“Oh.” Frankie’s face fell, and she pushed back from the doorframe, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Okay…well then…forget I even asked.”
Jules hated being the reason for that look on Frankie’s face and she quickly laughed to make light of her joke landing flat.
“I’m kidding, Frankie. I have absolutely no plans. To be honest? I figured I'd just relax between now and my flight home. I really just came to get away from the snow for two days and to watch the game. Besides, having a hot date, and on Valentine’s Day no less, requires meeting a woman who actuallywantsto take me on a date.”
She hadn’t even entertained the idea of dating since her last relationship ended and it wasn’t like people were lining up on the east coast to get her attention.
The look of disappointment on Frankie’s face shifted into something more akin to surprise and disagreement as she gave her head a shake.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Any woman would be lucky to take you out.”
But there was only one woman Jules wanted it to be and right now she was standing on her doorstep saying all the right things and giving Jules butterflies.
“You’re sweet, thank you. But back to the question…why are you asking me about tomorrow?”
“Right! Well, since I’m also flying solo and I assume your brother is all tied up with…Mackenzie, was it? That's her name?” Jules nodded in confirmation. “I thought you and I could maybe play tourist tomorrow and take a drive up the coast? I rented a car because I figured I’ve earned a day off, so why not?”
“Yes.
Chapter 23
The sunshine was a warm welcome and a far cry from the frozen shores of Nova Scotia. The Jeep she’d rented cruised along the Pacific Coast Highway with steep cliffs bordering one side of the car and the ocean on the other stretching out as far as the eye could see. It had taken them forty minutes to get out of Los Angeles before reaching the highway and when they did, it was like the whole world opened up.
Beside Frankie in the passenger seat, Jules looked like a different woman from the last time they’d taken a road trip together. Her smile was luminous as she took in the scenery, commenting on the way the sun shone on the water like light glinting off a diamond and making Frankie guess how much it would cost them to buy any one of the huge cliffside mansions with multi million dollar views that they passed before the landscape changed to nothing but trees and the lush greenery of the rolling California hills.
They had no finish line for the trip, no end destination, and had agreed to drive until it felt like the right time to turn back. It was all just so easy with Jules; the conversation, the jokes, the laughter. Frankie never felt like she needed to try,never had to force things, and being comfortable with Jules had always come so naturally.
“My Mom would’ve loved this,” Jules said as she stuck her hand out the window and let it float over the air. “She always said she wanted to do a California road trip one day.”
Frankie smiled at the thought. “I’m sure she’s glad that you’re seeing a bit of it now.”
“Yeah.” Jules sighed and took off her sunglasses then shifted in her seat to face Frankie. “Because of you. I never would’ve done something like this on my own. There’s a lot of things I never would’ve done if it weren’t for you, so thank you. For just…being you.”
“Well, Jules Clarke, you make it very easy to just be me.”
That made Jules grin and she turned back to face forward, and stuck her arm out the window again. It was the right response, but it was also the truth.
A few hours into their drive, after they’d already stopped for food at a small hole in the wall coastal diner and topped up on gas, they stopped at a highway pull off that allowed you to back up with your trunk facing out over the ocean.
They got out of the car and Frankie opened the back door of the jeep then laid out the blankets she’d secretly borrowed from her hotel room after asking for extras the night before at the concierge desk.
She pulled a bag of snacks from a backpack along with a pair of plastic cups and a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider that she’d kept cold with ice packs, then got to work setting up a tailgate charcuterie board.
It was already late afternoon and the sun hung low and golden in the sky, basking them in warm light, it had Frankie closing her eyes to soak it up.
“Wow, I really missed the sun,” she said on an exhale. “It’s just so beautiful.”
”It really is,” Jules said from her place next to Frankie on the Jeep’s back bumper.
Frankie fluttered open her eyes and glanced to her right to find Jules watching her with a lazy smile on her face. Her sunglasses were pushed up onto her forehead, the sun turning her eyes into the bluest crystals Frankie had ever seenin her entire life, like precious gemstones no one had the right to even look at because of how perfect they were.
“So, are cheese and crackers with apple cider by the California coast better than having your world rocked by some LA lesbian in her beach house?”
Jules smirked and brought the plastic cup to her lips “Who said she was from LA?” She took a sip, never breaking eye contact with.
Too stunned to reply, Frankie turned back to the ocean and smiled to herself as she popped a piece of cheese into her mouth. As she so often did, Jules had surprised her, this time with an unexpected boldness that made her pulse race while thoughts tried to catch up.
They finished their cider and snacks in a comfortable silence and once the sun began to set, they agreed that as a nice as it was to stay until all they were left with was the afterglow of daylight turning the sky to a dark blueish gold, it was probably for the best if they turned around now.