Page 52 of Shift the Tide

I don’t know. I’m just a bartender from San Francisco, you know? I don’t… help run foundations.

Kiera

It would seem everyone knows you’re definitely wrong and underestimating yourself. Including me. But I’m always here if you need an unemployed middle school science teacher’s opinion.

Izzy

I thought this was your cheerleading session for trying a new thing.

Kiera

I think we’ve established that mutual appreciation can be a very fun thing.

Izzy’s pulse picked up, and before she could talk herself out of it, she typed:

Izzy

So… about last night… Any thoughts?

The typing bubble appeared, then vanished. Izzy held her breath, cursing those three little typing dots. Then her screen lit up with an incoming call.

Kiera.

Butterflies cartwheeled in her stomach. She hesitated for half a breath before swiping to answer. “Hey.”

Kiera exhaled a quiet laugh. “Hi.”

They sat in silence for a long beat, filled with unspoken things, like they were both picking at the edges of something delicate and unspoken.

“So,” Izzy started, fingers toying with the hem of her shirt, “you called.”

“I did,” Kiera said, a smile in her voice. “Seemed easier than texting.”

Izzy huffed a laugh. “Debatable.”

A pause. Then Kiera sighed. “I don’t know what to say about last night. Or the night before.”

Izzy swallowed. “Me either.”

Another stretch of silence, but it wasn’t as suffocating as she’d feared. Finally, Kiera spoke again, her voice quieter. “I don’t regret it.”

Izzy closed her eyes, relief blooming in her chest. “Me either.”

Kiera hesitated. “But I don’t know what it means.”

Izzy’s grip tightened on the phone. “We don’t have to know what it means right now.”

Kiera was quiet for a beat, then exhaled. “Okay.”

Izzy could picture her then — probably pacing, or maybe sitting on the edge of her bed, her brows drawn together. Izzy felt a pang of such deep affection that her chest tightened, a painful but lovely sensation.

Izzy let out a breath, settling back against the pillows. “So, what was harder? The pole class or talking about feelings?”

Kiera let out a startled laugh. “They’re both brutal.”

Izzy smiled, letting the warmth of Kiera’s laugh settle into her bones. “Maybe we just take it slow. Figure it out as we go.”

Kiera was quiet for a moment, then said, “Yeah. I think I’d like that.”

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