by Gina Dartt
There was a brief silence. “I brought the hair dryer.” Kim’s tone was more than a little affronted.
The other two managed to hold their composure for few more seconds, hardly daring to look at each other, before they broke down completely at Kim’s expression of wounded dignity.
“Yeah, well, so I think camping should be comfortable. Sue me.” She glanced at Nikki. “Besides, don’t you think Mrs. Kate will need more than her share of coddling if you ever expect to get her out there again?”
Nikki exhaled sharply. “Damn.”
“I’m sure you’ll both be fine,” Kim declared with a confident chuckle. “It’s only one night.”
“I’m sure that’s what Stephen Elliot thought,” Nikki said. “Only one night. Who knew he wouldn’t get to see the next morning?”
Kim and Lynn didn’t say anything, but abruptly they looked apprehensive.
Chapter Five
Kate glanced up as she heard the bell over the door tinkle, pleased to see Linda Fennel, a teacher from the local high school, enter the store. Immediately, she stopped what she was doing and moved around the counter to hug her.
“How are you, sweetie?” She had known Linda since their university days in Wolfville. When Linda found a job in the town’s educational system a few years later, they had become close friends, though not as close as Kate and Susan.
“I’m fine. How about you?” Linda smiled. “A lot’s been going on, I hear.”
“Too much,” Kate agreed with a laugh. The last time they had encountered each other in the local grocery store, they had only time for a brief hello and good-bye.
Kate suddenly noticed that Linda had several strands of gray threading through her light brown hair, a stinging reminder that none of the sorority sisters were getting any younger. While she had probably inherited her grandmother’s genes and wouldn’t have to start concealing the gray in her hair until much later in life, Kate couldn’t do anything about the wrinkles starting to appear around her eyes and mouth. She wondered glumly if Nikki had ever noticed them.
She dropped that depressing line of thought when Linda handed her a tan folder. “I’m sorry I haven’t dropped these résumés by sooner.”
Most high school students learned about preparing résumés and doing job searches in the eleventh grade, but Linda had gone out and arranged job interviews and work-terms for her students with local businesses. Kate found the extracurricular project invaluable when it came to hiring part-time help, though she had lost her last employee unexpectedly when the girl’s parents insisted that she not work for a lesbian. She hoped that Linda had found someone from next year’s class who could start right away rather than wait for summer break. Her long hours working in the store were starting to wear on her, and if she didn’t find new help soon, she would have to put an ad in the paper and hire whomever she could.
Kate opened the file, somewhat dismayed to discover only two sheets of paper inside. “I usually have about twenty to choose from.”
“I know. A lot of kids didn’t want to apply. After all, it’s still a little early in the year, plus, we have a new Wal-Mart by the highway, a new Sobey’s downtown, other businesses are expanding—”
Kate pinned her with a look. “Are you telling me it didn’t have anything to do with my being involved with a woman?”
“I’m sure that’s part of it as well,” Linda responded with the casual honesty so characteristic of her. “It’s pretty well known by now that you’re gay and out and proud of it. The Historical Society Dinner proved that, if nothing else”.
Kate flinched and Linda’s face abruptly clouded. She put her hand on Kate’s forearm. “I’m sorry, Katie. Kids listen to their parents, even when they think they don’t, and some parents are…well, still in the dark ages, but we have to be fair, too. The kids are just starting to get ready for exams and aren’t looking beyond that to summer jobs yet. And you really do have a lot of competition this year. Most kids want to hook up with the large chain stores rather than take a part-time position that’ll only last a year.”
“I suppose I should be glad the town is growing.” Kate glanced through the two résumés. “Do you have any particular recommendations?”
“Both Todd and Beth are good students.” Linda offered Kate what could only be construed as an oddly significant look. “Both seem very interested in working for you.”
“You think there’s a particular reason for that?”
“I don’t know.” Linda took a seat on the stool by the counter and raked her fingers through her fine hair, leaving it slightly disarrayed. “Kids go through so much these days, and confusion about their sexual orientation is probably the least of it. In any event, it wouldn’t hurt to have them exposed to a positive role model.”
“Is that what I am now? A gay role model?”
“You were always a role model. A woman with her own business, a leader in the community...” Linda tilted her head. “Now you just have an added qualification to add to the list for certain kids.”
Deciding to be pleased by the compliment, if not entirely sure how accurate it was, Kate smiled. “All right. I guess it’s an ill wind, after all. I’ll look these over, schedule the interviews, and make my decision.”
“Thanks, Kate. I’ll have them prepared.”
“You always do.” Kate motioned at the coffeemaker that sat in a concealed corner of the window ledge. “Can I get you a cup? It’s pretty quiet at the moment.”
“I’m on my lunch hour, so I guess I have time.” Linda glanced at her watch. “We need to get together more often.”
“Yes, it’s been a while.” Kate poured the coffee and handed her a mug. Once, she’d shared many outings with Linda and her husband, Roy, but that had been when she was still married to David. After the divorce, they had drifted apart, as couples did from friends who were suddenly single. These days their interactions were rare and revolved around Linda’s project to find jobs for students and an occasional lunch or movie.
Linda looked regretful. She hesitated, then asked, “Kate, how are you? Honestly?”
“I’m fine.” Kate took a seat on the other stool and sipped her own coffee. “Shouldn’t I be?”
Linda looked mildly flustered. “I just...well, you know you surprised a lot of people.”
“I know.” Kate tried not to sound satisfied at the notion. “Were you one of them?”
Linda pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I’d have to say yes. Which is odd because, frankly, I was one of the few people who wasn’t surprised when you divorced David.”
“Really? Why not?”
“I’m not sure. I guess it seemed that whenever I saw you with him, you were…sad.”
“You never said anything.”
“What was there to say?” Linda’s brown eyes were dark and concerned. “Besides, I’m not sure you could have said why you were unhappy, anyway.”
“You’re right, I didn’t say anything. I only knew that I had every-thing any woman was supposed to want or need, and I still wasn’t satisfied.”
“I wonder how many others are like that. Living their lives as everyone thinks they should, not daring to consider other possibilities.”
Kate studied her curiously. “Are you trying to tell me something, Linda?”
Linda looked briefly startled, then amused by the suggestion. “No. I mean, there was that time in college—”
“What?” Kate froze, mug halfway to her mouth.
“I was drunk. So was she. Things happen sometimes.”
“Not to me.” Kate stared at her in total amazement. “Who was it?”
“I don’t think you need to know.” Linda chuckled. “We were just having fun, and besides, I’m perfectly happy with Roy, as she is with her husband. It was just a youthful indiscretion. But I’d never have guessed it of you. Maybe that’s why it surprised me, Kate. I thought I knew you as well as any friend could, but I discovered that I really didn’t know you at all. It’s made me question my assu
mptions about people and whether I can trust my judgment about what they might do.”
She paused, her expression almost wistful. “I’m a teacher, and I try to look out for things in the kids. I try to see problems or the other influences in their life. How do you suppose it makes me feel to know one of my closest friends was going through this, and I didn’t have a clue it was happening?”
“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t see it coming either, Linda. I didn’t go looking for it. It just worked out the way it did, but it feels absolutely right. I can’t explain any better than that.”
“It must be right.” Linda shook her head. “I don’t sense that sadness in you anymore. I’m glad you’re happy now.”
“I am. Nikki’s absolutely wonderful.”
Linda looked suddenly uncomfortable, but soldiered on. “You should bring her over to dinner some night.”
Kate didn’t quite choke on her coffee, but it was close. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’d love to see her again.”
“‘Again’?” Kate stared at her. “I didn’t realize you knew her.”
“I had her, Kate.”
“What?”
Linda lifted her brows at the astonished outrage in Kate’s voice, apparently thought about it, and laughed as she raised her hand in a gesture to slow things down. “I meant I was her teacher in her final year of homeroom,” she elaborated. “What did you think I meant?”
“Nothing,” Kate lied, surprised by her immediate assumption. “I guess I wasn’t thinking of that. She told me she attended high school in town. Of course you would have taught her.”
“There does seem to be a bit of an age difference involved here.” Linda’s tone was suddenly careful.
“I know. It’s been pointed out to me before. Susan was worried about it.”
“She’s not anymore?”
“She doesn’t bring it up.”
“Meaning I shouldn’t, either.” Linda smiled crookedly.
“Meaning that the age difference is there. I recognize that it exists, and I won’t say it doesn’t matter at all because sometimes it does, but it doesn’t matter enough to be a major problem. At least, it hasn’t yet.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Linda stood. “I have to go. I have a class in ten minutes.” She hugged Kate. “Don’t be such a stranger.”
“You either.” Kate returned the hug, intrigued at how much she was learning about her friends and herself since becoming involved with Nikki. “I’m glad you came by. I’ll call you with the interviews.”
As Linda left the store, the phone rang stridently and Kate picked it up. “Novel Companions. How may I help you?”
Her knees became weak as she listened to the unexpected, but very familiar, voice at the other end of the line.
Chapter Six
Nikki yawned as she opened her eyes, half-blinded by the afternoon sunlight. Working twelve-hour shifts at the police station as a dispatcher from six at night to six in the morning left her with little energy to do anything more than to come home and fall directly into bed. But now her workweek was over, and she could look forward to the four-day weekend that made up for the long hours and occasional stressful calls she received while on duty.
Glancing at the clock with blurred vision, she managed to make out that it was almost three o’clock, and she wondered how she should spend the rest of her Friday afternoon. Sighing, she rolled over and stretched her arm across the sheet, wishing for a warm body to fill it. Novel Companions, along with the rest of the retail stores in the downtown core, tended to stay open until nine on Thursday and Friday nights. Ever since she lost her part-time help, Kate had been forced to work all those hours so Nikki really couldn’t expect any quality time with her until late Saturday afternoon, when they were to make their scheduled trip into the city.
She considered going back to sleep, but Powder abruptly appeared on the bed, rubbing his head forcefully against the parts of her showing above the blankets and purring loudly. She contemplated him from beneath heavy-lidded eyes.
“What do you want? I know it’s not food because that dispenser I bought gives it to you whenever you want. And I filled the reservoir in your water fountain when I came home this morning.”
He sat down on his haunches and regarded her with unblinking expectancy. When she showed no signs of getting up, his jaws parted in a particularly piercing meow, reverberating in her ears. Honestly, there had to be a touch of Siamese in him somewhere. She had never heard such a penetrating sound from any other cat she had owned. She shoved him off the bed and covered her head with the pillow. Within seconds, he was back, sliding a paw beneath the pillow to pat her cheek as his cries became more demanding. He was merely being difficult, but she groaned and slipped from the bed anyway, wondering if other people were as well trained by their pet, or if she were the only one so cowed.
She felt better once she was in the shower, more alert as she started to sing lustily while scrubbing away the lather. The phone was ringing when she stepped out, and, wrapping a towel around her, she hurried to the bedroom where she picked up the receiver.
“Hello? Debbie? What’s going on?”
“The nets are up.”
“This early?” Nikki was surprised.
“We’ve been playing since last week. Listen, I have another player for four o’clock and need a fourth for doubles. Can you play?”
“I’m on my way.”
Nikki tossed the towel on the bed and turned on the small television sitting on the dresser to check out the temperature. As she flipped open the lid of the cedar chest, retrieving the shorts she had put away six months earlier, she wondered why it had taken Debbie a week to call her. Probably her friend’s competitive edge in action. They did play doubles together, but also competed on the singles court every so often. Nikki held a long-time, decidedly one-sided advantage that aggravated Debbie to no end. Getting in a week’s worth of practice before Nikki started playing was probably Debbie’s attempt to get a jump on her.
She pulled on a light jacket and sweatpants over a pair of green shorts and a large T-shirt, before retrieving her tennis bag from the closet. It felt good to be repeating this ritual of spring, preparing to go out to the courts and hit the ball once more. Invigorating, even.
Powder’s outraged meows floated down the stairs after Nikki as she slipped out of her apartment building. The fresh air hit her like a heady draught of spring water, and she hummed as she walked down the sidewalk, her bag slung over her shoulder. Cutting across two parking lots, she strode easily down the sidewalk on Prince Street, the main thoroughfare of the town, enjoying the bright sunshine and the light green misting over the trees. A passenger train was pulling away from the railway station on the Esplanade, and she had to wait at the crossing until it had chugged past on its way toward Halifax.
The delay made her late, and she began to jog until she reached Brunswick Street, her tennis bag thumping against her side. Entering Victoria Park, she crossed the common toward the tennis club, lifting her hand in greeting at the players already out on the courts. All four nets were up and the door to the clubhouse was wide open. It was a little early in the season, but obviously she wasn’t the only one anxious to get started.
Debbie was waiting by the front deck of the clubhouse, leaning against the stairs as she stretched out her hamstrings. Also stretching were her partner, Audrey, and Elaine, a girl Nikki knew only in passing from the previous year.
“Hey, Nik.” Debbie straightened up as Nikki approached. Small, boyish, with a blond buzz cut that ghosted over her skull, she was a good player. Nikki had first met her during Pride Weekend in Halifax several years earlier. She and Audrey were probably Nikki’s closest and most dearest friends after Kim and Lynn.
Nikki nodded at her, then grinned at Elaine. “How was your winter?”
Elaine smiled shyly. “Too long.”
“Not long enough,” Audrey said as she rested her leg on the back of a nearby bench and stretc
hed it out. Tall, dark, and lean, Audrey seemed to look out on the world with the easy benevolence of a basking lioness. She and Debbie were avid skiers and loved snow shoeing, enjoying the winter months as much as the summer ones. Naturally athletic, she moved well on the court, with good anticipation, particularly at the net.
Nikki shook out her shoulders and began her own stretches. Usually she did a more involved routine at home, but the phone call had left her little time. Now, she did her legs and shoulders. The rest would just have to warm up as she did.
As she pulled her racket from her bag and took off the cover, she glimpsed a figure on the far court and stopped to stare as she recognized Tiffany Elliot.
Debbie followed Nikki’s gaze. “You know her?”
“I know who she is. Has she played here before?”
“She always buys a membership,” Elaine said. She was more girlish than the other three, Nikki noted, wearing a skirt rather than shorts and moving with less athleticism, but more grace. “She usually plays at the Lake, though.”
Nikki considered that information. The “Lake” was actually Shortt’s Lake, a resort community located some twenty kilometers outside of town where certain wealthier citizens, such as Andrew and Tiffany Elliot, maintained permanent or summer homes. The residents enjoyed the use of several courts at the rather exclusive country club located on the shores of the large lake, and the only reason to purchase a membership in both clubs was to be able to play in the Truro club tournament, an indulgence resented by the town members, particularly when they were knocked out of the competition by one of the Lake players.
“Why is she here?”
“Slumming, maybe?” Debbie shrugged.
Elaine chimed in. “She’s a real snob. But my mom knew her from high school. She says Tiffany is the last person who should be like that, considering where she grew up.”
Nikki was intrigued. “Where was that?”
“Court Street Trailer Park.”
There was a hint of condescension in Elaine’s voice that Nikki couldn’t help but relate to. She knew the area well simply from reputation and from her job with the police station. Hardly a weekend passed without a unit dispatched out there to look into a disturbance of some kind or another. Everything from domestic abuse to excessive public drunkenness to periodic raids on the resident drug dealers.
