CHAPTER 22

F ive days had gone by since she'd seen Carina. Kieran had been checking her phone repeatedly for a text message or a missed call, but nothing had come so far. She'd even checked her email spam folder in case Carina had sent her an email instead, and it had ended up there. No such luck. Kieran wanted to be patient, but it was proving difficult. She'd even talked to Ruthie, who had suggested that she text Carina and tell her that she just wanted to make sure Carina was okay, but Kieran knew Carina would see through that lie within seconds, and it might push her further away. No, Kieran would be respectful of Carina's ask for space. She'd also gone to visit Marin, and after scolding Frank Richard and telling him not to even dare file that official complaint because nothing had happened between them, she'd run into Dylan, who'd been dropping off a prisoner for another officer she was covering for.

"We're having a party at our place on Saturday night," Dylan had told her. "It's just a small thing; maybe twenty or so people. You should come. You look like you could use a night out where you're not worrying about all this." She'd motioned around the parking lot of the county jail.

"I shouldn't. I have a lot of work I need to catch up on, and I'm researching lawyers now because Frank Richard really pissed me off, and I'm going to do anything I can to get Marin to let me pay for someone."

"I heard about that."

"Carina told you?"

"Yeah. She called me, and we all went out for drinks."

"Is she okay?" Kieran had asked. "She's not… talking to me right now."

"She's okay," Dylan had said. "No official complaint has been filed yet. And the longer it goes without one, the less likely it'll be that he files it."

"I think I scared the shit out of him, so he shouldn't do anything that stupid."

Dylan had laughed and asked, "How did you scare him?"

"I told him I'm a software engineer, and I could hack into his computer and find all the porn he watches and share it with the world."

Dylan had laughed again and asked, "Can you really do that?"

"Why? Worried I'll do it to you?"

"No. My wife and I watch porn together, and she's the only one I care about finding out anything about me." Dylan had shrugged. "And Carina is okay, I think. Her boss talked to her, but from what she told me, you made a statement to help clear her of any wrongdoing."

"She said I shouldn't, but I just emailed it to him and hoped he'd relax about this whole thing because she really didn't do anything wrong."

Dylan had nodded, and for a second, it had looked to Kieran like she'd wanted to say something, but she'd kept it to herself.

"I should go," Kieran had said.

"Yes, you should. To the party. Come on. It'll be fun. Just drinks with some people you could meet. You're still new in town, and you could use a few friends, I'm sure."

"I thought I'd found one," she'd said.

"She's still your friend, Kieran. She just asked for a little space for the whole work thing. But that seems okay now, so since she'll be at the party, and you clearly want to see her, I'd suggest you stop by and say hello. If she says that she still needs more space, you can tell her that I insisted you come to the party, so it's my fault."

"She'll be there?"

"Yes. And maybe you can talk to her about the thing you're not saying."

"Huh?"

"The fact that you miss her," Dylan had stated. "It's written all over your face. Not to mention, the instant you saw me in there, you said hello and immediately proceeded to ask if Carina was with me." She'd laughed. "Not telling you what to do, exactly, but maybe just talk to her about whatever it is you've got going on in there." She'd pointed to her own temple. "Now, I have to go. Ada's waiting on me to go shopping for party supplies."

"Okay. I don't know if I'll go."

"I'll text you the info anyway. No pressure."

◆◆◆

It was the day of the party now, or, as Kieran had been referring to it, day nine without seeing Carina and wishing she could. She still wasn't entirely sure where she stood on the whole being-interested-in-a-woman-for-the-first-time thing, but she found herself dressing up for this party, wearing one of the two pairs of black slacks she owned and selecting the ones that she thought made her ass look the best. She threw on a green sweater, and while she couldn't do much with her short hair, she actually used the blow-dryer to make it look a little more together than usual and added just a little product to still keep it soft and shiny but also keep it in place tonight. Kieran wasn't one for makeup, and since she couldn't remember wearing it around Carina before, she decided against putting any on tonight because that would make it look like she'd tried. Of course, she had tried. She was trying, but Carina didn't need to know that. Grabbing her phone off of her bed, she slid it into a small purse and put on some lip balm because she'd been licking her lips in nervousness for the past several hours now, and her lips needed it.

Dylan had mentioned in her text that the party started at seven, but Kieran wanted to arrive just a little late and join the party in full swing so there would be plenty of people around for her to talk to if Carina still wanted that space. She parked down the block, since there were cars lining the street, and walked toward the address Dylan had texted her, holding a bottle of red wine in one hand because she'd forgotten to ask what to bring.

"Hi," a woman said when she opened the door to Kieran.

"Um… Hi. I'm Kieran."

"Oh. I thought you were a neighbor complaining about the noise or something. Come on in. Dylan said you might be coming by. I'm Ada, her wife."

"Oh, hi. It's nice to meet you," she replied as she walked inside the modest ranch-style home.

"You'll probably take that back later. I'm kind of a pain in the ass. Did you bring wine?"

"Yeah. I didn't know what to bring, and I forgot to ask Dylan what you needed, so I hope this is okay."

"This is great." Ada took the bottle Kieran held out and looked up at her curiously. "I see."

"Sorry?"

"Dylan, Kieran's here, babe," Ada said loudly.

A few seconds later, Dylan appeared around a corner with a beer bottle in hand.

"Hey. I'm glad you came," she said.

"She did. And she happened to bring Carina's favorite wine with her." Ada passed Dylan the bottle. "I'm going to mingle." She kissed Dylan on the cheek and walked toward wherever the noise was coming from.

"So, that's your wife, huh?" Kieran said with a small laugh.

"She's an acquired taste," Dylan joked. "Didn't take me long to just give in to her, but for others, it does. She's amazing, though, and even after all these years, I'm still totally into her."

"Well, you watch porn together, so that makes sense."

Dylan laughed and said, "Come on. I'll introduce you to a couple of friends I was just talking to." She set the wine on the table by the door and motioned for Kieran to join her.

They turned left and entered the living room, where four or five women were standing around, talking, while a couple were sitting on the sofa, doing the same, but Kieran was disappointed that Carina wasn't one of them.

"Kieran, this is Hollis and her fiancée, Raleigh," Dylan introduced.

"Hi. Kieran," she said, holding out her hand for Hollis to shake first.

"Nice to meet you," Hollis replied.

"You too," Kieran said and shook Raleigh's hand next.

"So, how do you know Dylan and Ada?" Raleigh asked.

"Well, she arrested my twin sister after suspecting that I might be her and committed the crime they're accusing my sister of, so there's that." Kieran looked over at Dylan, who shrugged.

"Oh, shit," Hollis said.

"Yeah…" Kieran replied.

"And you still came to her party?" Raleigh asked, glancing at Dylan.

"She seems like a nice person," Kieran offered. "And I can't help but trust her. It's weird."

Dylan shook her head.

"Not really. We trust her, too," Hollis shared. "Long story, but while I don't have a twin for Dylan to arrest, I know her because of a crime committed by a family member."

"Our daughter was kidnapped," Raleigh added. "A couple of years ago. Dylan found her."

"Oh, she told me about you two. I almost forgot. Your daughter's okay, right?"

"She's fine, yes. She's going to be the flower girl for our wedding next year," Raleigh said as she pulled Hollis into her side.

"Congratulations," Kieran said to both of them.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of blonde hair pulled back into a clip, and she knew.

"She's heading to the kitchen. Go talk to her," Dylan said.

"Will you two please excuse me? I need to talk to someone."

Kieran felt bad about fleeing mid-conversation, but she needed to at least see Carina.

"Grab the wine. It'll help," Dylan suggested.

Kieran nodded, walked back over to the table by the front door, grabbed the bottle, and headed toward where she'd seen Carina walking. In the kitchen, she saw Carina standing at the island, looking down at some of the food trays with vegetables and fruit on offer.

"Carina, want a beer?" a woman asked. "I'm going to grab one."

"No, I'm not much of a beer drinker," Carina replied without noticing that Kieran was there yet. "Amalia, do you want some of this dip stuff? They have carrots and celery to go with it."

Amalia. Carina's date. Carina was on a date. She'd brought a date to this party. Kieran didn't know what to do, so she just stood there, waiting to be seen, but her heart hurt. It actually hurt. She wasn't sure it had ever hurt like this before, but it sure as shit did now because she liked Carina, and Carina was on a date with another woman. It hurt because Kieran wanted to be the one getting her a drink, and it wouldn't be beer. It would be Carina's favorite wine. She held up the bottle in her hand because she had brought Carina a drink.

"Sorry. I've got to take this," Amalia said from the corner of the kitchen as she stared at her phone. "It's work. Can I go outside?"

"Sure," Carina replied.

"Hello?" Amalia said into the phone and hurried out the open back door off to the right of the kitchen.

"Hey," Kieran greeted.

Carina looked up and smiled instantly.

"Hey. I didn't know you'd be here."

"Dylan invited me. I wasn't sure I'd come. She said you might be here, and I know you asked me for some space…"

Carina walked around the island and stood a few feet away from her.

"It's all sorted out, I think. My boss isn't happy with me, but there's nothing he can find that I did wrong thanks to that email someone sent in, even though I said that she shouldn't."

"Are you mad? I only wanted to help."

"No, I'm not mad," Carina replied. "And it helped, so thank you."

"You didn't call or text."

"I know. I needed a little more time than I thought I would."

"So, I should go?" Kieran asked.

"No, you don't have to go. I meant that it's not just about the work thing. I… Well, you know how I feel, and I think I needed a little more time before I reached out."

"You're here on a date," Kieran noted.

"I am, yes. Amalia called me and asked if I wanted to do something tonight. I told her I was coming here already, so I invited her."

"But you like me ?"

"I do like you. But you don't feel the same way, or you might not be ready to admit it if you do. I needed to get out of the house, though, and the thought of coming here alone was more than I could handle right now, so I brought her."

"I've never been with a woman, Carina."

Carina seemed caught off guard by that but replied, "I know that, Kieran."

Kieran held up the bottle again and said, "I brought you this."

Carina looked down and took the bottle from her.

"You brought my favorite wine?"

"I didn't think they'd have it here," she replied.

"And you remembered that this was my favorite from the bar? You didn't even see the bottle."

"You told me what it was, so yeah, I remembered."

Carina met her eyes and said, "This is incredibly sweet. Thank you. Will you have some with me?"

"I probably shouldn't. You're here on a date."

"But you're only my new sort-of-weird friend. I think we can share a glass of wine together."

"I don't know how to do this, Carina."

"Drink wine?"

"Tell you," she said, looking down at the floor as her cheeks began to flush in embarrassment.

"Tell me what, Kieran?"

"You're on a date."

"It's only a second date. And she's nice, but if you have something to tell me, I'll take her home tonight, and–"

"Do you have to kiss her goodnight?" Kieran interrupted and looked back up.

Carina smiled at her and said, "No, I don't."

"Do you want to kiss her goodnight?"

Carina shook her head slowly and then asked, "But do you want to kiss me at all?"

Kieran licked her lips, tasting the strawberry lip balm, and very quietly said, "Yes."

"Okay. Then, I'll take her home, and I won't kiss her goodnight."

"No?"

"Kieran, you know what's happening right now, right?"

"Yes."

"You and I are going to go on a date and see if anything's here."

"Yeah."

"And you want that? Because I don't want to pressure you into–"

"I missed you," Kieran admitted, interrupting her. "I just missed you. And I worried that I'd messed this all up. I know you're in trouble because Frank Richard complained that we were sleeping together. And we haven't done that yet, but if we go out on a real date, that could get you back in trouble, and I–"

"You said yet," Carina interrupted her this time.

"Huh?"

"You said that we haven't slept together yet ."

"Oh, shit." Kieran covered her mouth with her hand. "I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Carina laughed a little and moved a step closer to her. "And you are being so fucking cute right now. I wish I didn't have Amalia outside because I don't want to be rude to her, but I really, really want to touch you. Even to just hold your hand or hug you. Literally anywhere. But I can't until I take care of this." She nodded back toward the door. "So, I'll take her home, and you and I will go out."

"On a date," Kieran said as if to confirm. "You're not worried about getting in trouble at work?"

"If I need to, I'll tell my boss when this really started and that it was after I recused myself, but let's just take it one step at a time, okay?"

"So, you'll take Amalia home now? That's the first step?"

Carina laughed again, took another step toward her, and Kieran breathed her in then. Carina smelled sweet, and all Kieran wanted to do was be the woman to kiss her goodnight.