Freya: No.
Pia: Maybe I'm onto something here.
Freya: No.
Pia: Give me a good reason.
Freya: Not to pull the asshole card, but think of Sheila's interview coming up in only a month. You want to be casually fucking a woman who lives in the public eye as much as ZM?
Well, fuck.
Freya had a point.
Although she was right, it was an asshole move to pull the big guns.
The thought of Sheila's interview made her stomach churn. She paused, grabbing the leashes at her waist to reign in the dogs. She knelt down, petting their heads.
She had worked so hard to get Sheila's interview to happen. Her entire career was about to hinge on that moment; she could feel it.
Some little voice in the back of her mind chanted, Don't fuck it up. Don't fuck it up.
She scratched both dogs behind the ears as she glanced up, seeing that they were much closer to the ruins of the Roberts Ranch House than she had realized. Built in the 1950s, the home had burned down in the 80s, but a few walls and the foundation remained.
According to the sign that she had read dozens of times on that hike, the original home had been outfitted with elaborate pumps and pipes to protect it from wildfires, but with a lack of maintenance, it burned down anyway.
As she approached the ruins, she couldn't help but think of them as some particularly apt metaphor. Only fireplaces, walls, and the outline of pool were obvious. What once was called a Tropical Terrace was now a burned ruin of a building surrounded by palm trees.
Her phone dinged with a text notification.
Zoey's name lit her screen, and she couldn't help but feel the tiny tug of a smile at her mouth.
Cricket pounced after a lizard, pulling her further into the ruins.
Zoey: I never did ask, why do you own that pho place?
Pia raised a brow, glancing up from her phone to check on the dogs.
Tulip was sniffing around in the dirt and Cricket was in a play pose, looking for his lizard again.
Pia: I liked it.
Zoey: So you just buy things you like?
Pia: No, sometimes I find them in dark corners of parties.
The three dots popped up under Zoey's name, then disappeared. They reappeared, then disappeared.
Pia tugged on the dog's leashes, determined to walk until the end of the trail to see the waterfall.
Had she gone overboard?
Something about Zoey made her completely over the top. She was saying the types of things she only thought about saying while smirking instead.
Zoey was just fun to play with. Low stakes. Nothing was ever going to happen. But it made Pia want to push her buttons all the same.
Zoey: Funny, I didn't take Minh for the type to kiss you.
Pia laughed out loud, looking down at her phone. She liked it when Zoey cut her off at the knees when she wasn't expecting it.
Pia: I can recruit even the most surprising ones.
In truth, Pia bought the pho restaurant because it was Elle's favorite place to eat, and after her death, the restaurant almost closed. She couldn't imagine living in a world where she couldn't taste that pho and think of the way Elle would always put in way too many jalapeno slices and then wave her hand in front of her mouth as she sniffled and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Was it slightly fucked up that she had taken Zoey to Elle's favorite place?
Well, in hindsight... a bit.
But she would like to think that Elle would appreciate her spending companionable time with a beautiful woman.
The waterfall came into sight and she walked up to it, then sat down on one of the rocks near the small pool. Tulip flopped down into the shade and Cricket climbed like a mountain goat onto the rock next to her. She grabbed a collapsable water bowl out of her backpack and filled it up for the dogs.
It wasn't a gigantic waterfall, but the soothing sound of the falling water helped clear her mind.
Pia realized that Zoey must have been texting her from a stop on the start of the promotional tour that she had mentioned the last time they had spoken.
Pia: Where are you?
Zoey: Boston.
Pia: What are you doing?
Zoey: Taking a nap.
Pia did her best not to picture Zoey in bed.
Pia: Sounds relaxing, texting during a nap.
Zoey: Well, I can never resist a chance to multitask.
Pia: That explains the keyboard and singing.
Zoey: You forget that I also play the tambourine and melodica.
Pia quickly Googled what a melodica was. It seemed to be... a keyboard kazoo? She sent a picture of it to Zoey with a question mark.
Zoey: That's the one.
Pia: I've got to see this.
Zoey didn't respond for a few moments, but when she did, she sent back a video of her playing the first part of Bohemian Rhapsody. Her hair was tied back in a casual ponytail and she wore a baggy t-shirt. She didn't even appear to be wearing makeup.
Was Zoey the only person in the world who could look attractive while holding a tube attached to a tiny handheld keyboard? Quite possibly.
Pia saved the video immediately, feeling only slightly creepy about doing so.
She opened her camera and hit the video button.
"I'm not doing anything as impressive, but I am on a little hike with the dogs," she said, flipping the camera around to show Tulip and Cricket. "And there's a waterfall." She narrated, showing the waterfall. “Tulip is trying to eat a sky jalapeño, also known as a bee.”
Zoey: Your disguise looks like one of those serial killer sketches.
Pia laughed, seeing how the oversized sunglasses and hat pulled low looked in her video.
Pia: I'm sorry you had to find out about my true self this way.
Zoey sent back a video of the melodica, comically drawing out the notes womp womp.
She texted back before Pia could respond.
Zoey: Show me more of the dogs. Especially the one that eats sky jalapeños.
And so for hours, they each documented their days as Pia walked back to her car and Zoey got ready to go to an afternoon radio show. Pia got to choose what color lipstick Zoey put on — a gorgeous brick red color that made her complexion warm immediately — and Zoey picked out what Pia would make for dinner that night — spaghetti squash with pesto. Zoey even took a video of Billie sleeping in what looked like a large minivan, snoring loudly.
"I'm sending that video of Billie to TMZ. Turns out, she's not perfect all the time," Pia said with a laugh, standing in her kitchen again.
Zoey texted again.
Zoey: I'm going to bed, but this was fun. Maybe we could have lunch when I get back next week?
Pia: It's a date.
Except this time, she meant it.
Chapter Seven
Zoey
Zoey sat in her hotel room nursing a glass of white wine. It was 6pm and she was down for the count.
She had the night off and was already in pajamas and the fuzzy slippers that were in the hotel bathroom.
Billie and Domino were both out with their partners, and Meg had gone to meet people Zoey didn't know.