straight and took Kellan in.
“Us?”
“Yeah, you and me. How things ended. I thought we were past that.”
“We are past that. I just don’t get what you see in her.” She nodded in Emma’s direction.
“I don’t see anything in her. It’s not like that. I thought she could use a friend. She’s new to the area and starting over completely. I was just trying to be nice.”
“I’m going to go.”
It was Emma’s voice, and it was right behind her. Keira closed her eyes for a moment, realizing her mistake, before opening them and glaring at Kellan, who must have seen Emma approaching and could’ve warned her. She turned to face Emma who looked dejected.
“Emma, it’s not–”
“No, it’s okay. I get it. I wasn’t exactly nice to you. I kind of figured it was a pity invite last night. I guess… thanks for trying to help?” Emma asked.
“It’s not a pity thing, I promise. I…”
Keira wasn’t sure how to describe this strange pull she kept feeling toward Emma Colton. The woman looked amazing tonight, in jeans and a dark green sweater. It matched her eyes mysteriously well, and her dark hair seemed to look even better against its hue.
“I should give you this.” Emma handed Keira her form and turned to go.
“Emma, don’t go,” Keira said.
“I’ll see you at the meeting on Monday. Have a good weekend.” Emma turned back to say and then turned around again, leaving the bar.
Keira glanced down at Emma’s form and saw that only Keira’s name had a check in the box next to it.
“What the fuck, Kell?” She spun on her heels and exclaimed. “You could have told me she was right behind me.”
“She moved too fast, and you were just going on. I couldn’t get a word in. Sorry, Keira.”
“Whatever. I’m done for the night.”
“Because she left?”
“Because she thinks I pity her, and it hurt her, Kell. Despite what you’ve just said, you definitely could have stopped that from happening. Good luck with your prospects. I’ll talk to you later.”
Keira stopped before leaving to apologize to Olivia for departing early. By the time she’d made it outside the bar, she couldn’t see any trace of Emma, who’d apparently either caught a cab or already turned a corner. Keira had driven with Kellan, so she headed for the closest BART stop that would get her in the area of her house. It was only when she’d arrived home that she’d noticed she’d stuffed both her card and Emma’s card into her purse. She pulled them out and again saw Emma’s check mark next to her name. Keira also saw her own checkmark next to Emma’s name. She hadn’t even noticed she’d made it.
CHAPTER 7
On Monday, Emma didn’t want to go to work. The entire weekend, she’d been dreading meeting with Keira and the caterer. It wasn’t Keira’s fault she’d turned into a pity case. She’d done it to herself by acting so strangely when that wasn’t who she was at all. That didn’t change the feeling that she hadn’t been able to get rid of all weekend. She didn’t want Keira to think of her as a pity case. She wouldn’t care if it had been Kellan or Olivia or anyone else at the bar that night, but she didn’t want Keira to invite her to things because she felt sorry for her. Emma was determined to do two things today. First, she’d act like her old self in that meeting, for the rest of the day, and preferably for the rest of her life. Second, she would make sure that Keira had no idea that the evening at the bar had gotten to her. She’d be cool and professional, but also as personable as she’d been with any other vendor in the past.
“Emma, Keira is here.” Mason stood in her office doorway. “Should I send her to the conference room?”
“Please.” Emma turned in her chair to face her back wall. She’d yet to decorate the office, but she would try to go shopping for stuff over the weekend to make the place more comfortable for next week and beyond. She took a deep breath to try to center herself and get ready for the meeting. She stood and grabbed her notebook, choosing to leave her laptop behind so as not to use it as a crutch. “Keira, nice to see you again,” she greeted with a wide smile the moment she sauntered into the room. “And you must be Katie.” She glanced toward the short, somewhat stocky woman to Keira’s left at the table.
“Yes.”
“I’m Emma. It’s nice to meet you.” Emma headed in her direction, passing Keira by default and shook the woman’s hand before taking a few more steps around the table and taking her seat across from Keira. “Shall we get started? I should warn you – I do have another meeting right after this. I’m back-to-back today. I
guess that comes with being the new one in the office. You get all the appointments no one else wants.” She smiled in Keira’s direction and received an intense look of either surprise or confusion in return.
“No problem. I’ve prepared what I think would be a good menu for the event based on what I’ve discussed already with Keira, your preferences at the tasting, and the fact that it’s a health fair so we don’t want to serve anything too unhealthy.” She passed Emma a sheet of paper that had a menu printed on it. “I’d like to actually prepare the entire menu for you and anyone else you’d like to have taste it, just to make sure it’ll work for you.”
“I can loan you my assistant, Mason, and I have a few people on my team that will be working the event and would probably be willing testers for you. I trust that they can make the decisions. Mason’s been pretty good at recommending good food options since I started, so I’d put it in his hands.”
“You don’t want to be there?” Keira asked.
“I don’t think I can,” Emma replied honestly. “I’ve three other projects I’ve just been handed, and I still have to plan the rest of this one. I’ve tasted your food.” She looked at Katie. “And it’s delicious. I trust my team to advise you from here.”
“Oh, okay. The budget has been approved already then?”
“Yes, Keira has all the numbers.” Emma gave Keira another smile.
“Great. Then, I don’t know that I need anything else from you. Do you need anything from me?” Katie asked.
“No. Mason is just down the hall. You can make arrangements with him while you’re here if that would be easier,” Emma suggested.
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Katie stood.
“I’ll meet you out there,” Keira said to Katie, but she stared at Emma.
“It was great to meet you.” Katie shook Emma’s hand again.
“You too,” Emma replied with a kind, professional smile.
Katie grabbed her binder and purse and headed out of the conference room in the direction of Mason’s desk.
“Well, that was easy,” Keira said when they were alone.
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