Page 24 of August Heat
Siobhan took a slice before turning around and waving goodbye to Krys.
That was totally a yes.
Chapter 12
SIOBHAN
Every time she intended to break things off with Krys for her own damned sanity, Siobhan was sucked back into the whirlwind that was letting her loins do all the talking.
I ate her stupid pizza. Then I went back and said yes to giving her my number.As if Siobhan wouldn’t survive if she drove all the way back home andhadn’tgiven Krys her number. Besides, that pizza ruined her dinner. Because Aunt Gabriella had grabbed a frozen pizza from her weekly run to Wal-Mart and decided that was dinner that night.Just wasn’t the same as the freshly made stuff from town.Paradise Pizza didn’t make a knock-out pie, but it was atleastfresh. Papa Murphy’s fresh, though? That was debatable…
Now Siobhan was back in town early one weekday evening, staring down Idaho Street as if returning to the scene of a crime.
Wasn’t difficult to find Lorri and Joan’s house in the middle of the street. Like most of the others, it was a run-of-the-mill starter home, only here in Paradise Valley “starter homes” often lasted one’s lifetime. The yards were surrounded with metal fences, and ran the gamut from freshly cut grass and flowers to toys and tools strewn about all summer. Lorri’s house was neither a beauty to behold nor a blight on the neighborhood. Yet when Siobhan shut off her car and peeked into one of the front windows, she saw a warm home made warmer with food popping out of the oven.
Someone tapped on her passenger side window.
After nearly losing her lunch to surprise, Siobhan swung her head around and saw Krys standing on the other side of the car. A gesture told her to step out. Since when was she a cop?
“Don’t be nervous, all right?” Krys said when she met Siobhan on the sidewalk. “Everyone’s really chill. These were the first friends I made when I moved here from Portland, and let me tell you, it was really different from the kind of buddies you make there.”
Siobhan had no idea what that meant. She merely followed Krys up the short path and to the Welcome mat.
Krys gave a hearty knock – then helped herself to the door handle.
“Do I smell pot roast?” she called through the crack. “Because you know that’s what brought me here!”
Siobhan was soon swept up a flurry of introductions, banter, and pleas to make herself comfortable. She only vaguely recognized a few of the people in the living room. There was Lorri and her partner, of course. Joan was a mousey woman who could barely get a word in edgewise, and this was her own house. She spent more time in the kitchen than she did in the living room, not that there was much room for her in there.
The other couple was less familiar. Siobhan remembered who Jalen Stonehill was after the reminder that she was one of the traveling plumbers in this part of the county.Right. You’ve been in my bathroom a few times. Probably my kitchen, too.Siobhan and Gabriella were handy enough to take care of minor situations, but every once in a while they either had no time or were in over their heads. As for Jalen’s girlfriend, the only woman in the room with striking blond hair and a taste of clothing that was decidedly… expensive? Siobhan didn’t watch TV much, but she definitely recognized a woman who was used to being on it. Fleur Rosé was a silver screen darling who had stopped traffic when she ran away to Paradise Valley that April.I had no idea Krys’s best friend was the one dating her.Soon, she would receive another reminder that Jalen and Krys used to date. A really,reallylong time ago. (Those reallys were important, apparently.)
The only one genuinely surprised that Krys brought a date – let alone a date like Siobhan – was Jalen, who onlynowsomewhat recognized the vet from the few calls they had made to one another over the years. “She almost never invites anyone to these things,” she said with a thicker accent than anyone else in the room. At first, it jarred Siobhan, who was still not terribly used to that rural Oregonian twang that stretched from the coast to the desert.I’m also not used to it from younger women who look as nice as her…Who had the twang around there? Farmers with livestock in need of help. Older women who kept close to their lifelong homes.More proof I don’t get out enough.“How long have you two been going out? I’ve been outta the loop.”
“That’s right.” Fleur, who had zero accent outside of what one might hear on TV, patted her girlfriend’s shoulder before nuzzling a nose into her cheek. It would’ve been cute, but Siobhan always felt like a terrible peeping tom around people she barely knew. “She’s been spending most of her time down in LA. Even this summer, and I don’t have to tell you how hot it gets down there during the summer.”
“Feels like the devil’s blowing fire up my ass,” Jalen said with a scratch of her head.
“We haven’t been going out for long,” Siobhan confessed. “This is our second date.”
Jalen’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow.”
“Should I be concerned?” Siobhan asked.
Krys chose that moment to step out of the kitchen, where she had been giving Lorri and Joan hell for their out of date fire extinguisher. “Bet you guys haven’t changed the batteries in your smoke alarms in forever, either,” Krys muttered. “I’ma get you a new fire extinguisher, Lor. I can’t let you live like this.”
“Hey, you think I don’t know who to call when my house is burning down?”
“You also know who to call when your dumb ass flips your car over on the side of the road. Although for a true act of dumbassery, I might send one of the guys instead. Because if you want to see this beautiful, toned ass, Lor, you can call me up and offer to buy me a beer.”
Jalen laughed. To Siobhan, she said, “Maybe you should be a little worried. Everyone knows how great her ass looks.” That garnered a sour look from Fleur. “What? You can see it for yourself! It’s right there!”
“What’s going on out here?” Krys slammed down beside Siobhan on the loveseat. “You checking out my ass in front of your girlfriend, Jay?”
“It ain’t like that!”
Siobhan had no idea what to make of this banter. She was knee-deep in old friendships that had been tested to the point nothing could break the bonds. Nothing short of jealousy, perhaps.Is it really much better to have friendships than romantic relationships? Seems like they end for the same reasons.People were exhausting. Siobhan almost wished to be back home with her aunt, the woman who yelled at the TV every time her favorite person on some reality show really screwed up… whatever it was they did. Baking. Sewing. Traveling around the world. Snitching on their neighbor for cheating with the mailman…
People were exhausting. The least Siobhan could do, though, was throw herself into suffering throughthesepeople.
