Page 39 of High Note

Although Kristen kind of wanted that too. Not just the playing with the band, but the writing.

“We’re still working that part out. We’ve got it booked for the next four days. I’m thinking about just booking it out for the next month, if it’s something that’s possible for the recording studio. That way we can go in and out as we feel. I like that the best, where we all have our own time and space, and we can kind of arrange it. Come in, lay down some tracks, go out and ski. That sort of thing.”

“Cool. I’ve got to work, of course, but there’s all sorts of fun little things that we can do. I mean, if you want to hang out…”

“I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I want to hang out.” Skyla’s direct look went straight to her clit.

“Yeah… I like the way you make things.” Kirsten looked Skylar up and down. “Pretty clear.” Kristen couldn’t stop her smile for love and money. “So, there’s a dance. We have it once a month at the farm. All girls. No boys allowed. It’s in a barn, so there shouldn’t be any photographers or anybody noticing you. You could come, we could dance, and you could meet my friends.”

“You have more friends than what we met at the Outfitters?” Skyla gave her a smartassed little smile.

“Woman, I have lots of friends. I’ve been here for a long time.”

“And why did you end up here again? A girl? Where is she now?”

Kirsten shook her head a little bit because she didn’t want to talk about it. She wasn’t sure she was ever really going to talk about it. In this case, the easiest answer was the simplest one. “She’s around. I see her maybe once a year for about ten or twenty minutes.”

Long enough to leave flowers.

“Can I meet her?”

“I don’t think so honey.” Kirsten sighed softly. There was really no reason to beat around the bush. “She’s at the cemetery.”

Skyla’s put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

No, no of course she hadn’t. Kirsten took Skyla’s hand. “Don’t apologize. It was a long time ago. Short, fast, and hard, but a long time ago.”

Skyla shook her head. “So you came here together?”

She nodded. “Yeah. This was home, at least for her. Her mom’s still in town. I came here, like I said. We met in college, and I fell in love. Like deep, dark, and requited love. She found out that she had cancer our senior year, and I came home to be with her during her treatment. My folks disowned me when I left college—partially because I left college, but mostly because I left college for her. She couldn’t bear the chemo, and from the time that she stopped the treatment until it was over it wasn’t even six weeks.”

It still broke her heart. There was no way around that. She’d watched the woman she loved go from healthy and happy tosixty-seven pounds and burning up from the inside in a matter of forty-five days.

“Holy fuck.” Skyla shook her head. “That’s nuts. That’s not time enough to get anyone’s shit in order.”

“Right? She just burned up like tequila burns on the way down.”

“Jesus, girl.” Skyla blinked at her. “You got you a way with words. That’s a wild hook if I ever saw one.”

Kirsten chuckled, her chest loosening a little. “That’s so wrong it’s right.”

“I know, I know. I shouldn’t be all—someone died, let’s write a song, but—” Skyla grinned at her, mischief shining through.

“It’s been a long time. I guess that’s okay, huh?”

“Well, if it’s not, you tell me.” Skyla’s grin faded. “I can be insensitive as fuck.”

“Yeah? I don’t know anyone at all that’s like that…” She grinned at Skyla, knowing that she needed to ease whatever drama Skyla was trying to brew up now.

“Yeah? Then a-writing we will go.” Skyla grabbed some bread from the basket that sat on the table and tore off a chunk. “God, I love being off the road.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Kirsten would miss her cats, and her favorite chair.

Her tea kettle.

God, was she going cottagecore?

She wasn’t that old yet, dammit. Man, her friends would tease her to no end and tell her she needed to hang out with Liz and Lupe.

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