She Came Upon A Midnight Clear

Chapter 1

Evie

It’s the first holiday party of the season, and I could not be less enthused.

I really could do without the holidays altogether.

Growing up in foster care after I lost my mom, Christmas and birthdays really don’t mean much other than sad memories.

But Gretchen is my best friend, and I won’t let her go to her work party alone—not three days after her girlfriend broke up with her.

Plus, she’s been asking me to come down to Sonoma to see the dog rescue where she got this job three months ago.

I couldn’t say no, despite the not-so-lovely combination of my ambiguous feelings about Christmas and my usual edge of social anxiety.

I pull into a parking spot in front of the gorgeous old Capri Valley Winery, now apparently turned into Capri Valley Canine Rescue.

It’s one of those enormous stone buildings that feels as if it was imported stone by stone from the Italian countryside a century ago, but a lot of the wineries in Sonoma County have the same vibe.

I get out of my car, shoving my hands into the pockets of my winter coat, and walk across the stone entryway, then through the big double doors.

You can do this.

It’s blissfully warm inside. The place is fully decorated for Christmas, with twinkling lights everywhere, and a tree in one corner that must be twenty feet tall, with a few smaller ones scattered around the enormous room.

An elderly yellow lab wearing a stuffed Santa’s elf on its back wanders over to greet me, tail wagging, and I lean down and offer her my hand.

“I see you’ve met Olive,” Gretchen says. “Thanks for coming, Evie.”

I give the lab one last pat before straightening and pulling my friend in for a hug. “There was no way I was going to leave you right now with all… this,” I say, gesturing.

Gretchen leans in close to my ear. “I know! The place is full of all these wealthy donors, which I know the rescue needs, but they are not my kind of people.”

I glance around the room, taking in a lot of short haircuts and a fair share of buffalo plaid, along with sophisticated women dressed in linen slacks and cashmere sweaters, and the occasional kimono robe and beaded earrings.

“I don’t know. Seems like a pretty gay crowd to me.”

Gretchen rolls her eyes. “It is an animal rescue, so…yeah, the Northern California lesbians are out in force. But these are mostly older, richer lesbians I have nothing in common with. And I don’t know if I have a sign plastered across my forehead that says I’m recently single, but I’ve been asked out three times already. ”

“Sounds like a classic lesbian event to me. And you do look pretty cute tonight. I love your new haircut,” I tell her, taking in her dark, sleek, chin-length bob, and her red sweater.

“Thanks. And thanks for coming. I’m feeling especially pathetic tonight.”

I loop an arm around her shoulder. “Sounds like we need to hit the bar. There is a bar here?”

She nods. “Beer and wine only, but yes.”

“Come on. Let me get you a drink.”

She leads me to the bar against the back wall, and I order a Stella for each of us, then we find a corner to stand in to observe everything in peace. She understands that I get nervous in crowds, and she’s always watching out for me.

“So, how are you doing?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “I’m okay, I guess. I’m still pissed that Sue couldn’t wait until after the holidays. I mean, how fucked up is it to break up with someone so close to Christmas? We’ve had our problems, but this wasn’t necessary. And I’ll have to return her gift now.”

“Gretch, if she’s the kind of person to break up with you right before the holidays, then maybe you dodged a bullet with her. Although you know I think the holidays are overrated.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Hey, want to go visit some dogs? That always makes me feel better.”

“Of course!”

She takes me to a side door and pushes it open, and we walk out into the crisp evening air and down a long arbor-covered walkway paved in the same sand-colored stone as the building.

“This place is gorgeous,” I tell her.

“It is. And honestly, it works so well as a rescue. The kennels are in the old outbuildings, and the owner lives in this huge loft apartment upstairs in this building. She’s very cool, by the way.”

“You haven’t mentioned much about her.”

“She’s kind of hot, actually. Not my type, exactly, so don’t get any ideas. But you know, she’s definitely your type, Evie.”

I stop and turn to her. “You did not bring me here to fix me up. Tell me you didn’t.”

“I didn’t, but if you two hit it off, I won’t be unhappy about it.”

I roll my eyes, making her grin, and we keep walking. We approach the first outbuilding, another old stone structure where the kennels are, and just as we reach the door, it opens.

And out walks Dru Fiori.

Tall, tattooed, beautifully androgynous Dru, who I accidentally kissed six years ago at a Christmas party. Dru, who was my roomate’s newly-ex girlfriend at the time and strictly off limits. Who I hung out with and crushed on the entire year my roommate was dating her.

Dru, whose kiss I haven’t forgotten about all these years. Whose lush lips I can almost still taste in my mind. Who smells like that perfect combination of the earth and the ocean.

Shit.

“Gretchen, hey. And… oh my god. Evie? Evie Taylor?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Hi, Dru, this is my best… wait. You two know each other?” Gretchen demands.

“Yeahhhhh….” Dru answers, drawing the word out. “We do.”

“Dru is, um… she was my roommate’s ex,” I explain. “Well, they were together when Marcy and I were sharing that apartment, but… Yes. We knew each other.”

Gretchen turns to me so Dru can’t see, and her eyes go wide.

I’ve told her so many stories about Dru, but apparently she never put two and two together—until right this moment.

I give a tiny shake of my head to try to warn her to keep quiet even as my whole body burns with a wave of desire so strong I actually feel weak in the knees.

“Well,” Dru begins, “how have you been?”

“Good. I’ve been good. And, uh, this place seems pretty amazing. Are you… you’re Gretchen’s boss?”

She smiles, and oh my god, those dimples! My insides light up like New Year’s Eve. How had I forgotten how handsome-beautiful she was? But my body hasn’t forgotten.

“Yeah, this place is mine, so yep, Gretchen’s boss. I assume you’re the plus one she mentioned?”

“Yep, boss,” Gretchen chimes in. “She’s my bestie. We’ve known each other for what, Evie? Like five years?”

“Ah, well. It’s really nice to see you, Evie,” Dru says, smiling again. “You two heading to the kennels?”

I nod, swallowing hard, trying to pretend my entire body isn’t going hot and damp.

“Yep,” Gretchen says. “I wanted to show her the setup, and a few of the dogs. We’ll be back at the party in a bit.”

“Great. I’ll see you inside.”

I try to smile, but honestly, I have no idea what my face is doing as Gretchen grabs my hand, gives Dru a wave, and spins me around.

“Wanna tell me what that was all about?” she demands in a rough whisper as she pulls me into the building.

I pull in a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. You remember when I kissed my roommate’s ex at a Christmas party, like six years ago?”

“What? The ex was Dru? My boss? Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, shit.” Gretchen is quiet for a moment, then she grins at me. “You said someone named ‘Dru’, but I never thought it was the same person. And the way you’ve always gone on about her—or them… I told you she was your type, didn’t I?”

“Gretch! No. I mean yes, but… no. It was nothing. We happened to be under the mistletoe and I would never have kissed a friend’s ex. Not on purpose.”

“You and Marcy aren’t really friends anymore. You haven’t been since I’ve known you.”

“That’s not the point,” I tell her while trying to figure out what the point might actually be. “Can we drop this for now? I really want to meet some dogs.”

Gretchen shrugs, but I know her, and she won’t be done grilling me any time soon. “Sure. Come on and meet some of my favorites.”

Half an hour later I’ve been introduced to a gorgeous, fluffy, blind malamute, a lanky brown hound dog mix named Hatch with the sweetest, goofiest dog grin ever, a tiny Chihuahua that stops shaking the moment Gretchen puts him into my arms, and a pair of adorable gray-and-white pitbull siblings who are maybe six months old that were abandoned just a few days earlier.

“Some asshole left them tied to the front gate in the rain,” Gretchen tells me as she closes their kennel door. “I really want to slap people like that.”

“I don’t know how you work here without taking all of them home. These two pittie babies are so adorable. They all are.”

“It’s hard, for sure. But we can do more running the shelter for them, helping as many as possible. That’s not to say I won’t ever adopt one of these guys—I definitely will when I meet the one I absolutely can’t resist.”

“Are you sure you haven’t already?” I ask, thinking how much that goofy hound dog made her smile.

“Maybe I have and I’m just too stubborn to admit it?

Is that what you’re thinking?” She chuckles and smacks my shoulder playfully.

“Well, you might be right. I have kinda fallen in love with Hatch, so we’ll see.

But to be honest, it’s weird that you know me so well.

Come on; you ready to go back to the party? ”

“Yeah. Petting some dogs definitely helped.”

“It always does. Let’s go.”

We walk back to the main building, and even before we open the door I can hear the talking and the laughter against a backdrop of holiday music.

Inside, it’s warm and festive, I have to admit as a passing server offers me a glass of champagne.

I take it gratefully and sip. Maybe the night won’t be so bad after all.

Nothing petting dogs and a glass of champagne won’t help.

Gretchen introduces me to a few of her co-workers, all of them the nicest possible people, and I begin to relax. It doesn’t hurt that I take two more glasses of champagne when the wait staff offer, which is more than I usually drink, and pretty soon I am definitely a bit tipsy.

I watch the crowd milling around, chatting and dancing, and it’s actually pretty festive.

The DJ pauses the music now and then to ring a bell, and whoever is standing under the mistletoe hung in all the arches and doorways is supposed to kiss whoever is next to them.

I have to grudgingly admit it’s kind of cute.

Must be all the champagne.

“Hey, I need to run to the restroom,” Gretchen says. “Wanna come with me?”

“I’m okay. I’ll just hang out here,” I tell her, leaning my shoulder against one of the rustic wood pillars placed at regular intervals throughout the enormous space.

“Okay. Be right back.”

As soon as she leaves an older women in linen slacks and a green cashmere sweater sidles up to me.

“So, you enjoying the party?”

Her tone is flirtatious and a little demanding.

“Uh, yeah. I’m just here with a friend.”

“A friend, huh? Just friends?”

I know exactly where this is going, and I am definitely not interested.

“Yes, just friends. I’m… not currently dating.”

The woman loops an arm around my shoulder and leans in close to my ear, so close I can smell that sour drank-too-much-wine breath. “You sure I can’t change your mind about that?”

I swear, sometimes women can be as predatory as men.

I try to remove her arm, but she holds firm.

“I’m really not into dating right now. But, uh, thanks.”

She nuzzles into my cheek and murmurs, her voice slurring, “I think you’re very, very pretty.”

“That’s, uh, nice of you,” I say, my whole face heating with annoyance. I hope Gretchen comes back soon. Like right now.

The woman leans into me, and I realize she’s drunker than she first appeared. I put a hand on her shoulder and try to get some distance from her, but instead her weight falls against me, and I start to fall backwards—and someone catches me.

I turn, thinking it was Gretchen, but instead it’s Dru.

“Hey, Kathy,” she says, “your wife has been looking for you. She’s over by the bar.”

“Oh, crap,” the drunken Kathy murmurs as she lets me go and makes her way across the room.

“Thanks,” I tell Dru. “I think she’s had a little too much to drink.”

“Yeah, a lot of people here have. You okay? I saw her hands all over you and, well, let’s just say her reputation precedes her.”

“No, I’m good,” I say, and I can hear the hesitance in my own voice. But it’s not about the drunken Kathy hitting on me. It’s that seeing Dru right here in front of me, acting like my knight in shining armor, has my knees going weak.

“I’m really sorry about that. Honestly, it pisses me off, but she’s one of our biggest donors. I hate that I’m dependent on people with too much money to keep this place going, but that’s the nature of running a rescue.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. Anyway, um, change of subject?”

Dru smiles, and god, I’ve forgotten how strong and white her teeth are. And those dimples. Jesus fucking Christ.

“Yeah, sure,” she says. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to? Are you living here in Sonoma?”

“No, I’m up north. I’m a university librarian at UC Davis.”

“Ah, cool. I remember you were getting your Master’s at San Francisco State when you and Marcy were roommates. How do you like it up there?”

“It’s fine, I guess. I’ve been there for two years, and my co-workers are nice enough people, but it just doesn’t feel like home to me, you know? Not that San Francisco was ever home for me—I was only there for school. The City is just too relentlessly urban for me.”

“Yeah, I get it. Oakland never felt like home for me. I moved there because, well, all the lesbians in the tech industry in the Bay Area were moving there. But I realized pretty quickly that I don’t like living in a city.”

“And now you’re here, in the country. I envy you. This place is pretty incredible.”

“Isn’t it?” Her eyes light up, reminding me how the color shifts from brownish-gold to green. Not that I should be remembering anything about her eyes. “My grandparents left it to me—not long after the last time I, uh, saw you.”

My cheeks go warm at the memory of that forbidden kiss. The way we sort of came together almost as if we were liquid, made from the ocean. How she leaned down and her lips touched mine. Gently, at first, then she pressed closer and I melted all over as we sort of…merged.

I hear bells ringing, and the moment I come out of my daze I realize it’s the DJ, and Dru is bending toward me, one hand braced on the wood pillar behind me.

She whispers, “Mistletoe,” and points upward before she kisses me.