Page 44 of The Fiancée Farce
Bitsie rolled her eyes.
“Hi, Katherine.” Tansy smiled before turning back to Victor. “Anyhow Victor, I manage a bookstore. It’s—”
“Belltown Books,” Katherine jumped in. “I’m the owner.”
“Belltown Books? I know the place,” Brooks said. “Charming store.”
“Thank you, I—”
“Isn’t it a lovely place?” Katherine cut Tansy off for the second time.
“Lovely, indeed,” Brooks agreed. “A wonderful place to lose an afternoon. A lot of history in that part of town.”
“It used to be a silent-era film exchange before my grandfather converted it into a bookstore in the forties,” Tansy said.
“Ingenious.” Brooks smiled. “So it’s been in your family quite some time.”
“Yes. My father’s family.”
“And where is your father this evening?” Victor asked.
Tansy cleared her throat. “Lakeview Cemetery.”
“Tansy,” Katherine snapped, eyes wide and lips twisted in a grim line.
“What?” Tansy shrugged. “He asked.”
“My condolences,” Victor offered stiffly. “Gemma, be a dear and join me in the parlor, would you?”
She frowned. “Since when have I everbeena dear?”
“Gemma.” He bared his teeth in a shitty approximation of a smile. “We have guests.”
“Exactly,” she said. “And I just got here.”
“It will only take a moment,” he said.
She rolled her eyes, turning to Tansy. “Will you be okay?”
“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Rochelle promised, wrapping her arm around Tansy’s shoulder. “Let’s grab a glass of champagne. It’s feeling a little”—she glanced at Gemma and then her father—“chillyin the foyer.”
Tansy smiled. “Find me when you’re finished?”
“Wait.” Gemma narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Tansy froze. “Am I?”
Gemma stepped closer. “A kiss for the road, obviously.”
“A kiss for the—oh.” Tansy laughed. “Right.”
Gemma leaned in, brushing her lips against the corner of Tansy’s mouth, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, violets, and the subtle smell of old books and ink. She lingered, fingers curling around Tansy’s chin. She tilted her head gently, desperate for another taste, another hit, hooked on the flavor that was uniquely Tansy, beeswax and breath mints. Tansy followed Gemma’s lead, closing her eyes and letting Gemma kiss her, lips parting, chasingGemma’s mouth when she pulled away at the distant-sounding, delicate clearing of a throat.
Gemma’s skin buzzed and her heart raced, pounding in her ears. Damn. Two for two. This was starting to feel like a pattern, the world falling away each time she and Tansy kissed.
“That was hot,” Yvonne whispered.
“Mm.” Teddy nodded. “Very.”
