Page 9 of August Heat
“Uh huh,” both of her friends said at the same time.
“I’m serious,” Krys grunted. “You guys suck.”
Lorri swerved on her stool, eyes rolling with the force of her turn. “It’sokayto admit that you’re going through a dry spell. Happens to everyone, including those in relationships.” She gestured to herself. “Look at Jalen. Couldn’t get laid to save her life since she stopped dating you, and now she’s got the hottest actress in LA in her bed!”
Jalen was almost all grins before she mulled over the first part of Lorri’s statement. Meanwhile, Krys was on the brink of uproarious laughter. “I got laid in between! What are you talking about? Don’t go spreadin’ rumors about me. There was that girl from Junction City who came here for Pride last year. And that lady when I went back to Newport for Christmas. Hey, I’m doing way better than some people around here. You’re making it sound like I was one of Krys’s charity cases.”
“Charity case?” Krys offered her friend a platonic side-hug.We made awful girlfriends. Thank God it’s not weird around here to be friends with your ex.“No, if you were a charity case, it would’ve only happened one time. What I’m doing now is a mere blip in my year. I bet I could go out with anyone I want. You know, if they’re available.”
“Is there anyone around that applies to these days?” Lorri quipped.
“Well…” Krys had been meaning to bring this up, but hadn’t the chance. Not with Lorri’s big news and Jalen always reminding people that she had Fleur Rose for a girlfriend. “It really pales in comparison to what you guys were talking about, but there may be someone I’ve been thinking about lately…”
She let her words hang in the air. If there was one thing she had learned about her friends, it was that they needed a hook to get into conversations. No wonder one of them dated a dramatic actress and the other saw drinking her beer as the highlight of her day.
“You gonna tell us or not?” Lorri picked her phone out of her pocket, but it wasn’t to make a call or get lost in Facebook. She was the fidgety type that needed something to turn over in her hands or smooth with the pad of her thumb, especially when she was excited.Daft dunderhead doesn’t know she’s doing it.Jalen was two seconds away from ordering peanuts, not that she’d want to eat them. (Most of them she’d foist upon her friends!) She only wanted to crack shells while she laughed and giggled. It was especially bad when they came to watch a game or show on TV. So much wasted money!
Both Lorri and Jalen were giving Krys a look that said she better start spilling before they changed the subject. Right. Now or never.
“Do you either of you know that veterinarian?”
Lorri sat back. “You mean Dr. Global at the animal clinic?” Her wrinkled nose almost made Krys laugh. “That old geezer? That’s who you’re crushing on?”
“No, no,” Jalen interrupted before Krys had the chance to explain. “She probably means that new secretary he has. Had to go in there myself the other day and saw a young lady I’d never seen before.Reallypretty. But she did have a ring on her hand.” Jalen lightly socked Krys in the shoulder. “You chasing married women?”
“Oh, my God, you guys.” Krys pinched the bridge of her nose. “Let me finish.”
They mimicked zipping their mouths closed.
“Not Dr. Global or anything to do with his clinic. Theothervet around town. The big animal doc who does farm stuff.” Dare Krys drop a name? Act like she personally knew Siobhan as well as it would sound like? “Dr. O’Connor. The lady with red hair.”
The lady with red hair.Had a ring to it, huh?
Jalen shrugged. It took Lorri a few more seconds to contemplate Krys’s description and figure out who she meant. “Oooh. I think I know her. Comes into the hardware store sometimes. She got the freckles?”
“Oh, yeah. She got the freckles.”
Lorri let out a low whistle. “I knew she was a doctor, ‘cause it’s on her card, but I thought she was some special people doctor. Not animals.”
“Yeah, she’s got like this barn clinic off the county road. Way outta the way. Had to go up there the other day when I found those kittens in the field.”
“You said you took them to the vet…” Finally, Jalen got it. “Oh, you didn’t mean Dr. Global.”
Lorri was nothing but tittering joviality. “That woman’s real mysterious. Barely ever think about her, other than wondering who she might be. She comes into the store about once a month to buy household stuff. Ain’t much of a talker. Few times I’ve tried to figure out where she lives around here, she blew me off and saidout of town.Real helpful. So, anyway…” She turned to Krys again. “You took her some pussy, and the rest is history?”
“Har, har.” That would be the only P-word joke Krys would entertain from these knuckleheads tonight.Seems so wrong to think that way about her.They were never above raunchy jokes, especially in the gay bar of all places, but good Lord… that sounded like something that would get Krys’s ass kicked if she said it in front of Siobhan.I’m inclined to stay in her good graces.She barely knew her, but Krys knew that much. “That was my first time meeting her. Think I spoke to someone else on the phone.” Who? Didn’t matter. Someone with a deeper voice. Possibly Siobhan’s… partner. Lord, wouldn’t that be a hoot? “She’s stunning, though. Never seen someone like her around town before. Know anything about her? Like… if she’s single?”
Jalen laughed so loudly that she momentarily drowned out the billiard games clacking behind them. “You may be a ladies’ woman, Krys, but you’re one with morals. Gotta make sure they’re single before you put the moves on them.”
“Well, yeah. You know I’m not into cheaters. What’s the fun in that?” Krys unfortunately knew of women who got off on the forbidden aspect more than they got off on being with another person. Didn’t make much sense to her. The whole point of flirting, dating, and getting into bed was the unknown. Would it be great or mediocre? Would you go your separate ways, or would you get married? Which one of you made the better pancakes in the morning? Krys may not have the best track record with long-term dating, but that didn’t mean shehatedthe thought. But she definitely wanted a free and open relationship that was out to the world from the moment it happened. Kinda hard to do that if some asshole was cheating. “I figure I’ve got one more excuse to go see her about these kittens. So, if I’m gonna ask her out, I need to make sure I’ve got my ducks in a row. Make sure she’s not married. Ahem.”
“You’re not gonna ask if she’s gay?” Lorri said.
“First of all, this is Paradise Valley. My odds are pretty good that if my gaydar is going off, she’s into women. Second…” Krys puffed herself up, as if she were boasting about her award-winning personality, “I can handle getting shut down because she ain’t playing for the home team. It’s way more embarrassing for her to tell you she’s already got someone, and you probably should have figured that out by now.”
Lorri shrugged. “I see her sometimes, but don’t know anything about that.”
“I’ve never heard of this lady,” Jalen said, “but good luck. Sounds like you might need it for once.”
