Lucy ignored the knock on her back door. It was going on four in the afternoon and the stupid mechanical staff in RollerCoaster Tycoon were, for whatever reason, refusing to fix her bumper cars in a timely manner and that simply wasn’t acceptable. If they worked for her in the real world, they’d be fired by now. No exceptions.
The knock was louder now, but as answering the door wouldn’t help her theme park, she let it go. The sound of a key in the lock had her rolling her eyes. Really? Five seconds later, Emory stood in front of her looking anything but pleased. “Why are you not answering the door for me?”
She gestured to the screen of her laptop that sat on top of the blanket that sat on top of her lap that was curled up on the sofa in the middle of the afternoon with BP pressed to her side. “RollerCoaster Tycoon is being frustrating right now.”
“Not a good reason. Trevor called and said you were sick. And since you haven’t once called in sick in all the time that I’ve known you, I thought I’d stop by and make sure you were alive.”
“As you can see, I am.” She refocused on the screen. “And deeply depressed about the state of my theme park.”
“Not good enough,” Emory said, circling in front of the sofa. “And, oh my, you’re wearing pajama pants in the late afternoon. You’re the opposite of a lounger. That’s red flag number two. What gives?”
Lucy shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” And honestly, she didn’t. She’d spent the weekend thinking about Kristin and the news story and their interaction Friday night ad nauseam and where had it gotten her? Nowhere good, that was for sure. This breath of fresh air that had walked into her life and made her feel happier than she’d actually thought possible had just told the world that she was ethically questionable, and then accused Lucy of manufacturing their relationship for personal gain. Did it get much worse than that?
“Well, you have to talk about it,” Emory said.
“Nope. It’s a law that I get to choose.”
Emory took a seat on the couch next to Lucy. “There’s no law. You just made that up.”
“Unimportant detail.”
“You found her, I see,” Grace said from her still-open back door.
Emory nodded. “I did.”
“You brought the tiny person?” Lucy asked, with an exasperated sigh.
“I find she’s often helpful,” Emory said. “Plus, I’m on after-school duty today.”
At Grace’s arrival, Bernadette Peters leapt from the couch and scurried to Grace, who was undoubtedly one of her favorite humans.
“Hiya, BP,” Grace said. She retrieved a dog treat from the jar on top of the fridge and held it up for the excited pup. When BP saw the treat, she immediately rolled over and looked to Grace expectantly for her reward.
“Whoa,” Emory said, pointing at the dog. “When did she learn to do that?”
But it was too late, Lucy felt the tears start.
“Okay, okay. So maybe we’ve touched on something a little tender. Am I right?”
Lucy nodded and brushed the tears from her cheeks with windshield-wiper hands.
“Did you teach Bernadette Peters to roll over?”
Lucy shook her head. “Kristin taught her.”
Emory’s mouth made a small oh. “I take it you read the story. I tried to message you, but you didn’t answer. I take it you and Kristin had an argument?”
“We did. It’s over, and suffice it to say it didn’t end well.”
Emory looked across the room at Grace, who was in the midst of a game of tug-of-war with BP over one of her plush toys. She dropped her voice. “Can you tell me what prompted this?”
Lucy ran her fingers through her hair because she wasn’t sure talking about it would help. At the same time, why the hell not? She couldn’t feel much worse. “She finished her story and let me read it. I said some things. She said some things. But the fact of the matter is the story is out there. It ran yesterday and it’s water under the bridge. The story. Kristin and I. All of it. It’s time that I look ahead, and I will do that as soon as I get these stupid maintenance guys to do their job.” But honestly, Lucy wasn’t sure how to move forward and just forget the past couple of months. The world looked lifeless now in comparison.
“All right. Let’s talk this through. The article wasn’t great for GNW.”
Lucy met her eyes. “Are you kidding? It’s catastrophic.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Emory took a seat and seemed to organize her thoughts. “I think the article was well written and a fair representation of the series of events. It made me think, which I suppose was her goal.”
“How are you not furious?”
Emory lifted a shoulder. “Because in a week, people will have moved on. We know we didn’t do anything unscrupulous, and this whole thing comes down to semantics of what a wire service actually is. Do I love that she included us in the story? Of course not. Do I think it’s the end of the world? I don’t.”
Lucy studied her. “You’re really taking this in stride, you know that?”
“Would you rather be with a woman who compromises what she believes in?”
“I don’t know, maybe.”
Emory shook her head. “You wouldn’t. I know you.”
Lucy tossed her head back against the sofa. “I guess not when you put it that way.”
“So you can be together again,” Grace called from across the room. Just when you thought she wasn’t listening…
“It’s more complicated than that, tiny person,” Lucy said.
Grace was on her feet and moving into the living room, all calm and cool and ten years old, the way Grace often was. “No, it’s not. You like her, so tell her so.”
Lucy raised a shoulder. “Just tell her so, huh?”
“Yeah, like that. You could write it in a note, or call her on the phone, or text it to her.”
“Who are we texting?” Sarah asked from the back door. Well, it was a full-on party now. The gang was all here. Sarah had their dog, Walter, on a leash and wore workout clothes, damn her. Upon seeing BP, the chocolate retriever let out a little whine, which prompted Sarah to let him off the leash so he could seek out his reluctant friend. Walter tended to think everyone loved him, and secretly BP probably did.
Emory turned to Sarah. “Grace feels Lucy should text Kristin because she really likes her despite the fact that Kristin wrote a story that painted Global NewsWire in not the best light. Lucy still seems to feel that Kristin undervalues her integrity and that’s hard to overcome. You follow?”
“I do.”
Emory pointed at Sarah. “This is why I’m hot for her.”
Sarah kissed Emory hello. “That’s the only reason?”
“Well, no, not even close.”
“Excellent.” Sarah laughed and took a seat next to Lucy. “I read that story last night and despite the GNW tie-in, it’s a thoughtful piece. It makes you stop and think about how we look at the world. What details we value.”
“I’m sure it was a great story,” Lucy said with a wave of her hand, “but has your girlfriend ever publicly maligned you?”
Sarah thought on this. “No. I can’t say she has.”
“And to be honest, it’s not even the story that keeps racing through my mind, it was the insinuation she made questioning the legitimacy of my feelings for her. That I had ulterior motives for being with her.”
“Do you think she really feels that way?” Sarah asked.
Lucy lifted her hand and let it drop. “I don’t know. She tried to take it back, but how do you put toothpaste back in the tube, you know?” Her throat tightened with emotion, because God, she missed Kristin and it had only been a couple of days.
“I think you owe it to yourself to hear her side of things, have a discussion, and work through it, if possible. Given she’s worth it. Is Kristin worth it?”
Lucy shook her head. “I can’t see past the hurt right now to answer the question.” Sarah and Emory exchanged a look across her. “I totally saw that, by the way. The knowing glance. Don’t flaunt your knowing glances at me when I have no one to knowing-glance with.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emory said. “But I agree with Sarah and think you need to do something radical and have an actual conversation with her. Not an argument, but an exchange. Because you’ve smiled more in the last few weeks than I can ever remember, and that says something.”
Lucy scrunched one eye. “Maybe someday. But I think the result will be the same.”
Emory stood. “Step one, talk to the girl. Step two, make sure you’re at work tomorrow. I can’t have the company going under just because your heart has been smashed to bits. I’ll need you to buck up and be the kickass CEO you’ve always been.”
Lucy gasped. “You’re cold. The state of my soul demands I build more roller coasters.”
“I’m thinking the roller coasters can wait.”
Grace came around the couch. “Is Lucy going to the boardwalk with us for the Fourth?”
Emory smiled triumphantly. “Good question. She most definitely is, as it will force her from this house. Plus, Lucy loves the Fourth of July and fireworks.”
“Yay!” said Grace, whose excitement had both dogs on their feet in joint celebration. “She always shares her cotton candy with me.”
“She’s a giver that way,” Emory said, and ruffled Lucy’s hair.
It wasn’t until late that night when Lucy was tucked into bed and listening to the sounds of the waves just outside her window that her phone buzzed, signaling an incoming call. In the dark of her bedroom, she saw the readout and swallowed back the slash of hurt when she saw it was Kristin calling, her photo smiling back at Lucy from the screen. She stared at it for a moment as doubt and need waged a war within her. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel Kristin’s warm skin up against hers, the way her hair would tickle Lucy’s shoulder.
With a quick exhale, she slid the phone into the off position and tucked it away in her bedside table. With the covers pulled in around her, she closed her eyes against the still-very-raw emotion.
She wasn’t ready.
And she couldn’t help but wonder if she ever would be.
*
Kristin surveyed the desolate newsroom and took note of the fact that other than a staff photographer caught up in a game of Solitaire, she was pretty much alone. It was July third and nearly half of the paper’s staff had taken off the second portion of the day to gear up for the Fourth’s festivities with their families. Given that Kristin didn’t exactly have anyone to celebrate with, she focused on her next project, which she was able to handpick after the overwhelmingly positive response to the article.
The readers had responded in droves once the story ran and wanted more thoughtful exposés like this one, and that had the higher-ups asking her for more. She’d immediately pitched a piece on Slater Energy that would juxtapose their claims about green practices with what it was they were actually doing. And wouldn’t you know it? She was green-lit just like that.
As she drove home that evening, she thought about Lucy and tried her phone again to no avail. She didn’t blame Lucy—she’d probably ignore her calls too.
The truth was, she’d come to matter to Kristin a great deal more in just the short amount of time they’d spent together than any other woman ever had, actually, and that said something about what they had. The knowledge that she’d hurt Lucy in the midst of an already difficult time for them had her not sleeping and racking her brain for a way to fix it all. Kristin knew in her heart that the words weren’t true the moment she said them, and she was even more convinced of that now that time had offered perspective. If Lucy needed some space for these few days, she’d give it to her. But one way or another she was determined to apologize and find a way to get back to where they were. It was too important not to.
As she pulled into her driveway, her phone buzzed. Closing her eyes against the hope that Lucy was finally willing to talk to her, she checked the readout. It was from a number she didn’t recognize.
How do you feel about fireworks? –Emory Owen
Kristin raised an eyebrow at the question, as it had her full attention.