by Julie Cannon
“Are you okay?” Kelly asked when Matt hadn’t moved to get on her bike. She was probably standing there with her mouth hanging open.
“Yeah, sure,” she replied, but she wasn’t. They were both laughing as they headed in the direction of the main road.
“It’s been ages since I’ve been on a bike,” Kelly said as she hit a small pothole in the asphalt. She wobbled, and Matt was afraid she might topple over, but she straightened up without mishap.
For Matt it had only been a few weeks since she and Jordan had taken their bikes on an eight-mile mountain trail. Once a month she and Jordan met some of his friends and their families, each group taking a turn picking the trail. Inevitably, Matt was usually the only woman on the ride and often left the men to eat her dust.
“I guess it’s true when they say it’s just like riding a bike. You never really forget how,” Kelly said.
Just like the sex I had last night.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to feel this tomorrow,” Kelly commented.
Again, just like the sex I had.
They followed the signs on the bike path that pointed the direction into town. The island didn’t have stop lights, just a series of roundabouts, and with cars coming in every direction, Matt had to concentrate to maneuver safely. She could smell the ocean, and the tall beach grass sprouting up in the white sand on the undeveloped lots thinned as they got closer to town.
They parked their bikes in front of a small souvenir store at the first set of buildings they came to.
Matt was grateful to get off her bike without dumping it on the side of the road. It had taken a few moments for her muscle memory to kick in, but that wasn’t why she had trouble keeping to the trail. Kelly was in front, her tight shorts and tank top providing an unobstructed view of her muscles as they pushed the pedals up and down. She came very near crashing into a light pole as her mind wandered to an image from last night of her riding Kelly’s ass to climax and reaching around to bring her along.
“You okay?” Kelly asked.
Matt flushed at the memory. “Yeah. Just a little out of shape.” A tiny fib, but she hoped it would explain her red face. She used the toe of her boat shoe to push the bike’s kickstand into position. Matt stepped forward to get away from Kelly’s scrutiny. “Let’s go in and see if they have any cold water. I’m thirsty.” What she really needed was to pour it over her head and down the front of her pants.
They wandered the aisles picking up a trinket here and there but not buying anything other than two bottles of ice-cold water. Then they went outside and sat on soft grass under a large tree, its canopy of limbs shading them from the intense sun.
“You handled your bike like you were a pro,” Kelly commented.
Matt had a hard time focusing on what Kelly was saying as she tipped her head back to let the water slide down her throat. A lone bead of sweat snaked its way down the side of her neck, and Matt was finding it hard to breathe.
“Are you all right?” Kelly asked again, a knowing look in her eyes.
“Yeah, fine,” Matt replied, probably a little too fast. “Just enjoying the view. It’s beautiful here,” she added as an afterthought.
“It is, isn’t it?”
The way Kelly was looking at her, Matt wasn’t sure either of them was talking about the weather. The light breeze blew strands of Kelly’s hair across her face, so she reached out and tucked it behind her ear, the move so intimate it jolted her.
Matt stood up and broke the silence. “I’m hungry. Let’s keep going and find someplace to eat.”
She offered her hand to Kelly, and when they touched, a jolt of heat shot through her and settled in her stomach. If it had gone any farther south, she might have pulled Kelly back down, this time on top of her and not beside her. But Kelly stood, and Matt reluctantly released her hand as they walked toward their bikes.
Several stops later they came to another stretch of shops, this one much larger than the others. They pedaled past a pet store, a realtor, a tattoo shop, and three small specialty-clothing stores. Matt pointed to a sign that proclaimed BIG AL’S BIKES, BURGERS AND BEER on a large sign above the front door.
“How does this place look?”
“Heavenly,” Kelly replied. “Especially the beer part.”
It was a little too warm to sit at the tables out front, and after they parked their bikes in the bike rack, they stepped inside. A blast of air-conditioning hit Matt full force, and she sighed with relief.
“Oh, man, that feels good,” she said, removing her sunglasses. The other stores they’d stopped at didn’t have air-conditioning, choosing to rely on the naturally mild weather, but the island was having an unusual warm spell today.
The restaurant wasn’t large, and inside to the left was a small bike shop with various styles of bicycles hanging on hooks from the ceiling. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, Matt saw that the area also contained several racks of shirts, shorts, and bike accessories. Boxes of helmets were stacked next to a glass cabinet containing high-end sunglasses. The shop smelled like bike grease and new tires.
“Wow. Never expected this.” Matt stepped around her, heading toward one of the bikes hanging above their heads. She turned the price tag around. “Ouch.” She grimaced and left the white tag spinning. “I’ll come back and look around after we eat. Maybe I can afford a sticker or something,” she said wryly.
“Have a seat anywhere, ladies,” a booming voice said from their right. Matt turned, and a big, dark-skinned man wearing a too-large T-shirt was waving them toward the tables.
“Where would you like to sit?” she asked Kelly.
The dining area contained tables and chairs for either two or four, some pushed together for larger parties. Booths with red cushions lined the wall adjacent to a large bar, with another half a dozen running along the windows. They had their choice since only one other space was occupied.
“Let’s sit by the window.” Kelly pointed to a booth in front of a large window.
The waiter took their drink order, and when he placed their beers in front of them, Kelly spoke.
“You could have stayed for breakfast, you know.”
Kelly didn’t have to explain what she was talking about. Though Matt had left her room and gone back to her suite shortly before dawn, she’d thought about staying. But she had needed some space and time to get her head around everything that had happened.
“I know.” Matt was unsure what to say next and struggled for the right words. No way was she going to tell Kelly that she was the first woman she’d had sex with since her wife died. Kelly made her heart gallop, her pulse race, and her head explode. She made her feel again. Matt had wanted those long-dormant feelings to go on forever, her drought unquenchable. This situation was unsettling. She absolutely would not tell her all that. It would be like telling her she’d taken her virginity, and that was heavy stuff.
Matt wasn’t confusing great sex with love; she knew better than that. Before she met Andrea, Matt had had a lot of casual sex. It didn’t mean anything, just a natural bodily reaction to a mutual attraction.
“How long ago did your wife die?”
Matt physically jerked.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that question. It’s none of my business.”
“No. It’s fine. Not many people actually ask.”
“It was really insensitive. Again, I’m sorry.”
“It’s like people are afraid that if they bring it up, it’ll make me sad.” Until the last few years, Matt had thought of Andrea every day. Lately it had only been now and then. She would never forget Andrea and what they’d had together, but her name wasn’t in every breath she took anymore. “It’s been a little over six years,”
“How long were you together?” Kelly asked, her tone soft.
“Nine years. We met in college.”
“Is it difficult to talk about her?”
Matt must have hesitated too long, because Kelly said, “I seem to be sayin
g all the wrong things.”
“No. It’s all right.” Matt smiled, reached across the table, and took Kelly’s hand. “It’s not that. It just seems a little weird to be talking about my dead wife with the woman I’m currently sleeping with.”
“Have you never talked about her before with other women?”
Kelly had no idea there had never been any other women.
“Not really. I’d rather focus on the present than the past.” Matt hoped this was a reasonable explanation.
“I’m sorry if I was a little clumsy.” Matt knew she was blushing. “I was a little out of practice,” she said, a large exaggeration of the truth. She didn’t think she had been, but still felt the need to offer an explanation. Kelly gave her one of her sexy, sultry looks that made her clit tingle.
“Oh, you were far from clumsy.” Kelly’s voice was husky. “You knew exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.”
That was a relief, Matt thought. She didn’t think she’d been all that bad. But as out of practice as she was, she still wondered.
“I wasn’t hinting for a compliment,” she replied, embarrassed.
“I know. That’s why I said it. I was just reiterating how fabulous you made me feel in words instead of moans and sighs and screaming your name.”
Kelly’s eyes burned, and Matt found it hard to breathe. This scene was almost surreal, like she was in a dream—a very vivid one, and she didn’t want to wake up. Not yet, at least. That would come when she got on her return flight.
“How are you?”
Kelly seemed surprised.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.” Matt smiled comfortably for the first time since sitting down. “I’m afraid I may have worn you out.”
Kelly’s face flushed, and her insides warmed at the memory of what had just happened. “Don’t you worry about me. There’s plenty where that came from.”
Matt was tempted to call for the check and race back to Kelly’s room for more of “that” but signaled the waiter over instead.
“I think we need to eat first.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“How long had you and the idiot Suzanne been together?” Matt asked Kelly after the waiter removed their plates and they each ordered another beer.
“Three years.” Why did it seem like much longer, Kelly asked herself.
“Did you see it coming?”
“No, but looking back on it, I’d say it was a waste of a couple of years. The first year was good. Everybody’s is.” Kelly toyed with the label on her beer. “All you do is fuck in every place and position imaginable. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. We didn’t live together, thank God. Something nagging in the back of my head stopped me from making that commitment. Eventually she stopped pushing, and, I guess, we just were. Until we weren’t.”
“Sorry for asking. It’s really none of my business.”
“No. It’s okay,” Kelly said. “Pretty quick I realized I wasn’t that broken up over it. Lorraine, on the other hand, is crushing.”
“That’s the ex-best friend?”
Kelly nodded. “I keep asking myself how she could have done that. Even if Suzanne came on to her, she should have said no. She should have told me, for Christ’s sake. If your friends can’t tell you the truth, what good are they? Isn’t that in their job description? Even if she didn’t want to tell me, she still should have said no. Who sleeps with their best friend’s girlfriend?”
Matt didn’t answer, Kelly’s questions more rhetorical.
“I just don’t get it. That’s what I struggle with the most. It’s not Suzanne. You don’t go after your girlfriend’s friends. Obviously, she didn’t read that chapter in the lesbian manual. I mean, this morning, Lorraine called again and left a long message. ‘It’s not what it looks like, blah, blah, blah. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen,’ yada, yada, yada. I didn’t see any gun to her head. I had no idea how long it had been going on, and I don’t want to know.”
“What did you do? When you found them?” Matt asked. “I probably would have killed someone, and it probably would have been a toss-up as to who.”
Suzanne had a key to her place, and Kelly had come home early intending to surprise her with courtside tickets for the basketball game that night. She was getting a bottle of water from the fridge when she heard noises coming from her bedroom. As she walked down the hall, she knew exactly what she was hearing. It was the same sounds and words Suzanne always said when she was about to come.
“Looking back on it now, I was prepared for what I knew I was going to see. I just had no idea it would be Lorraine.” She shook her head, the scene playing out in her mind like it was yesterday instead of a few weeks ago. Suzanne was on her knees, Lorraine fucking her from behind. They were obviously too busy to see her standing in the doorway.
Kelly retreated back down the hall and rummaged through Suzanne’s purse. She pulled out her phone and key ring. As Suzanne screamed Lorraine’s name, Kelly slid her house key off the ring and dropped it into her pocket. She erased her number from Suzanne’s phone and did the same to Lorraine’s, whose iPhone was on the coffee table next to a black lace bra she recognized as the one she gave Suzanne for her birthday a few months ago. The matching panties were on the floor by the couch.
“I didn’t feel shock or anger. Just disgust.”
She’d grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down on the couch, then flipped through the channels until she found an old episode of Friends. That was certainly apropos. One of them must have heard the TV and realized she was home, because shortly thereafter, Suzanne came out the bedroom tugging down her shirt and straightening her hair.
“Hi, honey.” Suzanne’s voice was sickly sweet. “I didn’t know you’d be home this early.” Her words ran together, her nervousness obvious. Kelly could tell she was trying not to look behind her to the bedroom. Kelly briefly wondered where Lorraine was hiding. Did she intend to sneak out after they’d left? Coward.
“That’s pretty obvious,” Kelly replied, her voice surprisingly calm. She watched as Suzanne’s eyes flitted around the room as if checking for evidence. Her face paled when she found it. Her eyes were wide when they met hers.
“I can explain,” Suzanne said.
Kelly put her hand up to stop her. “No explanation necessary, Suzanne. I saw everything I needed to.”
“But it’s not what it looks like.” Suzanne’s voice was almost pleading.
“I don’t think anyone would have any other interpretation of what was going on in my house and in my bed, and,” Kelly paused, “with my best friend. Oh, wait.” Kelly hesitated again. “With my ex-best friend.”
“It’s not her fault, Kel,” Lorraine said, coming out of the bedroom. Kelly wondered where she’d stashed her strap-on.
“Don’t blame Suzanne. It’s my fault this happened.”
Kelly laughed at the large red hickey on Lorraine’s neck. She pointed to it.
“And somehow Suzanne had nothing to do with the hickey on your neck?” Kelly asked, pretending skepticism.
Lorraine’s hand shot to her neck as she looked at Suzanne.
“Both of you get out of my house and my life. I don’t want to hear from either of you ever again,” Kelly said, as calm as if she were saying where they were going to dinner. The calm was worse than any raving she could muster.
“But,” Suzanne and Lorraine said simultaneously, making Kelly laugh.
“You come together, and you even say the same words at the same time. How cute. Now you can leave together. Get out.”
She turned up the volume and didn’t look at either of them as they gathered their things and closed the front door behind them.
“So, tell me more about playing lacrosse,” Matt asked.
Kelly was relieved she had changed the subject. She didn’t want to dwell on what was.
“It keeps me young and makes me feel old at the same time.”
“How so?” Matt asked.
�
�All the running helps keep me in shape, keeps the weight off. But the next day it takes a little longer to get out of bed and a few more minutes under the hot water in the shower.” Kelly loved the game and would play until she wasn’t able anymore.
“It’s a pretty physical game, isn’t it?”
“We’re all padded up, but yes. With sticks flying everywhere and a hard little ball sailing through the air, you’re bound to get a nick here and there.”
“Is that how you got that?” Matt pointed to her cheek.
Kelly unconsciously reached up and touched her face. “No. I got that when one of my brothers threw a stick at me.”
A warm smile filled Matt’s face, and Kelly’s heart skipped a little. It was doing that and more every time their eyes met.
“How many do you have?” Matt asked.
“Six.”
Matt’s eyebrows shot up. “Six?”
Kelly laughed. “That’s typically people’s reaction.”
“Where are you in the birth order?”
“Guess.” Kelly’s flesh heated as Matt studied her.
“You’re the baby.”
“Yes, I am, and let me tell you that in and of itself is a challenge.”
Matt imagined what it would be like for Kelly’s dates to have to run the gauntlet of six brothers just to get her out the door.
“The story goes that my mom told my dad, ‘You finally have your girl, and do not come near me with that thing again until you snip it.’” Kelly’s eyes sparkled at the memory.
Matt winced. “That’s a little TMI I’d never want to know about my own parents. Do you take after your mother?”
“That’s the funny thing. I’m just like my father. I look like him, have the same mannerisms, same temperament, same cowlicks, and used to get into the same trouble, everything.”
“And what does he think of that?”
“He wanted a little girl just like my mom. She laughs and points her finger at him and says, ‘You asked for it.’” Kelly pointed her finger at Matt for emphasis.
“Sounds like you’re close with your family.”
