Curious: A Lesbian Holiday Novella

By Tessa Vidal

Fawn Ferris had always been a go with the flow kind of woman.
When she caught her longtime boyfriend cheating on her, she thanked him and hit the road to finally take charge of her own life. The holidays were definitely going to be different this year, but spending her life alone had to be better than living someone else’s dream.
Her best friend Karen suggested Fawn take a job at her husband’s boutique, but Fawn had other plans.
She was going to seize the opportunity to finally become a full time jewelry designer, something she’d secretly wanted to do for the last ten years.
Instead, she ended up with a paid internship with Hannah Turner, and the moment they met, Fawn knew she was in for the education of a lifetime.
Hannah was young, hot, and had the whole city at her fingertips. Known for being a savvy business owner and a compulsive player, something about her had Fawn intrigued from the day they met.
Something about Hannah made her ever so curious. She’d never felt this way about a woman before, but then again, she’d never felt this way about anyone before.
Is it just the holiday feeling in the air or will their romance survive into the new year? Sure Hannah left Fawn a changed woman, but did Fawn have what it takes to help Hannah change her ways and learn to be loved for who she was?
Curious is a 30,000 word steamy holiday themed lesbian novella with a guaranteed HEA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tessa Vidal
• Release date: Nov 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463494516

Book preview

Chapter 1

Fawn:

W hat do you and Max have on the agenda for Christmas this year? Bermuda? Thailand? Something a little more exotic? Josephine, my boyfriend’s secretary asked. She volunteered to stay late tonight to help me decorate his dentist office for the holidays, but I think she was more interested in an excuse to get into the eggnog. Sixty, stunning, and always a good source of office gossip, Josephine had always been my favorite employee of Max’s over the years.

Actually, nothing. I grabbed the bunched up string of twinkle lights from the rubber tote, plugging them into the outlet in the wall just to find them burned out. Kind of like my relationship with Max. Things had been rapidly declining over the last year, but I’d been holding out for a miracle. Not because I loved him so much that I couldn’t envision my life without him, but more so that I needed a little time to get some stuff together before I could start my life without him.

Don’t you two usually go on a cruise or something? You both work so hard all year. You really do deserve it.

Relax, Jojo, I assured her. We’re still going to close the week after Christmas like we always do. You’ll have plenty of time to spend with those grandbabies of yours.

Oh child, you know I’d just call off sick anyway. I only get them once a year. I don’t sleep for ten days straight, just watch over them like a hawk while they eat and while they sleep. Darcy calls me Grandma Creepy, and I don’t even care. I just love those little guys.

Hearing her say those kind of things was always a punch in my guts. It made me jealous that she had a real family to share the holidays with. Being boyfriend and girlfriend and going on wild tropical cruises for Christmas was a blast when I was in my early twenties, but now that I’m older, it has definitely lost its appeal. It was just another sign of Max’s and my incompatibility.

I couldn’t blame him for the way I felt now. I knew what I was getting into all those years ago, I just thought it was going to get better, that I would wake up one day and be madly in love with him, attracted to him, content with the life he provided for me.

Instead, I resigned myself to being the best damn office manager I could for his dental practice, and that was why I was here right now, decking the halls to the best of my ability instead of sitting around our apartment eating takeout and watching basketball like we always did on Thursday nights.

I reached for a strand of garland, and she grabbed for my hand when she spotted my newest creation.

Did you make that ring?

I nodded and smiled and continued about my business. I always felt like everyone was just humoring me when they commented on my jewelry-making, and I often hid my hobby from the girls at the office. Max never really saw it anything more than arts and crafts, even though I felt much more passionately about it.

I think that’s one of my favorites I’ve seen so far. You really are a talented artist, Fawn.

You don’t have to say that just because I’m your boss’s girlfriend.

Seriously, I bet if you took your stuff to a boutique people would be falling all over their feet to buy it.

I felt myself blushing. She had to be kidding. I’m no master welder by any means, and the stuff I make is crude, rough around the edges. I like the way raw materials look tangled up together, unpolished gemstones and scraps of metal, nothing quite ‘perfect’ enough to be boutique-worthy. My following on my online shop and Instagram was enough to keep me stocked with new materials to work with, but that was the extent of making a career out of my art.

I still want you to make me a bracelet to match the necklace you gave me for Christmas last year. I swear I’ll pay you.

I hope she’s not disappointed that that’s what I planned on giving her this year. It was just another thing I enjoyed doing for Max’s staff. My little way of showing them how important they are to this office.

I think that’s about it, I said, tacking up the last string of lights across the receptionist desk. Any more twinkle lights and people will probably have to sign a waiver before they come in the door.

You’re probably right. Plus, I’m out of rum, she chuckled, holding up the thermos she was keeping her eggnog in.

How about I give you a ride, Jo, I suggested. We can take the long way and check out the Christmas lights.

Is everything alright, Fawn? You don’t seem like you’re in much of a hurry to get home. Are you and Max fighting or something?

As much as I wanted to pour my guts out to this woman who has so much life experience and has always treated me with a kindness I couldn’t even expect from my own mother, it was too risky. Max will be her employer until the day she retires. I’d just be that woman he dated for a really long time who disappeared one day for no good reason at all, never to be heard from again.

Little did I know, that day was going to come a lot sooner than I had expected.

Nah, I told her, turning off the main lights to let our handiwork shine through. It’s just that time of year where, if I don’t force myself to get out of the house a couple hours a day, I’ll go into complete hermit mode. Daylight savings is a cruel bitch.

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***

Apparently, I jumped the gun on our Christmas light cruise. I guess we did get an early start on decorating. Thanksgiving is still a week away. I just wanted it done. Subconsciously, I’d been tying up these loose ends, taking care of my responsibilities. Maybe I saw this coming but just didn’t want it to be true.

I unlocked the door to our apartment, but as I went to push it open, the chain on the deadbolt caught. I saw enough in those two inches of crack to know exactly how the rest of this night was going to go. Those black sneakers in the doorway definitely weren’t mine. Neither was the blue pair of scrub pants laying on the floor, garishly turned out, like they were ripped from her body without any regard.

There was definitely some hot and heavy desperation and lust going on between the walls of our apartment, something that I’d never experienced with Max myself. As much as I should have been heartbroken, I felt this instant relief, like this was my ‘get out of jail free’ card from the prison I resigned myself to live in all these years. It was time for me to run away and never look back. It was the kindest gift he could’ve possibly given to me. There was only one thing left for me to do.

Hello? I called out into the doorway. Max? Betsy? Guys? I’m not mad. Nobody is in trouble.

Please, baby, he begged as I gathered up whatever I could fit into a couple of suitcases. She means nothing to me. I swear, it was a mistake. She tricked me. I was drinking.

Maxwell, I urged. You’re about to be out an office manager. You better treat that woman right, because you can’t afford to lose a hygienist right now, too.

You can’t quit on me, he pleaded. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this. I love you, Fawn!

Max, you quit on me a long time ago. I don’t blame you. I quit on me a long time ago. Life was easy with you. But that was it.

Why do you think I cheated on you all these years? I didn’t know how to get your attention, Fawn.

All these years. Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. Had I really been that complacent this whole time to the point of blindness?

Thank you, I said, for lack of a better option. Thank you, too, I said to Betsy, the sheet pulled up to her chin as she looked at me in horror.

Where are you going to go? he asked. You know I’m going to freeze the bank account!

Even though I had been imagining the day I’d up and leave him over and over again in my mind, I had never got that far in terms of logistics. I didn’t care if he froze the bank account though. It was one less thing that tied me to him.

I had been working on a little savings account for myself for some time now, setting aside bits and pieces here and there. I had a trunk full of my jewelry that, if I sold outright right now, would fetch me a decent amount of cash. It might have been my life’s work, but now that I was free to live on my own terms, I could start all over again. I could create a new line of jewelry even. Maybe I was being a little Pollyanna. Maybe the world was a strange and cruel place that I never had to face, thanks to the bubble Max had created around me. I didn’t care. I was going to experience it head-on. It had to be better than sleepwalking through my life.

For lack of a better option, I spent one last night in the dentist’s office, curled up in my sleeping bag. If it wasn’t late November, I could have stayed anywhere I wanted, camped outside under the stars, but it felt kind of nice laying on the floor looking at the decorations, imagining what this holiday season was going to bring. I set my alarm with enough time to spare to shower and get myself ready to