Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

** PIRACY WARNING: This story is free to read on RoyalRoad.com If you are reading this on another site it is a pirated copy. If you enjoy the story please read it on Royal Road here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/122374/stars-dancing-dreams-to-lovers-romance **

"They're sleeping downstairs again, Nick," I told the night nanny as I waved goodbye. He nodded, and I was off, very glad I hadn't seen the mother of the twins all day. She was moody at the best of times, so avoiding her had been a priority. Mission accomplished.

Looking after two sick toddlers'd been easier than I was expecting, mostly because they were drowsy and just wanted to read or watch cartoons, so time had passed slowly. While they watched shows, I'd been able to edit several chapters of Moons Dancing which made me feel wonderfully accomplished. Two jobs at once! Woo hooo!

Right, only one of those jobs actually paid money, but my recent successes had me hopeful that maybe I could get paid to write books someday.

I was almost to the Tex-Mex food truck where I meant to get dinner when I saw a small lady with the back of her porter open pulling steaming tamales out of a cooler. OMG— it wasn't even tamale season, but I NEEDED them.

I made a beeline for her and someone asked, "Are they pork or chicken?"

"Pork with red sauce or chicken verde. You pick."

Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh, they looked good. Still steamy hot.

So glad it was my turn, I asked, "Can I have ten of each?"

Her eyebrows shot up.

"Rosa, just give them to her. She's got twins to look after," said a familiar voice.

Rhoda! My new friend who I'd almost forgotten about recently. She wasn't getting any of my tamales, girl bonding or no.

"Hey Rhoda," I said, paying the tamale seller and clutching the bag of deliciousness to my chest.

"Hahaha! What're you doing? Afraid I'm gonna rip them outta your greedy hands?"

"Can't be too careful. You getting tamales?"

"Five of each," Rhoda told the lady then looked back to me. "You taking 'em home, or wanna join me at those tables? We can get margaritas to go."

"Add chips, salsa, and guacamole, and I'm in," I smiled.

We headed over to the food truck for some take out and drinks then settled at one of the tables, pounding chips and tamales and maybe more than one margarita.

"Filly's with his dad?" I asked Rhoda who'd told me all about her yoga class and who was hot and who was not in said class.

She nodded, swallowing a chip and flicking her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Another childless night for me. Whoopie! I'm getting used to it, though. And Filly's doing alright. I worry about Mike ignoring him by just putting on shows and not paying attention, but so far, he seems okay. He doesn't get upset when I drop him off, so maybe it'll work out. I—" she hesitated.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I started seeing a counselor, you know?"

I nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"That helps. Just someone telling me that what I'm going through is normal; that it's okay to struggle the way I do on some days. And—" she took a deep breath.

"I don't really know how to explain this, but I want to understand what went so wrong. How to never, never get in a relationship with someone like Mike again. So, I've been reading a book the counselor suggested and learning a lot."

"I'm always happy to listen if you want to talk things through."

"Thanks, Sam. I know you said you're a terrible friend, but that's not true. You listen better than anyone I've ever known, and it's easy to be myself with you."

"Really?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

Laughing she nodded, "Yeah. You're just— I dunno. Approachable? Like, I don't have to be put together."

"HAAAA. Because I'm such a mess?!"

"Totally! HAAAA," she cackled, and we cracked up.

"What do you write about in those books of yours, anyway? You never said."

"Oh, well, I've just got one on Purple Road right now, if you don't count the Poetry Contest, and the book's a dreams-to-lovers story between two women who're looking for something more from life than what you usually think of as romance."

"Woaaaaaahhh. That sounds amazing."

"You into girl love?"

"Not for myself, but for anyone else who wants it, hell yes."

"Ha, then tell all your friends 'coz I need more readers!" I laughed.

"Hey, I can do that! Here, pull up your book." She handed me her pad, so I put in the Purple Road site and opened my book.

"Moons Dancing? That's an interesting title."

"Yeah," I nodded, "it's supposed to be a play on words. Dunno if I pull it off. But you know the phrase 'moon clad?'"

"Like pagans doing nature things in the nude?"

I laughed, "Exactly. The moon has this beautiful symbolism. Oh— tell me if I'm boring you, and I'll stop lecturing—"

"Stop it, Sam, I wanna hear about this moon thing."

"Oh, I could go on for days about goddesses and mooning people . . ."

She laughed and waived her hand in a "keep going" gesture.

"Moon symbolism encompasses a lot of things, and one of them is divine feminine aspects of reality. Which isn't necessarily about being a woman. It's more about the inner world, the subconscious, the quiet nature of things. The deeper, more contemplative self."

"Males have this aspect just as much as women, and when we look at nature, we consider that everything has its sun and its moon. The moon is the inner world, and the sun is the external, outer world, or the male aspect."

"The inner world, or subconscious self is often revealed in dreams, or even day dreams. That wandering, wondering part of our minds that's unfocused and open rather than driven or decisive. And I told you it's a dreams-to-lovers romance, right? So, I wanted to portray that aspect of the characters."

"Their dreaming aspects of self are connected and interconnected even though they're separated by distance. It doesn't matter if they're asleep or awake, a part of them is always intertwined with the other."

I looked up from my margarita to see tears in Rhoda's eyes.

"I think that might be the most beautiful love story I've never heard."

I smiled back at her. "Thanks. It's from my heart."

"Well, I know what I'm reading tonight, and I know what I want to find in my next relationship."

"Me too."

When I got home, my book had ten new Followers, and my poem "Unwritten Dreams" had 17,214 views and was at fifth place in the Purple Road Poetry Contest.

Can you imagine what I did when I saw that? Well, I'll tell you all about it. But first, you need to know this:

Rhoda was a very important person to me. Not in the way you might be hoping for. It was never going to be romance between the two of us, so let me just stop you shippers right there.

For me and Rhoda both, the friendship was vital for survival. Having been betrayed was something each of us could understand, and that shared history made all the difference in what came later.

So, don't get tripped up on my romantic ideals and think I'm planting seeds about me and Rhoda. Focus on what really mattered about the changes going on within me 'coz that's how I survived what came after.