Homecoming (45 page)

***

Jill was running late, but not too late, managing to reach Skip and Alice’s house only ten minutes behind schedule. She’d tried to get Mark back on the road as soon as they’d eaten their burgers, but he dawdled and wasted so much time it was clear he just didn’t want to go home. Finally, she got up and paid the bill, then stood at the door until he followed her out to the street. One quick hug and she took off, walking as quickly as she could to reach Skip and Alice’s, which was only about a half mile away. Normally she would have driven, given the tight schedule, but she couldn’t afford to have Mark see Lizzie’s distinctive car.

She was panting when she knocked and entered. Everyone was already seated, and they all gave her a hard time for being late—a real rarity for her. She sat at the empty seat, next to Karen, who leaned over and said, “Everything all right?”

“Yeah. I had dinner with a friend, and had a hard time getting away. But I’m ready to play some cards,” she said, slightly louder. “Let’s do this.”

***

She’d decided she was going to tell the group about Lizzie, but shoehorning in that kind of information wasn’t all that easy. She couldn’t do it while they were playing, so she waited until they took their first break. Cornering Karen, she quietly said, “Ask me what’s new.”

“What?”

“Ask me. I need an intro.”

“Oh,” she said, nodding. “Gotcha.”

They went back to the group, getting involved in some small talk about the U. Karen went into the kitchen to get a fresh drink, and when she came back she said, with studied casualness, “What’s new, Jill? We haven’t seen much of you for the last few weeks.”

“Mmm.” She popped a chip in her mouth while nodding. “I’ve been really busy.”

“With what?”

“With Lizzie,” she said, waiting for someone to notice and comment.

Gerri picked up on the remark. “Are you working on something together?”

“I guess you could say that.” She hadn’t planned on how to dive in and now felt awkward. But she was in this far, and couldn’t turn back. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

Skip stopped his side conversation with Gerri and gave her a sharp look. “What kind of time?”

Now she knew her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. She could never hide it. “Quality time,” she said, then made a face at how stupid that sounded.

Now Alice diverted her attention to Jill. “The girl who watches your house?”

“She’s not a girl,” Jill said, already on the defense. “And yes, that’s who I’m talking about.”

“You’re…?” Skip took his hands and placed them together, then raised his eyebrow.

“Yep. We’re together.”

“I could have sworn she was straight,” Skip said, his frown showing he was disappointed that she wasn’t. “Did you turn her?”

Six lesbians gave him a chiding look in unison.

“Hey! You’re the ones always joking about getting toaster ovens for new recruits. I didn’t make that up!”

“I didn’t trick her into anything,” Jill said, trying not to show her annoyance. “And even though it isn’t really anyone’s business, Lizzie has been with women before. She’s not a new recruit.”

“How old
is
she?” Kathleen asked, before Mary Beth elbowed her sharply.

“She’s thirty,” Jill said, deciding to just get it out of the way. “Yes, she’s much younger than I am, but we really like each other. We’re a good fit.”

“Well, I can’t fault your taste,” Skip said, slapping her on the back. “Isn’t she from your home town?”

“Yeah. Her older brother and I were best friends through college.”

“How does he feel about this?” Alice asked. “My brother would have strangled any of his friends who tried to date me.”

Jill started to feel a little sick. “We’ll find out. She’s telling her brothers and sisters this weekend.”

“Do they know your address?” Alice asked. Jill stared at her. Sometimes Alice could be annoyingly blunt.

“I don’t think they’ll form a posse and hunt me down, if that’s what you’re asking.” She took a drink of her beer with shaking hands. “I hope.”

***

The people at her table kept tossing questions at her for the rest of the evening, but once their surprise had worn off everyone seemed happy for her. They were on their last hand when Jill’s phone buzzed. Taking a look, she saw it was a text from Lizzie.

“Love notes?” Skip asked.

“Probably. I’ll call her back when we’re finished.”

Her attention was so split, Jill missed taking an easy trick. Gerri, her partner, gave her a sour look when they lost the contract by one trick, but she didn’t complain. As they helped put the chairs away, Jill quietly said, “Sorry about screwing up. I’m thinking about Lizzie more than my game.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re not playing for money.” She stacked a couple of chairs in the corner and gave Jill a long look. “Of course, if we had been, you’d probably win the whole pot. Your luck’s been very, very good.”

***

As soon as she was in her car, Jill made the call.

“Hey,” Lizzie said when she answered. “Did it take you that long to throw the other women out of your house?”

“Yeah,” Jill agreed. “You know how irresistible I am. The poor things were heartsick.”

“Did you play bridge?”

“Uh-huh. And had dinner with your brother.”

“My brother? Mark?”

“Yep. He was in town buying some supplies. He said he was trying to avoid traffic, but I think he just wanted to hang out.”

Lizzie sighed audibly. “Poor Mark. He’s kind of a sad-sack, isn’t he?”

“I hate to use that term, but it’s apt. I think he’s let his life get away from him.”

“Marrying the wrong woman can screw things up for you. Thank god that’s not going to happen to you,” she said, laughing at her own joke.

“I’m not going to argue with you on that. As Gerri told me tonight, I’m a very lucky woman to have you.”

“She said that?”

Jill could hear the delight in Lizzie’s voice. “Uh-huh. And she’s right. I’m very, very lucky.”

“Me too. And my luck is holding with my sister. I didn’t know this until today, but she knew about Erica. Turns out she saw us in the park late one night.”

“When you were a kid?”

“Yep.”

“Damn, Lizzie, what in the heck were you two doing?”

“I thought you didn’t like to imagine me being with other people.”

“I don’t. But…how old were you?”

“Mmm. Fifteen, I guess. And we were just making out…I think. It was hard to get Erica to do more than that even when we were hiding in the garage.”

“The garage?” Jill laughed, imagining Lizzie’s tenaciousness at finding places to be alone.

“My mom had a big old minivan. The back seat was perfect, at least to me. Erica wanted to be in a cave in the mountains.”

“My poor little Lizzie. All she wanted was a horny girlfriend.”

“Kinda true,” she admitted, laughing. “My whole life would have been different. So, ever since Donna saw us, she’s been wondering if I’d ever swing back around to the ladies. She wasn’t surprised at all about my being interested in a woman.”

“That’s great! I always thought Donna was pretty perceptive.”

“Oh, not so fast, slugger,” she said, her laughter sounding slightly evil. “She’s not at all sure I should be with someone so…”

“Intelligent? Attractive? Cultured?”

“Yeah,” Lizzie said. “Either one of those or…ancient.”

Stunned, Jill managed to say, “She honestly thinks I’m too old for you?”

“Kinda. But I think I convinced her that you’re really immature.”

“That’s my girl,” Jill said, laughing. “Always going to bat for me.”

“She’ll be fine. She was just giving me advice, not expressing any real concern.”

“I’m surprised by that. I mean, ten years isn’t insignificant, but we’re from the same generation.”

“Yeah, but she has friends who’re married to guys eight or nine years older and they’re always complaining that their husbands really hold them back. I think she’s worried that might happen to me.”

“It might,” Jill admitted. “But not because I get lazy or voluntarily stop being active. I can’t guarantee something won’t knock me down in my prime of course.”

“Cheerful thought! Do you have any other depressing concepts to share?”

“No, that’s about it. Oh. I miss you. Is that depressing?”

“Nope. You’re supposed to miss the woman you love. You still love me, right?”

“Right. Going on five days and I’m not bored with you yet.”

Lizzie’s voice grew softer and Jill could just picture her. Head tilted to one side, a sweet smile turning up the corners of her mouth.

“I really do miss you. You make the day a lot more fun.”

“That’s true for me too. I’ll especially miss having you in my bed. Do you have a nice place to sleep?”

“With four kids still at home? I get the lower bunk in my youngest niece’s room. Luckily, she’s in high school and doesn’t wet the bed anymore.”

“Gosh, I wish I’d been able to go with you,” Jill teased. “We’d get to share it!”

“Maybe next time. Play your cards right and I’ll have you sleeping in bunk beds all over New England.”

“If you’re snuggled up beside me, I’d be just fine with that.” She finally started her car and put her seat belt on. “I’ll give the boys a kiss for you.”

“Thanks. Tell them I’ll be back on Sunday. Do they know the days of the week?”

“Sure. And they can count to fifty and do simple arithmetic. They’re really advanced.”

“I’ll test them on Sunday.”

“It’s a deal. I love you, Lizzie.”

“Love you too. I’ll call tomorrow.”

“G’night.” Jill clicked the phone off and sat there for a while. It had only been a few days, but she already could feel a part of her world wasn’t quite right. Lizzie was the missing piece.

***

On Saturday night, Lizzie didn’t call until almost midnight. Jill had been pacing around for an hour, waiting. When the phone rang, she answered on the first ring. “I thought I’d never hear from you!”

“Argh! This day got screwed up so many times I can’t even count.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing huge. I left late because my youngest niece wanted me to help her with a report she had to do, then Kristen got stuck ferrying her kids to different sports. Her husband was supposed to do it, but he had to go in to work… It was all just screwed up. So we didn’t have any time alone until the kids were occupied or in bed, which was only like an hour ago.”

“I guess it went okay, if it only took an hour.”

“Yeah,” she said, sounding a little deflated. “It went okay.”

“What really happened?”

Lizzie let out a long sigh. “Kristen wasn’t as understanding as I thought she’d be. She was kinda…pissy about it.”

“Oh, Lizzie, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. If I wasn’t tired, I’d take off right now. But that would just make her mad and I don’t want to do that.”

“Can I help? Want me to come down there? I could meet you at a nice hotel.”

“Aww, you really would do that, wouldn’t you?”

“You bet. I’d do anything to take the sadness from your voice.”

“That helps. Knowing I’m coming home to you helps a lot.”

“I was going to talk to you about that. Isn’t your lease up in October?”

“Uh-huh. What about it?”

“Move in with me. I really want you to.”

“Jill! We’ve been together six days!”

“I know. But I love you, Lizzie, and I want to spend as much time as I can with you. What better way than to live together?”

“I don’t know,” she said, clearly skittish. “What if you get sick of me?”

“I won’t. But if you get sick of me, you can always move. Not that you’re going to, of course. I’m really pretty awesome.”

“I love you, you silly thing. And I’ll think about it.”

“Which way are you leaning? Not that I’m pushing you or anything.”

“I’m leaning towards you. Of course. But I’ll have to do some budgeting to see if I can afford it. I run a very lean operation.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can handle all of the housing costs. You can concentrate on paying down your student loans.”

“That won’t work. I have to contribute or I won’t feel like I belong there.”

“But the house is in my name. I get the tax deduction, and I’ll get the appreciation if I ever sell. So the mortgage and real estate taxes are mine. That’s fair.”

“Utilities? Could I afford them?”

“How about half? That’s fair.”

“I think you’ve already talked me into this, roomie. When do you want me?”

“Tomorrow. As soon as you get back, we’ll go pack up your work clothes. I want you sleeping with me from here on out. So do the boys, but they pay nothing, so their vote doesn’t really count.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal. Excited!” she said, all of her disappointment with her sister seemingly forgotten. Jill felt like she’d done a good day’s work, given that making Lizzie happy was her new life’s goal.

The next day, Jill
was just about to toss a kayak into Lake Champlain when her phone rang. “I’ve got to get this,” she told Carly. “If you want to put in and catch up with Samantha, I’m good.”

“Okay. Yell if you need help.”

She answered the phone. “Hey, Lizzie, what’s up?”

“Mark,” she said, her voice strained and clipped. “He’s furious with me and with you. I’ve never seen him so angry, Jill. I’m going over to my parents’ house for a while, hoping to wait him out so he calms down and can talk some more without screaming at me.”

“I can be there in three hours,” she said, her heart hammering in her chest. “I’ll borrow a car and—”

“No, you don’t need to come. I’ll be okay, but I needed to tell you. I’m”—she started to sniffle—“I’m so hurt.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Jill soothed. She tried to calm down and think of Lizzie, rather than her own anxiety. “It’ll be all right. If Mark wants to have a relationship with you, he’ll come around. I bet this is more about his general unhappiness. He’s just taking it out on you.”