Chapter Twenty-Three
“I really don’t feel like going out Kels,” moaned Josie. “All I want to do is lie here on your couch, binge on the new Bachelor, and eat all of the cinnamon buns you baked today.”
“No,” said Kelsey, grabbing the tray of buns Josie hadn’t bothered to plate and moved it out of her reach. She then gripped Josie’s wrist tight and yanked her off the couch.
Josie fell onto the carpeted floor and then glowered at her sister while she stood up and rubbed at a spot on her knee. “Why are you being like this?”
“Because I love you. And it’s Tuesday night. You’ve been moping all day long.”
“I’ve been at work,” Josie retorted, shooting a hand out to the door. “I just got here like an hour ago.”
“Well, I want to go out,” Kelsey said, gesturing to her black linen wrap dress she hadn’t worn since before Noah was born. “And you owe me.”
“For what?”
Kelsey crossed her arms over her chest and gave that same pointed look she had given countless times when they were teenagers.
Whenever she was right, and Josie was wrong, and somehow owed her money, time, or an apology, she gave her that look.
“Remember when you gave me those coupons for my birthday two years ago?”
Josie’s heart sank into her stomach. The dreaded coupons. You would think trying to save money by cutting out four cardboard squares and writing four different sister activities on each would be worth the hassle.
“Well, I’m using the coupon that says you’ll join me for a fun night out at my convenience. Not yours.”
“It expired ages ago.” Josie lolled her head back, stared up at the ceiling until she felt dizzy, and then flicked her chin back down. “UGH! Remind me never to get you anything thoughtful again.”
Kelsey seemed to bite back a smile. Josie, on the other hand, had no smile to give. She only stared at her sister as if she wanted to murder her.
“Now go make yourself pretty and put on that nice lilac dress of mine. The one that looks better on you than me. Who knows? Maybe there’s a hottie out there with your name on her,” said Kelsey.
Josie shot her another look. “You know, it’s literally been three days since Peyton ghosted me. I’m not going to meet someone else tonight and fall in love.”
“I’m not saying you will. I’m just saying if the opportunity is there, you should take it.
” Kelsey bent down and picked up Noah from where he was crawling on the ground.
He fought against her, like a giggling fish wriggling out of a pond, his tiny arms and legs flailing in protest. Kelsey looked unbothered.
She held Noah tight against her body and glanced back over her shoulder to the hallway. “MARK!”
“I’m coming,” he yelled back, his heavy footsteps thumping somewhere unseen. A second later, he walked into the living room. “Ooh cinnamon buns.” He was just about to reach for one when Kelsey deposited the baby in his arms.
“I’m taking Josie out tonight, remember? Noah needs a bottle and Charlie needs a bath.”
“Got it. Bath for Noah and bottle for Charlie.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes and then stepped in Josie’s direction, grabbing her wrist again, this time pulling her to the main bedroom. “Get dressed. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
~~
Fish Eagle Tavern was on the outskirts of Morro Bay. It was a place Josie would never set foot unless coerced. The hole in the wall was small and dingy and smelled like sweat and booze, and as far as she could gather, there wasn’t a single image of a fish eagle anywhere.
“There are tons of nicer places at the waterfront, Kels,” Josie muttered under her breath when she stepped into the bar. “Why on earth would you pick this pub?”
“I don’t know.” Kelsey shrugged. “The reviews weren’t bad. Besides, I wanted to do something different. Something we haven’t done before.”
“Well, this is different and not in a good way.” Josie’s jaw dropped, her body froze, and every sweet bit of the two cinnamon buns she had engulfed earlier seemed to conspire against her, turning into a dense weight in her stomach.
Peyton was sitting at a table at the far end of the room, head deep in a book, one hand holding the hardcover and the other twirling a strand of hair around her finger. She flipped the page, took a sip of her beer, and then carried on reading.
“Wait,” mumbled Josie, snapping her head sideways to her sister. Kelsey seemed to be having a hard time trying to bite back the smile on her face. “Did you…” she was struggling to find the words. “Did you know she was going to be here?”
“Of course not,” Kelsey said, her nose wrinkling like it always did when she was lying. “Okay, maybe I did. Fine,” she huffed and rolled her eyes. “It was kind of my idea. Not the details, of course. That was all Peyton, but the general idea was mine.”
Josie whipped her head back in Peyton’s direction.
She didn’t mind that there were three sweaty, overweight men with caps on backward sitting at the bar playing card games, or that the music coming from the speaker was anything but subtle rock, or that she kept smelling something sour, possibly feet.
Whatever this was, was a perfect replication of their first encounter—minus the rain, of course, and the sloths ambling across the beams and the fruity cocktails since the only thing they sold at Fish Eagle Tavern looked to be whiskey and vodka.
“Why don’t you go say hi while I get us some drinks,” said Kelsey.
Nodding, Josie stepped forward, her body tingling, her cheeks aching from the effort of suppressing a grin. But then she stopped, turned back to give her sister a squeeze, and continued across the room.
“Nice book,” said Josie somewhat nervously, pointing at the cover as she slid into the chair across from Peyton. “I’ve heard Shadow Broker is the perfect thriller for a rainy holiday.”
Peyton glanced up from the pages, raised both brows and then held the book sideways to get a better look at the cover. “It’s not bad. Not as good as Xena the Warrior Princess, though.”
“Nothing is.” Josie smiled. “Most people will agree, the tv show outdid the book. Lucy Lawless as Xena is just iconic. I think every lesbian, no matter the age, is in love with her.”
“You know I had posters of her on my wall in college.”
“I think everyone did.”
Peyton grinned. “She’s the reason I knew I was into women.”
“So, basically you’re saying I have to send Xena a thank you card.”
“Something like that.”
If there were a riot of butterflies nearby, they’d all be crowding in Josie’s stomach, flapping about, making her feel both giddy and slightly sick.
She reached a hand across the table and ignored the fact that it was sticky.
“Well done for choosing the dingiest pub in all of California, by the way.”
Peyton laughed, her blue eyes bright even in the dim fluorescent light. She placed the book down and entwined their fingers. “I had to replicate the pub where we met. Honestly, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I scouted two others earlier today, and they didn’t make the cut.”
“Not dingy enough?”
“The floors didn’t have that gummy feel,” said Peyton, shaking her head. “It’s all about the details. If you’re going to do it, you better do it right.”
Laughing, Josie studied their interlaced fingers. To think that she had been worried for nothing. It was a huge waste of time and energy for her to believe that the spark between them had fizzled out the moment Sorel had walked through that door. It seemed fate hadn’t grown weary of Josie just yet.
There was a moment of silence. Neither of them spoke.
And then Peyton turned her gaze to the bar, where Kelsey looked to be arguing with one of the men wearing a backward cap.
The music, now a classic by Guns n Roses, was blaring far too loudly to hear their conversation from all the way across the room.
But whatever the subject, it appeared heated.
“Your sister is going to be eaten by that guy,” said Peyton.
“She’s a big girl. She can look after herself.”
“You’re right about that.” Peyton took a swig of her beer, her eyes still locked onto Kelsey, who was now off the bar stool, getting right up in the guy’s face. “When I met her yesterday at your apartment, she looked like she was going to punch me—”
“Why were you at my apartment?” Josie interrupted with her brows puckered.
That was the first time she’d heard about it.
Josie had once considered installing a camera at the front door when the kids down the hall kept playing ding-dong-dash.
She felt somewhat disappointed that she hadn’t gone through with it.
A face-off between Peyton and Kelsey would have been hilarious to watch, and incredibly touching, too.
“Kelsey didn’t say.”
Peyton flicked her gaze back to Josie, her head following reluctantly. “That’s because I asked her not to.”
“Why?”
Peyton reached her free arm across the sticky table and grasped Josie’s free wrist. “I have something to tell you and I wanted to do it right, in person.”
“Yeah?” said Josie, her skin fizzing from Peyton’s touch.
“What is it?” she asked, not giving Peyton a chance to answer.
Curiosity was getting the better of her.
It was obvious that Peyton wanted to unload, to possibly apologize for ghosting her, but there was something else lurking there.
There was something that made Josie feel incredibly nervous.
Peyton bit at her lip and looked down at their hands for a few long seconds before she finally said, “Sorel was a big part of my life. I loved her more than I had loved anyone…”
Josie’s jaw dropped in stunned silence. The conversation wasn’t exactly going in the direction she wanted it to go—in her favor. Her heart drummed and adrenaline rushed through her veins, making her feel both hot and then cold.
Was this what it felt like to be politely rejected? To get your hopes up, only to have them squashed by the very hand that had just offered the glimmer of possibility.
Tears were making their way behind Josie’s eyes. She didn’t want to be rejected in a pub, not today. She tried to tug her hand free, but Peyton wouldn’t let her.
“Or I thought I did,” she continued. “But I never realized Sorel was a thorn in my side and a rock in my shoe. Not until I met you. You’ve taught me that a person doesn’t have to work so hard to be seen, to be loved.
I never knew it should feel like this, so effortless, so natural.
There is no constant striving to change myself, to be who someone else wanted me to be.
” Peyton squeezed her fingers harder. “You, Josie, make me feel like I can be myself. With you, I can truly be myself and instead of pulling me down, you lift me up, higher than I thought I could ever go.”
Now the tears were actually coming, streaming down Josie’s cheeks. The intense feeling of relief was so great that she swore her body lost a few pounds as the tension evaporated off her shoulders.
“I think…” Peyton shook her head. “No, I know that I’m in love with you. And this feeling is nothing like I thought love was. It’s easy, and it’s beautiful. It’s something I refuse to lose. You are the person I refuse to lose, Josie.”
“You…You’re in love with me?” Josie stammered, not believing what she was hearing. She would have wiggled her ears like an old TV antenna to check if they were working, but her body felt numb.
“I am.”
Everything about love striking like lightning—hard and fast—was true. Josie had recognized those intense feelings for Peyton long ago, but hearing them reciprocated now made them feel even more real.
“What about Sorel?”
“I told her that I’m in love with someone else.”
Josie wrangled her hand out of Peyton’s grip and pushed her chair back before rising. Peyton did the same. They met in the middle, Josie’s hand sliding around Peyton’s waist, pulling her flush against her.
“I’m in love with you too,” Josie whispered, her mouth mere inches from Peyton’s. She was so close Josie could almost taste the bitterness of the beer on the woman’s tongue.
“Good.” Peyton laughed. “I was beginning to worry this conversation was getting too one sided, and I was beginning to embarrass myself.”
Josie skidded her hands up along Peyton’s spine and then pressed her mouth to hers, kissing her so deeply and completely that it felt as though the pub was melting away, leaving only the two of them tangled in each other’s arm—
An applause suddenly roared.
Josie pulled back and whipped her head toward the bar. Kelsey was bumping shoulders with the big guy she had a tiff with moments ago, and the two others, including the bartender, were clapping for them.
“Well, thank you very much.” Josie laughed and kissed Peyton again, a little more PG this time.
Suddenly rain began to fall, the pitter-patter sound on the tin roof catching everyone’s attention. The applause continued, even louder, and then the bartender announced a free round for everyone. Given that there were only a handful of people left, it wouldn’t put him out of business.
“My place or yours?” asked Josie, leading the way to the exit. The only thing she wanted to do now was get into those lovely tight jeans that were hugging Peyton’s even lovelier hips.
“Mine,” said Peyton. “And if tonight goes well, I’ll clean out a drawer for you.”
“A whole drawer? You must really like me. No wait. You said you’re in love with me, right?”
Peyton rolled her eyes, yet the smile stayed. “I knew it was too soon.”
Josie laughed and then she flicked her head toward her sister. “Kels! We’re heading out. You want to share a Lyft with us?”
“Go on without me,” Kelsey called. “Jim here just challenged me to a game of Go Fish. He doesn’t believe me when I say I’m undefeated.”
“Be safe,” Josie waved, then grabbed Peyton’s hand. The two stepped out into the rain, running with their fingers still interlaced to the Lyft that was waiting at the curb.