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“See you then.”
Skylar forced herself to load her guitar in the SUV as she watched Elena walk down to a black car in the parking lot. She waited until she could no longer see the car’s tail lights before heading home herself.
All the while, the feel of Elena’s lips on hers lingered in her mind.
Chapter 5
Elena
Moonflower Cove looked nothing like Elena remembered. Elena wasn’t sure if that was because her surly teenage self hated the idea of living in a small town or if the Cove had magically transformed into the most picturesque town she’d ever seen. And Elena had seen a lot of towns. After touring for over fourteen years, it felt as if she’d seen every town from Bangor to Seattle to El Paso.
Having parked her car along Main Street, Elena had walked up and down the streets as she admired all the various shops. There was a bookstore, a flower shop, and an ice cream shop that Elena vaguely remembered from her high school days. Granted, they all looked different now. Clearly, they were all under new management.
She grabbed a cup of coffee at Carlson’s Cafe—a place she actually remembered from her youth—before heading toward the record store. Elena had no idea what time Skylar ate lunch. Their plans had been vague. Without a firm meeting time, Elena didn’t know if her assumption to arrive at noon would be too early or too late for Skylar.
Well, if she wanted a specific time, she should have asked for it.
She didn’t know why she was mentally playing hardball with Skylar. After all, she had kissed her the night before. Elena still couldn’t believe she had done that. She’d not expected to kiss Skylar. Definitely hadn’t planned on it. But it happened nonetheless.
And, dammit, if it wasn’t a good kiss.
Elena sighed. There was no denying she still had feelings for Skylar. It was hard not to have feelings for someone when most nights she was paid to sing songs about their love affair. Or whatever it was called. Calling it a relationship seemed too far off, but Skylar was so much more than a casual hookup.
No, Elena had loved her.
Still loved her.
But Skylar had made it clear that she didn’t want to be in the closet with Elena any longer. Even though years had passed, Elena still sat locked in her own closet while she held the key.
The truth of the matter was Elena had yet to accept her sexuality. She’d told Skylar when they first got together she was bisexual, and for years Elena believed that to be true. Elena had loved both men and women in her life, and she’d enjoyed being with each of them.
No one compared to Skylar, though.
Not even Elena’s ex-husband.
Peter Hamilton had been an up-and-coming actor when he and Elena first met. His dashing good looks and quick wit made him a delight to be around. When the rumor mill started to circulate, the two were an item. They both noticed how it advanced both of their careers. This led to the arrangement that worked for them for years. They would be seen with each other, let the rumors be that they were dating, while they each dated whoever they wanted in secret.
It worked for a while. Even Skylar had been on board with it. Well, maybe she was not on board with it, but she stopped protesting after a while. Skylar had been passionate about her and Elena coming out as a couple, but Elena had seen what that could do to a career. She wasn’t about to let it happen to herself or Skylar.
Skylar struggled with her jealousy every time Elena was photographed with another man. Especially Peter. Peter bugged Skylar the most because she knew he and Elena had slept together. Elena had told her as much when they first started being intimate together. She would watch Skylar grit her teeth at award shows as Peter would walk with Elena down the red carpets.
At the time, Elena didn’t think much of Skylar’s jealousy or how she was essentially leading Skylar on. That guilt came later as Elena was crying on her bathroom floor after her divorce was final, and the only person she wanted to talk to was Skylar.
She’d made a lot of mistakes in her life, but letting Skylar Ford walk out of her life would always be the biggest one.
Letting out a deep breath, Elena rounded the corner toward the record store. The large, handpainted sign still hung over the door, and Elena smiled at the name change. Skylar had been so embarrassed when her father first publicly changed the name, but Elena always thought it was sweet.
Her parents were never as involved in her life as Skylar’s dad was in her life. As the youngest of five, Elena’s parents were tired of raising children by the time she came along. She knew that because they’d told her as much. After her father took a job in the Moonflower Cove University’s science department, Elena and her mother moved with him to the Cove. All of Elena’s older siblings were in college or had their own homes in cities across the US. They all had their own lives, but at fifteen, Elena had to start over in the Cove.
Thank God Skylar and her friends befriended her so quickly. Their love of Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, and Journey all brought them together. It was only a matter of time before their band formed, and the rest, well, that was history now.
And Elena was trying hard not to focus on the past anymore.
Opening the door to the store, Elena immediately felt at peace with the world. There was something about record stores, especially Set the Record Gay. The store was well kept, but it also had an air of unrest as if, at any moment, a band would come alive from an album and start playing. Somewhere in the store, a vinyl record was spinning on a player. Elena immediately recognized it.
It was a Maine Event album.
Of course it is, she laughed to herself.
