Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
EMILY
“Do you think we’ll ever catch it?” I asked.
Snow crunched under foot as we passed through the firs, hand in hand, the afternoon light streaming through the branches. In Dana’s other hand hung an empty trap.
Dana sighed. “I have been wondering if we should just give up. We’ve had the trap out for two months now. Not only is it a pain constantly having to check it, but the temperatures are going to plummet next week, and I’m worried about anything being trapped in the cold for too long.”
“But what about the trees?” I asked.
Dana shrugged. “We’ve been able to save most of the trees it has damaged. It’s not ideal, but hopefully there are enough people like your family who will overlook a few imperfections. And Olivia can use the rest for wreathes.”
“Well, I’m sure my parents would love a Red Tractor Farm tree that’s been vandalized by a mysterious creature.” I grinned. “Perhaps we could take them one next year?”
Sure, we had only been officially dating for six days and next Christmas was a long way off. But I was perhaps foolishly confident that we’d be together this time next year.
I squeezed Dana’s hand and gazed at her, my heart full. Behind her, a small black-and-white bird jumped from one snow-covered branch to another.
“Hey, look! It’s a chickadee. Do you think it’s the same one we saw the night of the snowstorm?” I asked.
“Quite possibly,” Dana said. “They usually stay in the same area.”
The bird flew down to the snow-covered ground.
“Look! Are those tracks?” Dana asked, pointing to some indents in the snow. “I think they are!”
Dana took a few steps toward a ten-foot fir. “They stop here.”
Her brow crinkled as she examined the base of the tree. “No signs of any damage to the bark.” She looked around. “Maybe it was another animal, not our bark-eating mystery creature.”
Movement at the top of the tree caught my eye.
My head shot up.
I blinked.
There was an animal balancing on the very top of the tree, eating its tip. It had dark brown fur, with long white quills.
“Dana, look!” I pointed. “Is that a…porcupine?”
Dana squinted. “It looks like it.” She grinned. “Well, I think we’ve found our culprit.”
The porcupine moved and my heart skyrocketed into my throat.
Shit. I yanked Dana’s hand back.
“Quick, we need to get out of the firing line! Don’t they shoot quills at people?”
Dana stepped back. “I think that’s a myth.”
“I hope you’re right.” Porcupines did not feature in Animal Rescue Hospital. The porcupine didn’t appear to be paying any attention to us, at least. “What should we do?”
Dana frowned. “I’m pretty sure you can’t relocate porcupines.
They don’t handle being moved well. They’ll either starve, or go through a lot of trauma to make their way back.
I’ll call our local wildlife control woman to check, but I suspect she’ll say that the only humane option is to dispatch it. ”
“Dispatch it?” I frowned. What the hell did that mean?
“Put it down,” Dana said.
“Oh.” I stared at the porcupine. It resembled a giant spiky rat, but it was kind of cute. The thought of it being dispatched...
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let that happen.” Dana slid her arm around my back.
“So you’re just going to let it keep eating the trees?”
“Now that I know what it is, I can try some humane deterrents. I’ll have to do some research, but I’m sure there’ll be something we can do—fencing, sprinklers, spray.
” Dana peered up the tree. “It looks like it has well and truly destroyed the leader of that tree, but I might be able to retrain the tree with a new leader.” She glanced at her watch.
“We don’t want to be late for the party.
I’ll start researching humane porcupine control tomorrow. ”
I smiled at my girlfriend. I loved that after months of trying to capture the creature destroying her precious trees, she was still worried about its wellbeing.
Dana held out her hand, and I took it.
Four days ago, we’d commissioned Ronnie to take a photo of Dana and me, facing away from the camera, arms around each other’s backs, against the backdrop of the firs at Red Tractor Farm.
by Happy holidays everyone! #loveislove’ and a few rainbow and love heart emojis for good measure.
While it was still early days in our relationship, I wanted to come out on my own terms. The reaction had generally been positive.
A few celebrity gossip websites had written articles about it, including a major queer news website that claimed Detective Marianne Hayes had always sent their gaydar tingling.
There’d been some homophobic comments on my post, but the positive comments significantly outweighed the bad.
It was too early to tell if it would impact my career.
Yesterday a casting agent had cancelled an in-person audition booked for early January, but whether that was due to my involvement in Phillip’s downfall, me coming out, or something completely unrelated, I’d never know.
I felt strangely okay about it. If it was because of Phillip or my sexuality, I didn’t want to work with those people anyway.
After I posted the photo, we’d strolled down Main Street, hand in hand, and had a coffee at Novel Gossip.
It felt strange, but also exhilarating, to publicly display my affection for Dana.
Every day I spent with her, allowing myself to imagine a future together, the more certain I was that I had made the right decision.
A career in acting was so unpredictable, success could come and go.
But friends, family, loved ones, being yourself... that was for the long haul.
Dana and I were for the long haul.
I gave the porcupine one last look before we turned and headed back toward the cabin.
—
We heard the music and loud voices even before we opened Roz and Olivia’s front door. The party was already in full swing.
We left our coats and my handbag in the hall.
“I’ll go put this in the fridge,” Dana said, lifting up the bag of drinks we’d brought.
“Thanks babe.”
I stepped into the living room. Jenny bounded over to me. “Hey! Happy New Year’s Eve!” She threw her arms around me. “Have you seen how many views that reel of Austin has gotten now? It’s in the millions!”
A reel had appeared on social media a few days ago, titled Is Austin a sleaze?
What followed was a montage of clips from HolLove movies, zooming in on Austin’s wandering hands doing things that weren’t appropriate, but that a viewer wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t looking for it.
Austin’s bad behavior had been in plain sight all along.
“It’s pretty incredible,” I said. “HolLove announced yesterday that he’s been removed from all his roles, pending further investigations.”
“Do you think Charles put the reel out?” Jenny asked. “The account that posted it looked like a burner one.”
“The timing certainly seems a little coincidental. I’ll ask him next week.”
Dana returned, holding a glass of sparkling wine for me and a can of non-alcoholic beer for her.
“Are you talking about your meeting with Charles next week?” Dana asked, handing me the glass.
“Well, more about the Austin reel. I was saying I’d ask Charles if he knows who was behind it when I see him.”
“I think it was almost certainly Charles,” Dana said, chuckling. “Now that he’s setting up his own production company, he probably felt like he could burn some bridges with HolLove.”
Jenny raised her eyebrows. “Oh cool! Are you meeting with him to discuss a potential role?”
I grinned. “Yes! He mentioned two roles—one is a queer holiday movie, and the other is a psychological thriller that he wants to have both me and Mihira involved in.”
I’d been worried about being typecast into playing queer characters, but both roles excited me.
Queer people deserved light-and-cozy holiday movies as well.
We all deserved happily ever afters. And working with Mihira on a psychological thriller would be so much fun and, for Mihira, a significant improvement over her friend’s disastrous indie movie.
“And the best part is that Charles loved Sapphire Springs so much that he’s planning to shoot the holiday movie here,” Dana chimed in, wrapping her arm around my waist.
“Amazing!” Jenny clapped her hands. “Maybe we can be extras again.”
“I think once was enough for me,” Blake said, in a tone that conveyed she couldn’t think of anything worse. “But you should definitely do it.”
“Hey guys! Did you hear that? Charles may be filming another holiday movie here next year, and it’ll be a queer one with Emily as the lead!” Jenny yelled at George, Hannah, Roz, and Olivia, who were standing a few feet away.
“That’s awesome, Emily!” Olivia exclaimed.
“It’s not confirmed yet,” I said. Perhaps it had been a bad idea sharing with Jenny at this stage, but her excitement was infectious, and I couldn’t help smiling.
“Might be another opportunity for some more publicity.” Jenny looked at George and Roz. “And Hannah, Charles is starting his own production company. You should talk to him about your idea for a queer fantasy TV series.”
Hannah’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s a good idea! I’d love to get that idea off the ground. If it happened, I could insist he hire Emily as the lead!”
I grinned at Hannah. Well, look at that. There were multiple roles in the works. Screw my worries about typecasting; they all sounded amazing.
I sipped my sparkling wine. “I do need to find a new agent, though. While I think Brittany had my interests at heart, I’m not sure we’re really compatible.”
“If you want, I can give my old agent a call?” Jenny asked. “She represents a few influencers but mainly represents actors, including Chris Trent, and she’s excellent.”
I beamed. “That would be amazing, thank you.”
The conversation moved on to other topics, ranging from our discovery of the porcupine—everyone was thankfully in vehement agreement that we weren’t going to dispatch him or her—to Hannah’s next book-launch party and the impending opening of the farm’s event space in April.
Later in the night, Dana wrapped her arm around me. “How are you doing?”
I looked around the room at my new friends, the Times Square broadcast on the screen behind them.
“Really well. A week ago, I would never have thought that I’d be celebrating the new year in a room full of queer women with my stunning girlfriend and a number of potential new acting gigs on the cards,” I said, smiling at Dana.
Dana pulled me in close, both hands on my hips. “Stunning, eh?”
I studied Dana’s deep-brown eyes, the faint freckles on her nose, her soft, slightly crooked mouth, and a rush of warmth and desire swept over me. Maybe it was too early to say the words, but I felt them so strongly in my bones I had to let them out.
“I lo—”
“The countdown has started!” Olivia yelled. “One minute to midnight!”
The unsaid words were heavy on my tongue, but now everyone was gathering around the TV, watching the numbers count down.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!” Everyone broke into a cheer.
Dana pulled me to her. “Happy New Year!”
I leaned up and kissed her as “Auld Lang Syne” played over the TV.
“What were you going to say before, when Olivia interrupted?” Dana asked as the music faded out.
“Oh, just that...I love you,” I murmured, gazing at Dana.
Dana grinned. “I was hoping it was that. It’s been on the tip of my tongue all night.”
“Does that mean—”
“Yes, of course. I love you too.”
I broke into a huge smile. What an incredible ending to the year. I couldn’t wait to see what next year held for us.