Homecoming (43 page)

“Let’s walk. It’s been drizzling on and off, but I think it’s clearing up.”

She picked up her briefcase and walked around her desk. As they stood in front of her door, he said, “Hmm… You’re all dressed up. I’ll drive so you don’t ruin your shoes.”

“Thanks. That’s a better idea.” She turned her key in the lock, then started to walk towards the stairs. Just as they hit the landing, an auburn head popped up and Lizzie was grinning at her.

Jill stopped and stared. There was no way Lizzie had gone to work looking like this. Hair pulled back into a haphazard ponytail, a black scoop-neck leotard top and tight yoga pants that stopped at her shins, along with flip flops. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice greeting,” Lizzie said cheerily. She turned to Scott. “Good to see you again.”

“You too. How’ve you been?”

“Excellent,” she said, grinning so happily she looked like she was auditioning for a toothpaste ad. “I thought I’d come by and catch you before you left for the day.” Her gaze settled on Jill, her expression so filled with pleasure a total dunce would have known there was something going on between them. “You look fantastic, by the way.”

“Uhm…thanks.” They were totally blocking the stairs, with people having to work their way around them as they left for the day. “Scott and I were going out for a drink. Want to come?”

“No, I’ve got my class at six. I guess I’ll walk you down.” She started back down, carrying her usual backpack and another, bigger bag over the other shoulder. She descended the stairs like she was walking on air, almost dancing as her feet kicked out in front of her, barely hitting each worn marble step. Jill and Scott were fifteen steps behind her by the time they got to the bottom and exited the building.

“Pays to be young,” Scott said, looking at Lizzie with a little more interest than Jill was comfortable with.

“It’s temporary,” Lizzie said. “I don’t bounce out of bed the way I did when I was twenty-five.”

Jill resisted the urge to take Lizzie in her arms and give her all the kisses she’d been daydreaming about. Instead, she stuck to business. “Where’s your class?”

“Patrick Gymnasium.”

“You’re taking a
class
class? Like for credit?”

“One degree’s enough for me. I’m getting back into a troupe I dance with when I have time. The guy who runs it is on the faculty. Ben Barnes. Do you know him?”

“We don’t get out to meet the faculty much. It’s all numbers for us.”

“You’ll meet him,” she said, still smiling at Jill like she was about as happy as a human being could be. She was also basically ignoring Scott, which Jill didn’t mind a bit. Lizzie hoisted her bag and said, “I’d better go. Just thought I’d drop by.”

“I’m glad you did,” Jill said.

Lizzie put a hand out and put it on Jill’s waist. Then she pulled her close and gave her a brief, chaste kiss. Almost like you’d give your sister. “See you.” Then she started to walk backwards, waving as she went. “Bye, Scott,” she said, but her gaze never left Jill.

“See you around, Lizzie,” he said as she turned and nearly skipped down the path. Then he turned to Jill, whose cheeks were undoubtedly pink. “You’re fucking her!”

Her hackles rose in a nanosecond. “That’s a very impolite thing to say.”

“What?” He held his hands up. “What’d I say?”

“We’re
dating
. Let’s keep it clean, okay?”

He took her by the arm and turned towards the path that would lead them downtown. “We’re walking,” he said. “I want to hear the whole sordid story.” His laugh held an evil tone. “I always imagined you as a pitcher. Now I know better.”

She gave him a look, but didn’t reply. How could you possibly respond to that jibe without explaining way, way too much?
Thanks Lizzie. Thanks a lot for trying to make a point about being dominated!

***

Jill was sitting outside on her patio, both cats standing at the screen door, crying to join her. She’d never let them, given that they were indoor cats for a reason, but that didn’t stop them from wanting to explore the great outdoors and guilt-trip her for preventing their travel plans.

It had stopped raining in the afternoon, and even though it still looked threatening, it didn’t smell like rain. That wasn’t very scientific, but she could usually tell when a downpour was about to begin.

She’d had a vodka and tonic with Scott, and was now nursing another, while also reading the newspaper on her tablet computer. It was surprisingly warm out, but the mosquitos were few and far between, thankfully.

“Hey there,” a warm voice said.

Jill looked up to see a bedraggled Lizzie, still wearing the same outfit she’d had on earlier, but with her hair hanging in big hanks, obviously wet.

“Really nice surprise,” Jill said, standing to hug her. “I didn’t think I’d get to see you.”

“I didn’t want to promise anything, just in case I was too tired to move, but I’ve got a little fuel left in my tank.”

As Jill reached for her, Lizzie warned, “Keep your distance. There was some problem in the women’s locker room, so I didn’t get to shower or change.”

“That’s sweat?” Jill assumed she’d rushed over after showering and hadn’t bothered to dry off properly.

“Yup. Ben worked my
ass
off!”

“What in the hell do you do to work up that kind of sweat?” It was fairly dark in the yard, but now that she looked she could see that Lizzie was wet all over. Soaking wet.

“Haven’t you ever watched a dancer work out?”

Jill laughed as she shook her head. “I don’t dance, so I’d have to lurk around dance…places…to see that.”

“Studios,” Lizzie said, tapping her on the chin. “We work in studios. You’ll have to come watch.”

“I could do that?”

“Uh-huh. But you should probably wait until we’re really working on a program. At this point, Ben’s just torturing me and that’s not much fun to see.”

“You’re working up to something?”

“Uh-huh. If we can get a space, we’re going to do something for First Night.”

Jill squealed with delight. “I can spend New Year’s Eve watching my girlfriend dance?”

Grinning, Lizzie patted her side. “That’s the kind of enthusiasm every dancer wants to hear. It’s still up in the air, but Ben’s working on it.” She grasped the hem of her T-shirt and fanned herself with it. “Can I take a shower?”

“Sure. Of course.”

Lizzie picked up the vodka and tonic Jill had placed on the counter and drained it in one gulp. Then she let her gaze wander up and down Jill’s body so frankly Jill nearly felt naked. “You look pretty dirty to me. You’d better come along.”

“Best two sentences I’ve heard all day.” Jill took her hand and they went up the stairs together.

“Did Scott ask if we were dating?”

“Yeah. In his own clever way.”

“Are you cool with that?” She winced. “After I kissed you, I thought maybe I shouldn’t have. But I couldn’t help myself.” She put her hand on Jill’s butt and patted it. “You looked so cute. Like a big, important banker or something.”

“I had a meeting with our outside auditors. I have to dress like an adult because they do.”

“One of these days I’m going to have to figure out what it is you do,” Lizzie said. “I get the impression you’re a big deal.”

“No rush.” They went into the bathroom together and Jill proceeded to remove the clammy garments that clung to Lizzie’s body. She was still hot, her skin warm to the touch. “It’s fine with me if you come to my office every day and plant a big, wet kiss on me. I’m sure Scott will tell everyone about us by the time I get in tomorrow, so it won’t be a secret.”

Now that Lizzie was naked, Jill whipped off her own T-shirt and flannel boxers, leaving them on the floor as she stuck her hand into the shower stall to turn on the water.

“Everyone at my office started whispering around three, which is when the servers get in. I assume our boating buddies spilled the beans. So I guess we’re out, huh?”

“I guess so. That was simple, wasn’t it? Tell someone who likes to gossip.”

“I’m going to go tell my sibs this weekend.”

“All of them?”

“Yep. I think I’ll start in Portland, then work my way down. I’ll take Friday off so I can spend a little time with my sisters.”

Jill opened the door and stepped in. “Perfect,” she said as Lizzie joined her. “I guess you want to go alone?”

“Yeah. I think I should.” Now that the warm water was pounding down on them, she stood right in front of Jill and wrapped her arms around her. With her head pressed against Jill’s shoulder, she said, “I’d rather spend the weekend with you, but I don’t want them to find out by mistake. That would really be hard for them.”

“Mmm. They won’t be hurt that you’ve been having sex with women for half of your life without telling them?”

“I’m not sure I’m going to talk about my history.” She shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes. No matter what, Kristen will be hurt. She’s the sibling I’m closest to, and…” Lizzie let out a long sigh. “She’ll feel betrayed. But not as badly as if she heard about us from someone else.”

“And you feel okay omitting the other women you’ve been with?”

“Yep,” she said decisively. “This is a relationship. That was sex. To me, there’s a big difference.”

“To me too.” Jill squeezed her tightly. “But when I was thinking about you dancing, I wasn’t thinking about our relationship.”

Lizzie looked up at her, grinning. “What were you thinking about?”

“Sex. Just sex. Lots of sex. Sex with you.” She knew she looked a little vacant, but the blood that should have been going to her brain was being diverted to a lower altitude.

“Lather me up and I’m yours.” Lizzie pulled Jill close and kissed her, while letting her hands glide all over her body. “So,” she murmured, “Does Scott think I chase you around the house trying to do to you what I threatened to do to him?”

“Definitely,” Jill said, laughing wryly. “I let him think what he wants. I couldn’t come up with a way of setting him straight that didn’t require a whole lot more detail than I wanted to give.”

“At this point, you could say you have no idea what he’s talking about.” Lizzie slapped Jill hard on the butt. “At
this
point.”

Jill threw her head back and laughed. “This point is going to last for a while. A good,
long
while.”

***

It was just dawn when that annoying voice said, “Pound the alarm. Pound the alarm.” Jill wanted her eyes to open, but Lizzie soundlessly slid from bed and padded across the room, two little cat voices fading away as she left.

It was unbelievably hard to force her eyes open, then demand that her feet hit the floor. She had a hard-wired aversion to getting up one minute before she absolutely had to, and this was a good forty-five minutes before her alarm was scheduled to go off. But if Lizzie could drag her butt out of bed so stoically, so could Jill.

Lizzie took a very fast shower, and was already blowing her hair dry when Jill shuffled into the bathroom and let herself be enfolded in a hug.

“Oh, my little sleepy-head got out of bed.”

“I wanted to see you before you left for work, and I knew I’d never make it if I didn’t get up right away.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Lizzie said, patting Jill’s sleep-lined cheek. “I could come in and kiss you before I leave if you want me to. Would that work?”

“Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged. “I just wanted to see you.” She sat on the edge of the tub and grasped the boys when they jumped up alongside her. “Do you boys want to sit with me and see what girls do to get ready for work?”

Lizzie got very close to the mirror, assessing her face. “Haven’t they seen you? You’re a girl.”

“You’re a different kind of girl. We’re all going to learn something.”

“I have no secrets,” Lizzie declared. She grasped the edge of her quart-sized food storage bag and dumped the contents out onto the counter. “First some foundation.” She took a sponge of some sort, dampened it, then put a little tinted liquid on it. With smooth, practiced strokes, she swept over her whole face. The color matched her skin tone, but it evened it out to make her skin look flawless.

“I had no idea women did that,” Jill said, staring at her. “I thought foundation was that really heavy powder my grandmother used to wear.”

“Nope. Liquid’s better.” She unscrewed the top of some shimmery powder. “Now a little highlighter.” Carefully, she brushed the powder under her brow, then right at the edge of her eyes, then quickly across her cheeks.

“Should I be watching this?” Jill asked, fascinated. “I feel like I’m in the inner sanctum, where only initiates get to enter.”

“I’ll put makeup on you any time you like. But you don’t need it. I just got in the habit when I worked at the Gardner and now I feel like I looked unfinished when I don’t wear it.”

As Lizzie took a black pencil and ran it over her upper lid, Jill thought about that. She wasn’t sure what she preferred—fresh-faced Lizzie or sophisticated Lizzie. But she was sure they were both awfully pretty.

Now mascara, just on the upper lashes, darkened and thickened them. A quick brush of pink on her cheekbones made them pop. Then Lizzie turned and said, “How about a kiss?”

“Sure.” Jill stood and placed a gentle one on her lips. “I like the way all of this stuff smells. It’s really girly.” She giggled at her use of the word. “I sound like I’m watching my older sister get ready for the prom.”

“Just work,” Lizzie said as she carefully applied a judicious amount of lipstick that made her pouty lips shine. “Ready to go shake money out of pockets.”

“Uhm…” Jill discretely pointed at her naked body. “You might want to add a few things.”

“Just a few.”

They went into the guest bedroom, where Lizzie took out the dress she’d brought. As she dug into her bag for fresh underwear Jill said, “Where are your tattoos? I meant to ask the other night, but you kept distracting me.”

“Tattoos?” She ostentatiously looked down at her body. “Do I have tattoos?”

“Not that I can see, but I thought everyone under forty had a few.”

“Certainly not everybody, since I don’t have any.” She put on a bra that was just for show, so insubstantial it was barely there. “Almost everyone I knew was getting them left and right, but I kept holding off.” She put her dress over her head and shimmied into it. “I’m so particular about art, I kept changing my mind about what I wanted. I dropped the idea when I realized I’d want a different one all the time.”