Everything but the Girl

by Saxon Bennett

  Then Joy overthought it. “Are you sure you’re ready? My heart can’t take being the passing fancy of a rebound.”

  “Let it be. I love you,” Carol said, and kissed her passionately. “Believe me now,” she whispered in Joy’s ear. Then she kissed Joy’s ear and Joy’s blood turned to melted butter.

  “We better stop, or I’ll be taking you on that couch,” Joy said.

  “Oh, you think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “We’d have to move the cat,” Carol said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The dining room table looked marvelous when Joy got home.

  She had been showing five houses to a couple of gracious and funny gay guys. She knew they would be specific in their wants, but they also had a lot of money at their disposal. This would be a big commission. The entire time she had been with them, she had been so distracted that she had to confess to the boys that she was in love and that her lover was waiting for their first real date. They understood perfectly.

  “We can look some more tomorrow because right now we need a florist and a Body Works shop for bath salts and lotions. Flowers, bath, oh... and Godiva chocolates! We have to go shopping, girl,” Todd had said. By the time they were done, Joy had a boatload of gifts for Carol.

  Carol was delighted that Joy had added her own flair to their romantic evening. “That was so sweet of you, and you were on such a tight schedule!” Carol laughed as Joy recalled the story, “Only gay boys.”

  Joy felt shy. Carol must have sensed this because she came across the kitchen and kissed her passionately. Joy’s shyness vanished. So did any desire to have dinner. She wanted Carol this second.

  They kissed their way to the white couch. “I have wanted to touch you for so long. I just didn’t know what to do about it. I didn’t want to scare you,” Carol said.

  “You felt this way, too? I’ve fallen completely in love with you. I tried not to,” Joy said.

  Carol pulled back. “Why didn’t you want to fall in love with me?”

  “Because you’re beautiful and used to excitement and the art culture and I’m not exciting like Debra.” Joy looked away. She still believed she wasn’t in Carol’s league. She thought Carol would grow bored with her and then she would be left alone, feeling worse than she ever had.

  Carol kissed away her fears. She whispered, “I love you. I don’t love anyone else. Just you. Always you.” She looked straight into Joy’s eyes. “Only you. You are the kindest person I’ve ever met. I don’t want drama; I want what we have now. I want us to be best friends with benefits. Debra was an ego maniac, self-absorbed, unkind, and even cruel at times. Why would I want that anymore? I didn’t see it until she left me. Then it was like I saw her true self and it was an ugly one. I want you. I’ve wanted you for a long time.”

  Carol slipped her hand under Joy’s blouse and beneath her bra, circling her nipples and bringing them to attention. “You have lovely breasts. I’ve been admiring them for some time now,” she said as she unbuttoned Joy’s blouse.

  Joy moaned softly as Carol caressed her breasts and ran her fingers down Joy’s stomach, sending quivering waves of desire. Joy handed herself over to Carol. Carol pulled Joy’s blouse from her shoulders. “Lovely.” She pushed Joy back onto the couch and took her in her arms.

  “Are we necking?” Joy asked. “Before dinner?”

  “Dinner can wait. I want you now,” Carol said, her voice husky. She kissed Joy, their tongues intertwining. Carol gently pulled Joy to a sitting position, got down on her knees, and helped Joy remove her trousers. Joy quivered at her touch.

  Carol ran her hands up Joy’s naked thighs and then she kissed down her stomach until she reached Joy’s sex. She took her in her mouth. Joy moaned. Carol’s tongue flicked over her special spot, sending waves of lust, desire, and love all rolled up until an enormous jolt shot through her body. She put her hand on Carol’s head. “You have to stop. You’ll give me a heart attack.”

  Carol looked up and smiled. “I pleased you?” she said.

  “Oh, my god. Now I want some of this,” Joy said, pulling at Carol’s shirttail. Carol took Joy’s hand and led her to her bedroom. “I guess my room will be the guest room from now on.”

  “Yes, my darling one,” Carol said. “From now on you are sleeping in my bed.”

  “Had we known this was going to happen, we could’ve saved ourselves some money and gotten a one bedroom.”

  Carol chuckled. “Had we known.”

  Joy lay on the bed and watched as Carol slowly undressed herself in the ambient light of candles. Joy noticed the candles. “You had this planned out?”

  “Of course. I wanted this evening to be one we remember. We’ll be old, sitting on our porch, telling the story of how we met and then how we made love by candlelight.”

  Joy couldn’t concentrate on what Carol was saying; she was so beautiful and grew more lovely with each removal of an article of clothing. When she was naked, she brazenly climbed onto Joy’s stomach. “I need you inside me,” Carol said.

  Joy inserted her fingers and Carol thrust against them hard and fast, her lust evident. Joy thought her heart might explode with love. It was love. It was lovemaking. It was being in love.

  Carol came hard, falling exhausted upon Joy. She kissed her. “I’m calling that an appetizer,” Carol said.

  And then they made love again.

  And again.

  Finally, they had dinner as a midnight snack, then went to bed and made love again. Joy had never been loved so completely.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “How do I look?” Joy asked Carol. They were dressing for the Thanksgiving dinner with Beryl and Fern.

  “You look beautiful. Why are you worried about what to wear? Fern wears fairy wings,” Carol said.

  “Because Beryl wears an ascot and a smoking jacket. I can only imagine what she wears for an occasion like Thanksgiving. I feel bad that we’re not bringing anything,” Joy said.

  “Fern said not to. But no worries, I got some flowers and a bottle of Merlot. We’re covered,” Carol said.

  Joy touched Carol’s cheek. “You’re always so thoughtful.”

  “You make me feel that way,” Carol said. “You make me feel good about life and good about myself. You saved my life.” She punctuated the statement by kissing Joy fiercely.

  “Do that again and we’ll miss dinner,” Joy said. She felt something rub against her leg. She looked down. It was Beans.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll bring you a doggy bag,” Carol said. “Or rather a kitty bag with some turkey.” She picked up the cat. “I wish we could bring him. I hate leaving him alone.”

  Joy laughed. “You’ll make a great mother someday. He goes to work with you every day and we don’t leave the house except for work. He’s hardly neglected.”

  Carol stared at her.

  “What?” Joy asked, alarmed.

  “You think I’d make a good mother? How would you feel about having a child?”

  This time Joy stared at Carol.

  Carol waited. It was a big decision.

  “I’d love to have a child with you,” Joy said.

  Carol set Beans down and scooped Joy up in her arms. “I know we’re moving kind of fast. Things will roll out the way they should because I love you so much.”

  Joy beamed. “We have to get married first so we can’t move that fast.”

  “We better get to dinner before we elope,” Carol said.

  ***

  Joy smirked at Carol when they walked into Beryl’s apartment. Beryl was dressed in a tweed three-piece suit with her hair slicked back. She looked like someone out of the 1930s or ‘40s. If she ever left the house, Joy was certain she would have worn a dark brown fedora. She wasn’t wearing her monocle this time. Perhaps she only needed it to drive—weird but plausible, Joy thought.

  Fern was delighted with the flowers. She skipped toward the kitchen and without having to be asked where one might locate a vase, Beryl cal
led after her, “Top shelf, east corner of the kitchen.”

  They behaved as a couple who’d been together so long they knew what the other was going to say before they said it. Joy hoped she and Carol would get to be like that one day. She pondered Carol and the motherhood thing as Beryl poured them both a sherry.

  Joy had never had sherry. It was served in a small, fragile-looking, crystal glass. Joy held it firmly. Sherry was okay, she decided. Beryl’s apartment reminded her of the kind of place Stephen in The Well of Loneliness would have. It was disconcerting, yet interesting. Dinner was going to be a treat with a fairy and time traveler.

  “Nice year,” Beryl said as she inspected the bottle of Merlot Carol had brought. “I’ll get it breathing.”

  Fern returned with a Waterford crystal vase overflowing with the bright flowers. She set it in the middle of the carefully laid place settings. The table was beautifully done, with gold cutlery, crystal glasses, and fine china in a delicate rose pattern. They were going to eat by candlelight: crystal candelabras added another touch of refinement. What a gorgeous table Beryl and Fern had set for them! The flowers were the coup de grace.

  Carol knew how to make things more beautiful no matter where she went. This would be Joy’s life now: surrounded by beauty, dreams, friendship, and love.

  Joy wished that Fern and Beryl would stop this ridiculous unrequited love nonsense. She could tell they adored one another. Just fall in love already! That could have been her and Carol—the ridiculously unrequited.

  “Don’t they look pretty?” Fern exclaimed. She was dressed to the nines in a fairy outfit. Her wings were made of gold lame. The rest of her was all green taffeta paired with her ever-present green glittery high-tops.

  “You look very pretty yourself,” Carol said. “I like your wings.”

  “They’re my dress outfit. I think it adds pop and glamour all at once,” Fern said.

  Beryl returned from the kitchen. She studied the placement of the flowers. “Very nice, dear,” Beryl said approvingly.

  Joy finished her sherry and declined an offer for another. “I’ll have wine with dinner,” she said.

  Carol was braver and had another. This seemed to please Beryl. Fern went to check on the turkey.

  “Thank you so much for cooking for us,” Joy said.

  “Oh, we didn’t; we had it catered. I’m afraid neither of us enjoy cooking. A Thanksgiving dinner would be out of our ken,” Beryl said.

  “Carol is my savior. She’s a great cook,” Joy gushed. She was in that first phase of love when your beloved can do no wrong and all you can think about are their good points. Some lovers can still see the good points in each other after years. Joy wanted her and Carol to be like that... keeping the optimism and enjoyment in their relationship after years and years. She thought they had a good start already. They had tested out living together and it had all worked out so perfectly. Joy had never been happier.

  “Dinner is officially served. Ladies, please take your places at the table,” Beryl instructed Carol and Joy. They offered to help but it was rebuffed.

  “We’ve got this covered,” Fern said, catching a wing on the doorway into the kitchen.

  The table was set with four chairs and an extension leaf had been inserted to allow for all the food, flowers, and candles. Amazingly, it all fit. Joy smelled the meal and her tummy rumbled.

  “Someone is hungry,” Carol said.

  “I wanted to save room for all this wonderful food,” Joy said.

  “I didn’t let her get away without having breakfast. We had smoothies,” Carol said.

  “It’s good to take care of each other like that. Fern is my minder and my rock,” Beryl said, looking across the table at Fern. Their love for one another was clear.

  Joy was dying to know their story because it could’ve been her story had Carol not kissed her and tumbled her into bed. “How come you two never got together? If it’s too personal just say so.”

  “Oh, my dear, it’s a lovely story,” Beryl said.

  “Yes, a wonderful story,” Fern said. “That we’re not going to tell you. Just kidding.”

  “Fern,” Beryl reprimanded.

  “Fern and I had known each other for years. You see, I was studying the existence of fairy myths in other cultures. I went to a fairy group over in the Tenderloin and we met. I wanted to know how fairies in first world countries behaved versus fairies in third world countries.”

  “She interviewed me. We clicked instantly but we were both in relationships; the love of your life kind. It’s like you immediately knew we would have been lovers in another lifetime, just not in this one,” Fern said.

  “We kept in contact over the years. My wife died. Then the apartment next door came up for offer. I told Fern about it and she moved in. We’ve had our affair of the heart ever since. It’s worked out beautifully,” Beryl said.

  “I thought it was unrequited love,” Joy said.

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” Beryl asked.

  “Because we don’t live together,” Fern said, passing the turkey platter to Carol.

  “Well yes,” Joy said.

  “You know... as you get older you like things just so. Beryl and I were fifty-eight when we became lovers. You get set in your ways and there can be friction and icky feelings,” Fern said.

  “Did you fall in love before or after you moved next door?” Carol asked as she passed the turkey platter to Joy.

  “We fell in love in the letters we wrote to each other every day. We poured our hearts out. It was wonderful. I still have all of them. We keep meaning to do something with them,” Fern smiled adoringly at Beryl.

  “You could put them all in a scrapbook,” Joy said.

  “There’s quite a few letters, dear,” Beryl said. “We wrote every day for seven years.”

  “That must be a remarkable record of your lives,” Joy said, once again thankful for not having to have such a long courtship. She would have burst with love by then.

  Perhaps she and Carol had burst with love and now that it was out in the open, Joy felt a happiness she had never before experienced. Carol was her one and only. The love of her life.

  “It’s been a most wonderful affair,” Beryl said. “I hope that you all find the same happiness that we have.”

  “We will,” Carol and Joy said at the same time.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “What do you mean she walked out on the house?” Joy asked Cindy, her realtor friend she had asked to take the listing for Debra’s girlfriend—the sugar mama. The woman had broken up with Debra and decided to forego the house. “‘It’s too big for me all on my lonely. I wanted it so I could have an artist’s salon with Debra at its head. But that woman’s ego and credit card bills are big red flags. I’ll find me another artist and when I do, I’ll call you for another go around,’ is what she said,” Cindy replied.

  “That sounds positive, someone with her money and potential to supply patronage, you’ll sell her one. I’m so sorry I put that on you,” Joy said.

  “Rumor has it you have a girlfriend,” Cindy said brushing it off.

  “And how do you know that?” Joy asked, adjusting her cell phone to the other ear.

  “Angela told me while I was getting a trim.” Cindy was meticulous about her hair—the smart, sexy cut combined with nice boobs made her a great real estate agent. She always said, ‘use all your assets,’ and, in her book, tits were part of her arsenal.

  “Debra’s out of the picture?” Joy asked nervously.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. After what she did to Carol, she won’t take her back,” Cindy told her, sensing Joy’s apprehension. Cindy had hit the nail on the head, saying exactly what Joy had just been thinking. If Debra was single again, and poor, would she, could she, woo Carol back? Would Carol go?

  “Don’t think they’re going to get back together, if that’s what you’re thinking. According to Angela, you have no worries. She says Carol adores you. Joy, you’re smart and pret
ty and kind. Debra is a self-centered bitch. I saw that mural. If I were Carol, I would never forgive her,” Cindy declared.

  “You’re right. I’m just so happy. I’ve never been this happy and content and just... everything,” Joy said by which she meant the sex which was stunning. They kept surprising and delighting each other in bed.

  “Speaking of being happy, I need a huge favor from you. I’m double-booked and if you could show the one house for me while I do the open house on another...”

  “Sure, who are they?” Joy said.

  “The Millers and they are the absolute nicest couple, but they don’t live here. They live in Cleveland. He’s retiring and they’ve always wanted to live here. They fly back this afternoon.”

  “Of course. And Cindy?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks for the heads up on Debra,” Joy said.

  “Just enjoy being in the throes of passionate new love,” Cindy said.

  “You’ve got to stay away from those romance novels,” Joy said.

  “They’re the only romance I have in my life.”

  ***

  Carol and Joy were sitting on the couch sipping wine and doing what they’d done for the last month: have a glass of wine and foreplay on the couch, followed by massive lovemaking the rest of the evening.

  “I have a request of you,” Joy said as she nipped at the shell of Carol’s ear.

  “And what might that be? I’m up for almost anything.”

  “Yes, you are. This is of a more practical issue.”

  Carol sat up straight, “Issue? What does that mean?” she said her voice panicky.

  “Calm down. It’s nothing too horrid. Although, I am going to marry you one of these days. But right now, what I want is a new couch. I hate this one.”

  Carol laughed. When she stopped sputtering she said, “You scared me. Your request is a new couch and I just got a future marriage proposal.”

  “You’re going to be the one getting down on one knee,” Joy teased.