Baumgartners Empty Nest (The Baumgartners)

by Selena Kitt

  “Her boyfriend’s very rich,” she started. “She thinks she needs to stay with him for the money. But he’s…”

  “Does he hit her?” Doc interrupted.

  “No, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “But he’s very controlling. He wants her to… do things.”

  “What kind of things?”

  Carrie hesitated, deciding to stick as close to the truth as possible. Maybe if she just revealed things a little at a time…

  “He wants her to get surgery.”

  “Surgery?” Doc frowned. “What, like breast implants?”

  “Well, she’s already got those.”

  “Really? Those weren’t real?” he exclaimed. Carrie smacked him on the bicep and he laughed. “What, they looked real!”

  “He wants her to be something she’s not,” she told him “He wants to turn her into some sort of… Barbie doll.”

  “And she doesn’t want to?”

  “Not anymore.” Carrie thought about Jody’s oft-repeated phrase—it’s complicated. Boy, was it. “She’s already been through quite a few surgeries. And he’s paid for all of them. But she’s done. And she finally told him that.”

  “And it sounds like the boyfriend wasn’t too happy about that?”

  “No,” she agreed. “He wasn’t.”

  “But he hasn’t hurt her?”

  “No.” Carrie shook her head. “I mean, I know she’s terrified of him. Of what he might do when he gets angry. He’s volatile. And she’s said, several times, that she’s not sure what he’s capable of…”

  Tears were threatening again and she blinked them back, taking a long, deep, shuddery breath. Doc’s hand moved back to her knee, squeezing gently, reassuring.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” he reassured her softly. “We’ll ride in on our Mustang and rescue the fair lady.”

  Carrie smiled through her tears, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

  “What was that for?” he asked, half-smiling.

  “I’m just so grateful for you,” she sniffed. “I’m a lucky woman.”

  “I’m a lucky man,” he countered as Carrie settled back in the passenger seat, hanging on as Doc passed a semi in front of them. “Sounds like she’s at quite a crossroads too, huh?”

  “That seems to be going around.” Carrie took a Kleenex out of her purse, dabbing at her eyes. She told herself that Jody was going to be okay. Doc was traveling at roughly the speed of light, and if they didn’t get pulled over, they’d be to Atlanta in no time.

  “Well, this is a hell of a surprise, huh?” Doc asked, glancing in the rear view mirror as he pulled in front of the semi.

  “You have no idea...” Carrie murmured.

  “What do you mean?” Doc gave her a small, bemused smile.

  She just replied, purposely mysterious, “You’ll see...”

  Chapter Five

  “Is that her?” Doc asked as they pulled up to the front of the hotel.

  It was a giant, mirrored tower, quite impressive and a little imposing.

  “That’s her.” Carrie would have known her anywhere.

  Jody’s back was to them—it looked like she was having a conversation with a valet—but she knew the curve of her back, the rounded, tight rise of her ass, her long hair spilling over the back of a black velvet, sequined dress. Only Jody would pack a bag and leave her lover wearing four inch spiked heels and a little black dress.

  Doc put the car in park and opened the driver’s side door. Carrie got out, too, heart racing. Her palms were actually sweating, she was so nervous. She’d imagined this moment a hundred—no, a thousand—times, but she’d never pictured it like this, riding up to Jody’s rescue.

  “No, thanks, sugar,” Jody told the valet in that soft, dulcet southern accent as Carrie approached, feeling suddenly underdressed in her blue sundress and sandals. “The cavalry is on the way.”

  “The cavalry has arrived,” Doc called out, just a few steps behind his wife.

  Jody turned, blinking in surprise in the warm, Georgia sunshine. Carrie met the other woman’s gaze, feeling her breath catch and her ass clench. My God, she was stunning. Just plain, drop-dead gorgeous. It would have been a sin if Jody had decided to remain, hormonally anyway, a man. She made a far better looking woman than most Carrie had ever known.

  “Babygirl.” Jody’s eyes lit up and she held her tawny limbs out for a hug.

  “Hi,” Carrie breathed, saying the dumbest thing she could imagine, but it didn’t matter. Jody’s arms went around her and the two women embraced. Carrie breathed in her scent, something like ginger and citrus, clean and cool.

  “You look like a pure ray of sunshine.” Jody looked her up and down as they parted, still holding hands, and Carrie remembered she had lungs and started breathing again.

  “You’re gorgeous,” Carrie blurted, glancing over her shoulder at her husband, feeling his presence behind her. “Oh, Doc, this is Jody. Jody, Doc.”

  “Hey handsome.” Jody smiled, holding out her hand, silver bangles clinking on her wrist as Doc took it and held it in both of his for a moment. “Thanks for charging in on your Mustang to save a lady in distress.”

  “It’s the least I could do, ma’am.” Doc tipped an imaginary cowboy hat, doing his best southern accent. He glanced down at her bag—just one, a rolling carry-on. “Is the rest of your stuff inside the hotel?”

  “Oh that’s all I have,” Jody replied with a little smile. “I learned to pack light in the army.”

  “You were in the army?” Doc did a double take as he went to get her bag.

  “Career 88H,” Jody said with a nod.

  “A what?” Carrie blinked. She’d known Jody was in the service, of course, but she’d never heard that term before.

  Jody smirked. “I handled the insertion and extraction of big loads.”

  Carrie choked off a laugh, giving Jody a look that said, “Really?”

  Jody shrugged one shoulder in apology, putting her purse over it, but she was smiling, that little mischievous smile that left Carrie feeling weak-kneed.

  “I don’t speak army. What’s an 88H?” Doc asked, cocking an eyebrow as he picked up her bag, carrying it toward the car. Both women followed him.

  “Cargo specialist,” Jody explained, watching Doc looking for a way to fit her bag into the trunk, but between his duffel and Carrie’s suitcase, it wasn’t going to be easy. There wasn’t a lot of trunk space in a Mustang.

  “Even I couldn’t pack any more in that trunk.” Jody laughed when Doc raised both eyebrows at her this time. “You can put it in the backseat with me.”

  “I can’t believe you’re here.” Carrie opened the passenger seat and pulled the seat forward so Jody could get into the back. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”

  “Uh-oh.” Jody climbed gracefully in, heels and all, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun as she looked toward the road. “Dream’s about to become a nightmare.”

  Doc looked up from where he was putting Jody’s bag behind the driver’s seat.

  “We better go.” Jody urged Carrie to get in. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s Jackie’s Mercedes, and if I have to see him, one of us may not walk away on our own.”

  “Hurry, Doc.” Carrie shut the passenger door, twisting around to see a sleek, black Mercedes pulling into the driveway.

  The Mustang’s engine was still running. Doc jumped into the car without opening the door, shifting swiftly into drive and laying hard on the gas.

  “Hang on!” Carrie called back, reaching for her seatbelt.

  The Mercedes screeched into the hotel parking lot, fishtailing as the Mustang roared in the opposite direction, around the bend of the circle drive.

  “How did he find you?” Doc glanced in the rear view mirror, swerving around a Toyota pulling out into the road, barely missing it.

  “Oh damnit.” Jody started fishing through her purse. “I got a call after I talked to you and I forgot all about taking the battery out of my phone…”

&n
bsp; Jody’s phone went off just as she pulled it from her purse, ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man playing loudly as the ringtone. Carrie turned, hanging onto the back of her seat, to see Jody frowning at her cell phone screen. She could see the Mercedes and the man behind the wheel. He didn’t look happy—and he was catching up to them.

  “Hurry, Doc!” Carrie urged again.

  “Hang on, you two!” Doc called back, flooring it. He just barely beat the light to the on-ramp, but the Mercedes, Jackie Benton cursing behind the wheel, got stuck in traffic at the light.

  “Whoo-eee!” Jody laughed, her hand over Carrie’s, clutching the back of the leather seat.

  Carrie’s heart was galloping in her chest like a herd of wild horses. The wind whipped her hair, and Jody’s, too, the convertible top still down as they headed onto the highway.

  “Who’s calling you?” Carrie asked—she had to practically yell to be heard. Jody’s phone kept buzzing, playing Sharp Dressed Man.

  “Who do you think?” Jody called back, looking at the screen. She made a face, sticking her tongue out at it before she casually tossed it to the side, right out of the moving vehicle.

  Carrie gaped, watching it shatter into a thousand pieces on the pavement. The car behind them ran over a few of them, making the phone’s destruction complete.

  Their eyes met, Jody’s bright and mischievous, Carrie’s wide and disbelieving, and they both burst out laughing. Jody put her hand up for a high-five and Carrie gave it to her, both of them whooping and cheering.

  Carrie searched the highway behind them, but she couldn’t see the Mercedes. She didn’t know how fast Doc was pushing the Mustang, but even in the front, where the wind was less, it stung her cheeks.

  “As much as I love going topless.” Jody shivered, leaning between the seats, her hair pulled over her shoulder into one hand to keep it from flying free. “I think I might just blow away back here.”

  “Windows up, Doc,” Carrie agreed with a smile. “We’ll pull over as soon as we can to put the top up.”

  Doc pushed the buttons for the power windows, glancing into the rear view, first at Jody, then behind him at the traffic. Carrie knew he was looking for the Mercedes, too. The windows began going up automatically as Jody unslung her purse again.

  “We’ll have to get you a new phone,” Carrie said, looking again for the Mercedes but her view was obstructed by the rising convertible top.

  “But what about all your contacts?” Doc asked.

  “Oh, I keep my feathers numbered for just an emergency,” Jody imitated in her best Foghorn Leghorn voice, pulling another cell phone from her purse and waving it with a smile. “Besides, there’s no one back there I want to talk to anyway.”

  “Well, th-th-that’s uh-uh-all, f-folks.” Doc did a fairly good Porky Pig imitation, making both women laugh.

  “That’s right.” Jody smiled, dropping the phone back into her purse and leaning between the two front seats, inserting herself between them. “So, what’s up, Doc?”

  “Oh, brother.” Carrie rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a laugh. “You two are going to get along just fine.”

  “It’s, what, eleven more hours to Key West?” Carrie asked, consulting her own phone for the GPS.

  “Eight or nine by Mustang,” Doc countered, passing a little, red, Ford Focus puttering along in the left lane.

  Jody chuckled. “That sounds about right.”

  “I’m going to need your new number,” Carrie said, calling up her contacts and looking over at Jody expectantly.

  “You’ve got it already.” Jody touched Carrie’s bare arm with her fingertips, stroking lightly, and Carrie blinked at her, the realization settling in. “Besides… I’m right here, babygirl.”

  It was like taking a leap off a cliff in a dream and waking up just before you hit the ground. It jolted her, and Carrie felt tears begin to sting her eyes, but instead of waking up to find that she couldn’t fly, she found herself opening her eyes to see her dream was coming true.

  “I’m right here,” Jody said again, softer this time, taking Carrie’s chin in her hand and turning her more fully to face her.

  “You are,” Carrie whispered. She glanced only briefly at Doc and saw he was watching out of the corner of his eye, a small smile playing on his lips.

  Then Carrie put her arms around her long-distance lover, breathing in the scent of oranges and sunshine, and kissed her.

  Jody’s mouth opened, her tongue making soft, velvet swirls against Carrie’s eager lips. Carrie shifted in her seat, trying to get closer as the two women meshed together between the seats, limbs twined, eyes closed, completely lost in their first real kiss.

  She wasn’t even sure when they parted, it went on so long. Jody’s hands moved over her shoulders, down her back, drawing her nearer until their breasts were pressed together, impossible softness that made Carrie melt.

  When Carrie finally opened her eyes, Jody was still there, still very real. They looked at each other for a long while, Jody’s finger tracing the line of Carrie’s lips before trailing down her throat.

  “I was going to try to push it all the way to the Keys, especially if we had someone tailing us…” Doc cleared his throat, glancing over at them. Carrie gave a little, embarrassed laugh, seeing both the surprise and hunger in her husband’s eyes. He had clearly liked watching them kiss, although the energy that had taken them over had been powerful and all-consuming. She imagined he felt a little left out of it, even if he’d never say so. “But now… I think maybe we should stop and get a room for the night…”

  “I think maybe that’s a really good idea…” Carrie eased back into the passenger seat, but she took Jody’s hand in hers, keeping her close.

  There was no way she was going to let go again. Not ever.

  * * * *

  They stopped about six hours outside of Key West. Jody pointed out the Sun Surfer hotel and Carrie laughed, because they were in northern Florida and nowhere near the ocean yet.

  “I’ve got to pee like a Russian racehorse,” Jody exclaimed as she climbed out of the back seat on Doc’s side. He gave her a hand out and she smiled at him.

  “Standing up in the middle of the stall?” Doc laughed.

  Carrie met Jody’s eyes, giving her a warning look behind Doc’s back as they walked next door toward the Cracker Barrel. Jody just smiled, reaching over and taking Carrie’s hand as they entered the restaurant.

  “Are you sure you want to eat here?” Carrie asked Jody, hanging back, keeping her voice low as Doc stepped up to tell the hostess they wanted a table.

  “Oh, it’s fine,” Jody said as Doc came over to join them. “If you’re worried about their social responsibility, they have cleaned all the crumbs out of the cracker barrel from the top down.”

  “She’s says they’re clearing a table,” Doc told them, sliding an arm around his wife’s waist. Carrie leaned against him. “I didn’t know there was an issue with Cracker Barrel?”

  “Do you live under a rock?” Carrie cocked her head at him, smiling and shaking her head.

  “I hate listening to the news.” He laughed, shrugging a shoulder. “It’s depressing.”

  “Well, the thing is,” Jody said, lowering her voice so as not to be overheard. “In the past, they didn’t like to hire people of color, or, uh... colorful people, if you take my meaning...”

  “Ahhh.” Doc gave a knowing nod. “Gotcha.”

  “And a few bad ‘crackers’ can spoil the whole barrel, you know...” Jody observed, glancing over where the hostess was pulling menus out of the holder. “But me, I like to spend my money not only where they don’t discriminate, but where they’ve made changes, because making changes is a lot harder than most of us think.”

  “Baumgartner, party of three?” the hostess called out. She was young, Carrie judged. Probably younger than Janie, she mused. Not even college-age yet. Blonde and bubbly, cute, hair pulled back into a ponytail that bobbed as she led the way to their table.

 
; Jody slipped away to use the restroom and the hostess left Doc and Carrie with three menus and said their waiter, Zach, would be with them shortly. They sat at a small, round table, tucked away in a corner by the window.

  “She’s something,” Doc remarked, glancing up as Jody headed back toward their table.

  “I know.” Carrie just smiled.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to rely on your hospitality.” Jody sighed as she tucked herself into the wooden chair and opened her menu. “Because if I go to the ATM, Jackie’ll find me faster than a hot knife through butter.”

  “No worries,” Doc assured her, meeting Carrie’s eyes, smiling at Jody’s southern expression. He liked her, she could tell. And that made Carrie rather deliriously happy. “It’s all on us. Don’t even think about it.”

  “Well, I can’t help but think about it.” Jody smiled sweetly at him over her menu. “But I do very much appreciate your generosity. Both of you. I really don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

  “But we did.” Carrie touched Jody’s bare knee under the table and their eyes met. Something electric passed between them, a hot, pulsing current.

  “You’re safe,” Doc assured her. “And you can stay with us until you figure out what it is you want to do.”

  “Goodness, that could be a lifetime.” Jody gave a little laugh.

  Carrie squeezed Jody’s knee under the table in silent response.

  “Welcome to Cracker Barrel.” The waiter, Zach, who had to be as young as the hostess, Carrie figured, pulled a pad out of his back pocket. He was clean-cut, blonde, and very tanned, his smile so white it was almost blinding. He also had the sweetest, softest southern accent Carrie had heard since she met Jody. “What can I get you folks?”

  Doc ordered chicken and dumplings, and his wife ordered the country fresh salad, sans bacon.

  “Oh, now I’ve got the devil on one side of me,” Jody said, looking pointedly at Doc. “And an angel on the other.”

  “I’m no angel,” Carrie protested, laughing.

  “What do you think, Zach?” Jody mused, running a long fingernail down the menu. “Should I be good—or bad?”