Homecoming (30 page)

“No. I’m gay. Lizzie’s much more open-minded than I am.” She smiled, but doused it quickly when she saw that Janet didn’t see the humor in the situation.

“So before today you were straight,” Janet said. “This morning you were a lesbian. Now, tonight, you’re bisexual. Are there any more categories you’re going to join? Or can I try to get used to this one?”

“There are other categories,” Lizzie said. “But they don’t apply to me. I’m attracted to both men and women. But over the last few years I’ve realized I can’t be happy with men alone. I need…more.”

Jill fervently hoped Janet didn’t ask too many questions. There was no way in hell she’d easily accept her baby getting into three-ways with women she’d picked up online.

“Why on earth should Jill take a chance on you not needing more?”

Jill blinked in surprise. Now
she
was the one Janet was looking out for?

“I can’t imagine Jill would like it if you decide you miss men. Would you?” she demanded, staring into Jill’s eyes.

She was very, very glad they hadn’t agreed on an open relationship. It was
so
much easier to defend monogamy. “No, I wouldn’t like it. But I trust Lizzie to know what she needs. If we…go forward, we’ll both agree to being exclusive.”

“What do you mean, ‘if you go forward?’”

“We haven’t had sex,” Lizzie piped up. Jill shot her a look, but Lizzie didn’t notice. “We’ve kissed, but that’s it. I’ve had to work my butt off to convince Jill I can be faithful.” Scowling, she added, “Now I guess I have to convince you, and probably every other member of the family.”

Indignantly, Janet’s head snapped to the left. “What makes you think Beth would cheat on you?”

“I
don’t
think that,” Jill insisted. “But she’s never been in a committed relationship with a woman. I’ve been worried about just what you said earlier. That she’ll realize I’m not enough for her. That she’ll miss men too much.”

“This is giving me a headache,” Janet said, reaching up to massage her temple. They’d made it down to the covered bridge, and she stood in front of one of the openings that focused your attention on the slow moving stream.

These openings had always reminded Jill of animated paintings, with their rough wooden frames, and constantly changing scenes.

Lizzie put her arm around her mother and said, “Jill’s been on me to talk to you and Dad since the day I told her I was interested in her. Don’t give her a hard time, Mom. She’s gone so far out of her way to make sure I’m doing what’s right for me—and the family.” She let go of her mother and moved over to slide an arm around Jill’s waist.

Janet’s expression soured again and she said, “Could you give me a little more time before you start with that? I’m not ready.”

You could see the hurt on Lizzie’s face from downriver, but she dropped her arm and moved away. “Okay. I don’t want to upset you.”

“It’s too new,” Janet insisted. “I don’t have anything against homosexuality, but…”

“It’s going to take some time to get used to this,” Jill jumped in. “It took me weeks to get comfortable with the thought of being with Lizzie.”

Janet took a long look at her daughter. Jill stood back and did the same, watching the last rays of a lovely sunset stream through the opening to paint Lizzie’s skin a gorgeous, warm hue, with her hair shimmering like red-tinted gold. How could it have taken her weeks to let herself start to fall?

“So this was all your idea?” Janet asked.

“One hundred percent. Jill didn’t give me a second look.” She let out a fiendish chuckle. “Even though I was flirting like mad. She set me up with a guy she works with, then tricked me into going to a baseball game with two guys—hoping I’d like one of them enough to date.”

“And you’d already decided you wanted to be with her?”

“I had a feeling the night of Mark’s party,” Lizzie admitted, casting a quick glance at a startled Jill.

“I had no idea!”

“Well, now you do. When you told me you were single, I knew right then and there that I’d worm my way into your heart.”

“You hadn’t seen me for almost twenty years! What if I’d turned out to be a huge jerk?”

“No way,” Lizzie said, the voice of confidence. “Your sweetness and thoughtfulness and intelligence come out with every word. You’re the same girl you were when you left Sugar Hill, but now you’re a confident adult.”

Janet put her arm around Jill, and gave her a tender hug. “That’s all true. I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time earlier.”

“It’s truly all right. I’d have a lot of questions if I were in your shoes.”

She nodded, then pulled away and addressed Lizzie. “When are you going to tell your father?”

“How do you think he’ll take it?”

“I’m not sure, sweetie,” she said, thoughtfully. “But I hope he’ll have an easier time with it than I am.”

***

They got back to the house at nine-thirty, to find Mike sound asleep in his easy chair. Lizzie tiptoed out of the room, whispering, “Dodged a bullet. I can put this off for another week.”

Jill didn’t think that made any sense at all, but she wasn’t going to push her. “Do you want to stay over, or go back to Burlington?”

“I’d rather go back,” she said. “I want to go swimming tomorrow if it’s as nice as it’s supposed to be.”

“We have a perfectly lovely town pool,” Janet reminded her.

“I can hit the town pool next weekend,” Lizzie said, “after Dad chases me out of the house.”

***

Lizzie hooked her phone up to the car stereo, choosing a playlist that was classic jazz and blues standards, then pushed the button that let her seat recline. Soon, both bare feet were up on the dash, as she lay, nearly supine, in her seat. “Well, that went well,” she said, her wry laugh sounding tired and weak.

“Yeah. If by ‘well’ you mean no bones were broken.”

“I think she handled it fine, given that it shocked the holy hell out of her.”

“I do too. I think she’ll be on our side.” Jill reached over and took her hand. “I guess I’ve got to go through with this now. We’d look pretty stupid if I said I’d lost interest.”

Lizzie gave her a love-filled look. “You’re not the type. If you let me take a nap, I can drive for the last half.”

“Go right ahead. I’ll let all of the scenarios that stormed through my mind last night replay. That’ll keep me up—for days.”

They were home not long after midnight. Lizzie had been so groggy that Jill didn’t take her up on her offer to drive, but that was fine. She could get by with little sleep for a couple of days and function pretty well. That was obviously not true for Lizzie. They pulled into the driveway, and Lizzie blinked at her sleepily. “Do I get to sleep with you?”

“Want to?”

“Uh-huh.” She rubbed her eyes with her fists. “But I don’t think I’ll be able to manage more than sleep.”

“That’s all I want—tonight,” Jill said, unable to keep a sexy grin off her face. “We’ll get to the fun stuff soon.”

“Promise?”

“Take it to the bank.”

Jill dashed over to Lizzie’s side to take her hand and lead her into the house. She seemed so groggy, Jill didn’t want her to take a header.

The boys were joyous, but tempered their elation with a little snootiness at having Jill gone overnight. It didn’t matter that Stephanie, their favorite cat-sitter, had come back to Burlington early to get ready for her last year at the U and had been with them every moment. They could be happy and furious at the same time.

Lizzie sat on the stairs and let them rub against her as she spoke softly. “Yes, we missed you. Of course we did. You don’t think we have fun when you’re not with us, do you?” She looked up at Jill, who was fondly gazing at her. “This time that’s the truth.”

Jill offered a hand up, and Lizzie took it, letting herself be hauled to her feet.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say we didn’t have any fun,” Jill said. “Parts of the weekend were good. You certainly got us great seats to the game. I’ve never sat that close.”

Lizzie’s eyes almost closed while her mouth stretched into a silly grin. “I did a good job, didn’t I. Took a dozen phone calls. I had to resort to calling someone in the front office who I worked with when I was at the Gardner. But I got it done.”

“Your dad really appreciated it.” Jill walked over to check on the litter box, finding it perfect. “I’m going to give the boys a snack. Then they might let us sleep in.”

“See you upstairs. I’m going to dive into that bed in two seconds flat.”

Jill had to laugh at the happy expression Lizzie wore as she turned to climb the stairs. The woman clearly loved her sleep. A few minutes later, Jill went into her bathroom to get ready for bed, but paused while she tried to decide what to wear. Lizzie looked so darned good in her sexy undies/pajamas, she hated to wear her usual mashup of sweats, T-shirts, pajama bottoms and boxers. But that’s about all she had, so she grabbed the shirt and pants hanging from the back of the door and slipped them on.

When she exited, she realized her planning had been a waste of time. Lizzie was on her side, an arm wrapped around one of the pillows, a gentle smile curling her lips. Her deep, rhythmic breathing showed she was sound asleep.

Jill slid into bed behind her, and growled with pleasure as Lizzie reached back, grabbed blindly for something she could tuck around herself, and settled for Jill’s arm. She could easily, happily, willingly, spend every night just like this. Safe and secure in her home, with Lizzie in her arms.

The ringing doorbell sent
the cats flying for cover, with Lizzie grasping a pillow and holding it over her head. You quickly learned things about a new bed partner’s sleep habits, and Jill had already learned Lizzie was clearly not easy to startle, or even wake, meaning she would not be the one to investigate strange noises.

Jill crawled out of bed, while glancing at the clock on her night-table. Nine a.m. Not ridiculously early, but not a great time for visitors. She walked downstairs, peered out through the glass sidelight and spied Gerri, who caught her eye and waved.

While opening the door, Jill tried to suppress a yawn. “Hi,” she said. “What’s up?”

“Ooo. You weren’t,” she said, looking a little sheepish. “I thought you were always up by nine.”

“Usually. But I was up late last night.” She stood there, hoping Gerri would get to the reason for her visit in the very near future.

“Well, I wanted to catch you before you made breakfast, but I didn’t want to wake you. That’s a fine line.” She extended a white box. “Mary Beth had some kind of get-together with her department this morning and she went to the bakery and loaded up. She left some for Kathleen and me, but way too many. I hate to see them go to waste, and I know you like them…”

“Oh, that’s really nice of you.” Jill took the box, then opened it slightly to sniff and make appreciative noises. “You know my weakness.”

“I’ll make you some coffee if you want to go get dressed,” she said, a big smile making her look like a forty-something Girl Scout.

“Aww, that’s nice of you, but you don’t need to do that. I’ll get around to it.” She hadn’t moved from her position right in front of the door. Gerri wasn’t the most perceptive person in their group, but she could usually pick up a clue this big. When the person you’ve surprised doesn’t invite you past the entryway—leave!

“I was wondering,” she said, fumbling a little. “You know your friend Lizzie?”

“Yeah, I know Lizzie.”

“I assume she’s straight, but it’s hard to tell sometimes.”

Jill just stared at her, not having any idea what to say.

“Is she?”

Damn, was Gerri always this dogged? Jill was much closer to Mary Beth and Kathleen, but she spent a decent amount of time with Gerri. Obviously not enough to realize she wasn’t very subtle.

“Uhm…why do you want to know?”

“If she’s gay, I’d like to ask her out.” She laughed nervously. “If people her age even go out. I know that’s not a big thing for…what is she? Twenty-five?”

Lizzie’s feet hit the floor and Jill could hear her pad across the bedroom to the bathroom. Then the door closed. Jill ostentatiously looked up, staring at the spot where the noise had come from.

“Shit!” Gerri started to back away from the door. “I had no idea you had company.”

“I do,” Jill said, giving her a sly smile. “And you’ve saved us from having to go get breakfast. Thanks again,” she said, as she raised the box.

“You’re welcome.” She stumbled a little on the first step, then held onto the railing for the next two. “You should have told me I was interrupting!”

“No problem. I wouldn’t have come downstairs if I was really…involved.” She waggled her eyebrows and tried to make her grin rakish. It was kind of mean to taunt the poor woman, but word would fly around their core group in the next five minutes. Might as well give them something to talk about. “Ta-ta.”

Gerri stuck a hand up as she scampered down the path, hurrying back to her nearby home.

“Jill?”

“Come on down. Breakfast was just delivered.”

Lizzie started down the stairs, both boys rubbing against her legs as she moved. “Did you say breakfast was delivered?”

She looked so adorably disheveled with her hair partially falling into her eyes, the strap of her camisole sliding down one arm, eyes not even half open. Jill went to the stairs and caught her when she got to the bottom step. She was only about two inches shorter than Jill, and the step put her at the perfect height for a hug. Jill nuzzled against her neck, murmuring, “You look so sexy when you’ve just woken.”

“I do?” she purred, running her hands all across Jill’s back and shoulders.

“Uh-huh. If we were at the point of…you know…I’d be guiding you right back upstairs.”

Lizzie pulled away and looked at her, puzzled. “We’re not at the point of…you know?”

“We’re close, but I need for you to settle this with your parents.”

“But I can’t do that for another week!”

“Hey,” she said, grasping her chin and looking into her eyes. “You’re the one who skipped out last night. You could have woken your dad, or stayed over and done it today. Then it’d be over.”