by Kay Bigelow
Stop it! Stop thinking. If you overthink this, reality might be a disappointment and you don’t want that.
Alex got out of bed, and took the canvas of her and Lauren into the studio and set it on the easel. She returned to bed and resisted the temptation to put her hand between her own legs and come while she thought of the beautiful Lauren. No. She’d wait for reality to catch up with her fantasy.
****
Monday morning arrived, bringing with it cooler temperatures. It was still hot, but even a few degrees lower made a positive difference. After breakfast, Lauren decided to take Serena to the neighborhood park within walking distance of her house. As they entered the smaller park, Lauren could hear the voices of children at play to her left, so she took Serena to the right. There was a beautiful walking path. The trees were just beginning to change colors, and she knew that with the cooler temperatures the trees would change at a faster pace.
Serena and Lauren strolled along the path until they went around a bend and found themselves at the back end of the park. Immediately in front of them was a stream marking the end of the park, while to their left was a small empty field that was more like a meadow than a field. She took Serena out into the meadow and pulled a tennis ball from her backpack. She threw the ball and Serena charged after it. After about fifteen minutes they were both bored, so they left the field and headed back the way they’d come. Serena looked at Lauren and then the stream a couple of times, willing her to let her go explore the slow-moving water.
“Go,” Lauren told her. Serena raced to the creek and leapt in, displacing a good deal of water. She only stayed a minute or two before she was back at Lauren’s side. She wondered why Serena hadn’t stayed longer in the creek. She loved water. When she touched the dog’s back, she laughed out loud.
The water in the stream was cooler than it had been the first time Serena had been in it. Serena liked her streams like her baths: nice and warm. Lauren took a towel from the backpack and dried her off as much as she could. She put the soaked towel in a plastic bag and returned it to the backpack.
“Go,” she told her again, and Serena took off like a shot with no particular destination. She ran down the path and back again until she was tired. Serena stopped some distance away and waited for Lauren to catch up. They walked sedately back to the car. An elderly couple came their way and stopped to compliment Serena on her good manners. They had no way of knowing how difficult it had been to train Serena starting when she was nine weeks old. But all that hard work meant she could take Serena anywhere, knowing she’d behave herself.
Once in the SUV, Lauren checked her phone, and was surprised to find a message from Alex. She said she was looking forward to seeing Lauren again. She told her she’d pick her up for dinner with her grandmother at five fifteen instead of five thirty. She also said she was looking forward to kissing Lauren again. Lauren knew kisses weren’t going to be enough…not after last night. But Alex saying she wanted to kiss Lauren made her heart skip a beat or two nevertheless.
On the way home, she detoured to the florist shop in town for a small bouquet of flowers for Alex’s grandmother.
At home, she took a shower. It took her longer than necessary to decide what to wear to dinner with Alex and her grandmother. Finally, she decided on a pair of dove-gray slacks and a pink long-sleeved shirt. She also laid out a mauve sweater in case it was needed as the evening cooled down.
By four thirty, she was ready to go but still had forty-five minutes to kill. She took the Louise Penny book out of her backpack and sat down to read. In seconds, she was again engrossed in the goings-on in Three Pines and the lyrical writing of the author. When the doorbell rang, it startled her. A quick glance at the clock on the mantel said it was Alex at the door. She noticed her pulse quicken at the mere thought of the woman. If I’m not careful, I’m going to well and truly fall in love.
She didn’t have time to analyze that thought. She opened the door, and seeing Alex took her breath away. Oh my. She looks delicious enough to eat, and she’s not doing anything but standing on the other side of the screen. Lauren watched Alex’s eyes roam over her body in similar fashion, the look on Alex’s face betraying her own desires. It was an instant turn-on.
“Ready?” Alex asked, apparently not knowing how she affected her.
“I am,” she said, silently adding, I am in so many ways. “Let me get my things.”
Lauren turned back into the living room, took three deep breaths to steady herself, and gathered her belongings, including the flowers. She told Serena and Max to behave themselves, remembered to turn on the lamp next to the couch, and grabbed her keys from the hook by the door.
When Alex saw the flowers, she raised one eyebrow. Now that is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Be still my beating heart!
“They’re for your grandmother.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Alex said.
“I know. But I wanted to contribute something to the dinner party, and since you weren’t forthcoming with suggestions, I figured flowers were the next best thing to wine.”
Alex grinned. “It’s very thoughtful of you.”
As it turned out, Alex’s grandmother lived only a short distance from Lauren’s house. When Alex turned into the driveway, Lauren was surprised at how nervous she was to meet Alex’s grandmother. Neither of them made a move to leave the car.
As they sat in the car, Lauren asked, “Is your grandmother your paternal or maternal grandmother?”
“She’s my paternal grandmother.”
“What did you call your grandmother when you were a kid?” Lauren asked.
“Sobo, which is grandmother in Japanese. Why do you ask?”
“I’m rather nervous about meeting her. I figured if I knew something about her, I might not be so nervous.”
Alex chuckled. “I don’t call her grandmother. I only say that to people in describing who she is. When I’m with her, I still call her Sobo. Why are you nervous?”
“I think because she’s so important to you. I want her to like me.”
Chapter Eleven
Alex was sure she was at least as nervous as Lauren. The last time she’d brought a woman home to meet her family, it was Natalia. Her parents had inadvertently met Lucia once in a restaurant, but that wasn’t the same as her intentionally wanting her family to meet a woman she was dating. More than wanting Lauren to meet Sobo, she wanted her grandmother to meet Lauren. Her grandmother had an uncanny talent for assessing people. One of her high school friends had, years earlier, decided her grandmother was psychic. She hadn’t said anything at the time, but the more she’d thought about it, the more she became convinced her friend was right.
A week earlier, when she and her grandmother had been having lunch together, her grandmother had asked, “How’s your relationship with Lauren progressing?”
“How do you know her name? And how do you know I’m even pursuing a relationship with her?”
“I know her name because you told me and you talk about her all the time. And I know you want a relationship with her because you told me and you talk about her all the time. Have you slept with her yet?”
“Sobo!”
“What? You think your Sobo doesn’t know about these things? I’ve forgotten more than you know about matters of the heart.”
“That may be, but I’m not going to discuss my sex life with you. That’d be too weird.”
“I didn’t ask for specifics, dear. I simply asked whether you’d slept with the woman. I take it your answer to that question is no.”
“We’re taking it slow,” Alex had mumbled.
“Good Lord, why?”
“Because she has issues about our age difference.”
“Okay, that’s her. Why are you wanting to take it slowly?”
“Who says…” she’d started to say, but changed her mind. “I’m having trouble telling her about Lucia.”
“Ah. Yes, that could be a real issue. Why haven’t you told her?”
“I’m sure she believes in monogamy and telling her I sleep with my patron will surely mean she’ll end our relationship before it can get started.”
“Why not break it off with Lucia?”
“You know I need her money so I can paint full-time, Sobo. I can’t see me being a dabbler.”
“A what?”
“A person who only paints now and then when they have time, but then find they never have the time.”
“How much do you need every month?”
“I’ve never really sat down to determine exactly how much I need.”
“It was easier to accept Lucia’s money?”
“Something like that.”
“I’ll be right back,” her grandmother had said, getting up from the kitchen table. She was back a minute later with a tablet of paper and a pencil that she put in front of Alex.
“What’s that for?” Alex asked.
“It’s time you know exactly how much you need every month.”
“Now?”
“When better?”
Alex acquiesced to her grandmother’s logic. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“How much is your mortgage every month? Write it down.”
They’d spent the next half hour figuring out how much money Alex spent each month, including her deposits into her savings accounts and her painting supplies. She was surprised to see how much it was. The bottom line had been she spent two-thirds of the amount that Lucia gave her each month.
“Your budget looks like the bare essentials and you’re living within your means. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to get the money you need without relying on Lucia.”
“Believe me, I’ve tried to figure a way of getting out of Lucia’s grip on my life, but I can’t.”
“Maybe between the two of us we can come up with a solution.”
“From your lips to God’s ear, Sobo,” Alex had said.
Now, several days later, she and her grandmother still had not come up with a solution to her money issues. She mentally shook her head to clear away her Lucia problem. She wanted to enjoy the evening she was going to spend with the two women she loved: her grandmother and Lauren.
As they sat in the car, Alex took Lauren’s hand. “How are you doing?”
“I’m still nervous about meeting your grandmother,” Lauren admitted.
“Lauren, you’ve argued cases before the Supreme Court, and you’re nervous about meeting my little old Japanese grandmother?” Alex asked with a laugh. When she saw Lauren frown, she said, “Don’t be nervous. You’re going to love my grandmother and I know she’s going to love you.”
“How do you know she’ll love me?”
“Because I do. And, besides, she’s a really good judge of character.”
“Oh, great,” Lauren said under her breath.
“Come on. Let’s go in and get through the awkward stage.”
****
As they stepped through the door of Alex’s grandmother’s home, Lauren noticed the most arresting aromas coming from the back of the house. Alex led the way into the kitchen. Her grandmother was standing with her back to the door.
“Sobo, we’re here.”
Alex’s grandmother grabbed a dish towel as she turned toward them. She was wiping flour from her hands. She came toward them and held out a hand to Lauren that still had flour on it. Lauren’s first impression of the woman was that she looked like a Norman Rockwell painting, right down to the smudge of white on her forehead. She was shorter by two or three inches than Lauren, and her hair still had streaks of black through it. Lauren mused that she now knew what people meant when they said someone had salt-and-pepper hair. She was not slim, nor was she overweight. She wore a long-sleeved lavender T-shirt that fell loosely to below her waist, jeans, and an apron that reached her knees and was tied in a neat bow at her back. She was the epitome of a grandmother.
“You must be Lauren. I’m afraid Alex has told me little about you, including how beautiful you are.”
Lauren could feel herself blushing. Luckily, it wasn’t one of those blushes that seemed to go from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
“And you must be Mrs. Aoki. She’s been equally less forthcoming about you,” Lauren said, taking the older woman’s hand in her own. Then she handed her the flowers.
“How beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Lauren said, pleased she’d thought of bringing them to her.
“Alex, I need another can of chicken broth. Will you go to the store and pick one up for me?”
Lauren noticed there was an unopened can of broth on the counter behind Mrs. Aoki. The older woman saw Lauren looking over her shoulder and winked at her.
“Of course, Sobo. I’ll be right back,” she said as she turned to go to the store.
“Thank you for not pointing out I really don’t need more broth. I want to get to know you a bit without Alex wearing a path in the floor in her nervousness.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Lauren asked.
“It’s all done. I hope you like chicken and dumplings.”
“I love chicken and dumplings.”
“So how old are you?” she asked, wasting no time in getting to the point.
“I’m fifty-two.”
“And you know my granddaughter is twenty-nine?”
“I do, but she told me at first she was thirty.”
Mrs. Aoki laughed out loud. “She would. She must have sensed you would have an issue with the age difference. Not that one year would make a difference.”
“I do, but not for the reasons you may think. I’m more concerned what others will think of our relationship, including her friends. And, of course, what you think about it.”
“Considering my husband was nearly thirty years my senior, I don’t have issues with the age difference. Why don’t you?”
“My late partner was twenty years older than me when we started dating.”
“Late? She died?”
“Yes. Six years ago, peacefully in her sleep. She was nearly sixty-six.”
“Her heart?”
“Yes.”
“What is your ethnic background? You must get your blue eyes from, what? An Irish ancestor, and your skin tone and black hair from who?”
“The Italian side of my family. My mother’s people are Irish and my father’s is of Italian extraction.”
“Then you’re like Alex. A beautiful combination of two very different ethnic backgrounds.”
“But not nearly as exotic as Alex,” Lauren said.
“How long have you been in town?” Mrs. Aoki asked, changing the subject.
“All of a week.” Has it only been a single week? It seems much longer—but in a good way.
“Are you planning on staying here?”
“Yes, I do. I built a house and intend to stay.”
“Where did you come from?”
“The City.”
If someone other than Alex’s Sobo had tried to interrogate her as this woman was, she would have either tried to deflect the interrogation or, failing that, walked out the door. But she knew Alex’s grandmother was only interested in protecting her granddaughter. And there was a gentleness in the questioning.
“Why did you leave Manhattan?”
“I retired from my job and I wanted a less stressful, more beautiful space to be in.”
Mrs. Aoki continued to ask questions and Lauren continued to answer them truthfully. She kept an eye on the clock on the microwave. After fifteen minutes, Mrs. Aoki said, “I think you’re going to be in my granddaughter’s life a very long time, so you’d better call me April.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lauren said, smiling.
By then, Lauren was seated on a stool at the island in the center of the kitchen with Mrs. Aoki sitting across from her. She’d made a pot of tea and they sat talking as they sipped their tea.
“Alex will be back in a few minutes. My Alex is already in love with you, and I can see why
. Do you intend to break her heart?”
“No, ma’am, I do not. I want to be with her for as long as possible. But I want her to be sure she knows what she’s getting into by being with me.”
“Alex is a very talented artist, and as such she’s very sensitive and in tune with others’ feelings. If she trusts you, you must be a very special person. She knows herself very well. I can safely say she has considered both the positive and negative aspects of a relationship with you.”
“I think Alex is very special. I haven’t quite figured out several things about her, but I know she draws me to her like a magnet.”
“What haven’t you figured out about her?”
“The most important unanswered question is whether she’s single.”
“Have you slept together yet?” April asked.
Lauren, who had just taken a sip of tea, very nearly spewed it at April. Of all the questions she thought Alex’s grandmother might ask her, that was not one of them.
“Not yet.”
“Too bad,” April said, shaking her head. “Why not?”
Lauren was saved from having to answer the question when she heard Alex pull into the driveway.
“Honey, I’m home,” Alex called from the front door. As she entered the kitchen, she took in the scene before her. She smiled at Lauren and, handing her grandmother the box of broth, kissed her on the cheek.
When Alex took the stool next to Lauren’s, she looked at her and seemed to notice the blush caressing her cheeks. She cocked an eyebrow at Lauren but didn’t ask the question.
“I like your girlfriend, Alex,” her grandmother told her.
“I’m glad, Sobo,” Alex said, smiling at Lauren.
Lauren watched as April quickly whipped up the dough for the dumplings. She rolled out long strips of it, cut them into smaller pieces, and placed them in the boiling pot with the broth and cooked and diced chicken. It only took a minute for the dumplings to finish.
They ate at the kitchen table, and the dinner was divine. Lauren’s mother was a child of the south and Lauren thought she made the best chicken and dumplings in the world, but these rivaled her mom’s. Alex and Lauren cleaned up the kitchen. They had a cup of coffee with April while they talked about myriad topics. Lauren noticed April watching her intently. At eight o’clock, they said their goodbyes.
