Star of Wonder

By A.Y. Caluen

A trans/bi holiday romance novelette.

 

After forty years of living in the wrong body, Patrice Diaz was finally reborn. She had two weeks in Las Vegas to try new ways of enjoying her new life. The nice-looking guy at the bar seemed like a good place to start, but she had to tell him the truth.

 

Noel Arkady was at the point of 'if you want something to change, you have to do something different.' The pretty woman at the bar might have been only a pleasant dinner companion. Then she told him the truth.

 

They had two weeks together before Patrice had to go back to Mexico for her TV shoot, and a lot of baggage to unpack. When they got to the bottom of everything, would they find what they needed to try moving on together?

 

Adult situations, themes, and language; 11,000 words and a happy ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexandra Caluen
• Release date: Sep 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223880134

A.Y. Caluen

A.Y. Caluen lives in a small purple house with her husband, a bottle of Laphroaig, a lot of books, and nine pairs of ballroom shoes. She is the author of over fifty contemporary romance novels and novellas featuring creative, diverse characters.

Book preview

STAR OF WONDER: A Holiday Novelette

Chapter 1

December 2017

Patrice had been sitting at the bar long enough, and the place was crowded enough, that she was not at all surprised when some guy took the stool next to her. Pass incoming in 3, 2, 1, she thought, and took a sip of her cocktail. But he didn’t say anything, and after a few minutes she glanced up into the mirrored back bar to see what he was doing, which was dicking around with his phone. She attempted to internally-monologue some snark about it, but if she had anybody to text she’d be on her phone too, so she fished the cherry out of her drink and ate it instead of snarking.

He wasn’t bad-looking, if you weren’t too choosy, which she wasn’t. You are not here to cruise, she told herself, and then wondered why. Why not cruise? Why not pick someone up? She had two whole weeks to kill here in Las Vegas now that the wedding was over. Two weeks in which she would rather not be thinking envious thoughts about her just-married friends.

Except it had been an awfully long time since she tried to pick anybody up. So long that she was a completely different person from the last time. She didn’t even know how to do this. Going out with her friend Dolores in L.A. – after the surgery, before heading back to Mexico to start filming season two – was one thing. She was still healing then and had no intention of knocking boots with anybody. They went out for the sake of being Not In The Damn House.

Being here tonight was for the sake of being Not In The Damn Hotel Room. It was so she could tell herself she wasn’t alone. She had not entirely thought this through, the whole staying-in-Vegas-all-break thing. When Manny said he and Irv were planning their wedding, could she be there, she was so tickled. In that moment staying in Vegas during the holiday break seemed like a better option than crashing on Dee’s couch again. New York was too cold, and she sure wasn’t going to Miami. The family back there liked her better at a distance, and the feeling was mutual. They knew about the surgery. Knew she was finally reborn. At least fifty percent of them prayed for her soul. Only about ten percent told her they were happy for her. Quit thinking about it. She sneaked a sideways look – no wedding ring – then glanced up again. This time the guy was looking up too; they made eye contact in the mirror. What the hell. I was just feeling sorry for myself because I don’t have anyone to text tonight, she said, turning her head to be polite.

He smiled, in a surprised kind of way. Nobody?

Well, I was in town for a wedding, which is over, so my friends are officially on their honeymoon. And my BFF in L.A. is up to her ass in work. She’s a stylist, it’s always crazy around the holidays.

He nodded. Holiday hair. I remember that. A salon day was the present my wife liked best of all. He offered his hand. Noel Arkady. It’s my first Christmas alone.

She shook his hand. Patrice Diaz. Who were you with before?

Wife and two kids. Divorced two years now. Noel hadn’t meant to say more, but something about those big brown eyes, with the fine lines from smiling a lot, prompted him to go on. My son is in grad school and my daughter’s a sophomore at UC Davis. She’s spending the holiday break with a friend in Canada.

Sending you pictures?

God, yes. Like, oh em gee white Christmas.

Patrice laughed. Noel was smiling again, or still. He really was nice-looking when he smiled. She said, Do you suppose I should have something to eat that isn’t a cocktail cherry?

Mmm. I should probably have something that isn’t an olive. They stared at each other for a few seconds. He wasn’t sure he should believe this was happening. Patrice raised her eyebrows. Noel swallowed, blinked, and said, Would you like to have dinner with me?

A few minutes later, tabs settled and walking away from the bar,