Homecoming (24 page)

“I’m having an epic weekend. If I kept a diary, today would get a couple of pages.”

Jill let out a sigh. “I should get going, but I hate to have you unplug your car. Maybe I’ll call a cab. Or I could walk. It’s not very far.”

“Don’t be silly.” She grasped a hank of Jill’s hair and tugged on it. “I’m happy to take you.”

They went down the rickety stairs, and walked along the quiet street to the car. Jill only lived about a mile away, and traffic was light since Lizzie avoided the major streets that intersected the big pedestrian mall downtown. When she pulled into the driveway, she turned to smile at Jill. “I hope you have a fantastic party tomorrow.”

“How late do you have to work?”

“I’m hosting a brunch. It’ll probably be over by four, but I have to stay and make sure everything’s cleaned up right. I might make it home by six.”

“Text me if you want to stop by. The party starts at two, but we should still be going by six.”

“Will do.” Lizzie didn’t make a move for a kiss. She didn’t even lean in. She just sat there, expectantly.

Jill couldn’t stop herself. Those lips needed to be kissed again. In the blink of an eye, her hands were in Lizzie’s hair, pulling her close for a long, tender kiss. As Lizzie sighed, her breasts pressed into Jill’s chest, making her body tingle with sensation. Jill was in deep. So very, very deep.

It was so nice having
your birthday in August. A bunch of friends huddling inside on a snowy day was fine for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but Jill loved summer so much she felt blessed to not only be able to be outdoors, but to have as big a guest list as she liked, not constrained by the number of people who’d fit inside.

Mary Beth, Kathleen, and Gerri were hosting, and they’d invited nearly everyone Jill knew. Their yard was big, but even at that, people were bunched up pretty close together.

Jill had a tough time being the guest, even on her own birthday, and she’d taken on the role of making sure everyone had something to drink. She stood on the back porch and looked out at the crowd, amazed that so many people had given up their Sunday to celebrate with her. This was her family of choice. A few were very close friends, closer than blood relatives; another circle was close, but not people she shared emotionally delicate topics with; and the last group were work friends—people she liked to socialize with, but not go much deeper. Each ring of the circle was larger, which made sense.

They were just about to eat, and she was tempted to count the guests, just for fun. But that seemed a little greedy. It was better to enjoy the event, rather than quantify it.

Briefly, she thought of her parents. Her dad wouldn’t recall that this was her actual birthday. He’d know she’d been born in the summer, during a bad heat wave, but he wasn’t the kind of guy who sweated the details. The next time she saw him he’d ask about her day, and that would be that.

Her mother would know the details. To the minute. Jill imagined she’d spend the day thinking, occasionally, of the ordeal, as she called it. Jill had been tempted to try and get her medical records from the hospital to see if they’d noted the circumference of her head. She had her doubts that she had the biggest one in the history of Brattleboro Memorial.

One thing she didn’t doubt was that she wouldn’t get a phone call from her mother. Once, when Jill had asked why she hadn’t at least called on her birthday, her mom had brushed the question off, saying that Jill had so many friends she was never home. There was some truth to that, of course, but she honestly couldn’t hazard a guess as to why she never heard from her parents. That was a mystery that would have to go unanswered. She just considered herself very lucky to have friends who truly cared about her. They made up for an awful lot.

Carly exited the house and came to stand next to Jill. She draped an arm around her shoulders and leaned her head close. “Nice party, huh?”

“Really nice. I’m living a pretty charmed life to have this many people show up.”

“I’ll admit you’re charming, but people like being your friend because you’re a good friend in return. Now we have to get you a girlfriend.”

Jill turned to her and smiled. “Oh, we do, do we?”

“We do. Samantha and I are going to take over. You’re not working hard enough.”

“I appreciate that. I do,” Jill said, “but I think I’m doing okay. You don’t have to start hiring escorts yet.”

“We weren’t going to hire escorts,” she said, standing tall and giving Jill a gentle push. “First, we’re too cheap, and second, it’s going to be easy. I was going to bring someone today, a real hottie from the gym, but Samantha talked me out of it.”

Jill put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Check with me first. Please. I hate surprises. Especially blind dates.”

“That’s what Samantha said,” Carly said, frowning. “I hate when she’s right.”

“Trust her. In this area at least, trust her.”

***

They were down to the core group by six. The usual suspects who always stayed to clean up and put the house and yard back together. Ben and Gerri were cleaning the kitchen, and Carly had joined them after Jill’s usual participation had been denied.

She was outside, picking up plastic cups and dropped napkins when her cell phone chirped. “Everyone you know is either here, or just left,” Kathleen joked. “It must be a wrong number.”

“Probably.” Jill fished the phone from her shorts and smiled when she saw a text from Lizzie.

“I can be there in a half hour if the party’s still on.”

Jill’s finger hovered over the keyboard for a little while, thoughts meandering through her consciousness. Finally, she replied. “We’re wrapping it up, but come by anyway. We usually do a review.”

“??”

“You’ll see. Got the address?”

“Got it. See you.”

After sliding the phone back into her pocket, Jill continued policing the area, finding she had a new bounce to her step. Karen, always attuned to changes in mood, caught up with her as she dumped the stuff she’d picked up into the proper recycling bin. “It’s still early,” she said. “Early enough to…oh, I don’t know…maybe meet up with a friend?”

“All of my friends were here,” Jill said, smirking at the obvious, though unspoken, question.

“Not all of them.” She grasped Jill’s earlobe and gave it a tug. “Come on and spill it. You’ve got a sly grin that won’t quit.”

“Lizzie’s coming by. I said we usually do a play-by-play after a party. She can hear what happened without having to watch Skip and Alice start yelling so loudly the neighbors come over to see if they should call the cops.”

“Oh, that was fun,” Karen said, rolling her eyes. “I’m going to try to get one of them alone and attempt to lead them to some counseling. It’s getting uncomfortable for us, so it’s got to be worse for Aaron.”

“Good luck with that. They seem remarkably impervious to how other people view them.”

“True. But I know they don’t want to screw Aaron up. I’ll work on that angle.”

“Thank god I only work with numbers,” Jill said. “I love knowing that there’s a right answer and a wrong answer. Having to deal with emotions all day would drive me loony.”

“And I can’t balance my checkbook. We all have different skills.”

“You still have a checkbook? We’re well into the twenty-first century, Karen. It’s time to get with the program!”

***

Lizzie entered the backyard just a few minutes after the little group gathered around the big picnic table. Jill, Karen, Becky, Mary Beth, Kathleen and Gerri had just begun to dissect what had caused the increase in Skip and Alice’s fighting, and if it was a temporary blip or something more serious.

Jill had been waiting anxiously, flinching each time an unexpected noise sounded. When she saw Lizzie, she jumped up and walked over to welcome her. Everyone at the party had worn typical summer backyard attire; shorts, cotton shirts or T-shirts. A few people wore running shoes, but most had gone for sandals. Lizzie definitely looked like she’d come to the wrong party. A dark blue print wrap dress showed off the curves Jill had been thinking about ever since she’d seen them the day before. Lizzie also wore sandals, but hers had three inch heels. Her nails were painted a summery pink, and Jill realized she’d never found herself staring at a woman’s feet before. But the combination of the sexy shoes and the painted nails had thrown her off stride.

“You look nice,” she said, not exactly the mistress of charm.

“Thanks. So do you.” She plucked at the collar of the sleeveless linen shirt Jill wore. “More blue. Are you sure you’re not in the Navy?”

“Pretty sure.” They were standing close to the driveway, and Jill realized they’d been there long enough. With any other friend she’d just say hi and lead them over to the group. “Do you remember everyone?”

“I think so,” she said quietly. “Becky, Gerri, Mary Beth, Karen and Kathleen. Right?”

“Perfect,” Jill said, beaming. “You really pay attention.”

“Part of my job. You look like a real dope if you can’t recall names.” She lowered her voice even more. “They’re staring at us. Shouldn’t we go over there?”

“Oh, yeah. Right.” She led the way, saying, “Look who got all dressed up for my party.”

Everyone spent a few minutes welcoming her and commenting on how nice she looked. Then Kathleen said, “Have you eaten, Lizzie? We’ve got a ton of food. Let me make you up a plate.”

“I will,” Jill said, jumping up like she’d been pinched.

“I guess I could eat a bite or two,” Lizzie said, gazing up at Jill with a sweet smile. “But don’t go to any trouble.”

“You eat everything, right?”

“Uh-huh. I don’t like cilantro or Brussels sprouts. Other than that, I’m up for anything.”

Jill went into the house and started rooting around in the refrigerator. Some chicken, maybe some potato salad…

Suddenly, Karen was standing next to her. “You’re acting like Presley and Trent and Aaron did the last time Lizzie was with the group. Chill out, girl. If you act like a teenaged boy, you’ll zoom to the top of the chat list.”

“Oh, crap,” she said, putting a few bowls on the counter. “I was trying to be cool.”

“You failed,” Karen teased. “But I’m not sure anyone else noticed. Just slow down and treat her like everyone else.”

“But she’s not like everyone else,” Jill whined. “Did you see how pretty she looks? She’s been at work all day, but her lipstick’s perfect, her eye makeup looks like she did it two minutes ago, and no one would believe she didn’t have a stylist touching her hair up as she walked around the corner.”

“She probably sat in the car and touched everything up,” Karen said, as if that should be obvious. “She’s trying to make a good impression, Jill. And I’d say she’s succeeding.”

Jill looked at her carefully. “You really think she’s trying to make herself look better just for me?”

“She’s not doing it for us, so…yeah. Is that so hard to believe?”

“No, I guess not. I’ve just never dated a woman who wore dresses, or sexy shoes or makeup. I’m not sure why, but I really like it.”

Karen put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You like it because it shows she’s into you. You’d like it just as well if she knocked the dirt off her work boots, or wore a nice tie. You’ve got a major crush, Jill. And if you don’t want people to know yet—chill out. But if you do—go grin at her like you did when she walked in, and your secret will be revealed.”

“No grins,” Jill said. “I’ll throw some food at her and go sit on the other side of the table.”

“Smart tactic. You’re really good at this.”

“I know I’m not,” she admitted. “But I don’t want to screw this up.”

“You won’t,” Karen assured her. “She looks at you in the same goofy way. Now go out there and try to be normal.”

“Easier said than done,” Jill groused as she put the leftovers away and tried to figure out how to deliver Lizzie’s food without fawning over her. Not an easy task at all.

Jill almost took a tumble off the back steps when she gave half of her attention to Lizzie and only half to her feet. “Look out, Grace,” Lizzie teased, looking up to gently touch Jill’s leg as she placed the plate in front of her.

“Now that I’m old, I probably need bifocals,” Jill said, moving down the table to the empty spot.

It was nice to have Lizzie drop in, knowing almost no one, and not seem bothered by Jill sitting a few seats away. Some of her previous girlfriends needed her near, even after hanging out with the group a dozen times.

They’d stopped dissecting the party, with the focus now on Lizzie and her job. No one had gotten the chance to question her much during the weekend at the cabin, and they were making up for that now.

“So you’re in charge of keeping Hollyhock Hills up and running,” Gerri said.

Jill had never seen Gerri with a date, or heard her express the desire for one. But she was sitting up straight, her full attention on Lizzie, lingering on her words like she’d come down from the mountaintop to deliver them.
Jesus!
You add a nice-looking newcomer to the mix, and all hell breaks loose.

“Not really,” Lizzie said as she speared some potato salad with her fork. “We have a development director, then a manager, then two associates, and two assistants. I’m the senior associate, which only means I was hired before my coworker. I’m a long way down the chain.”

Jill watched her talk, enthralled. She looked older, much more poised, more professional. That might have been because she was still dressed in her work attire, or maybe because she was still in work-mode. Either way, she seemed like a peer to these professional women, most of them in their fifties. That was a big relief. Jill hadn’t realized she’d been worried about this, but now she understood it was important to her that Lizzie not be looked at like the kid who watched your house when you were on vacation, or the person who’d keep the children entertained while the adults had real conversations. She had to admit the truth. She wanted Lizzie to fit in, because she wanted to see her sitting at the end of the table for a while—a good, long while.