Entwined - SF5 (24 page)

"I’m happy to show you my idea if you’re really interested," Colm offered. "None of the other boyos care about design," he sniffed.

"I’m really interested, Colm. I want to learn how to do something so I can contribute more, and this interests me the most. Do you think I could be your assistant?"

"I’d love to have a willing apprentice," he said happily. "Let me get some craft paper and show you what I’d like to do." Colm cut a piece of craft paper slightly larger than the wall surface and taped it to the floor. He knelt down and used his straightedge to quickly draw the accurate borders of the surface he would cover. "Okay, here’s what Niall wants," he explained as he expertly spaced the four-inch squares straight across and down the paper. They looked very neat, but Jamie agreed that there was no imagination involved.

"And here’s what I want to do," he said as he went to the corner to pull out two boxes of tile. He produced a tile with a small curve on the bottom edge and showed Jamie how it would frame the bottom of the wall where the wall met the counter. "Niall wants a jack on jack bond," he explained as he laid out a small square, with each tile sitting directly the other. "But I want to do a running bond." He then laid out a pyramid-shape, where each tile corner sat on the middle of the tile underneath it. "I hate jack on jack because you see every imperfection in the wall," he complained.

"Let’s lay this out the way you want to do it and let him decide if he likes it," she suggested. "Once he sees how nice it looks, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it."

"Well, I don’t know about that," he laughed. "But he won’t want me to waste the time to redo it!"

"That was my second thought," she conceded as she realized she had found a kindred soul.

"Wanna see what else I want to try?" he asked with an eyebrow wiggle to rival Ryan’s.

"Absolutely," she said happily.

He opened his other box and took out a beautiful emerald green four-inch tile. He showed Jamie how he wanted to set the green tiles on the diagonal in a horizontal line right across the center of the wall. He said he planned on doing the same on the counter and then he produced a box of matching green bullnose tiles that would frame the corners of the counter. She agreed that his ideas would make the kitchen look clean and sharp and very well thought out. "Let’s do it," she said as she gave her co-conspirator a handshake.

Before they started, she delivered fresh beers to everyone to keep them out of the kitchen for a while. Of course, Ryan merited another little kiss just for looking cute, and the boys had to razz her a bit for that.

Colm worked incredibly fast as he expertly laid the tile out. He nipped the edges of the surrounding tiles to accommodate the diagonal tiles and when he was finished, Jamie was very enthusiastic. "That looks absolutely superb!" she cried. "I’ll go get Niall."

The entire group came trooping in and looked at the design for a minute. Finally Niall pursed his lips and said, "Hmm, green looks good. Go for it."

Jamie chided them for their non-artistic ways and sent them back to the yard to stay out of trouble. She patted Colm on the back and reminded him, "An artist is never appreciated in his own time."

By four o’clock Jamie had more information about tile in her head than she would have ever thought possible. Her clothes were covered with thin-set mortar, and she had so much grit under her nails she knew she would have to take a nailbrush to them to make them decent again. The walls were finished, and Ryan providentially entered the kitchen just as the pair was setting the last row on the counter. Ryan spent a few minutes pulling dried bits of quick set from Jamie’s dusty hair, bending to kiss her gently. "I’ve got to take your assistant home and soak her for a few hours, Colm," she informed him. "Have you ever been this dirty, Honey?"

"Hmm…I’d have to say no to that," she smiled. "But I kinda like it." Her eyes were twinkling, and she looked very childlike and playful.

"It’s fun to be filthy," Ryan agreed wholeheartedly.

"You’ve been a tremendous help, Jamie," Colm said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I think I can have you pretty well trained with a few more projects. Are you up for the shower in the master bathroom?"

"Yep. I can help either Saturday or Sunday."

"Fine," he said. "Now I’m going to come over on Wednesday evening to grout. Any interest?"

"I wouldn’t miss it for the world." Looking up at Ryan she said proudly, "I’m an apprentice!"

"Did you have fun?" Ryan asked as they approached the car.

"Yep," she said happily. "Looks like you did too," she gently chided her as she got a whiff of her breath, then quickly snuck her hand into Ryan’s pocket to remove the keys. "How many beers did you have?"

"Just two," she said. "I should have stopped at one, but you know how it is when you’re with the boyos."

"No, I can’t say that I do know," she admitted. "I don’t even know why you call them boyos."

"Oh that’s a term for kind of a wild, sexually adventuresome guy. Kind of like a playboy, but the term is more affectionate than that."

"What’s the equivalent for a girl?"

"There isn’t a cute one. Terms for sexually active women are universally derogatory, like slag."

"Well, I thought it was cute to see all of you boyos sitting in the yard drinking beer. You’re just like them, you know," she insisted as she slid into the leather seating of the Lexus and adjusted the electric seat from its full extension to accommodate her shorter legs.

"Yeah, I am when we’re together, but I like to think I have a more feminine side when I’m with you," Ryan said as she slid her hand up Jamie’s thigh.

"Watch it, boyo, you bruised the merchandise last night. That’s a ‘no-fly zone’ today."

Ryan cast a glance down at her own fully functioning equipment and patted herself as she said, "All systems are go down here." Jamie turned to see bright eyes, a waggling eyebrow and a delightfully crooked grin.

"As usual, I can’t resist your romantic offer," she laughed. "Let me soak in the tub to get some of this mortar off, and I’ll take you for a little spin."

"Make you a deal," Ryan said. "I’ll clean your overalls while you clean yourself. Then we can meet in bed for a quickie and a nap."

"As usual, your ideas are simply brilliant." Jamie smiled broadly, looking forward to both parts of Ryan’s suggestion.

The physical labor of the day caused both women to fall asleep early, which made getting up for eight a.m. Mass a breeze. They needed to get an early start to be on time for their brunch date with Catherine, and at 10:30 on the dot Ryan pulled the Boxster into the valet parking lot of the Claremont Hotel and hopped out, surveying the property now that it was summer and the roses were in bloom. "They’re keeping our little sanctuary up nicely," she said to Jamie as the smaller woman took her hand and led her into the dining room.

Jamie was looking around the big, old hotel with a very fond expression, recalling the closeness she had felt in being able to cuddle with her partner every night during their short stay. "I guess we won’t have to come back here to study for finals this term, huh?"

"No, we don’t have to," Ryan agreed, "but I’d be more than willing to come back for a night just for old time’s sake. I’d like to get you in that big bathtub with me." Her bright eyes and leering grin nearly caused Jamie to detour to the front desk to make a reservation for that very night, but since her mother was waiting she soldiered on.

Catherine was sitting by the pool and sipping what Ryan guessed was a Bloody Mary. As she stood to greet them Ryan was again taken by what a lovely woman she was. She wore a pale blue summery dress that somehow managed to make her look cool, youthful, and sophisticated--all at the same time. An attractive straw hat framed her pale blond hair, adding to her summery image. She extended her hand to Ryan, shaking it firmly, then leaning in for a kiss to both cheeks. Jamie received roughly the same greeting, minus the handshake.

The waiter dashed over and the younger women chose their usual beverage, drawing a smile from Catherine when Jamie placed the order without even looking at Ryan. They passed a few minutes in small talk, and Jamie recounted her indoctrination into the O’Flaherty Laborers Guild. They were nearly finished with their lattés when Catherine looked at Jamie and got to the real reason she had requested the meeting. "Your father told me that you had words over the car you bought, and I can imagine that upset you, Dear. I just want to assure you that he doesn’t speak for me about the issue. I hope you know that I want you to feel free to spend your money in any way that you wish, Jamie."

"I don’t see how that’s possible, Mother," she protested warily. "Daddy is a trustee…"

"As am I," Catherine stated firmly. "I generally don’t get involved in financial discussions with your father–I learned that it’s rarely beneficial to our marriage to do so–but I’ll not have him second-guessing how you spend such a negligible amount of money."

The pained look on Jamie’s face grew more constricted as her mother spoke. "I don’t want to cause friction between the two of you, Mother."

"I appreciate that, Dear," Catherine said, covering Jamie’s hand with her own. "I fail to see any other option at this point, though."

Jamie was quiet as the waiter delivered their meals, mulling over her response. "There is another option," she said decisively. "I want to handle this myself. I’d really prefer that you didn’t get involved right now, Mother. I appreciate the offer more than I can say, but I don’t want to see this issue hurt us as a family."

Ryan’s already high regard for Jamie grew markedly as her partner made this statement. She knew that the argument with Jim had hurt her and she knew that Catherine could make it go away by handling it for her. The fact that Jamie put family harmony ahead of her own comfort was admirable , and Ryan's smile conveyed her approval.

Catherine nodded and took a contemplative sip of her drink. "All right," she agreed. "I’ll not mention anything unless you ask me to get involved."

"Thanks, Mother," Jamie said. "Let’s hope this blows over quickly, and he realizes that I’m capable of making my own financial decisions."

"I certainly hope so, Dear." Catherine looked a little worried, but she moved on. "How do you feel things are going between us in general?" she asked. "Are we being supportive?"

Jamie smiled at her mother and assured her, "You’re being absolutely marvelous, Mother, but Daddy’s got a ways to go."

Catherine knew this was true from her private discussions with Jim, but she was uncertain how much of this had been transmitted to Jamie. "Tell me how you mean that, Dear."

Jamie sighed, shook her head slightly and said, "He’s been okay about the lesbian angle, which surprised the heck out of me. But he seems focused on the money. I’m not sure exactly what he said when we were over for dinner, since my beloved won’t give me any details," here she cast a smirk in Ryan’s direction, "but I have the impression that he thinks Ryan is interested in my bank account as much as she is in me."

Catherine shook her head and muttered, "This reminds me of fraternity hazing."

"You’re going to have to explain that one, Mother," Jamie chuckled.

Catherine smiled and said, "My point is that pledges are treated abysmally by their older frat brothers, but the next year they do the same thing to the incoming class. Instead of having empathy for the situation these boys are in, they treat them as poorly, if not worse, than they themselves were treated."

"And this relates to us, how?"

"Jamie, do you know much about the welcome my family extended to your father?" Catherine’s tone was genuinely inquiring, and Ryan smiled at the quick intelligence that reminded her so much of her partner.

"No, neither of you talks about your youth much," she admitted.

"Oh, it’s such ancient history," Catherine said blithely, "I suppose I didn’t think you’d be interested. But I want to give you a little insight into how things went for your father."

Both young women nodded their interest and Catherine began. "I don’t know how much you know about my family, Ryan, but when I was young we were one of the wealthiest families in the Bay Area. Now this is before all of these new high-tech billionaires hit the scene. This was back in the days when a hundred million dollars was a lot of money! And in contrast to the computer geeks who run the world now, my family earned our money the old-fashioned way," she stated, "by exploiting immigrants and the poor!"

She laughed at her wry joke and both young women did the same.
She does have a sense of humor when she’s away from Jim
, Ryan mused.
Kinda self-deprecating, but that’s actually rather appealing.

"Anyway, I was just a sophomore at Stanford when a sorority sister of mine coerced me into going on a blind date with a much older man," here she laughed gently. "I was impressed with Jim from the first time I met him," she said fondly. "He just seemed so determined and sure of himself. And I really liked the fact that he wasn’t afraid of hard work." Turning to Ryan she said, "Having a job is considered a sign of feeblemindedness in my family." Her mouth was smiling but her eyes were deadly serious, and Ryan understood that she actually meant what she said.

"I didn’t take Jim home to meet my family, mainly because I knew they wouldn’t approve, and I hated to be told what to do." Ryan looked up to the sky and rolled her eyes a bit until Jamie pinched her on the side.