Page 10 of High Note

“Sounds perfect. That way we can finish up our coffee and treat.”

Lord, that smile was enough to make Kirsten do really stupid stuff.

“You do know that my friends are going to start trying to figure out reasons to say hi, right?” It was only fair to point out.

“That’s okay as long as it is with you. I mean, I’m not looking for an audience, if you get me, but I’m not one of those people who cry, ‘My privacy!’ either.” Skyla waited, looking a little anxious.

“Fair enough. We can go see the kittens while we wait, if you want.”

“Heck, yes.” Shooting up, Skyla stuffed the last piece of her croissant into her mouth. “Les guh.”

Kirsten snorted and stood, then tossed her cup out. “Come on. I’m three blocks over.”

She pulled her hat on her head and led Skyla out. “How do you get away without having security guys?”

“Oh, I gave them all some time off and said I was going to an all-inclusive spa.”

She gave Skyla a sideways glance. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“If I was in Austin or LA or something I would never do it. I have limits to my madness. But I really wanted to just be able to hang out and relax.” Skyla waved a hand.

“And you can see, with my hood up and all, no one even looks at me.”

“It is tougher with the coat, for sure.” She didn’t hurry, but the snow was coming down, good and hard. “We’re not far from here.”

“So what’s the best part about living here? I mean, it’s winter wonderland right now. Is it nice in the summer?”

She had to admit, Skyla was curious about everything. Which made her a good songwriter, even if Kirsten did find her stuff super commercial and not to her taste.

At all.

“It’s gorgeous. I love being on the river. Lots of river guides.” And they were all built like heaven. Kirsten could admire those abs for hours.

“Ah. It’s a thing, huh? I saw all the brochures at Cherry’s Pies. I’ve been tubing, but I’ve never been rafting.”

“Like, inner tubes?” They did that in the snow here, but not on the whitewater.

“Yep. We float all day with our cooler in another tube.”

“Ah. This isn’t that type of river, although I have spent some time in a hippie pool or twelve.”

“Okay, explain that to me.” Skyla’s laugh was infectious.

“A hippie pool is a little natural pool warmed by the hot springs. There are clothing optional ones, public ones. They’re amazing, but climbing out of them in the winter? Tough.” Still, it was a thing, wasn’t it?

“Oh, brr. I can’t imagine. Are there indoor hot springs here?”

“Yep. There are a couple of places that have like, bathing rooms. They have kind of like hot tubs but they’re hot springs spas.”

“Okay, put that on my list.” Skyla made a big ticky-mark motion with her hand. “That sounds ah-mazing. I could use a good soak.”

“I’ll get you the info.” She was becoming the Skyla Bridey tour guide, which was weird. But oddly cool. “This is me.” Kirsten pointed to the doorway between two of the storefronts on Conifer Avenue. The stairs led up to a little set of three apartments, and one of them was hers. She had good neighborstoo. Of them, Mr. Hardiston owned the True Value, and he couldn’t hear much anymore, so she could play her music loud. The other side was Linda and Donal McGarry, who were artists and who owned the Laughing Bird Gallery.

They would never bitch about her hours or her sounds.

“Nice. I love those doors. The handles look original.”

“They are. They put a more high-tech door inside, though we’re still pretty crime free.” There had been that whole crazy car chase a while back when Jenny’s lady had come to town, and there was petty theft up at the ski resort all the time, but they knew how lucky they were.

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