“So, can I confess something to you?” Emma spoke into the sounds of the city when they made their way up to the entrance of the museum. “I really wanted to come here with you last week.”
“You did?” Keira asked, and they made their way to where the attendant would take their tickets.
“I did, yeah.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I guess a lot of reasons,” Emma explained.
“Start with one. We can get drinks over there.” She pointed at the bar over in the corner of the wide expansive hallway where the exhibits were already on display and being examined by other guests.
“A drink sounds good,” Emma stated and they moved that way. “I think I was afraid of meeting new people. I still kind of am. I had this group of people who knew me. I knew them well. Meeting a whole group of people just felt like too much.”
“I can understand that.” Keira lifted the corner of her mouth in a small smile.
“Then, there was you.” Emma rolled her eyes at herself.
She watched as a young couple, who had been looking at an exhibit along the wall, turned suddenly without noticing Keira and the man was about to bump into her. Emma placed a hand on the small of Keira’s back, using it to move her in front of herself instead, and placed her other hand on Keira’s right hip to still her as the man walked past them without noticing the near run-in.
Emma’s hand moved to Keira’s other hip as she directed the woman in front of her through a tight squeeze of museum-goers, talking in a large group off to one side and standing in line for something Emma couldn’t see on the other. Emma really didn’t mind the crowd. It gave her a chance to keep her hands on Keira a little longer. She didn’t dare stand too close though, for fear her thundering heart would give her away, but her hands remained until they were through the crowd and near the bar.
“So, you were saying?” Keira’s eyes got big, and her smile grew wide. “Something about me?”
“You were intimidating.” Emma laughed out as they stood in the somewhat short line to order their drinks.
“I was intimidating? Wait. I said that wrong. I meant to say I was intimidating? What did I do? What changed? How do I go back to being intimidating?”
Emma laughed and moved up in the line alongside Keira.
“I don’t know. You’re just you. It’s like you were just nice to me. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were working together at first. Then, I thought maybe there was more to it, but you seemed so nice and welcoming. It kind of threw me off.”
“So, I should have been a bitch to you?” Keira laughed.
“Well, some of my ex-girlfriends managed to win me over that way. I probably should have seen the ending coming in those situations.” Emma laughed softly, and they moved up in the line again. “But no, you shouldn’t have been a bitch. Although, I guess you kind of were, technically, the first time we met.”
“No, I wasn’t. I–” Keira stopped herself. “You mean in the car?”
“Yeah.” Emma laughed again and realized she hadn’t laughed this much on a date in a long time. “I don’t think I expected to meet a woman right away. When I did, and it felt like it could turn into something like tonight, it kind of caught me off guard.”
“I thought you came here to find someone.”
“I came here because of the job. I was hoping it might provide me with a chance to meet someone, yes. I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I thought I’d settle in at work, find a few places I liked to hang out where I might meet some women, and when I was ready, I’d start striking up conversations and making friends; maybe something more.” Emma moved up to the next spot in line and removed her wallet from her small purse.
“No, this one is on me.” Keira placed her hand on top of Emma’s and nodded side to side.
“You got the food,” Emma told her.
“And you bought the tickets to this thing. Let me buy you a drink, okay?”
“If you insist.”
Keira approached the bartender, who was a tall blonde woman with bright green eyes.
“Keira, hey,” the woman greeted to Emma’s surprise.
“Hey, Indy,” Keira greeted back. “Can I get a red and whatever she wants?” She nodded toward Emma.
“Red’s fine,” Emma ordered and watched the eyes of the bartender as they watched Keira Worthy.
“What gives? You were here last week. I thought you only came once a month.” Indy started pouring one of the glasses with the burgundy liquid.
“I was invited tonight, by Emma.” Keira repeated the nod.
“Oh, right.” Indy poured the second glass and met Emma’s eyes.
“Indy’s an amazing bartender. She’s worked a few events with some of the caterers I’ve used and picks up a couple of shifts a week at one of the lesbian bars in the Castro. She is very popular.”
“Mixologist is the proper term, but she knows that.” She pointed at Keira accusingly and sat both glasses on top of the bar. “On the house.”
“You don’t–” Keira started.
“Just let me,” Indy interrupted. “And I’m pulling the late shift at Val’s tomorrow. You should stop by and keep me company.”
She was flirting. This Indy chick was flirting with Keira right in front of Emma. Emma couldn’t blame her. Keira was all the things that would make another woman want to flirt with her. But for all this woman knew, they were here on a date. Hell, they were here on a date.
“I can’t. Tomorrow’s a big day at work for me. Saturday is the big event.”
“Oh, right, the big health thing,” Indy recalled. “Well, I’ll be back at The Promenade Sunday afternoon, doing a mixology lesson for the newbies. Stop by. You can get a bunch of free screw up drinks. I can shoot you some of my good ones too, if you want.” Then, her eyes drifted unwillingly, it appeared, to Emma. “Bring your friend if you want.”
“I’m going to pass, but thanks for the invite. We’re going to walk around. It’s Emma’s first time at After Dark.”
“I’m here all night. Stop by for round two later.”
Emma glared at her. She knew what she was doing but wasn’t able to stop herself before Keira handed her the wine glass and turned her body for her so they could walk off.
“You okay there?” Keira laughed.
“She was blatantly flirting with you.” Emma turned her head back to see Indy pouring someone else a drink. “Right in front of me.”
“Yeah, she does that with all the girls. She’s a bartender. It helps her rake in the tips.”
“She didn’t flirt with me,” Emma stated and took an immediate long drink of her wine.
“Are you jealous, Emma Colton?” Keira teased.
“We could have been on a date, and she’s flirting with you.”
“We are on a date, Emma. And I didn’t flirt back,” Keira returned with another laugh before sipping her own wine. “Indy and I have known one another for a few years. She’s asked me out probably a hundred times. I’ve never said yes.”
“What the hell kind of a name is Indy?” Emma asked.
“The way she tells the story, she was conceived in the midfield of the Indianapolis 500. Her parents named her Indy Ana, thankfully, and not Indianapolis. But to make things worse, they even spelled it weird. It’s I N D Y A N A.” She spelled out each letter. “Ana is her middle name.”
“God, now I kind of feel sorry for her.”
“You shouldn’t. She has an interesting story to tell, and she uses it. Trust me.”
“She’s a player?” Emma questioned.
“She is. That’s why I’ve never said yes. I’m not interested in a hook-up or a few nights of fun. That’s what Indy prefers right now. That’s good for her, but it’s not for me.”
“So, I shouldn’t be jealous?” Emma lifted an eyebrow as she stopped walking, turned to face Keira and lifted her wine to her lips to drink.
She watched as Keira watched her and felt intensity in those blue eye
s she hadn’t noted before. Then, she realized it wasn’t intensity at all. It was lust.
“You definitely shouldn’t be jealous, Emma,” she stated confidently.
Emma nearly choked on her wine as the blue darkened. Keira took a long drink of her own wine. They stared like that for several seconds before the sound of jazz music started up and pulled them away from their moment.
“Do you want to–”
“Yeah, let’s…” Emma felt her cheeks start to redden.
◆◆◆
Two hours later, they had explored the entirety of the Exploratorium. They’d experimented with mixing colors, as the spectrum of colors was the theme of the evening. They’d even mixed their own hues and walked away with a small sample for each of them. Keira had chosen something in the red family while Emma had chosen something in the blue. They’d watched a presentation on how color presents itself to the eye and then a short film on color blindness. It was definitely one of the nerdier dates Keira had been on, but it was also one of the best. She and Emma had enjoyed another glass of wine together while they sat and listened to the band play. Emma had insisted on going to the bar alone, which made Keira laugh. Emma had reported back that Indy made her pay. That made Keira laugh even harder. They talked about the exhibits, the music, the event that was about to happen, and then they went outside to look out at the bay. It was dark, but the lack of light did nothing to alter the beauty of the view. In fact, Emma looked even more amazing under a lantern that illuminated the short boardwalk behind the museum.
“I hate to say this,” Emma said after several moments of silence. “But it’s getting late, and we both have a long couple of days ahead of us. We should probably head out soon.”
“You’re right. Part of me understands the logic. We’re going to be exhausted from the weekend already. A late night tonight would only make it worse.”
“And the other part of you?” Emma asked as she moved her stare from the water to Keira.
“Doesn’t want the night to end just yet,” Keira admitted.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Emma asked.
“Working on the event.”
“And what if you had some company?” Emma lifted an eyebrow. “We could do the site tour and everything and maybe grab some takeout. I don’t want to get in the way, but if there’s something I could help with, we could work, eat and hang out.”
“So, instead of staying out later tonight, we just hang out tomorrow night?”
“I think it’s a good compromise.”
“Well, I do get to hang out with you all day tomorrow.” Keira took a step toward Emma. “And I don’t think it’s likely that I’ll want to say goodbye to you at the end of the workday, so I accept this compromise you offer,” she replied with a smile.
“Let’s go.” Emma reached out and took Keira’s hand so casually that it felt as if she’d done it a thousand times before.
Keira stared down at their linked hands as Emma pulled them toward the door back inside. Keira’s smile went wide when, once they were through the door and the crowd in the main room of the first floor, Emma kept their hands linked together. The doors to the Exploratorium were open to the night. When they emerged back outside to begin their walk back to Emma’s, their hands were still linked together. Keira tried hard to hide her giddy smile that gave far too much away.
The walk was longer this time. They were probably a little less nervous, or they might have been delaying the inevitable of saying goodnight, but they sauntered instead of hurried as they’d done on their way there. Keira enjoyed the quiet as they made their way. She’d never had that with a girlfriend; the ability to just sit or walk quietly and not need to fill the space with meaningless sounds. When she talked to Emma, everything seemed to have meaning.
They arrived back at Emma’s apartment building. Emma tugged on her hand to indicate that she wanted Keira to follow her up. Keira wasn’t sure if she should at first, but then she remembered she’d left her clothes there and she was wearing Emma’s, which she probably wanted back.
“You probably want your stuff back, huh?” Keira queried, but mostly out of nervousness because the other implication was that Emma was interested in more tonight than Keira was ready for.
“What? The clothes?” Emma turned to look at her. “I don’t care about those. I guess your stuff is upstairs, though. You probably need that.”
“Then, why–” Keira stopped herself from asking a pretty ridiculous question and embarrassing herself further. “Never mind. I–”
“Keira, I want to call you a ride. I thought you could wait in my apartment instead of out here,” Emma interrupted. “Cab and Uber drivers alike seem to avoid this intersection like the plague. It’ll probably be about ten minutes.”
“Oh.” Keira smiled at her. “Right.”
“Did you think…” Emma stopped herself this time. “That I wanted something else tonight?”
“I’m stupid. Don’t mind me. I wasn’t thinking. That’s the problem.”
“Keira, you’re not stupid.” Emma pulled on their hands, moving Keira into her. “I want that,” Emma stated softly as her eyes met Keira’s. “I really want that. I don’t want you to think that I don’t, but I’m also not ready for that yet either.” She took Keira’s other hand. “Kind of old school, huh?”
“It’s nice,” Keira replied softly. “It doesn’t happen very often.”
“Not when you’re hanging out with people like the flirty bartender.” Emma tried to lighten the mood, causing Keira to laugh.
“I had a great time tonight, Em,” Keira expressed. Emma smiled a wide smile. “What?”
“You called me Em.”
“Is that not okay?”
“It’s definitely okay. Come on inside. It’s getting chilly out here.”
Keira changed back into her work clothes and handed Emma back her own, which Emma placed on the bed just as the notification appeared on her phone telling her the Uber car she’d ordered for Keira had arrived. There was a moment, as they stood next to the bed and Emma lifted her eyes from the phone to Keira, that Keira thought she might kiss her, but Emma just stuffed her phone back into her pocket and walked Keira toward the door, down the stairs, and back outside to the waiting car.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Keira opened the back door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Emma answered with a nod. “Good night, Keira.”
“Good night.”
“Wait,” Emma said loudly just as Keira was about to close the door. “Text me when you get home so I know you’re okay?”
“Of course.” Keira smiled at her and closed the door behind her.
CHAPTER 13
Emma woke early Friday morning. She had no reason to other than the fact that the earlier she got to the office, the sooner she’d see Keira. Of course, that wasn’t true. Keira would arrive on schedule at their agreed upon time, but it felt to Emma like she needed to be up and moving. She dressed more casually today than normal since she’d be out of the office, in the park, for the majority of the day anyway. She cursed herself for wearing her lucky underwear last night and allowing Keira to get a sneak preview. It meant she couldn’t wear them today for their dinner and work date. She made sure to put on another relatively new bra and panty set that she felt comfortable and sexy in at the same time and headed into the office.
Last night had been amazing. Emma hadn’t had a date like that in so long. The last time was with Eli, but given how their relationship ended, that bitterness tainted her recollection of their first few dates together.
With Keira, the darkness had been sucked from all rooms the moment she entered. Gravity itself had altered, pulling Emma’s eyes to the woman’s form. Perhaps even the spinning of Earth on its axis had slowed or stopped altogether to allow her more time to live in that moment.
While at her desk, Emma received an email from Jenna. Jenna was the woman she’d worked with at the community college to get her the class she’
d be teaching this semester. The previous week’s first session had been canceled abruptly, and Jenna had only called her to let her know there was an issue with the schedule and the classroom availability and that things would be worked out by the following Monday. Emma hadn’t heard from her since then. Unfortunately, according to Jenna’s email, the enrollment for Emma’s class had been low. The class had, therefore, been canceled for the semester. Jenna sounded apologetic. She also said she’d reach back out for the following semester when the time came.
Emma was disappointed. She’d worked out the lecture schedule and prepared weeks worth of topics, homework assignments, and tests. She could hang onto everything for the next semester, and she would, but she’d been excited about teaching kids what she did and why she felt it was important. Emma didn’t want to end up in the Health Department. She wanted to move into other offices and continue to make a difference in her community. But the Health Department was where she’d started after her graduate work. She’d planned on maybe getting a Ph. D one day, but after seeing Ember, her genius friend, pursue her Ph. D and how much time and focus it took her to do it, Emma wondered if she’d be able to ever tackle that. Ember was gifted. Gifted might not even be the right word. She was beyond gifted.
Emma needed to make more money than she did at her current job if she wanted to move out of that studio and into something a little more her style. The money from the school would have gone exclusively to her rent. It wasn’t much, but it paid per lecture. It would be enough to subsidize her salary and help her move into a place she could see herself staying in. Now, she’d likely have to figure something else out and maybe get another part-time job to save up or just wait until the next semester until she found that new apartment. Her job paid well by most standards. It was more than what she made in Chicago by far. But when the cost of living for San Francisco was taken into account, it was enough to survive on and a little more left over at the end. She thought, as she returned her eyes to her computer, that she could do what Keira did and commute into the city. It would add time to her trip to and from the office, and she’d miss living in the middle of it all, but it would be more affordable.
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