With that, Shiloh stood up and looked over at Harley, who moved to stand with a grin on her lips and her blue eyes twinkling in subdued humor. They left the room and Shiloh held her tongue admirably all the way out to the car. Once there however, she exploded.
“What an asshole!” she yelled. “Oh my God, he’s such a fucking jerk. I could have just stuffed my foot right in his big stupid mouth! Argh!”
Harley leaned against the hood of her car, took out a cigarette, and lit it, watching Shiloh pace back and forth, ranting. It took five full minutes for Shiloh to calm down. When she finally did, she leaned next to Harley.
“I guess I’m probably gonna get yelled at by Rayden,” she said, her tone resigned.
“For what?” Harley asked.
“For my insult to that guy, ’cause you know he’s going to call her.”
“Probably,” Harley said, nodding.
“Well, fuck him. It was not okay for him to talk about you that way.”
A grin played at Harley’s lips. “You do seem a bit incensed about it.”
“That didn’t piss you off?” Shiloh asked.
Harley shrugged. “Not really.”
“Well, it pissed me off!”
“Apparently,” Harley said, her eyes dancing with amusement.
Shiloh pressed her lips together in consternation. “Was I really bad?”
Harley considered, but then shrugged. “Not too bad, no.”
“Well, I just don’t want anyone putting you down like that, it’s not okay,” Shiloh said, her tone reasoning.
“It’s not, huh?” Harley asked looking amused once again.
Shiloh narrowed her eyes at Harley. “Don’t make me smack you.”
Harley chuckled. “No, ma’am,” she said with amusement.
“Let’s go back to our office where I can bury this request in the bottom of the pile of requests you have,” Shiloh said, smiling.
Harley took one last drag off her cigarette, stubbed it out, and threw it in a trashcan nearby. Then she walked over to open the passenger door of the Z for Shiloh. Shiloh smiled up at Harley, then got into the car.
They were halfway back to the office when Shiloh got a call.
“It’s Rayden,” Shiloh said, grimacing.
She answered it, and Harley could hear her half of the conversation.
“Hi… Yes we did… Yes, I figured he would… Rayden, he was being a complete asshole… Sorry, I mean jerk…” She listened for a moment, then laughed, nodding. “Yeah he said with as much money as she makes she should be able to fit this in… Exactly! That’s what I told him… He was a major windbag… No, Sierra didn’t make the meeting… I know, I doubt he would have said that with Sierra there either… He did? Well, good, I’m glad he caught the disrespect I was giving him, because he didn’t give Harley any respect at all… I know… okay. I know, I’m working on a list for you… okay. Thanks… We’re headed back now. Okay… thanks again.”
She hung up then, looking relieved.
“So you’re not in trouble?” Harley surmised.
“No,” Shiloh said, grinning. “Rayden said that he tried to pull some kind of rank on her and she basically told him to remember who he was talking to, and that if he wanted one of her people to help him he’d better watch how talked to all of us.”
Harley laughed, nodding her head. “Yeah, that sounds like Rayden. She doesn’t take much shit from people.”
“I love that woman…” Shiloh said with a sigh.
“Careful,” Harley said with a wink. “Someone might think you’re serious.”
“Don’t make me smack you,” Shiloh said again, narrowing her eyes at Harley.
“Promises, promises,” Harley muttered.
They were both silent for a few minutes as music played on the stereo.
“Which song on here would you say is most you?” Shiloh asked curiously.
“Hmmm…” Harley murmured, looking thoughtful. She scrolled through the menu of songs and selected one.
A song began playing called “Everything to Everyone” by Everclear. The words were harsh and very self-critical. It bothered Shiloh that Harley felt like that song was her. The lyrics talked about her putting herself in stupid places and how she ended up making herself the victim. The song went on to talk about how she’s selling herself by trying to be everything to everyone. It said a lot about Harley and that she just couldn’t ever say no to anyone.
“You really think that song is you?” Shiloh asked as the song ended.
Harley glanced over at her, detecting the concern in Shiloh’s voice. She was puzzled.
“Yeah,” Harley said her tone guileless as she shrugged. “Pretty much seems like I’m always trying to please someone and never really succeeding totally.”
There was no sarcasm or anger in her voice, she wasn’t complaining about not being able to make people completely happy. It was like she was just stating a fact.
Shiloh looked over at the other woman for a long moment.
“I don’t think that’s true, Harley,” Shiloh said. “I just think that people always want way more than they should ever expect from one person.”
Harley looked over at her again, her look mystified. “You mean work, right?”
“I mean anything,” Shiloh said. “People think that you’re going to solve all their problems and make life perfect for them. You’re just one person.”
A slow, befuddled smile spread over Harley’s lips. “So you think it’s their fault that they don’t get what they want?”
“Yeah,” Shiloh said, nodding.
Harley nodded, looking unconvinced. “If you say so,” she said noncommittally.
“I say so,” Shiloh responded her tone inarguable.
Harley simply chuckled and shook her head.
Shiloh remembered what Devin had said about Harley not having a mean bone in her body. After spending the last couple of weeks with her, she thought Devin was definitely right. Harley extended her hand, figuratively speaking, to everyone; Shiloh had seen it time and time again. Most of the time people were very shocked by Harley’s ingenuousness; she was hardly the complete geek many of them expected. But she wasn’t exactly the slick, frank personality she could be either. With her education and experience, Harley could demand a much larger amount of money for what she did, but she seemed perfectly content doing what she was doing.
Insults and rude behavior most of the time seemed to bounce right off of her. Shiloh tended to think it was because Harley wasn’t paying attention, lost in her own mind. She found it endlessly amusing when someone would attempt to put Harley in her place, and instead of a reaction, they received a simple blank stare, or a seemingly serene look. Shiloh had come to find that the serene look always meant that Harley wasn’t paying attention; she was instead caught up in some thought in her head. Shiloh had a hard time keeping a straight face when people were taken aback by Harley’s reactions or lack thereof. She also had a hard time keeping a civil tongue when they were nasty to this woman who was as guileless as they came.
People at work came at Harley like she was the answer to every computer program problem they had, and that she could fix anything. It never seemed to occur to these people how much time their requests required, and how much work they were truly asking for. Because Harley wanted to help them and make them ‘happy,’ she would do her best, but sometimes there was just nothing that would help, or a program just couldn’t be altered the way they wanted. It was something that hung Harley up constantly and it was something Shiloh was trying to keep from happening.
A text message chimed on Harley’s phone a few minutes later. Harley pulled the phone out of her jacket pocket and Shiloh immediately grabbed it.
“Not while you’re driving,” Shiloh said, her tone chiding.
Harley grinned. “Okay, but my ADHD needs to know what the message was, so can you read it?”
Shiloh laughed. Harley always referred to her cognitive disorder as if were an actual person
. She found it funny and cute at that the same time.
“Your phone is locked,” Shiloh said.
“Seven six three two,” Harley said immediately.
“That desperate for a text message are we?” Shiloh asked as she entered the passcode.
“A… D… H… D,” Harley replied, measuring out the letters with a grin.
Shiloh laughed and pulled up Harley’s text messages.
“Looks like it’s from a Kimberly. She says, ‘When are we getting together?’ ” Shiloh said, glancing at Harley.
“How about never?” Harley replied. “No, don’t type that!” she said, laughing as Shiloh started to do just that.
“So you don’t want to get together with her?” Shiloh asked.
“No, she’s worse than Sheri was with the psychotic over-the-top paranoia. Thanks but no,” Harley said, smiling tightly.
“So you can say ‘no’ sometimes, huh?” Shiloh replied, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Well, yeah, it’s pretty easy to do in text,” Harley said, grinning.
“So do you want me to reply?” Shiloh asked, holding up the phone.
“No,” Harley said, shaking her head. “Replying implies interest.”
“Even if the reply is, um, ‘We’re not’?” Shiloh asked, grinning now too.
“For some lesbians, yes, exactly,” Harley said, rolling her eyes.
“Wow,” Shiloh said, widening her eyes.
She scrolled through the lists of texts Harley had. “You get a lot of text messages…”
“Lately again, yeah,” Harley said, nodding. She didn’t look the least bit concerned that Shiloh was holding her phone and looking at the list of text senders.
“Why lately?” Shiloh asked.
“I guess ’cause I’m single again,” Harley said, her voice holding no ego whatsoever.
“So they’re like circling sharks that smell blood in the water?” Shiloh asked.
“Or just desperate women looking for anything,” Harley said, her voice unaffected.
“You’re not just anything,” Shiloh said, once again not liking Harley’s self-denigrating.
Harley glanced over at her again, raising an eyebrow at her tone.
“Okay…” Harley said cautiously.
“Don’t give me that smile and nod at the crazy person tone!” Shiloh said her eyes narrowed at Harley. “I’m just saying that these women are probably interested in you because you’re awesome.”
“And you know that how?” Harley asked her look cynical.
“I’ve met you, remember?” Shiloh replied.
“Yeah, I remember,” Harley said, grinning. “And you’ve seen what a pain in the ass I am at work. Imagine that in a personal relationship,” she said then, her look wry.
Shiloh pressed her lips together disapprovingly. “I think you’ve let too many women tell you that there’s something wrong with the way you are, and it’s complete bullshit.”
“It is, huh?” Harley replied, grinning openly now.
“Yes, Harley Marie Davidson, it is.”
Harley pressed her lips together, widening her blue eyes comically. “The whole name now…” she said, chuckling.
“Don’t make me smack you,” Shiloh said, reverting to her usual threat when Harley was being difficult.
“I imagine that one day you’ll actually carry out that threat,” Harley said, laughing.
“With you, yeah, probably,” Shiloh said nodding and grinning at the same time.
She liked the sound of Harley’s laugh and it felt good to be able to tease her and be teased by her. It had been years since she’d had a close friend and she really liked Harley’s personality. When she wasn’t focused on a computer, she could be funny and ironic at the same time. It was great to have this kind of relationship with someone who was really her boss. She loved her job.
***
Dakota had given up on the Craftsman project, thinking that she’d come in too high. She did her best not to be too depressed about it, knowing that because she was still getting established, she didn’t necessarily have the reputation she needed to do this level of work. The bid had been a bit high, because she’d known she’d need to rent equipment that she didn’t have, and that it would require a higher level of expertise and consulting that would cost money.
“I’m just not there yet,” Dakota told Jazmine one evening as they sat eating dinner.
“You will be,” Jazmine said, her tone sure.
Dakota smiled. “Know that for a fact, huh?”
“Yep,” Jazmine said, smiling in return. “Hey, Savanna wants us to come to dinner tomorrow,” she said then. “She said the baby is getting cuter every second and you haven’t seen her in two weeks.”
Dakota chuckled. “Yeah, I bet,” she said. “I’m betting she wants something else done to the room.”
“Well, that’s possible,” Jazmine said “But you know she loves seeing you too.”
Dakota smiled, nodding.
Savanna and Lyric Falco were Dakota’s adopted mothers. They were the two women who’d adopted Cody many years before. When she’d met them months earlier, they’d taken her under their wings. At the age of twenty-four they’d done an adult adoption to make Dakota part of their family. Dakota had even taken Lyric’s last name of Falco out of respect. It was something she’d never expected to have; a family that loved her. Much like having one woman to love her, it had been an impossible dream.
The truth was, she loved Savanna and Lyric dearly, for all her blustering about changes to the nursery that she’d done. The baby, Anastasia, named after Lyric’s mother who’d died giving birth to Lyric, was the product of sperm from Lyric’s oldest brother Jacomo and Savanna’s DNA. She was an undeniably beautiful baby, with Savanna’s rich dark auburn hair and the blue Falco eyes. Dakota loved having a baby sister and was willing to do pretty much anything to make the child smile. It was something Jazmine found incredibly endearing about Dakota.
“What time does she want us there?” Dakota asked as she picked up their finished plates and took them to the sink.
“She said six,” Jazmine said.
Dakota nodded, pulling out her phone and checking her calendar. “Yeah, I should be able to make that. I’ll have to meet you there though.”
“Okay,” Jazmine said, nodding.
Dakota clicked back to her email and saw the new email that had just come in.
“Oh Holy hell…” Dakota breathed as she read the email standing in the middle of the kitchen.
“What?” Jazmine asked, moving to stand.
“I got it…” Dakota said, looking stunned.
“Got…” Jazmine started to ask. Then she saw the smile spreading over Dakota’s face and knew. “You got the Craftsman job?”
“I got the Craftsman job,” Dakota said, nodding as she smiled ecstatically.
“Oh my God!” Jazmine exclaimed and she threw her arms around Dakota.
Dakota hugged Jazmine tightly, her mind racing.
Jazmine stepped back looking up at Dakota, seeing that her mind was already working.
“When do you start it?” she asked.
Dakota shook her head. “I don’t know…” she said, looking back at her phone and rereading the email. “I meet the owner on Thursday. I guess that’s when we’ll talk about start dates… I can’t believe this…” Dakota said, her smile bright.
“I’m so happy for you, babe,” Jazmine said, ecstatic that Dakota was finally going to get to work on a project she was passionate about.
The next evening they were over at Savanna and Lyric’s house. Cody and McKenna were there as well. They were all sitting outside on the patio, Lyric, Cody, and Dakota were all smoking, since the baby was sleeping in the house.
“Get all that out of your systems,” Savanna said, motioning to her girls. “’Cause no one will be smoking when Ana wakes up.”
“We know, Mom,” Cody said, rolling her eyes.
“That’s why we’re doing it
now,” Dakota said, grinning.
“Instead of when Ana joins us,” Lyric added.
Savanna gave her girls a narrowed look. “You three are starting to finish each other’s sentences, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” she said, winking over at McKenna and Jazmine.
The other three Falcos grinned at each other as Savanna shook her head. After the nightmare of the not-too-distant past, when Lyric and Cody had been badly injured, Savanna was happy to have the life they had now. She looked around at the women sitting around the patio table, and smiled warmly. She couldn’t imagine their lives being any different. The addition of Dakota and the birth of their daughter seemed to complete the picture. Lyric and she were indeed very blessed. She caught Lyric’s look and smiled, she knew that Lyric could sense what she was thinking. She always could. It was one of the many things she loved about her wife.
She and Lyric had been married for almost ten years. They made a good pair. Lyric was a special agent supervisor for the Department of Justice, working on their human trafficking task force and Savanna was a clinical psychologist who worked with runaways. It had been Lyric who’d been willing to help Savanna when she was worried about a fourteen-year-old Cody, one of the girls in the group home she ran at the time. Savanna had been attracted to Lyric instantly, but Lyric hadn’t realized she was gay. Eventually Savanna managed to convince Lyric that the reason her numerous relationships with men never seemed right, was because she was gay. They two had been together ever since. Lyric had never even looked at another woman. Savanna was her one and only love. They’d adopted Cody shortly before getting married.
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