Aftershock

by K. G. MacGregor

  Settled on this strategy, she watched and waited from her position in the tub. But as soon as the limo pulled away, a second car appeared, this one parking next to the garage and turning off the lights.

  “Come on, boy. Let’s go see mommy!” The woman’s voice was familiar, but Lily couldn’t place it. Whoever it was had obviously kept Chester while Anna was gone.

  “There’s my boy!” It was Anna’s voice again at the side door. “Hey, fella.”

  “I’d say he missed you.”

  “I missed him too. Thanks for bringing him tonight, Holly. Come on in.”

  Holly. Lily’s stomach roiled with jealousy that Anna had seemingly filled the void in her life with new friendships.

  The light came on in the kitchen and Holly walked through. Anna followed and lifted the panel on the doggie door. Within seconds, Chester dashed out from around the side of the house. He ran through the yard while Anna and Holly stayed in the kitchen to talk. As Anna ducked her head into the refrigerator, Holly walked outside through the French door Lily had left unlocked.

  Lily slid lower into the tub so she wouldn’t be seen.

  “Look at him go. I wonder if he’ll find anything interesting,” Holly said to Anna as she came out.

  Oh, fucking hell! Lily peered toward the house where the women had taken seats at the umbrella table. On a night as warm as this one, they might sit and talk for hours. Her skin would be pruned by then.

  She was startled by the sudden arrival of Chester, who began to growl and yip playfully. “Go away!” she whispered.

  Instead, he darted forward and back, as if expecting her to throw a toy.

  “Chester, if you ever loved me . . .”

  Anna stood and clapped her hands. “Chester, come here!”

  As he dashed back to Anna, Lily blew out a breath of relief. She couldn’t hear what the women were saying, but they briefly embraced and kissed each other’s cheek. Her feelings of jealousy about their friendship gave way to relief that Holly was leaving.

  Holly stopped at the gate and turned. “Are you going to come in tomorrow, or should I pretend I haven’t seen you?”

  “Let’s play it by ear,” Anna said. “If I don’t come in, you didn’t see me.”

  “It’s a deal. Welcome home, boss. So long, Chester.” Holly patted the dog’s head and walked out through the back gate.

  Lily rejoiced momentarily in her reprieve, though she still wasn’t sure how she would get into the house for her clothes. Even if Anna went back inside, she would have to wait for her to go upstairs. Suddenly Anna stood and peeled her shirt over her head. Oh, fuck! Lily realized with horror that she was probably coming to the hot tub.

  But she wasn’t. Anna tossed her slacks over the chair and stepped slowly into the shallow end of the heated pool.

  Lily craned her neck to watch as the shapely form disappeared inch by inch beneath the surface. Sliding slowly around the rim of the hot tub, she positioned herself where she could watch with a low risk of being seen.

  Mesmerized by the sight, she thought back to the times they swam together late at night. Often, they played and teased one another in the water until things turned serious. Caught up in the memories, Lily almost got up the nerve to slip over the small waterfall that divided the pool from the hot tub.

  But after only a few laps, Anna stood at the shallow end and stepped out of the water. She gathered up her clothing and walked toward the house. “Come on, boy. Let’s go to bed.”

  Things were more complicated now, Lily realized, because it would be awkward to explain why she had stayed hidden. She would definitely have to sneak in and get her clothes without Anna knowing.

  But that option vanished as soon as Anna walked back into the kitchen—and locked the door.

  Oh, shit! Lily suddenly remembered that her house key was in her backpack, inside the now locked house. She watched as the lights downstairs gave way to those in the master suite. Her skin now wrinkled, she climbed out of the hot tub, retrieving her towel from underneath the bush where she had thrown it earlier. After tiptoeing to the house, she verified that the kitchen door was indeed bolted, as was the door leading to the family room.

  On the off chance that Anna had left the side door open, Lily slipped outside the gate into the driveway. Suddenly, the motion detector on the porch light illuminated her presence for the neighbors or anyone who might be driving down the street. With mounting frustration, she decided she didn’t care who saw her wandering around outside wrapped in a towel, as long as it wasn’t Anna.

  Shit. That side door was locked too.

  Returning to the backyard, Lily weighed her options. She could start pounding on the door, but then she would have to explain what she was doing out there without her clothes. And worse, she would be hard-pressed to come up with a good reason for not announcing herself earlier. Why hadn’t she just called out when Anna and Holly had come outside?

  Because she was out there naked and she didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Anna’s new best friend.

  The kitchen window! Anna usually left it cracked to allow the fresh air in. Lily slinked around the side of the house to test her theory.

  Damn. The place was like Fort Knox. The kitchen windows were the only ones on that side, and there were none in the back of the house. Her only other options were the windows along the well-lit driveway or those in the front yard. Out of choices, Lily started toward the front of the house.

  Then she saw it, like a gift from the heavens. There along the ground was exactly what she needed—Chester’s doggie door. She stooped down to feel the opening. Anna had left the panel out so Chester could come and go at night. The hole was small, but she was sure she could fit through it.

  Gripping the towel in front so it was tightly wrapped, Lily knelt down and poked her head through the opening. The house was completely dark downstairs, and she could barely make out the sound of the hair dryer running in the master bath. She couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. Anna wouldn’t hear her, and she could slip in and out without her even knowing she had been there.

  She tried to get her shoulders through the hole, but it was too small. She backed out and started through again with her arms straight ahead. The door was taller than it was wide, so she turned on her side to make it easier. Pushing with her feet, Lily made slow progress. The towel was part of the problem, bunching up and creating a logjam just underneath her shoulders. Again, she backed out.

  She pulled off the towel and shoved it through the hole, and then started through again, confident she would make it this time. Arms first, then head, then shoulders. Once she got both shoulders all the way through, she would be home free.

  “Grrrrrrr! Rrrraaaarff! Rrrraarrff!”

  Fuck!

  Viciously protective of his turf at first, Chester calmed immediately when he recognized her. Then he began to pounce

  around the kitchen, barking with enthusiasm.

  Lily’s heart stopped about the same time as the hair dryer.

  “Chester!” Anna called from upstairs.

  Fuck! Lily squirmed, not sure whether to go forward or backward. Not that it mattered. She couldn’t seem to move either way.

  “Chester!”

  Anna remembered the panel on the doggie door. The installer had suggested she close it at night, just in case any raccoons or stray pets wandered up. She could hear the struggle in the kitchen. Whatever it was, it sounded as though Chester had it cornered.

  Filled with apprehension, she pulled on her robe and headed back down the stairs, stopping to grab a broom from the hall closet between the kitchen and family room. Shaking with anticipation, she reached for the light switch.

  Nothing on earth could have prepared her for the sight that greeted her. Chester was sitting in the middle of the room, wagging his tail with glee, barking excitedly at Lily, who seemed to be . . . naked . . . and halfway through the doggie door.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Lily quickly said.<
br />
  For the life of her, Anna couldn’t imagine what it was if it wasn’t what it looked like. “It looks like you’re crawling into the house naked.”

  “I’m not crawling anywhere.” Lily’s face was beet red. “I’m stuck.”

  “And the naked part?”

  “I guess that is what it looks like.” Lily stretched out for the towel to cover herself. “I can sort of explain all of this.”

  “Should I go get a chair?” Anna couldn’t help her irreverence. She was overjoyed at having Lily this close, and while any explanation for this scene would be forgotten someday, this image was forever.

  “Very funny. Do you think you could trouble yourself to help me out of here?”

  Anna thought about it for a second or two. If she pulled Lily all the way through, she would wrap up in the towel, tell her story, and then probably get dressed and leave. At least this way she was captive. “I get the whole story, right?”

  “Whatever.”

  “Well, since you asked so nicely, do you wish to be pulled into the house, or pushed out of the house?”

  Lily squirmed to gauge her condition. “In, I think.”

  Anna reached down and took hold of Lily’s forearms and pulled her gently until she finally cleared the opening. There was a small scrape on her side, but other than that, she seemed no worse for the wear.

  Lily stood shyly and wrapped the towel tightly around her torso. “Thanks.” Still red in the face, she started for the family room.

  Anna caught her elbow and pulled her back. “Oh no, you don’t! Now I get an explanation.”

  Leaning against the counter, Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “This is humiliating.”

  Anna suddenly felt ashamed for taking advantage of the situation. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse. “Go on, then. Get your clothes,” she said. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen. If not . . .”

  “I do, Anna. I do want to talk.”

  With guarded hope, Anna nodded.

  “I’ve been thinking about that night you came to the beach. I wasn’t in much of a mood to listen, but I heard the things you were saying.”

  Anna was prepared to say them all again, especially to affirm her love. And she was ready to accept her share of the blame for putting her work first, and for not making it clear from the beginning that she wanted Lily to come home.

  “I tried to call you this morning, but they said you were gone to Detroit. And you’re not due back until tomorrow night, by the way.”

  Anna gave her a small smile, still unsure of where this was going and what it had to do with Lily standing naked in their kitchen.

  “Anyway, I came over this afternoon on my bike because I thought, well, I just wanted to be here again. This is the first time I’ve been here, I swear.”

  “This is still your home, you know. You’re allowed to be here.”

  Lily’s serious look brightened, if only a bit. “Yeah, okay, so I was going through my mail and it got late. I thought about going back to the lodge, but it was dark and I didn’t want to ride down Sepulveda. So I decided to stay the night. I was going to leave you a note or call or something to tell you I’d been by.”

  “It’s all okay, Lily. You don’t have to justify being here.” She eyed Lily’s towel and took a step toward her. “But I know you didn’t ride over here like that.”

  Lily rolled her eyes and almost smiled. “I was out in the hot tub when you got home.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Because I was going to come in when I saw it was you, but then Holly got here with Chester. So I stayed down low in the tub waiting for her to leave.”

  “And then I went swimming.”

  “And then you went swimming,” Lily said, looking away guiltily.

  “So why didn’t you join me then?” She took another step closer.

  “I . . . I thought about it. But I didn’t want to scare you. I thought I should just get my clothes and get out of here. But then you locked all the doors.”

  “You could have knocked.” Another step.

  “I was sort of hoping I could get away without you knowing I was here. I didn’t know how to explain why I hid. I’m not really sure why . . .”

  “I don’t care why.” Anna closed the distance between them and lowered her head. “All I care about is that you’re here now.” Her lips closed over Lily’s as she pulled their bodies together. The kiss had to say everything in her heart because she wasn’t sure she would get another chance.

  Several seconds passed before Lily responded, and when she did, it was with the fervor of new love. “God, I’ve missed you so much.”

  Anna squeezed her eyes shut and savored the feel of Lily’s arms as they went around her neck. She couldn’t live without this. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Lily. I should have paid more attention to what you needed. I was selfish.”

  “No, I was wrong to blame you, Anna. If it hadn’t been your work, I would have found another excuse.” Lily’s hold on her grew tighter. “I just lost control. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I wanted to help you.”

  “You did, Anna. I know that now.”

  They stood quietly entwined for several minutes. For Anna, it was a return to stasis, a place where all her world was balanced. The familiar stillness that life with Lily had given her crept over her as her mind slowly emptied of the turmoil that had plagued them for months.

  “I’m so sorry for all I put you through,” Lily said, her voice cracking as though she might cry. “Will you ever be able to forgive me?”

  Anna kissed the top of her head. There was only one thing she wanted from Lily. “Marry me.”

  Lily pushed back to see her face, clearly shocked by the words.

  Anna took a deep gulp of air, not sure what to say next. “I’ve wanted to ask you ever since we went to Yosemite, but I kept waiting for the perfect time. That’s what Maui was supposed to be about.”

  “Anna . . .”

  “You don’t have to answer me now—unless you want to say yes. You can do that now.”

  “I . . . I can’t believe you still want me as fucked up as I am.”

  “I don’t care about anything that’s happened.” She gripped Lily’s shoulders harder. “You could never do anything to make me not want you.”

  Lily buried her head against her chest and began to cry. “Yes.”

  Epilogue

  “Where’s your leash?” Lily asked animatedly, sending Chester off in a rush to the family room. She caught up with him and clipped the leash into place. George would be there any minute and she wanted to be ready to go.

  Chester dragged her to the door.

  “Not yet, hound dog. And I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to stay with Holly for a week.” Lily remembered with embarrassment hiding from Holly and Anna in the hot tub. That seemed like ages ago, when in fact, it had been only three months. They could have pulled this off sooner, but then Anna had gotten the idea to wait until today, the third anniversary of the earthquake. Some things were just too perfect to pass up.

  She shuddered to think how close she had come to losing the wonderful life that she knew lay ahead, though Anna continually assured her she would never have let go. There had been other close calls in her life, she realized, decisions or events that had changed her profoundly. Rescue from her birth mother, her adoption...the earthquake. She chuckled softly as she recalled another, when she had asked Beverly to commit to her. How different her life would have been had Beverly said yes.

  Through the side window, she saw a black BMW sedan pull up.

  “Let’s go, Chester. There’s our ride.”

  George was already out and loading Chester’s crate in the backseat. “You couldn’t have ordered more perfect weather,” he said.

  The sky was blue, but there was a nip in the air, not unusual for February. “Hope you brought a jacket.”

  Lily had on pale yellow linen pants with draws
trings at the waist and ankles. She wore a matching shirt and a loose pullover sweater. She guided Chester into his crate as George held open her door on the passenger side. “I think it’s so funny that Martine insisted on us not seeing each other today until the ceremony.”

  “What can I say? She’s old-fashioned.”

  “I think it’s kind of sweet.” She was pleased to see George dressed casually for the ceremony on the beach. “And it’s pretty sweet of you to offer to drive me over. You’re supposed to give Anna away, not me.”

  He shrugged. “I already gave Anna away. She came back.”

  Lily laughed heartily and so did he. It was nothing short of amazing how far he had come in his acceptance of her in Anna’s life. “You know, George, I got a card from my mom after her last visit down here. She wrote it just before she died, so it’s something that means a lot to me. One of the things she said was how much she enjoyed meeting you and Martine. I know she meant that, and”—her voice began to crack—“I know why.”

  He smiled at her warmly and reached over to clasp her hand. “You make my daughter happy. That by itself would have been enough for me…once I got over being pigheaded.” They both laughed again, and he went on. “But there’s more to you than just who you are with Anna. I’ve seen the kind of person you are—the kind we all want to surround ourselves with.”

  Lily was almost embarrassed by the praise. “Even after all that trouble I caused last year?”

  “You got through it, Lily. As far as I’m concerned, that only adds good things to who you are.”

  They pulled into the parking lot at Leo Carrillo State Beach. Anna’s car was there, and Lily recognized several others belonging to Kim and Hal, Sandy and Suzanne, and the people from her office.

  George came around and opened her door. “You ready for this?”

  “I’ve been ready for this day my whole life.” She let Chester out and gave him a long lead on his leash. “I wish Mom could have been here.”

  “Something tells me she is.” He held out his arm, and together, they walked toward where the small crowd had congregated.