Page 22 of December Wishes
“Not unless it’s you rolling toward the post office, Joan!” Krys called. “You and Lor gonna be at the Christmas Tree Lighting?”
“If I’m not in labor! Not too far from our house.”
That was the last they heard from her before she turned the corner. Krys let out a low whistle. “Joanie’s always been a bit anxious,” she said in a lowered voice, as if Joan could still hear her. “Those pregnancy hormones have really eliminated the filter on her mouth.”
Siobhan snorted. “If I were that pregnant, I’d say screw you to my filter, too.”
“You mean you don’t, already?”
They were soon joined by another couple rounding the bend in Main Street. Both were barely recognizable in their layers of winter clothing that covered them from head to toe, as if it were below zero in Paradise Valley.
More like they were avoiding prying eyes looking for the town’s most “famous” couple.
“Jay!” Krys destroyed that veneer of anonymity like it was nothing.Like they could actually hide from the local media dressed like that!There was such a thing as sticking outtoomuch in one’s normalcy. “Didn’t think I’d see you around town, yet! Get over here and say hi!”
Ever since Jalen got with the actress on her arm, she had been scarce around Paradise Valley. Didn’t help that she was either in California or hiding away from the paparazzi that now occasionally drove up and down Main Street looking for the famous Fleur Rosé. Sure, Krys saw them at the house parties their social circle threw, but it wasn’t the same as catching her out on the street like this. Jalen more or less gave up her plumbing business, so there was no more seeing the tell-tale white van zooming up and down Main Street.
At least she wasn’t tanned. Krys didn’t think she could handle tanned Jalen Stonehill.
“Hey! We were actually stopping by for a bit!” Jalen was such a pro at handling the press now that she and Fleur automatically stood behind a hedge that separated Main Street from the firehouse. “The schedule got a bit wonky after Fleur’s costar suddenly ended up in rehab. Again.”
The actress in question gave Krys an awkward smile. “I’m starting to think I’m cursed. All my costars are addicted to something and end up in rehab. Multiple times.”
Siobhan slowly shook her head. Krys thanked the stars she now lived in a town where that was a lot less common. She had a feeling her hometown of Portland wasn’t much better than the set of Fleur’s show.
“You guys got anything planned for Christmas?” Jalen asked. “Preferably, before Christmas? ‘Cause we’re swinging by Newport to see my folks before heading back down to LA for New Year’s. I guess she’s got a lot of parties she needs to make an appearance at.”
Youhaveto be seen with her, huh?Jalen might say otherwise, but she absolutely lived for the attention dating a celebrity gave her. Krys had no idea how her friend was paying her bills without doing her job, but she also didn’t want to know.Fleur’s too nice for me to know otherwise.Well, if Jalen was going to sell her soul to Hollywood, she could do a lot worse than Fleur, who was nothing but nice and accommodating to her girlfriend’s old friends.
“We were talking about the Christmas Tree Lighting on the first day of winter,” Krys said. “You guys gonna be in town long enough for that? We could probably take things over to my house if Lorri and Joan don’t feel up to hosting.” That was where they usually had their lowkey house parties, since Jalen and Krys both lived with roommates, but that year might be different. Hell, every year after that one might be different once a kid was in the picture.At least that kid’s gonna have the best aunts in town.Assuming Jalen stuck around long enough.
Ah, wasn’t that one of the biggest things bothering Krys lately? This idea that everything was changing and she might never know her old life again?
Siobhan took her girlfriend’s hand. “Looks like I’m dragging my aunt into town on winter solstice. For a Christmas lighting. Sounds Pagan when I put it that way. So, she’ll love it.”
Right. While there were a million changes happening in Krys’s life, nothing beat the acquiring of the prettiest gal in town for her own girlfriend.Look at her. Absolutely amazing.Krys and Jalen hadn’t done too badly for themselves that year. Jalen got a fun-loving lady for a girlfriend, one who could go toe-to-toe with Ms. Stonehill over who had the loudest friends and craziest stories. Meanwhile, Krys had found a hidden jewel in a town she thought she had plundered like any diligent pirate.Pirate? More like Viking. Yup. Lady Viking right here looting and pillaging a town for the perfect future Mrs. Madison.Yeah, right. Like Siobhan would settle for anything less than a Mrs. Dr. O’Connor.
Krys O’Connor.She kinda liked that.Krystal O’Connor.Oh, hell, no.
Siobhan announced that she had to leave. Yet by the look in her eye, she knew exactly what her girlfriend was thinking, and she agreed. “Krystal O’Connor” would never see the light of day!
Chapter 13
FLEUR & JALEN
There was one place in this tiny town where Fleur felt like she had alittlepersonal space. Ironically, that was the pizza parlor, where the surliest of employees slung greasy slices of pizza like this was what they were condemned to do for the rest of their miserable lives.
Or maybe that was the blonde Fleur always saw when she walked in, ordering two slices of cheese pizza.If I feel really frisky, I go for one cheese and one veggie.In that town, veggie pizza was always available. Somebody had to eat it! Might as well be the woman from California, land of vegans and gluten-free afficionados.
Then again, neither of those things were foreign to Paradise Valley.
That cold yet sunny day, she orderedtwoslices of veggie pizza, but only because the cheese looked insurmountably sad. Skylar, the sad blonde who would rather be anywhere but there, pulled the slices onto a plate and garnished it with a cup of ranch dressing. She always did this, even when Fleur specifically requestedno ranch. I didn’t know people took their ranch dressing and pizza so seriously until Paradise Valley.
Such a strange town, wasn’t it? Of all the places she went unmolested, it had to be the pizza parlor, which hung far enough back from Main Street that nobody could see her through the window, as long as she kept her sunglasses and hat donned. She changed which rental car she drove from PDX every time she flew in to visit Jalen. The only way the paps found her was if someone called in a tip, and that required a call inaheadof time, for unless the paps were already there when she arrived, nobody cared.
At least she didn’t feel bad about gumming up the town’s functions, now. She was hardly a novelty anymore. People stopped pointing and awkwardly asking for autographs, but they still stared. Like now, when Skylar stood behind the register and stared at Fleur as if she were someone’s ticket out of Paradise Valley.
Sorry, already have a girlfriend.Fleur politely avoided eye contact with Skylar, who eventually went back into the kitchen and rolled some pizza dough while bobbing her head to the Christmas songs playing on the radio.
