Page 21 of Spicy Sapphic Christmas

Bea wrung her hands together, her stomach almost in tighter knots than it had been two weeks ago when Siena had come to watch them play. They’d played phone tag for the better part of a week, and finally had a meeting set up. Bea glanced over her shoulder to check on Jo in the elevator.

Keeping her sister in line for this conversation was going to be a task, but Bea was prepared.

They walked into Siena’s office and were immediately greeted by an assistant who told them to sit down and wait. Bea shifted a glance to Jo, and sat precariously on the edge of a comfy lounge chair. Jo sat down next to her, clearly resisting the urge to bounce her feet on the ground.

“Do you think this is where Bunny and Piper first met Siena? Or has she found new digs since then?” Jo couldn’t stop looking around the room.

Bea winced, but since the assistant hadn’t come back into the room yet, she didn’t mind it too much. “My guess is she’s moved up in the world right along with them.”

Jo grinned and leaned in closer. “I can’t believe we’re here.”

“Spoiler alert,” Bea said with a conspiratorial look. “I can’t either.”

Laughing, Jo rubbed her palms over her knees. It was her nervous tic. Bea had no doubt that she wasn’t the only one worried about this entire negotiation. Though Siena hadn’t said it was going to be that. She’d just said she wanted to meet with them to talk. After everything that had happened at Julianna’s, had Bunny told Siena about it? Had she told Siena not to hire them?

The worry slipped its way through her, and it was impossible to shove it all down and lock it in a box never to see the light of day. That would be too damn easy, wouldn’t it?

“Do you think they’d ever do a show with us?”

“What?” Bea frowned and looked over at Jo.

“Bunny and Piper.”

“Why would they want to do that?”

“We could be their opener or something.”

Bea sighed heavily. Jo’s crush on Piper was going too far. Bea rubbed her hands together, looking around the pristine office again. It was well decorated, minimalistic but still nice. If she had an office, this is what she’d want it to look like. Instead, she did most of their business off her kitchen table, which was shoved into the corner of her studio apartment because that was all she could afford at the moment.

“I don’t know. Karaoke was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Sure.” Bea winced. She hadn’t really enjoyed the night. It had been tense with Bunny there. But she’d endured it for Jo’s sake and that was enough. She and Bunny had agreed to be civil, and that was all she could ask for.

“Have you thought about dating again?”

Bea choked. She spluttered and pounded her hand against her fist. “I’m sorry. But what?”

“Have you thought about dating again?” Jo repeated. “I know after Genevieve that you wanted to take a break—a well deservedbreak, I might add—but that was over a year ago. Aren’t you ready to get back on the wagon?”

“Back in the saddle,” Bea corrected, staring at the wall. How would she explain this in a way that Jo could understand, because clearly it hadn’t sunk in before. “I don’t want to date again.”

“But you can’t be celibate for your entire life. I know you. You don’t want that.”

“No, I don’t want that.” Bea lowered her voice, hoping that the conversation wasn’t carrying down the hallway for Siena or her assistant to hear. “This really isn’t the appropriate place to talk about this.”

“I know, but you never want to talk about it.”

“Why would I?” Her voice had a bite to it. Bea cringed and tried to backtrack, knowing that Jo would take offense to her tone and it would cause more rifts between them. More than they needed going into this conversation with Siena. “Look, this really isn’t the right time or place to have this discussion.”

“But don’t you dream about it? Don’t you dream about what might happen if you were to find love again?”

Bea snorted out a laugh and closed her eyes in pain. “I didn’t love Genevieve.”

Was that truly the first time she’d said that out loud to Jo?

“Are you serious?”

“Bea! Jo!” Siena appeared in the lobby, a grin on her lips and her hands clasped in front of her like she was going to clap at them.

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