Aftershock

by K. G. MacGregor

  “I don’t care,” said Lauren. “I don’t like sweet drinks.”

  Lily made a face. “Me neither.”

  “I had a vodka martini once. It was pretty good, and it wasn’t sweet.”

  “I’ll try it,” Lauren shrugged.

  “Me too.”

  Lily had never been much of a liquor drinker, but found the chilled drink surprisingly refreshing. What wasn’t much of a surprise was the buzz she felt after the second. But why shouldn’t she celebrate on such a happy occasion?

  “This is a great party,” Lauren said. “Too bad Anna couldn’t come.”

  “Yeah . . . too bad. Anna can’t do anything but work,” she said, aware that her words weren’t coming out clearly.

  “Uh-oh,” Lauren said. “How many of these have you had?”

  Lily slammed back the drink in her hand, her fourth, and started again for the bar. “Not enough.”

  “Hold on.” Lauren caught her arm, but Lily shook free and continued, stumbling against the back of a sofa.

  She set her glass on the bar and motioned for one more just as Lauren caught up with her.

  “Your girlfriend’s going to kick my ass.”

  “She won’t even be home,” Lily scowled. She wasn’t sure what transpired over the next few minutes, but she found herself in the front seat of Lauren’s car.

  “Crack your window,” Lauren told her sternly. “No getting sick in my car.”

  Vaguely aware that Pauline was getting into the backseat, Lily contemplated the need to throw up and decided against it. The ride home was a blur, until the moment they pulled into the driveway and saw the dark house. Anna was making a night of it at her office. “Fuck.”

  Chapter 5

  Anna brushed the powder on her cheeks and checked her look. She was thrilled to finally have a chance to go out, and Tony’s wedding was a great occasion. She and Lily needed time together in the worst way.

  Things were going better at the dealership, but she found that her strategy sessions with Hal were consuming the day, and all the paperwork was waiting for her when the doors closed and the sales staff went home. Holly was doing a great job managing the inventory and getting cars out the door, but Anna was growing more and more frustrated with the unexpected errors in her paperwork. She had finally called her in on Friday night to talk about it, and Holly told her of her problems with dyslexia. There were ways to get around it, she said, and if Anna would be patient, she would come up with a new sales form by the end of next week. In the meantime, Anna had no choice but to check all of her contracts.

  “You’d better not be thinking about work, Amazon. You’re mine tonight.” Lily smiled accusingly at their reflection in the long bathroom mirror as they dressed for the festive occasion.

  “You got it, sweetheart.” Her cheeks reddened slightly at Lily’s seeming ability to read her mind. She didn’t dare confirm that her thoughts were still on her work, or that she was silently wishing she could spend just a few hours there tomorrow to catch up on the sales contracts.

  “Zip me?” Lily offered her back.

  Anna seized the moment to kiss her exposed neck and shoulder. “This is my favorite dress. I remember the first time I saw this dress.” Lily had worn it to dinner at Empyre’s that night after they ran into each other at the courthouse.

  “That was the first time I wore it. I bought it that afternoon because I didn’t have anything to wear to a fancy place like Empyre’s.”

  “You wore it like it was made for you.”

  “Off the rack at Bloomingdale’s in Sherman Oaks. Sandy and I both cut out of work that afternoon so she could help me find something. In fact, I had something scratching me in the rib all night, and when I got home, I found the tag still in it.” She chuckled at the memory. “I think I started falling in love with you that night.”

  Anna spun her around and kissed her deeply, wishing she could peel off the dress and lead Lily back into their bedroom. They hadn’t made love since last Sunday. “Let’s go get your boss married so we can come back here and get reacquainted.”

  “Our table is number eighteen,” Lily said, taking Anna by the hand to lead her through the maze. “Colleen put all of us from the office together, and I got her to add Sandy and Suzanne.”

  “That’ll be fun. Colleen made a beautiful bride. I loved her dress.”

  Lily pulled out two chairs and they sat. “One of these days, I’m going to make you show me your wedding pictures.”

  Anna groaned.

  “Because I can’t imagine a more beautiful bride than you.” During Tony and Colleen’s vows, she had caught a glimpse of Anna wiping a tear. “Did something bother you during the ceremony?”

  “Not really. I just thought it was very sweet.”

  Lily gently stroked Anna’s forearm and ducked lower to make eye contact. “Sure that’s all?”

  Anna covered her hand and squeezed. “I was listening to what they were saying to each other . . . and thinking about the big mistake I made with Scott.”

  “You need to let that go, sweetheart. It’s all in the past.”

  “I know. Especially since I’ve got the greatest partner I could ever have right here with me.”

  Lily’s heart surged at Anna’s sweet words. She looked around at the growing crowd in the ballroom. “Okay, people,” she said, her voice too low for others to hear. “Sit down and eat so we can wrap this up. I have to take this woman home and make love to her all night.”

  Suzanne pulled out the chair next to Lily. “That was great. Where’s the food?”

  Sandy joined them. “You should have heard Suzanne’s stomach growl right in the middle of the prayer.”

  “I haven’t eaten since midnight.”

  “That’s because you slept all day.”

  “That’s because I worked all night.”

  Anna stood. “I’m going to the bar. Anyone want a glass of wine?”

  “I’ll take one,” Sandy answered.

  Lily had been thinking she might not drink tonight. Yesterday’s hangover from the bridal shower had lasted till mid-afternoon. But she could get something to sip. “Maybe just a merlot.”

  She polished off her wine before hitting the buffet line, and washed down her meal with sparkling water. When they finished, she volunteered for the next bar run, deciding after all that the festive occasion warranted kicking back again and having a good time.

  “I guess I’ll have another,” Anna said, polishing off her first glass of wine.

  Lily picked up their empties and made her way through the crowd to the bar.

  “Lily! How are you?”

  “Andrew, hi. Don’t you clean up well!” Andrew Shively was a sergeant with the LAPD, and a frequent volunteer for Kidz Kamp, the group that treated foster children to weekend outings in the great outdoors.

  “You’re one to talk. That’s a great dress.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Are you and Anna doing any Kidz Kamp trips this summer?”

  “I think we’re down for August, but I’m not sure.” She placed the empty glasses on a tray and turned toward the bar. “I’d like two glasses of merlot . . . on second thought, make that one merlot and one vodka martini.”

  “Would you like that with an olive or a lime?” the tuxedoed woman asked.

  “Lime sounds good.”

  “You should try a kamikaze,” Andrew suggested.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s vodka, triple sec and lime juice. You can get it on the rocks or as a shooter. Go ahead, try one. I’m buying.”

  “Okay, I’ll try a shooter.”

  “Make it two.” The bartender expertly poured the two liquors and added a splash of lime juice. Lifting his shot glass, Andrew offered a toast. “To Tony.”

  “To Tony.” Lily threw her head back and slammed the shooter, not prepared for the clenching sensation in her chest as the drink reached its mark. “Wow! That was good.” Turning back to the bartender, she amended her order yet
again. “Okay, make it one merlot and one kamikaze on the rocks.” As Andrew walked away, she ordered one more shooter and downed it at the bar.

  By the time she returned to the table, Tony and Colleen had taken to the dance floor for the ceremonial first dance. Gradually, couples joined them on the floor, but Lily held back.

  “Are we going to dance?” Anna asked, looping her elbow through Lily’s and giving her a tug.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I should ask Tony if it’s all right. I don’t want to freak his mother out.”

  Sandy stood up and pulled Suzanne from her chair. “It is. He told me earlier he expected to see us out there on the dance floor.”

  “In that case . . .” Lily got up and steered Anna toward the crowd, vaguely aware she was feeling the effects of her drinks. “I don’t get this chance very often.”

  Anna folded into an embrace on the dance floor. “No, the only other time we’ve done this was the Christmas party at Premier.”

  “I remember. And then you took me home and fucked my brains out.”

  Anna’s eyebrows went up in evident surprise at her brash statement. “Yes, I did.”

  “Are you going to do that again tonight?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Lily turned her face into Anna’s neck and began to kiss her. “Good. Can we leave yet?”

  “I think it might be a little early.” Anna reached behind her and stilled Lily’s wandering hands. “But we’ll definitely go before we scandalize Tony’s wedding.”

  The music stopped and they parted, sharing a look of heated desire. “Are you ready for another glass of wine?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there in a second.”

  Lily returned to the bar yet again, downing a shooter before heading back to the table with a cocktail on ice.

  “What is that you’re drinking?” Anna asked.

  “It’s called a kamikaze. Andrew Shively told me about it. It’s got vodka . . . lime . . . and something else. I forget what. Want one?”

  “No, thank you. I’ll stick to my wine.”

  Anna turned in her seat to converse with Lauren and her husband, but Lily had other ideas. She leaned over Anna’s shoulder and whispered, “I want my tongue inside you when you come.” She followed that with a wet flick to the ear.

  Anna suddenly stood. “I think Lily and I need to be going. We’ve both got a lot to do tomorrow to get ready for the week.”

  As excuses went, that one sounded pretty lame, but Lily didn’t care. All she wanted was to get home as soon as possible.

  Anna took the wheel of the sports car and Lily stretched across the console to press a hand underneath her dress.

  “If you don’t stop that, I’m going to kill us both,” she said, retrieving Lily’s hand from her crotch.

  “But what a way to go.” She could see the streetlights going past, and fought a wave of nausea as the car spun around a corner. “I have to pee.”

  “We’re almost home.”

  She heard the garage go up and struggled to sit upright. Twice she tried to open the door as Anna was disengaging the lock and it stuck. When it finally sprang free, she got out and made a beeline for the side door, impatient for Anna to unlock it. Once inside, she dashed into the closest bathroom, the one between the family room and the kitchen.

  “I’ll lock up,” Anna called.

  Lily finished and started up the stairs to their bedroom, kicking off her heels halfway up. By the time she reached the top, she had wriggled out of her dress and dropped it in a heap on the landing. She turned the corner and stumbled to the bed, stripping off the last of her clothes. Lovemaking . . . that would have to wait until tomorrow.

  Anna folded the sports page to read the story on last night’s Dodgers game. It would be great to get to the ballpark one of these days, she thought, but that didn’t look possible anytime soon, not with the extra duties at work.

  From her seat by the pool she saw movement in the kitchen, and almost wished she had gone on to her office after breakfast. Her irritation about last night might have subsided if she hadn’t sat and stewed about it all morning while Lily slept in. But they needed to talk, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  Lily emerged from the French doors onto the patio, a mug of coffee in her hand. She was barefoot, dressed in one of Anna’s button-down collar shirts, its long tail hanging to the top of her thighs. Her wet hair was slicked straight back, evidence she had tried to wash away the remnants of last night’s celebration.

  Under other circumstances, Anna would have smiled and said something flirtatious.

  “Hi,” Lily said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

  “Good morning,” Anna responded coolly. “Sleep well?”

  “Yeah, how about you?”

  “All right, I suppose.”

  “Are you ready for a refill?” Lily gestured at Anna’s empty mug.

  “No, thank you,” she answered formally, not sure of how to broach her displeasure.

  Lily rummaged through the paper for the main news section. “Listen to this. ‘In a sixteen-hour procedure, a team of surgeons in Johannesburg successfully separated eight-week-old Sudanese twins joined at the hip and thigh. The infants, in critical but stable condition, were rejoined with their parents in the Sudan.’”

  Anna had seen the story, but realized Lily was playing it for laughs. She wasn’t in the mood for it.

  “Get it? Siamese twins rejoined with their parents?”

  She still wouldn’t answer.

  “Like, what’s the point of separating them from each other if you’re just going to rejoin them to someone else?”

  “I get it,” Anna said sharply. “I guess I don’t find it funny.”

  Lily laid the paper down and looked at her. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

  From behind the sports page, Anna answered matter-of-factly. “You fell asleep on me last night.”

  “And I’m getting the cold shoulder for that?”

  Anna sighed. “It hurt my feelings, Lily. I finally got some time off for us to be together and we wasted it.”

  Lily tossed the paper back onto the stack. “Your work schedule isn’t my fault. I’m sorry I fell asleep. I guess I partied too much. But if you want more of me, you could always spend more time at home.”

  “You know how busy things are at work right now. I don’t want to be gone so much, but I have to be, at least until things are running smoothly. And you said you understood that.”

  “I do. But that doesn’t mean we do everything on your schedule.”

  Last night wasn’t the only problem, but it was symptomatic of something else that had begun to cause Anna concern. “Lily, you’ve been partying a lot lately. You got tipsy at Empyre’s a couple of weeks ago, then last weekend you couldn’t drive home from Sandy and Suzanne’s.” There was also the night of the bridal shower, when Anna had found Lily asleep by nine thirty, and smelling strongly of alcohol.

  “Are you suggesting I have a drinking problem?” Her defensive tone was unmistakable.

  “No, but it isn’t like you to drink as much as you have lately. I guess I don’t want it to turn into a problem.”

  “It won’t, Anna. But don’t expect me just to jump in your lap whenever you snap your fingers and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a minute.’”

  The ring of the kitchen phone ended the conversation abruptly, and Lily walked briskly back into the house.

  Anna felt awful. All she had wanted was a chance to express her concerns, and instead, she had practically accused Lily of being an alcoholic. On top of that, she had gotten a loud and clear message that her workload was the reason they hadn’t been connecting recently. At that moment, she made the decision not to go to her office after all. She didn’t like feeling as if there was something between them.

  When she heard Lily hang up the phone, she got up and followed her into the kitchen. “Who was that?” she asked, trying to sound more cheerful than before.

&nb
sp; “That was Mom. She wanted to remind us that she and Bill are coming next weekend. He’s got that oncology conference in Long Beach.”

  “It’ll be great to see her again. So what’s the story with Bill?” Last Anna had heard, Eleanor and Bill were dating, but tentative.

  “I get the feeling that fizzled. She doesn’t talk about it anymore. They’re obviously still friends, but he’s going to stay at the conference hotel, and she’s going to stay here.”

  Anna stepped behind Lily, slipping her hand under the shirttail to stroke the flat stomach. “So how would I go about getting on your dance card today?”

  Anna sank wearily into her chair and picked up the blinking line. “This is Anna Kaklis.”

  “Anna, it’s Ted Kimble. How are you?”

  “Doing great.” Ted owned the BMW and Volkswagen dealerships in Palm Springs, and his success was proof that Premier could benefit from expanding their line to include another German brand. Premier and Kimble often swapped BMWs when customers wanted a certain color or package not in inventory. Soon, they could do that with VWs too. “What can I do for you?”

  “I heard a rumor you guys were interested in Volkswagens.”

  Anna stiffened. “I’m not at liberty to talk about my interests, Ted.” And she was steamed that someone at Sweeney had apparently violated their confidentiality clause. If Kimble jumped into the mix, the price would surely go up.

  “I know, but I’m not calling about Sweeney. I’m calling to give you a heads-up in case you’re interested in bidding on Desert Import Motors.”

  “Are you getting out of the business?”

  “Let’s just say your father was very lucky to have someone like you who wanted to step into his shoes. My youngest just followed her brother to medical school on the East Coast, so there’s no point in trying to build a legacy dealership out here in the desert.”

  This was exactly what Anna had envisioned for Premier, though her business plan called for further expansion in three years. Still, it was a golden opportunity to acquire two top-notch dealerships in the same region. “Where are you in the process?”