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Tove laughed. “You know what you want. You go after it. You don’t take no for answer if no doesn’t make any sense. You’re busting ass at that brewery and never complain. You don’t seem affected by life. Not like my family, or the other women I used to date. I never thought that the perfect person for me was someone who goes with the flow so well.”
“Wow, Tove…” Kayla grinned. “That’s a lot to say I grew up in a different world.”
“Do you think that’s what it is?”
“Different family, different place, different generational expectations… mm, sure. That might have something to do with it. Personality only takes you so far, hon.”
“I don’t think we grew upthatdifferently…” From the candid conversations they had about their respective childhoods, the biggest differences lurked in technology and the fact that Kayla had an older brother.I want to meet her brother. His wife. Their kids.A trip to Portland might be in order. Tove felt like she barely knew the people her girlfriend already lived with. When was it too soon to move her into this house? Kayla already spent half her nights here!
Perhaps Tove was getting ahead of herself.
“To think,” Kayla said, “all it took was your cousin almost mowing me over.”
“I should be kissing his feet for that lapse in attention.”
Their tender cuddle following that statement ended with Tove’s face nestled between Kayla’s breasts. For once, she was the coddled child who didn’t have to worry about anything. Kayla had her. Tove was safe, for the first time in…
Ever.
I’m going to marry this woman.Tove kept that sentiment to herself. For now.
There was always tomorrow.
Chapter 18
Kaylawasgladthatshe had seen the family house in Hood River before the reunion commenced… if only because it was completely unrecognizable when filled with strangers, half of whom had the last name Fredriksson.
“No wonder there’s no room for us here,” Kayla said when Tove struggled to find a place to park in the long driveway leading to the road. “Good thinking about the hotel.”
“You come here enough, you know how it works and where you are in the pecking order.” Tove spotted a big enough parking spot between a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz. Kayla kept her mouth shut so her girlfriend could concentrate on squeezing her Subaru between two cars that somehow costmorethan hers.At least she’s humble with her fortune.Kayla’s eyes bulged when she spotted a young woman in Bulgari jewelry and packing a Gucci bag as she stumbled down the gravel driveway in her Burberry heels. Right in front of her was a middle-aged Fredriksson with white hair, khaki pants, and a polo golf shirt. His threadbare wallet he tucked into his back pocket didn’t match the Philip Patek watch blinding Kayla with the sun.
Kayla could hardly believe the line of cars parked along the driveway, culminating in the front yard stuffed with sensible Toyotas and sports cars alike. Thomas sat on the trunk of his BMW that had fatefully brushed death before Kayla’s eyes. She preferred it from this view.
Besides, Polly was quite the sight in the passenger seat, her bold red lipstick on full display beneath her large sunglasses and floppy sun hat.Now there’s a woman who knows how to style herself.Kayla had dressed up in a thrift store find that sent her to the moon. For all she knew, the black and pink Kate Spade Laurette Dress had come from one of the women in this family!I should be more careful about the nice clothes I get from the Bend thrift stores…
So far, nobody had said anything, but few of the strangers stopped to say hello to Tove before going inside. Kayla thought this strange, but she remembered her girlfriend’s comment about pecking orders.Born to a single mom in this family? Pecking order lowered.Kayla was compelled to wrap her arm around Tove’s as they said hello to Thomas and Polly, neither of whom were in a hurry to go inside. Thomas quipped that he wanted to put off his “death by firing squad.” Polly merely commented that she hadn’t been feeling well that day.
Oskar had come stag, much to Tove’s relief. His long-sleeve shirt and decent pair of jeans was an upgrade from how he usually dressed, and it looked like he had shaved for the occasion as well. Yet any conversation with him was cut short when Thomas’s older brother and his wife June hopped out of an Audi, shrieks of joy echoing in the front yard the moment two young twenty-somethings poked their heads out of the backseat.
“I need a cigarette,” Thomas said. “Or a barf bag.”
While everyone over the age of fifty-five fawned over the young lady in a dress that could only be described as “Kate Middleton meets Audrey Hepburn,” she made a casual beeline for Kayla, who had kept to herself by Thomas’s BMW.
“Is that Kate Spade?” came a sweet voice. “Iloveyour dress.” She extended her hand. “Isabella Frank. Are you in the family?”
“Oh, not quite.” Kayla left it at that. “I’m Kayla, the one with Tove.” She tilted her head in her girlfriend’s direction. Tove was halfway to being absorbed into the house by several family members who wished to reminisce about her mother. While Kayla wanted every juicy detail, she also knew that she was currently in the presence of semi-royalty. “You must be the Isabella I’ve heard so much about. The one with…” She had to quickly remember the name of the young man shaking hands with everyone around him. “Elijah. No! Elias.”
“That’s right. Elias and I met in business school, and he’s invited me up to meet the whole family. Any tips for me? You seem like you’ve been in their presence for a while.”
Before Kayla could drop a great quote on the woman who wasn’t more than a few years younger than her, June Fredriksson appeared, her fingers reaching for the girl who would soon be her daughter-in-law. “Izzie! I must introduce you to my sister. She’s come from Spokane to meet you!”
Isabella was pulled away from Kayla, who straightened her Kate Spade skirt and fluffed her hair while in search of Tove.
The energy at the former matriarch’s retirement home was spectacular: even if Kayla didn’t know the history of these strange rich people, she knew this vibe. It was the same feeling that permeated a country club, an upscale wine bar, or the pre-show at the Portland Opera. Places Kayla had integrated herself more than once in her life.Places I honed my craft in seduction, for fun and profit.Half of the men on the property would probably sleep with her if she put in enough effort, and she, unfortunately, included Thomas with the pregnant wife in that assessment. But she didn’t need any of these men in polo shirts, dress shirts, and T-shirts to pay her the time of day. She had Tove. A woman who treated her better than any former boyfriend had.
And she was a woman who loved Kayla. To hit a jackpot like that was not on Kayla’s radar leading up to her move to Bend, but she embraced it. After all, she had fallen intosomethingwith Tove as well. Was it sexual, deeply romantic love?
She liked to think so, but it didn’t matter. Kayla was one step closer to securing her future, and it was with someone who loved her. Nothing was better than that.
