'Tis the Off-Season: Book 6.5 of Girls of Summer

By Kate Christie

In Under the Lights, book six of the Girls of Summer series, Emma Blakeley and Jamie Maxwell moved closer to securing their dream of having successful professional soccer careers and a committed relationship. Now, in a holiday novella set amidst the waning days of 2016, they escape to the Oregon Coast for a romantic vacation. Each is planning something special for the other, but who will get to spring their surprise first?

To find out how Jamie, Emma, and the rest of their World Cup Champion USWNT squad fare, check out ’Tis the Off-Season, a short, fluffy Sapphic holiday novella set after book 6 of the bestselling Girls of Summer series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kate Christie
• Release date: Dec 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005413248

Kate Christie

Kate Christie is the author of numerous novels from Bella Books and Second Growth Books, including Gay Pride & Prejudice, Solstice, Leaving L.A., and Beautiful Game. Currently she lives near Seattle with her wife, their three daughters, and the family dog. Read first chapters, blog posts about the joys—ahem—of parenting, and more at www.katejchristie.com.

Book preview

’TIS THE OFF-SEASON: Book Six and a Half of Girls of Summer

by Kate Christie

Copyright 2022 by Kate Christie. Second Growth Books, Seattle, WA.

All rights reserved. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be resold or given away to other people.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual organizations, persons (living or dead), events, or incidents is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

About the Author

Patreon Supporters

Chapter One

Meet you back here? Emma said over the top of the parked car.

You got it, Jamie said, and blew her a kiss.

Emma pretended to catch the kiss and clutch it to her heart, and Jamie cracked up, shaking her head as she locked the Mazda with her key fob. Then she zipped up her puffer hoodie and looked both ways before crossing Laneda Avenue, Manzanita’s main street that sloped steadily toward the ocean.

By now, they’d developed a routine whenever they came to their vacation house on the Oregon Coast. While Emma went to shop for the necessities—milk, eggs, bread, avocado, and kale—Jamie popped into their favorite Mexican restaurant to pick up the order they’d called in as soon as they hit the coast. From Portland, the drive took a little over an hour and a half, assuming they managed to avoid city traffic and inclement weather. Tonight, the roads through the Coast Range had been a little slippery, but the Mazda’s AWD had gotten them over the icy spots with ease.

There were a couple of road options once they neared the coast, but they’d discovered that the less mountainous route—driving west to meet Highway 101 just north of Cannon Beach—was slightly faster than the inland route. It was also more populated and, as a bonus, offered glimpses of sea stacks and steadily rolling wave sets. This afternoon, with the sun setting over the wintry Pacific, the views had been even more picturesque. As they’d rounded the last curve before descending into the Nehalem area, they’d pulled over to watch the sun slowly drop below a line of dark gray clouds hovering above the distant horizon, orange and pink light reflecting across the churning ocean and casting a powerful glow skyward.

Even after nearly a year, Jamie sometimes still couldn’t believe that she and Emma owned a house on the Oregon Coast. Together.

It was still earlyish—not quite five in the evening—but driving into Manzanita always seemed to activate a Pavlovian response in Jamie. All of a sudden, she was ravenously hungry. Not that that was anything new. She could always eat. Emma operated better on low blood sugar, so she usually handled the grocery store run. That, and she was significantly pickier about what she put in her body. With another few weeks to go before January Camp kicked off the 2017 soccer season, Jamie intended to enjoy her current lack of routine. At least, as much as she ever let herself.

Her career depended on her body, so she never truly let go at the holidays the way non-professional athletes did. That lesson had been brought home again this past week in Berkeley, where she and Emma had gone to celebrate Christmas with the Maxwells. Jamie’s parents weren’t quite ready to retire yet, but they were definitely leaning that way. Jamie and her older sister Meg hadn’t been able to help worrying amongst themselves that this might be the last holiday season in their childhood home. It was also the first Berkeley Christmas for Jasmine (AKA Jazzy), Meg and Todd’s six-month-old daughter. Throughout the week, Jamie had tried to focus on her niece’s joyful exuberance rather than her parents’ steady aging.

Across the street from Emma’s preferred grocery store, Manzanita’s Left Coast Siesta restaurant occupied a cedar shake house with a covered patio and plentiful flower boxes. In late December, the boxes were empty and the outdoor seating nowhere in sight, but the patio was decorated with string lights and the usual welcoming signs. Jamie ducked inside, unsurprised to find the place nearly empty. It was still early for the dinner rush, and besides, the Wednesday night between Christmas and New Year’s was likely to be slower than most. The interior looked the same as ever, a cheerful living room with Mexican tile tables, string lights, and hundreds of bottles of tabasco sauce lining a ledge that ran a few inches below the ceiling.

Can I help you? the young woman behind the front