Homecoming (56 page)

“Then we’ll make a good team. Feel free to step in whenever you see something out of whack.”

“It’s a deal. I’m good at making things whack.”

***

Jill really did feel like she’d gotten to meet a zillion people. They spent a few minutes with Lizzie’s boss, a cheerful guy who didn’t seem much older than her, then the director of development came over and joined the crowd. You could just tell when people truly liked their co-workers, and Jill was certain Lizzie was a favorite.

It took a while to even say hello to all of the higher ups who ran the Foundation, all of the board members, including the creep with the boat and his dad who didn’t seem creepy at all. It must have skipped a generation. Most of the best-known names in Burlington dropped by at some point during the night, with Lizzie working hard to charm each and every one of them.

Jill watched her work, proud of her for devoting so much of her energy to learning how to separate people from their money. Using her natural gifts to keep a cultural treasure running efficiently was a good way to make a living, even though she was sure Lizzie was leaving a lot of money on the table. She could have made several times her salary selling something—a product or a service. But she was more interested in doing something that resonated with her soul, and that made Jill respect her all the more.

Most of the guests were gone by eleven, with only the most die-hard partiers still slugging down the wassail. All of the staff was hanging in there, even though many of them looked as though they’d been put through the wringer. In Jill’s experience, guests who stayed until the bitter end were the easy-going types, who you could act naturally around. The staff seemed to agree, since shoes started to come off, and jackets were ditched to lie across the sofas.

Someone switched the music from Christmas-themed songs to pop tunes, then cranked it up. The sofas and chairs were pushed to the walls, then the staff started to let their hair down.

The people who worked with the livestock were the first ones on the newly-created dance floor. Most of them were farm kids themselves, uninhibited and more than a little drunk by this time. Lizzie seemed to know them all, and she catcalled from the sidelines, clapping her hands and urging them on.

“You’re not going to just stand there, are you?” Jill asked. She poked at her playfully. “Your whole body’s moving to the beat. I have this image of you doing a few back flips, then hitting the floor doing the splits.”

“You want to dance with me?” she asked, eyes glittering in the flickering candlelight.

“I was thinking of watching you. You’re so much better than I am…”

“Come with me,” Lizzie said, her voice dropping into a seductive growl. She took Jill by the hand and led her to the far end of the cleared space, close to the big windows that would have revealed the lake if it hadn’t been so dark. There were fewer people standing there, and they had some distance between themselves and the rest of the rowdy dancers.

Lizzie kicked off her heels and set them atop an upright piano. Then she linked her hands behind Jill’s waist and started to move to the sappy, romantic number currently playing.

“This is nice,” Jill said. “I can keep up with you.” She twitched her head towards the crowd by the fireplace. “No one seemed to bat an eye when you introduced me.”

“Why would they?” she asked, tilting her head questioningly.

“Have things really changed that much?” Jill asked, a puzzled smile curling her lips. “Can a woman switch from men to women and not even get a second look?”

“I’m sure you’d get a lot of flak at a few places around Burlington, but you’d have to look for them.” She laughed, her eyes almost closing when she did. “We’ve got nothing but idealistic, conservation-obsessed, do-gooders at Hollyhock. If they despised gay people they’d never admit it. Not cool.”

“I like that. It’s time for intolerant people to be afraid to speak their minds.”

“I wouldn’t work at a place that tried to supervise my private life. They don’t pay me enough for that kind of bullshit.”

“They like you,” Jill said, beaming at her. “Everyone seems to perk up when they see you. That’s really cool.”

“Not
every
one,” she scoffed. “But I really do like the people here. We’ve got some dopes and some people who can’t organize a three-man parade, but no one’s mean-spirited or impossible to get along with. I think I’ll stay for a while. I fit in.”

Jill pulled her a little closer and spoke into her ear. “Sometimes I wish you didn’t like it. It’d be cool to have you at the U. We could always use someone like you to help raise our endowment.”

“You just
think
you’d like that.” She pulled her head down and gave her a very brief kiss. “Trust me to steer this relationship into safe waters. You’ll have us going over the rapids if I let you be in charge.”

Jill gave her a long, thoughtful look. “How did I get into the position of having a girl I met when she was about two days old be in charge of my life?”

“Just lucky, I guess.” The music changed pace and Lizzie released her snug hold, then started moving more decisively. “Let’s move over and dance with the guys from farm ops. They’re the fun ones around here.”

Jill followed along, grinning as Lizzie really got into it. She didn’t show off—even though she could have. Jill had seen some of the moves she could effortlessly execute, and if she pulled any of them out, the whole place would stop and stare. But Lizzie wasn’t like that. She liked being part of a team, not the star. Still, she moved those curvy, sexy hips like she didn’t even realize she was in public. Jill was mesmerized by her, thoroughly charmed by her complete lack of self-consciousness. Part of that had to be the fact that she’d been dancing her whole life, and part of it was just Lizzie—fun-loving, pull-out-all-the-stops Lizzie. The coolest kid on Hollyhock Hill. And Jill got to take her home.

***

Two days later, Jill came home to find a truck leaving her driveway. She paused, letting him out, then pulled in and put her car into the garage. Lizzie’s car was already there, sipping from the power cord nestled into its nose. It was rare for her to be home so early, and Jill hustled into the house to see what was up.

When she opened the back door, Lizzie was already in her play clothes. She was still wearing jeans, but her favorite winter pair was roomy enough to let her add some long underwear. Atop her jeans she wore a dark blue turtleneck, with her grandmother’s red, boiled wool vest over it. Her big work boots covered her feet, making her look both adorable and a little tough. “You look like you’re about to head outside,” Jill said. “You usually jump into a pair of my flannel pajamas two seconds after you get home. What’s up?”

She pulled Jill in for a kiss, unable to contain her excitement. “I got you a Christmas present,” she said, grinning like a kid.

“You did? Isn’t it a little early?”

“Nope. It needs to be early. Now we have to go decorate it.”

“Decorate it?” Jill cocked her head, trying to figure out what in the heck Lizzie was talking about.

“Uh-huh. Go put on some warm clothes. And your boots. It’s cold out.”

Not wanting to waste time questioning her, Jill followed orders, returning a few minutes later in her snowboarding jacket and pants. “Good enough?”

“To eat,” Lizzie said, pulling her close for a long kiss. “Don’t make plans for around nine. I’m going to be devouring you.”

“You’re on my calendar,” Jill agreed, already thinking about what she’d like to do and have done.

They went out the side door, where Lizzie had stacked a dozen boxes of tiny multi-colored lights. “We’re decorating the house? In the dark?” Jill asked. “Did you buy a really big insurance policy on me?”

“Nope. We’re decorating our tree.” She led her to the far corner of the yard, where Jill found a good-sized fir tree, recently planted.

Lizzie was beaming with delight and Jill snaked an arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss. “I love it. Our first Christmas tree. And we’ll be able to enjoy it all year.” She put her hand on a branch and ran her fingers down it, watching the needles spring right back up. “Healthy. I like this a lot better than cutting one down.”

“Good. Because I’m buying one every year. This place is going to look like a Christmas tree farm by the time we’re done.”

“I think our yard will make a very nice Christmas tree farm. We’ll start a new trend. Urban forestry.”

“Do you really like it?” Lizzie asked, putting her arm around Jill’s shoulders. “It was stupid expensive, but I wanted to get you something that lasted.”

“I love it,” Jill insisted. “And I love you for making plans for our future. One day we’ll have so many trees the whole neighborhood will go dark when we switch the lights on.”

“Let’s make a dent tonight. I’ve got a super long extension cord and a timer.”

“We’re really going to do this at night?”

“Yep. I’ll go get the ladder. You start taking lights from the boxes.”

In just a few minutes, Lizzie was standing on the first step, with Jill cautiously holding the ladder firmly.

“The tree isn’t very big—yet,” Lizzie said. “If I fell off the first step, I’d be just fine.”

“Just making sure. You’re too precious to let you risk breaking a nail.”

They worked together, with Lizzie holding the top of the strand in place, and Jill running around the tree to drape it just so. They didn’t use all of the strands, but the tree was so chock full of lights it couldn’t take a single extra bulb.

Then Lizzie ran the extension cord into the garage, and came to stand next to Jill. “Ready?” she asked.

“Ready.” Lizzie held the last plug, and Jill held the extension cord. When they met, the tree burst into color, with the tiny lights making the whole corner of the yard glow with festive warmth.

“I love this more than I can say,” Lizzie murmured, her voice catching a little. “Our first Christmas tree.”

“Come with me,” Jill said. “We’ve got to rearrange some furniture.”

A half hour later, they were in their pajamas. Or, rather, they were both in Jill’s pajamas, since Lizzie didn’t own any of her own. The sofa from the den had been moved to the window in the dining room, where they now sat, sipping cocoa and cuddling as they stared, mesmerized by the color-bedecked tree.

“I was torn between all white and colored lights,” Lizzie mused.

“Color. Definitely color. Perfect choice.”

“You’d say that even if you didn’t agree,” Lizzie decided. “That’s why you’re the perfect girlfriend. You always go out of your way to support me.”

Jill nuzzled against Lizzie’s sweet-smelling neck, rubbing her face so hard that Lizzie started to giggle. “That’s because you’re always right. It’s easy to support perfection.”

“Such good answers you give.” Lizzie cuddled up closer and tucked a blanket more fully around Jill. “Warm enough, boo?”

“Uh-huh. But you could make me warmer.”

Lizzie turned and looked into her eyes, a devilish grin making the corners of her mouth turn up. “Are you suggesting we get busy right here? In the dining room?”

“We haven’t made love on this sofa yet. How we’ve missed it is a mystery, but…” She popped her eyebrows up and down, always a way to make Lizzie laugh.

“I think I could be persuaded.” She cuddled closer, then placed a long, gentle kiss on Jill’s lips. “Oh, yeah, I’m already persuaded. You have amazing powers.”

“I have an amazing amount of love for you, Lizzie Davis. And touching you while looking at our tree is going to be the high point of the Christmas season. The twelve days of Lizzie.”

“I say we leave the lights on until Epiphany. That gives us a month to sit right here every night and dream.”

Jill placed her lips right next to Lizzie’s ear, a sure way to give her goosebumps. “My dreams came true the day I kissed you. Every day has been Christmas since then.”

Lizzie didn’t respond with words. She simply slipped her arms around Jill and pushed her down, while covering her with kisses. The perfect end to a perfect evening.

Lizzie was swamped leading
up to Christmas, with Hollyhock Hills putting a full-court press on their donors, trying to get them to give just a little bit more for that last minute charitable tax deduction.

That required more site visits, more tours, and more cocktail parties and luncheons. She was so tired that some nights they went to bed after just a few minutes sitting in the dining room, gazing out at their tree.

There were just two weeks left until Christmas, and Jill was starting to freak out. As they lay in bed that night, she said, “I know you haven’t had time to buy any presents for your family, so I’m willing to pitch in. Who should I start with? The younger kids?”

“Start what?” Lizzie asked, her voice already starting to slow down and get a little fuzzy.

“Coming up with ideas for gifts! Two weeks,” she said, holding up her fingers. “That’s no time at all.”

Lizzie blinked, her eyes taking on some sharpness. When she spoke, it was clear she’d shrugged off her sleepiness. “It’s all the time I need. We don’t give gifts to everyone. We’d go broke.”

“So what do you do?”

“Donna’s in charge. She creates a spreadsheet and makes assignments. This year I’m buying for Grace, Mark’s oldest, and Tim’s two-year-old Ava. Most of us just buy for one kid, but I take two, since I don’t have to buy for any of my own.”

“Just one gift for each kid?”

“Uh-huh. But we can spend up to a hundred bucks. That’s enough to get something good. And, yes I’ve already budgeted. I’ve got my money ready to go.”

“The kids don’t mind? I’d think they’d rather have gifts from six aunts and uncles.”

“If that happened, they’d get a pair of socks or something. We’ve got nineteen kids, Jill. Even those of us who do pretty well couldn’t keep up with that.”

“I guess that makes sense. How about your parents? Do you buy for them?”

“They don’t like us to spend money on them, so I make something. Want to help me make peanut brittle? That’s my dad’s favorite.”