Detours (6 page)

“And I slept right though the fight on this very sofa?” Ellis patted the cushion as she spoke.

“What fight? Swiffer did a nose-to-tip-of-tail inspection of Sam and decided she wasn’t worth her trouble. She sauntered back to Natalie and flopped on the floor.”

“And Sam?”

“It took her a minute or two, but she realized she’d been snubbed by a feline. She came out from behind me and inched toward the living room. I still had a grip on her leash, so I could rescue her if I had to. We came in here, and I let the two of them size each other up.”

“Which resulted in what?”

“I’d swear they came up with some interspecies silent dialogue that pretty much translated to Swiffer saying, ‘As long as you know I’m the boss, I will tolerate your intrusion into my realm,’ and Sam replying, ‘Who cares? I got to ride in the truck, and she’s got a pocket of snacks she’s going to give me.’”

“Maybe we could rent them out to the UN.”

“It might be too soon to declare harmonious coexistence. They’ve only been under the same roof for seven hours.”

“Yeah, but you told me they’re already sleeping together.” Ellis grinned devilishly. “Typical lesbians.”

Mary sat mute as a boulder in her chair. The long lull in the conversation made Ellis regret the remark. When it became evident that Mary wasn’t going to speak, Ellis laughed loudly, which only deepened the prevailing discomfort.

With effort, Ellis drew herself into a sitting position so that she could pivot on the sofa and face Mary. “I’m sorry. It was meant to be a joke. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Mary smiled contritely. “I know that.” She looked away. “It’s just that I’m not—”

Before Mary could finish her sentence, a shout came from down the hall. “Mom, Swiffer just hacked out a giant hairball. Come clean it up. It’s gross!”

Mary pushed against the arms of the glider and got to her feet. “We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming, but first this annoying interruption by the rest of the house’s inhabitants.”

“Let me save you the embarrassment of finishing what you were about to say.” Ellis grabbed the sofa as she lay against the arm and pulled her leg up onto the cushion. “I wasn’t expecting you to sleep with me,” she said quietly.

“Oh, that wasn’t what I was going to say,” Mary said as she took a few quick steps toward the back of the house. “I was going to tell you I’m not yet a full-fledged, card-carrying lesbian.”

∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

“Is the hairball emergency over?” Ellis asked as she awoke. Mary stood at the end of the sofa with a blanket in her hands.

“Long since. You were asleep when I got back, so I just let you be. I was afraid you might be chilled, so I brought you this extra blanket.”

“I’m a hell of a houseguest, aren’t I?” Ellis rubbed her face. “I hog the sofa, make wild assumptions on facts not in evidence, crack inappropriate jokes that insult my hostess, and then fall asleep before I even offer a decent apology for being such an insensitive smart mouth.”

“I can see where what you thought about me seemed like a reasonable assumption on your part, but you’re right about facts not in evidence. We know next to nothing about each other.” Mary spread the blanket on the end of the sofa. “I hope you won’t take it the wrong way, though, when I tell you I’d like to know more about you.”

“Unless you’re going to use whatever you learn to blackmail me, what wrong way would there be?”

“It’s too late to get into that tonight. How about let’s sleep on it and start fresh in the morning?”

“Good idea. I need to make another trip to the bathroom, and if you’ll tell me where my toothbrush is, I’ll get the first layer of fur off my teeth.”

“Your things are in my room. Come on.” She helped Ellis stand and get her crutches in place, then ushered her down the hall.

“Wouldn’t it be easier for me to use this bathroom?” Ellis asked as they passed the room she’d used late that afternoon.

“Not when you’re sleeping in my room. It’s got an attached bath.”

“Whoa, Nellie. I’ve already disrupted your entire life. I’m not taking your bed on top of everything else you’ve done for me. The sofa is fine.”

“Spending the whole night on that sofa will cripple you for life. It was okay for your naps, but you need a good night’s rest. Besides, if you need something, I’ll be right beside you, so all you’ll have to do is ask.”

Mary opened the door to her bedroom. Ellis followed on her crutches. “I… but… you… I…”

“You’re the one who thought I was going to say I wouldn’t sleep with you. I’ve known since I brought you home from the ER that we’d be in the same bed tonight. It’s really the only smart way to do this.” Mary pointed to the queen-sized bed. “You’ll sleep on that side so you’re close to the bathroom. I’ll be your able-bodied assistant and sleep on this side, and I’ll try not to do anything stupid.”

“Okay, now I’m officially confused.” Ellis swayed slightly on her crutches. “Why are you worried about doing something stupid?”

“Because for the first time in my life, I’m going to share a bed with a really attractive woman.” Mary hesitated before continuing. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for about twenty-five years, and I haven’t a clue how I’ll behave.”

“These drugs are really corroding my brain. I could have sworn you told me you’re not a lesbian.” Ellis steadied herself against a chest of drawers.

“What I meant is I’ve never… umm… been intimate with another woman. At least not anywhere except in my dreams.” Mary moved to the bathroom and flipped on the light. “And lucky me. My first chance is with a woman who couldn’t run away even if she wanted to.”

Mary watched Ellis’s eyelids flutter open. “G’morning. How’d you sleep?” Mary was propped up on her side, her elbow cocked, head resting on the palm of her hand.

Ellis arched her back and turned her head on the pillow. “I feel like my body was beaten with a lead pipe and my brain was doped to the near edge of total oblivion.”

“I’m not surprised to hear you say that. You moaned and groaned half the night.”

“I don’t remember even rolling over.”

“I don’t think you did. You were out like a light as soon as you hit the mattress, but I could tell your ankle was making it hard for you to get comfortable.”

“I don’t remember a thing. As the DuPont Company used to say, ‘Better living through chemistry,’ I guess. Those pain pills must be potent.”

“Do you remember my giving you a pill around three this morning?”

Ellis considered the question. “No, I thought it was part of a dream I was having.” She wrinkled her nose. “Not unlike much of the past twenty-four hours, now that I stop to think about it.” She raised her head and shook it. “Refresh my fog-bound memory. Didn’t you tell me I’d be the first woman you ever slept with?”

“Uh-huh. In both the Webster’s dictionary definition of the word and in its more disreputable vernacular usage.”

“Since we’re both still fully clothed, I have to believe it was something of a disappointment.”

Mary suspected Ellis’s light tone was mere camouflage and laughed from deep in her gut. “Talk about years of wasted fantasies.” She used her free hand to run her fingers along Ellis’s jawline. “But the holding hands part was really sweet.”

“Say what?”

“Right after you had your pill, when I got back into bed, you reached over and took my hand and held it the rest of the night.” Mary withdrew her fingertips from Ellis’s face. “I suppose it might have been to keep me from groping you, but I’ll never know for sure.”

“Let the record show, I’d never stop you from groping me.”

“My conscience would never let me take advantage of a woman with a bum leg.”

“My leg will heal.”

“Not soon enough.” Mary gathered her courage, hoping she didn’t falter on her first attempt at kissing a woman. Her lips were within an inch of Ellis’s.

The bedroom door flew open. Mary and Ellis jerked away from one another like matching magnetic poles.

“Hi, Mom. Sam and I have already been outside. I’m hungry, and so is she. When’s breakfast?”

“Natalie, I’ve told you a thousand times to knock before you come charging in here.”

“Why? I’ve seen you in your undies a million times. I’ve even seen you out of your undies a million times. And this time, you’ve got all your clothes on.” Natalie giggled, but stopped when her mother’s irritated gaze apparently registered.

“Sorry, Mom.” Natalie retreated a couple of steps. “I’ll give Sam a scoop of dog food from her bag and get some cereal for me.”

Mary jumped out of bed and hugged Natalie before she could leave the room. “I didn’t mean to sound so cross. You just surprised me, that’s all.” She squeezed her daughter again. “Don’t get them mixed up and put your cereal in Sam’s bowl.”

“Yuk. That would mean I’d have dog food with milk in mine.” Natalie broke free from the hug. “You’re so weird sometimes.”

“Love you, too, Nat.”

“I’m not going to say it back.”

“You don’t have to. You said I was weird. That’s the same as ‘I love you.’”

“Oh, Mom. You are so weird.”

“And I still love you, too.”

Natalie raced out of the bedroom with Sam on her heels.

Mary closed and locked the door, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Welcome to my idyllic, romantic world.”

Ellis smiled wanly. “What can I say?”

“For one thing, please tell me I didn’t just blow my only chance to kiss you.”

“Do you see me wearing a catcher’s mask?” Ellis opened her arms expansively. Mary eased onto the bed and folded into Ellis’s embrace, careful to avoid bumping her injured ankle.

She rested her forehead against Ellis’s chest. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“You must. I’m betting Natalie didn’t get here by osmosis.”

Mary relaxed, but then tensed again as she felt Ellis’s hand caress her back. “No, she got here because her father is a very persuasive man.”

Ellis wrapped both arms tightly around Mary. “I can’t wait to hear that story.”

“As soon as I remember how to breathe so that I can put three sentences together, I’ll tell you.” Mary gulped a breath. “Am I supposed to feel like every square inch of my skin is dancing the Macarena?”

“I don’t think anyone ever wrote a how-to book for this.” Ellis moved Mary’s long hair so that it was all falling to one side of her head.

“Damn. I really need some pointers.”

“Go with your instincts, and you’ll be fine.” Ellis kissed the top of Mary’s head. “I like the way it feels to be close to you.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. She ran her index finger over the top of Mary’s ear. “Yesterday at the hospital when I was asking you about your first impressions of me, you said something that was so true.”

“What?” Mary moved a little higher up Ellis’s torso.

“You don’t know how right you were when you said you thought I’d fallen for you.” Ellis placed a soft kiss on Mary’s cheek. “I just wish I hadn’t torn up my ankle in the process.”

“As I recall, I said ‘hoped you’d fallen,’ not ‘thought,’ but this isn’t the time to split hairs over semantics. I’m sorry you’re in pain, but from my perspective, it’s turned out pretty well.” Mary exhaled loudly. “Heaven only knows how long it would have taken to get you into my bed if it weren’t for that detour on LaVista Road.” Mary lifted herself enough that she could look into Ellis’s eyes.

“In the immortal words of Mary Chapin Carpenter, shut up and kiss me.” Ellis cradled Mary’s face in her hands and pulled her close.

Their lips touched, lightly, then with more force.

The knock at the door all but lifted Mary off the bed.

Natalie’s muffled voice came from the other side. “Mom, we’re out of milk!”

∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

“Hi, I’m Nathan Kimbrough. I’m here to pick up Natalie.” Nathan had let himself in through the kitchen door. He strolled into the living room and extended his hand to Ellis who was, once again, propped in the corner of the sofa with an ice bag on her foot.

“Nice to meet you,” Ellis said as she told him her name. “Thanks for taking care of those shrubs for me yesterday.”

Nathan sat in the glider that was in its new spot near the sofa. “Glad to do it. Mary told me you’re going to be laid up for a while.”

“About three weeks, according to the doctor. Good thing it’s my slow time of year.”

“Not that there’s ever a good time for a sprained ankle.”

“Right.” Ellis couldn’t help but wonder what the nice-looking man chatting with her would think if he knew she had kissed his ex-wife a few hours earlier. Ellis sized him up. She guessed him to be only slightly taller than Mary. His short, light brown hair had a few flecks of gray at the temples, and his eyes were—like Mary’s—a nice shade of blue, but they lacked the expressive highlights that made Mary’s eyes so intriguing. He was handsome enough, pleasant enough, and obviously good-hearted, since he had done a mercy trimming of Fredrick’s hollies the day before. While accepting his firm handshake, she had noticed that his hands were rough and calloused—a workman’s hands. She wondered what he did for a living.

“I’m a linesman for Georgia Power,” Nathan said, as though he’d read Ellis’s mind. “I’ve had a lot of practice trimming trees. Those bushes on Ponderosa were kid’s play compared to the pines I’m usually dealing with in my cherry picker.”