Thrill Me

Maya also knew that she could offer advice, but ultimately the decision was Elaine’s. Maya would be her friend, help where she could and do her best to keep her mouth shut about the rest of it.

Which was what friends did, she reminded herself. This was what she’d come home for. Plants to be watered, friends to hang with. There was a rhythm to her days that was a lot less frantic than it had been back in Los Angeles.

She finished and went back inside. She had her favorite shows she’d recorded and there was a book she’d been wanting to read. But instead of reaching for either, she crossed to the small built-in bookcase and pulled out a worn scrapbook. She settled on the sofa, sat cross-legged and opened the book.

She’d been seven or eight when she’d started the scrapbook and she thought maybe she’d put in the last pictures when she’d been in her early twenties. Probably right after college.

The pages were simple. They were covered with pictures of places in the world she wanted to go. The first choices were obvious. Paris was represented by the Eiffel Tower. London by Buckingham Palace. But as she’d gotten older, her dream destinations had grown little more unexpected. There was a photograph of a café outside of a mountain village in Peru. The shore of the Galápagos Islands. She’d always planned to get there.

But working in local television didn’t exactly lend itself to exotic travel. Vacation plans were often disrupted by unexpected events. She hadn’t minded so much when there was actual news, but she’d had to cut short a trip once because of a rumor that Jennifer Aniston got engaged.

No more canceled trips, she thought. She could take an actual vacation. Go somewhere interesting. Not that a two-week trip was the same as really immersing yourself a place, but it was a start.

Her cell phone rang. Phoebe’s face appeared on the screen.

Maya smiled as she answered. “What’s up?” she said when she pushed the green button. “Wedding crisis?”

Phoebe laughed. “Okay, so you’re not watching Eddie and Gladys’s show.”

Maya held in a groan. She reached for the remote and turned on her TV. “What are they doing now? Tell me it’s not frontal nudity.”

“It’s not. You’ll see. And then you’ll have some explaining to do. How come I didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

The TV came on. Maya flipped to the Fool’s Gold cable access channel. Eddie filled the screen.

“I know,” the old woman was saying. “You want to see it again. Here goes.”

As Maya watched, a video came on. It was blurry at first, then came into focus.

Her mouth dropped open as she saw Del and herself standing in a meadow. The meadow. Where they’d done the intro shoot. Where they’d kissed. Where she’d accidentally left the camera on and hadn’t bothered to erase the footage.

“No,” she moaned. “No, no, no.”

“Yup,” Phoebe said cheerfully. “First you tell each other you were in love and then you kiss. It’s very hot.”

Sure enough, that was exactly what happened.

She watched her videoed self say, “I did love you.”

“I loved you, too. Talk about a lot of confessions for an early-morning shoot.”

And then it happened. In front of God and the entire town. Del leaned in and kissed her.

Maya dropped her head to her free hand. “Kill me now,” she murmured.

“I think it’s too late for that. At least it’s not frontal nudity. That has to be something, right?”

Maya curled up in a ball and wondered if it was possible for the earth to swallow her whole. “You think anyone else has seen this?”

“Just, you know, the entire town.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

MAYA TOLD HERSELF that having a private moment of her life go viral was a good thing. It distracted her from worrying about Elaine.

The waiting area of the surgery center was pleasant enough. Lots of comfortable chairs, a huge aquarium filled with serene fish, free Wi-Fi and a big television currently tuned to Good Morning America. The hosts had already teased the clip of the video that apparently had exploded on social media overnight.

Maya had been fielding text messages and was also getting calls, although not taking them. She didn’t want to leave the surgery center until she knew Elaine was okay and she wasn’t about to talk on the phone in front of other people.

She glanced up at the screen just in time to see the video being played. On a personal level the whole thing was cringeworthy. She didn’t like having a private moment exposed to the world. She felt vulnerable and exposed—not that anyone was paying attention to the show or her. No doubt they were as worried about their loved ones as she was about Elaine.

But professionally, she had to admit that the shot was framed perfectly. The wildflowers, the trees—it was beautiful. It was also her kissing Del.

For a second, she could feel his mouth on hers. The tender pressure, the heat. Yearning filled her. In part for who they had been back then and in part for what could never be now. Whatever friendship they’d found, the romance had been lost. All heat and tingles aside, they weren’t going back. There was only forward, and that path seemed to be leading directly to friendship land. Despite those sweet kisses.

She hadn’t heard from him yet, so wasn’t sure if he knew. Although it wasn’t as if she’d reached out to him, either. She knew he wouldn’t be thrilled, but she also wondered how much he would care.