Jae - The Roommate Arrangement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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www.ylva-publishing.com

OTHER BOOKS BY JAE

Happily Ever After

Standalone Romances:

Paper Love

Just for Show

Falling Hard

Heart Trouble

Under a Falling Star

Something in the Wine

Shaken to the Core

Fair Oaks Series:

Perfect Rhythm

Not the Marrying Kind

The Hollywood Series:

Departure from the Script

Damage Control

Just Physical

The Hollywood Collection (box set)

Portland Police Bureau Series:

Conflict of Interest

Next of Kin

The Vampire Diet Series:

Good Enough to Eat

The Oregon Series:

Backwards to Oregon

Beyond the Trail

Hidden Truths

The Complete Oregon series (box set)

The Shape-Shifter Series:

Second Nature

Natural Family Disasters

Manhattan Moon

True Nature

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As always, Id like to thank my awesome beta readers. They were my cheering section and my guinea pigs who provided feedback on the first draft of this book and made the writing process less lonely and more fun! A big thank-you to Anne-France, Claire, Danielle, Erin, Laure, Louisa, Melanie, and Trish.

Im also sending a shout-out to my editor, Robin J. Samuels, and to my fellow lesbian fiction authors Chris Zett and Catherine Lane, who took time from their own writing to join my team of beta readers.

Last but never least, thank you to my loyal readers for letting me keep them up at night because they need to read just one more chapter. I hope you stay up late for The Roommate Arrangement too.

CHAPTER 1

This evening wasnt going to end well. Steph knew it the moment Marissa, the comic opening for her, pulled the microphone out of the stand and accidentally whacked herself in the nose.

The rest of her set didnt go any better.

The local country bar didnt have a greenroom, where comedians could wait before going up on stage, so Steph sat at the bar and had a front-row seat to the disaster that was her opening act.

Marissa clamped both hands around the mic as if about to recite a poem. Has anyone here done a juice cleanse lately?

Steph stifled a groan. A juice cleanse? Really? That was the material she had chosen for rural Idaho?

The people in the audience looked at Marissa as if shed asked if anyone owned a pet dinosaur.

Marissa didnt seem to notice and prattled on. All my friends swear by them. They say it gives them bright skin and a flat belly. But all I got was one hell of a headache when I woke up. How was I supposed to know that mimosas dont count?

That got her a sympathy chuckle from a woman in the front row. Two of the men in the back got up and returned to the pool tables, and the noise level in the bar rose as people went back to their conversations.

Not even the skin-tight top Marissa wore could keep the audiences attention, despite its plunging neckline. Sweat gleamed on Marissas brow, and she started to speak faster, rushing through her set and making things worse.

Wonderful. Steph didnt look forward to going up after her. Shed been happy when she had found out her opener would be a fellow female comic. Stand-up comedy was still such a male-dominated field that Steph was often the only womanand the only queer personin the lineup. But now that Marissa was bombing, Steph would have to work harder to show them that women could be funny. Male comedians never have to deal with that. No one judged them by another guys failure. It wasnt fair, and it made Steph even more determined to prove herself.

Can I get you a drinkor anything else? the bartender asked behind her.

Steph turned and regarded the pretty redhead. Was it just her imagination, or had there been a flirty undertone?

You kinda look like you could use one, the bartender added with a subtle wink.

Yep. Definitely flirting. God knew Steph could have used a drink to make it through Marissas routine, and flirting was her favorite pastime. At the start of her career, she would have said yes to the drinkand to the implied offerbut her nearly ten years in comedy had taught her a lot. Now she never drank before her set because it slowed her down, and she had learned the hard way to not hook up with employees at the venues where she performed.

Too bad. The redhead was cute. Steph sent her an appreciative grin. Thanks. Im good. Depending on how this goes, she gestured toward the stage, I might have to hightail it out of here right after my set.

Nah, I doubt it. I remember you from last year. Youre good. Now she, the bartender nodded toward Marissa, is a whole nother ball game.

They both paused and watched Marissa for a few seconds.

and then he nudged aside my selfie stick and said Marissa took a nervous pace forward and stepped onto the mic cord, pulling it out. Her voice cut out in the middle of the punch line, which might have been a blessing in disguise because their small-town audience wasnt into Marissas big-city humor.

Come on, read the crowd.

Marissa managed to plug the microphone back in and struggled through the rest of her set.

Steph wasnt sure who was more relieved when it was finally overMarissa or the audience. With a mumbled This joke normally goes so much better, she fled from the stage.

The bar owner took the mic and stared after her. Um, thank you. That wasinteresting. Give it up for Marissa Jones, everyone.

The crowd clapped without much enthusiasm.

Are you ready for your headliner? the bar owner asked with fake cheer. Please give a warm welcome to Tiffany Renshaw!

Steph groaned. He had gotten her name wrong the second year in a row.

But she was a professional, so she smiled as she bounded onto the low stage as if she owned the place. No way would she let them see her sweat. She shook the owners hand and took the mic from him. Thanks, but its Stephanie Renshaw, actually. She gave the audience a conspiratorial grin. Someone should tell him a man could really get in trouble calling out the wrong name at the wrong time.

Oh, he already knows that, sweetheart, the owners wife shouted from the back of the room.

That got them the first real laughter of the evening.

Grinning, Steph launched into her routine and forgot about everything elseher frustration with Marissa, the fleabag hotel where shed spent the night, and the eight hundred and fifty miles shed have to drive to make it back to LA. It was always like this for her. Up on stage was the one place where she felt at home. Being a comic on the road for most of the year had stopped being fun a while ago, but this was why she was still doing it.

Before she knew it, an hour had gone by, and she was delivering her closing bit. Since its Halloween, let me talk about something really scary: most comedians love lives. Have you ever noticed how the majority of comics are either single or divorced? Apparently, sarcasm and being gone most of the time are not desirable traits in a partner. Who knew? She pressed her hand to her chest and acted surprised. I also found out that Ramen noodles are not considered an appropriate first-date meal and that most people dont find it attractive if you start scribbling down ideas for jokes while they tell you their life story.