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“I can make that happen.”

Heading back downtown, Skylar stopped at the Pizza Parlor to pick up a pizza before they made their way to Straight to Ale. It was a little past ten on a Monday night, and most of the crowd had already gone home for the night. Skylar and Elena found a spot on the patio that overlooked the ocean and sat the pizza down.

It wasn’t long before Emily Crawford headed toward their table with two glasses of water. She was easily Skylar’s favorite bartender and the two had been friends for years. They all ran in the same group, along with Alexis and Blake.

“I saw you two brought your own food to a restaurant,” she quipped. “You know, we do serve food here.”

“But not pizza,” Skylar corrected. “Emily, do you remember Elena?”

“I remember you more from your music than anything.” Emily reached out a hand to Elena, who shook it. “It’s great to re-meet you. I’m sure we met in high school, but I don’t remember.”

“Don’t feel bad.” Elena laughed. “I don’t either.”

“How’s the tour going?”

“Good,” they responded in unison.

“That’s great. Sophia and I have tickets to the Boston show and are super excited to see you all in action.”

“Sophia is Emily’s fiancée.”

“Wife,” Emily corrected as she held up her hand to show off her diamond ring.

“Oops, sorry. I forgot.”

Emily snorted a laugh. “You were literally there when we got married. How did you forget?”

“Look, I’ve had a lot going on these past few months, so please forgive my forgetful brain.”

“I’ll forgive you if you give me a slice of that pizza.”

Elena turned the box toward Emily as she took a piece, then took down their orders. When they were alone again, Elena looked at Skylar and smiled.

“What’s that look for?”

“Is everyone in this town gay now?”

“There’s something in the water,” she said with a wink as she took a sip of her water. Elena rolled her eyes and laughed, and Skylar was thankful to see the sadness from earlier fade away slightly.

“I wish the rest of the world was as accepting as the Cove.”

“It is a magical place.”

“It is,” Elena sighed. “I wish we didn’t have to leave.”

“We have the tour.”

“Yeah.”

“But we can always come back here. Together, I mean. I live here, so I’ll obviously be here. But you can come and visit whenever after the tour. My door will always be open.”

Elena smiled slightly as she took another bite of pizza. Skylar could tell she was thinking, so she didn’t say anything to interrupt her.

“What if I just quit?”

“Quit… what?” Skylar played dumb. She knew exactly what Elena was thinking. But she also knew Elena was upset and emotional and bound to make rash decisions based on that. Skylar knew better than to get her hopes up yet.

“The past few weeks have just made me realize there’s more to life than touring and making music.” She shrugged, keeping her eyes away from Skylar’s. “I see that clearly when I’m here.”