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“But saying you want to kick her in the junk is okay?” As Neera passed by a group of packed chairs, an elderly lady gave her a confused look. She decided to lower her own volume and walked faster, picking her way through the crowds and dodging people who were walking at a much faster rate than she was. “I thought you liked her. You always said you liked her.”

“I did,” Elodie protested. “Until she cheated on my daughter and wasn’t one bit sorry about it. Really? Nurse roleplay. You’d think she could get a little bit more creative. And telling you that things were stale? What kind of an excuse is that? Seems like she just doesn’t want to take responsibility for being totally dishonest.”

“Mmmhmm.” What was stale supposed to mean anyway? It made Neera feel like a package of old, soggy crackers left open and suddenly found after months. The kind of crackers that no one in their right mind would be able to gag down.

Needless to say, after finding out that Steph was cheating on her and breaking up with her, she wasn’t feeling at her sexiest. She knew she wouldn’t be able to find somewhere to stay on such short notice, especially with the holidays coming up. Her job was fine, but it wasn’t her dream job or anything. She’d taken it because she wa

nted to stay in San Jose and be near Steph. It was Steph’s apartment she’d moved into years ago. It was crazy strained having to be there for two weeks while she worked her last shifts and packed her things, but at least Steph had provided one small mercy and decided at the last minute to take her new girlfriend to Switzerland for the holidays.

Mercy my ass. She never went on a vacation with me.

“Okay, the windshield is good to go. I’m pulling out now,” Elodie said. Neera could hear the car noise starting up on the other end of the phone as her mom was driving. “Roads look good. Thirty minutes now. I’m sorry I didn’t leave sooner.”

Neera hoisted her heavy backpack up a little higher on her shoulders and tucked her purse in at her hip. Her back was starting to ache, and the neck strain was giving her a headache. Or maybe that was just having to think about the past month in general.

“No, that’s alright. I’m glad you’re coming. Thank you for picking me up and offering the house for me until I find somewhere else.”

“My gosh, you don’t have to thank me! You’re my daughter. It’s always been just us, and, who knows. It might be fun.”

“Fun?”

“I didn’t tell you! You know that Scarlet’s divorce finally went through?”

Neera froze. She stopped dead in her tracks. There was a scuffle of sneakers on the tile right after and she was roundly cursed out by a teenager who had been apparently shadowing her. Right. Don’t stop dead in the middle of rush hour airport pedestrian traffic. Her heart hammering wildly, Neera dodged over to a free spot in front of one of the many stores in the airport. She pretended to be enthralled by postcards so she wouldn’t feel guilty loitering.

“Uh- okay. No, you didn’t tell me, but that’s cool.” That’s cool? Really? That’s what you have to say for something that you haven’t stopped thinking about for a year? She’d been going for casual because this was her mom she was talking to, and no, it would not be cool if her mother found out that her daughter had a crush on her much older best friend. A lifelong crush.

Alright, so Scarlet Hunter was basically Neera’s first love. A very one sided, all consuming, slow burning, unrequited first love.

“Yes! It just went through,” her mom’s excited voice pulled her out of her head. “And guess what! She’s been having some experiences since she separated from Bryan. He was hooking up with his nineteen-year-old secretary which actually turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened. When you get older, as a woman, you become freer. Free from bad marriages. Free from the constraints of socially acceptable norms. Freer with your body and your sexuality.”

“Mom!” Neera’s heart raced faster than the occasional person who was full tilt sprinting past where she was standing.

“Hey. Forty is the new twenty. Don’t you forget it. Besides, Scarlet still has a couple years before she gets there. She’s two years younger than me, remember? And she was never happy with Bryan. He was a dolt. Everyone knew that. She knew that. I knew that. If I could only recount to you the years of misery-”

“Okay, I get it. So, she’s had some experiences. That’s good for her.”

“You sound a little breathless, honey, are you okay?”

Damn it. “The airports just really crowded. I was walking fast to try and keep up with the pace.”

“Yes, that’s the holidays for you, I guess. But, back to Scarlet, I think she’s a lesbian! I mean, she thinks she might be a lesbian! Now she’s not just doing it to get back at Bryan. Isn’t that great? Maybe you can give her some pointers.”

Neera didn’t realize she was leaning a little too far forward into the rack of postcards until she felt like she was teetering and then she had to reach out to stop herself from falling as black dots leaped out in front of her eyes.

“Aah!” She grabbed the rack at the wrong angle, and the whole thing went crashing down. She went airborne, gravity became that bitch everyone talked about karma being, and the next thing she knew, she was lying in a heap of postcards and metal racks- because of course, it would have to come apart into six different pieces when it fell, her backpack at an odd angle and her purse nearly choking her with the strap.

“Neera? Neera? What’s happening?”

Somehow, she’d managed to hold onto her phone when she fell. “Nothing, I’m good. I’m going to have to call you back, though. Actually, my phone’s almost dead. I’ll just stand outside and watch for you, so you don’t have to park. Just pull up. I know where you’ll be. Same spot as always.”

Neera hung up and stuffed her phone back into her bag after she untangled it from around her throat. She picked herself up just in time to see the store employee come racing out with a scowl on his face.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she said. “I’m all good. Don’t worry about me.”

“Worry about you?” the man sniffed. He was wearing a maroon turtleneck and very tight jeans. When he angled to the side, she could see them riding up his butt cheeks. “What about my merchandise, you clumsy oaf? You think you can just wreck everything and not pay for it?”

Neera was astounded. So much for the Christmas spirit and all that. Technically, it was already over, but still. Plus, the guy’s pants were really tight. Maybe that’s what he was actually so pissed about. The whole wedgie, ball squish thing he had going on couldn’t be comfortable. “I’m truly sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll pick everything up. I don’t think anything’s wrecked.”


Tags: Alexa Woods Romance