Reece's Faith (55 page)

"You really took the time to think from his point of view?" Faith asked with wonder.

"Honestly? No," she grinned sheepishly. "But it hit me when I heard how badly he hurt when he said that you hate him. It all flooded in my head," she shrugged.

"You are something else." Faith skimmed down Reece's arm with her fingertips.

"See, I know I'm overprotective, but I know what I'm protecting you from. He didn't. He was assuming I was doing all sorts of terrible things to you. All he had to do was ask."

Faith's hand drifted to Reece's face and she traced her features.

"Faith there's a downside to the two of us being so mutually inclined to protecting you."

Faith stopped moving her hand and rested them on her lover's lips. "What's the downside?" she asked distractedly.

"With the two of us both feeling like we have something to prove to the other, it could go two ways. It could either become a brawl or a cock measuring contest."

"God help me," Faith shuddered with horror. "I don't think I'd be long for the free world if you and Dad started measuring your penises. They'd have to put me away," she winced hard.

Reece chuckled, "Is everything okay between you guys now?"

"With Dad? Yeah, we talked, I talked mostly, but he promised to see things from your point of view. Ironic, huh?" the actress smiled.

"Like rain on your wedding day," Reece bent down and kissed Faith's nose.

"Like a black fly in your chardonnay," the actress responded in kind.

"You guys coming or what?" Cori slapped herself in the forehead immediately after asking.

"Nah, that was way too easy, Freak," Reece chuckled.

"Bless you. Marsha would have killed me if I provoked you into saying another bad word," the dancer's head disappeared around the bend.

"C'mon, baby, let's eat."

"Okay, but wait a sec." Reece ran over and put on the stereo. "All Christmas tunes, all day," she remarked as she took Faith's hand.

"I really have to talk to my mother about what she's been feeding you."

"Ooo, I like this song," Reece snapped her fingers a few times before singing with the radio. "Walkin' in women's underwear. Ow! Who hit me?"

"Theresa, what did I say about being fresh?" Mrs. Ashford tapped her foot.

"Sorry, Mrs. A.," Reece sat down with a pout.

"Mom, we really have to talk," Faith said, her eyes never leaving her lover.

"Later, dear. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can open our gifts."

"We're opening them tonight?" Faith asked, disappointed. She was looking forward to Christmas morning.

"Only the ones we got for you and Theresa."

"Ooo, you got me a present?" Reece lit up.

"Yeah, we're staying in a hotel tonight," Quinn piped in.

"God bless us all... everyone," Reece lifted her hands to the ceiling.

"Smartass."

"See how your mother talks to me, Faith?"

"Shut up and eat," Faith shoved potatoes in her lover's mouth, "smartass."

 
*  *  *

Faith jumped up, startled. Not knowing why she was awake or what woke her, she rubbed her face and snuggled back down into the bed. Then it hit her. "Reece?" The bed was empty. She looked at the clock and became worried.

Five in the morning!

She quickly threw on Reece's shirt, managing to button it halfway before hurrying out of bed. "Reece?" she glanced at the darkened bathroom. With her heart pounding, she hurried down the stairs. Coming to the living room, she heard the television and then saw Reece. She was in her underwear and a tank top, sitting in the recliner drinking a beer and, by the empties on the side of the chair, she'd been at it a while. The blue glow of the TV, combined with the twinkling of the Christmas tree, allowed the actress to drink in the tension of Reece's features.

Faith slipped into the room and stood there, not knowing what to do. Still slightly disoriented, she struggled to figure out what had gone wrong between going to bed and now.
We had such fun last night,
she remembered,
but it really has been a wild ride these last two days. Poor Reece hasn't had a moment to herself. Maybe she needs some time. She's been acting so different all day. I wish she would talk to me.
Faith jumped when the television was shut off.

"What's it like to have parents?" Reece barely spoke. It was more like a whisper.

"Honey?" Faith asked, confused.

"What did it feel like?" she pulled the recliner upright and twisted around to look at the actress.

"Reece, I don't understand what you're asking. That's a very complex question," Faith sat on the armrest and stroked her lover's cheek.

"Your mom, she hugged you, right?" the tall woman said cryptically, then stood up and left the room.

Faith stood as well and scrubbed her face with both hands. She was not at all prepared for this.
What exactly happened with mom today?

Reece appeared with another beer. She sat down again and stared at the tree. "Did you get ice cream if you got an 'A'?"

"Please, baby, tell me what's going on," Faith pleaded.

Reece's attitude made Faith nervous and it relieved her to see her lover take a deep breath, releasing it as a heavy sigh.
She knows she's being a bitch. Thank you for trying, baby.

"I was watching this show on PAX... Don't ask. It was oh, so goddamned perfect I wanted to puke. But all of a sudden, I felt... Never mind, it's stupid. Go back to bed," Reece reclined the chair and guzzled her beer.

The actress sat on the floor in front of the chair and chewed on the many things she wanted to say. Reece was upset, that was apparent, but she was brooding over something that couldn't be changed.
She has to deal with this. As fucked up as that sounds... it's the truth.
Yet Faith knew she couldn't tell her in those words. She looked at the woman she loved. Reece was feeling quite pitiful, her face was so sad that it broke Faith's heart to see her like his. Reece had just experienced her first family Christmas... as a grown adult. The tall woman was never exposed to something like that before and it really got to her.
I can't even begin to imagine what this must have brought up for her, the horrible childhood memories she probably struggles with to hide every day.

Faith wanted her lover to get this anger out of her system. She'd happily bear the brunt of the tirade, if it made her feel better. Judging by he glassy shine in those troubled blue eyes, she was quite high and on her way to becoming totally drunk. In Reece's case, drunk and pity made for a very unmanageable team.

"Vanilla with sprinkles. It was my favorite," Faith answered the long forgotten question.

Reece averted her eyes from the tree to her lover.

"We had cookouts on July fourth and huge family gatherings on most every holiday."

The club owner finished her beer and put the empty bottle on the floor with the others.

"I had it pretty good compared to some. Sure, my parents weren't perfect, but they did the best they knew how. I certainly wasn't easy," she smiled at her many childhood memories.

Reece pursed her lips and played with her shirt.

"Mom wasn't as cool as she is now. She used to make me cry when she brushed my hair. She always made my pigtails too tight and I hated Mary Janes."

Reece turned her full attention to Faith. She imagined how her lover must have looked as a five-year-old with pigtails and shiny shoes.

Faith turned towards the tree. "Christmas morning wasn't like you think, though. Yeah, there were lots of presents, but mom was too anal to allow me to go wild with the wrapping paper. She saved it, you know. I don't know what for, I personally never saw the same paper again."

Reece's lips curved into a slight grin.

"When I was in the second grade, I played a tube of toothpaste in my class play -- Tammy Toothpaste. My costume was nothing more than two giant pieces of cardboard stapled together and a plastic cap on my head. I couldn't walk for fear of tipping over and all I had was one line. 'Use me twice daily.'"

The club owner snickered.

"I thought you'd like that. My dad must have taken a thousand pictures of me that morning. He was so proud of his little girl. He bragged about it for weeks." Seeing a bit of tooth appear between Reece's lips Faith got up and moved to the armrest again.

I wonder if he still has those pictures,
a dark eyebrow rose in thought.

"Mom never told me she was proud of me when I was a kid, but Dad made up for it. I certainly was Daddy's little girl."

"I don't think I can blame him," the tall woman whispered. She grinned when Faith blushed.

"Every Saturday morning, I used to jump on their bed, to Mother's dismay, and lay on top of his belly. Flat across it, like he wasn't even there. It had to be uncomfortable, I mean he must have had to pee."

Reece snickered at Mr. Ashford's misfortune.

"We'd watch cartoons until Mother's yammering forced us to go downstairs. He'd then make some sorry excuse for waffles or an omelet, but I loved that time with my daddy."

Reece took Faith's hand, kissed the palm and then put their hands in her lap.

"Sunday mornings, we went out for breakfast. My favorite was the pancake house. I always wanted to order the chocolate chip pancakes with the powdered sugar. Mom was dead set against it, so I always wound up with some sort of blander stack and when they weren't looking, I'd pour all three syrups on them."

"I'm sure your dad was on to you," Reece wrapped her arm around Faith's waist and pulled her onto her lap.

Faith snuggled into her lover's chest and leaned her head back onto her shoulder. She paused to let the comforting feeling wash over her as it always did when she was surrounded by Reece. "He was. One time, Mother was out of town at some function and it was just the two of us. The waiter asked me what I was having and Dad said, 'Chocolate chip pancakes with extra powdered sugar for my little girl.' When it got there, he pushed the syrup holder at me and told me to go to town."

"I bet you got sick," Reece rested her hands on Faith's belly.

The actress breathed a contented sound. "All over the car, but it was worth it. Eventually though, I grew up and my father wasn't so cool to me anymore."

The club owner rubbed her face against Faith's hair, closing her eyes. The sound of her voice and the buzz of the alcohol soothed Reece immensely, but she was still uneasy, her foot shaking a mile a minute. She knew that she'd have to get this out of her system sooner or later; she opted for later and let the warmth of Faith's body seep into her.

"What happened?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"I guess it was a mutual thing. I wasn't such a little girl anymore. I think it hurt him when I told him I really don't want to spend weekends farting around with my folks. I had
better
things to do."

"Yeah, must have been hard for him."

"I guess, but he busied himself with work and spent much more time at the country club. I was busy with my friends, studying for a college I wanted no part of plus the acting program took up all my spare time."