Take Only Pictures (32 page)
Read Take Only Pictures Online
Authors: Laina Villeneuve
“Good company might make me feel better, too,” Gloria muttered. She finally turned her head, meaning to suggest that good company might be found somewhere other than their table, and her eyes locked with Kristine’s. Her Kristine. Sitting there at the bar in cowboy boots, her trademark tight blue jeans, sexy tank top tucked in and yet another belt buckle. Her breath caught.
“Told you,” Jim said in a congratulatory tone. “It doesn’t matter who you are, what’s going on in your crazy mixed-up love life. A woman like that should not be ignored. You should so go talk to her.”
His jaw dropped when Gloria responded by pushing back from the table. Adam hooted encouragement as she walked away from them. She could barely feel her legs as she walked to the bar. She kept waiting for her eyes to reveal the trick they’d played on her, that there was someone there who looked like Kristine. But then she stood right next to her, and unmistakably, the woman who should have been in San Diego rose to her feet.
“I’m such an ass,” Kristine said.
Gloria stared at her, unsure of what to make of the woman standing in front of her. Maybe she’d just decided to take the scenic route on her way to San Diego. She’d be gone in the morning, making Gloria even more heartsick. Though she wanted to throw herself into Kristine’s arms, the unanswered questions kept her an arm’s length away. “Knowing how the family business relies on asses, I’m not sure how to take that.”
Kristine belly laughed and pulled Gloria into an embrace. As they parted, her eyes wandered down Gloria’s frame, filling Gloria with desire. When she reached Gloria’s waist, Kristine smiled and reached out to touch the belt buckle. “I wondered if you’d been wearing this.” Her eyes found Gloria again, and Gloria saw hesitation in her gaze. “Sit with me?”
Gloria nodded. She glanced back at her friends who looked utterly awed by what they were watching. She pointed, mouthed “Kristine,” and watched both of their eyes widen. She sat, her heartbeat competing with the band.
“Everything I said on the phone, I meant. I know you belong here, and I know that a professional job is what I’ve always wanted,” Kristine said. She reached for Gloria’s hand, and Gloria closed her eyes at the touch, her heart breaking.
Kristine traced the back of Gloria’s hand with her thumb. It felt to Gloria that her whole body was being touched in a way no one ever had before. She knew that Kristine had realized what she did too, that they were only drawing out the inevitable split-up and she had come to do the honorable thing by breaking up in person. She took a tight hold on Kristine’s hand and felt tears threatening. She didn’t want to let go, ever.
“Gloria, look at me. I came to say that I was a fool to tell you that we could be long distance.”
Gloria swiped at a tear that escaped, still trying to avoid Kristine’s eyes, not wanting to hear what she feared Kristine would say out loud.
“Would you please open your eyes and look at me? I want for you to have a say in our future.” She grabbed a newspaper off the bar and waved it in front of Gloria’s face. “I want you to help me find an apartment. For us.”
Gloria blinked. “What?”
“I want the next place we live to be our place. I don’t want to live alone. I want something like the cabin at the outpost, a place that I know when I come home, you’ll be there.”
Gloria stared at the paper in front of her blindly. “You’re not breaking up with me?”
Kristine sat back, surprised. “Of course not. What makes you think I drove here to break up with you?”
“Your card. I thought you were reminding me not to get attached. I thought you were saying you were happy to have a memory.”
“Didn’t you see that you were in the frame? I needed you to know I want to be where you are. You were right. You’ve always been right. This,” she waved her hand in between the two of them, “is the most important thing.”
“So you’re saying you want me to go with you?” Gloria asked, unsure how that made her feel.
Kristine gently shook the newspaper in her hand. “I’m saying help me pick an apartment. Here. Please.”
Gloria finally registered the words on the newspaper in her hand. The local paper. Why was she holding a local paper? Kristine, she realized looked equal parts radiant and scared. “I don’t understand.”
“I signed a temporary contract with Humboldt State. I start Monday.”
“You start in San Diego in ten days.”
Slowly, Kristine shook her head. “I couldn’t accept it. A wise horseman told me it was a long way in the wrong direction, and I finally listened.”
Gloria felt like she was floating, like the number of emotions she was experiencing finally took over and suspended her above herself. It sounded like she got to have everything she wanted, the girl, her family, her job, her friends. Did she deserve all of that? She felt like if she moved or breathed, the fragile bubble that was keeping everything together would pop.
Kristine squeezed Gloria’s hand. “Could you please tell me I didn’t do the wrong thing?”
“What about regret?” Gloria whispered.
“What about faith?” Kristine answered.
“What about your dreams?”
“She’s sitting right here in front of me refusing to kiss me. Punish me for being stupid, but please tell me you want me here.”
Gloria did better. She showed Kristine. She wove her fingers through Kristine’s hair and pulled her into a deep, deep kiss, a new kiss, one full of promise.
“Really?” Kristine said, coming up for air.
“Forever. I want you here forever.”
“You better be sure about that. I’ll be stuck on you like a mule stuck on a bell mare.”
Gloria swatted Kristine. “You are my everything. You’re supposed to be stuck to me.”
Kristine smiled. “Just making sure.” Her eyes left Gloria’s and drifted across the room. “I think you’d better introduce me to your friends.”
Gloria flushed red. She’d forgotten all about them. “Only to tell them that they’re on their own for the rest of the night. I have other plans.”
“I think I like the sound of your plans,” Kristine answered.
Gloria kept hold of Kristine’s hand as they wove back through the crowd, finally on the same trail, one that they would travel together.
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