Reunion

by Jane Frances

  “Oh, just filled my head with stupid ideas I then acted on.” Lisa placed her stubbie next to the bottles of wine, leaned against the bench and folded her arms. She wasn’t really angry with Steph, she was more annoyed at herself for ignoring her own instincts and acting instead on Steph’s theories.

  It was Steph’s theories that caused Lisa’s suspicions to be raised when she was at Emma’s friend’s place to do the quote for the kitchen splashbacks. Not five minutes into her visit, who should arrive on the doorstep but Emma. However, Lisa soon laid her suspicions to rest. Apparently Emma lived only a few doors down and, seeing Lisa’s Ute, decided to pop in to say hello to both of them. But the “Emma’s interested in you theory” seemed proven the following evening, after Emma phoned Lisa at home. Lisa found talk easy with Emma. They just seemed to rattle on as if they’d known each other for years. But she was at a momentary loss for words when Emma asked if she’d like to join her for dinner and a movie. “I’m sorry,” Lisa raced to find the right words to let her down gently, “I’ve just recently broken up with someone and I’m not ready for anything just now.” It wasn’t really a lie, it just wasn’t quite the truth either. Lisa thought she’d been too harsh when there was an extended silence on the other end of the line. But her lack of tact wasn’t the issue. Emma coughed and said, “Umm Lisa, I’m sorry but I didn’t mean it that way. I mean, I like you and all, but not you know—”

  Lisa felt like a big twit. She also felt Emma would now think Lisa assumed every woman who spoke to her, wanted her. Luckily Emma wasn’t thinking along the same lines. She blamed herself for her delivery; obviously she was sending out the wrong signals. Lisa said it wasn’t that at all, it was one of her hopelessly romantic friends who had planted the idea in her head.

  With that misunderstanding sorted out, Lisa agreed that dinner and a movie sounded good. After the movie, she’d agreed to the offer of coffee, spending the rest of the evening in Emma’s lounge room with Emma’s golden retriever at her feet, and Emma’s black cat on her lap. They’d been in regular contact ever since.

  “Sounds like you’re already pretty good friends.”

  “We are.” Lisa hugged Steph, sensing the touch of envy, especially at the announcement Emma and Lisa had taken up running together. To date, they’d only managed twice, because one or the other worked later than scheduled most evenings. However, the frequency was not the issue, it was the fact Steph had been Lisa’s running partner before Steph’s job made the organizing of that activity a strategic nightmare. “But you’re still my very best friend. Even though you do get me into all sorts of trouble.” Lisa added, not yet finished with all her news. “Now listen Steph, Cathy and Toni may also be coming tonight.”

  Lisa quickly related all that had transpired between Cathy and her, including the fact she now knew for certain Cathy and Toni were together.

  “But if it’s only been two weeks—”

  “Don’t even think about it.” Lisa held up her hand in warning, repeating what she had told Joel just the previous day, “You know I won’t go there.”

  “Please Steph, even if I did miss the boat with Cathy by no more than a minute it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to have to live with the fact she’s with Toni. So please, please, please, don’t say anything.”

  “I promise.”

  “And please, whatever you do, don’t mention the fence thing either. It went down like a ton of bricks when I did.”

  “I won’t.” Steph hugged Lisa. “Stop getting your knickers in a twist honey. I’ll be good.”

  “Good.” Lisa picked up her stubbie and the drinks for her lazy friends. She decided this was her last drink run for the night. From this point on, everyone could find their own way to the fridge. “I don’t want any dramas.”

  Steph picked up the bottles of wine. “No dramas, I promise.”

  Cathy sat on the edge of the bed, arms folded as she watched Toni flick through her wardrobe. “It’s a barbie Toni,” she reminded. “Not the Academy Awards. Just throw on jeans and a jacket.”

  Cathy knew Toni was only dawdling over her outfit because she really didn’t want to go to Lisa’s barbeque. That was obvious from the moment Cathy mentioned it the previous day. Toni had phoned not long after she returned home from the dentist and on hearing of Cathy’s injury came rushing over to play nurse.

  The news Lisa had chauffeured Cathy home went down like a lead balloon, as did the fact Cathy was entertaining the idea of accepting Lisa’s invitation.

  Cathy flared, tiring of the green-eyed monster that appeared whenever Lisa’s name was mentioned. “For God’s sake Toni, get over it. She’s been with Joel for seven frigging years. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

  “Seven years?” Toni sat down heavily. “Shit, that’s a long time.”

  “I know.” Cathy dropped her gaze to her hands, feeling again the emptiness that gnawed in the pit of her stomach. She’d been feeling it ever since Lisa’s casual announcement she and Joel were longtime partners. But she was trying to rise above it, and if she could, then surely Toni could as well. “So please, can we just move past this?” Cathy shifted in her seat, wincing at the stab of pain in her ankle, but pleased to find it was not as acute as before. By tomorrow she should be on her feet again. “I really would like to go Toni. And I’d like you to come with me.”

  They’d settled after that. Toni agreeing to accompany Cathy, and Cathy pleased that Toni seemed willing to get over her needless jealousy.

  However, Toni appeared to have had a change of heart somewhere between then and now. Cathy’s ankle was already sufficiently healed that she could drive, so as arranged, she arrived at Toni’s shortly after seven. She was immediately irked to find Toni still in track pants and a sweatshirt. “Come on Toni,” she urged. “You’ve got fifteen minutes.”

  Fifteen minutes up, and Toni still wasn’t ready. Annoyance built. In Cathy’s world, an invitation to arrive between seven and eight meant she’d turn up at seven thirty. By her time scale, unless she left this second, Cathy was now officially late. She stood from the bed. “That’s it Toni. You’ve got one minute to get changed. If you’re not ready I’m leaving without you.”

  “Okay, okay.” Toni scowled in Cathy’s direction but nevertheless pulled a pair of jeans off its hanger. “Although I’ve no idea why you’d want to spend an evening with a bunch of blokes standing around a barbeque, swilling beer and scratching their balls while the women sit in the kitchen and swap scone recipes.”

  “Antonia Ljanjovich!” Cathy didn’t think she’d ever heard such a string of stereotypes. “I never would have picked you as a heterophobe.”

  Toni cocked her head to one side, frowning, and said, “Is there even such a word?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Cathy limped to the wardrobe and pulled out the first jacket she could get her hands on. “Here. Get this on and let’s go.”

  Minutes later Toni was dressed, Virgil had been cuddled and it appeared there would be no more delays, except for Toni’s apparent fixation with finding out if heterophobe was a word.

  “Toni!” Hands on hips, Cathy glared at Toni as she loped down the hallway toward her home office. “Now is not the time to check your dictionary. You can do that when we get back.”

  Toni seemed to sense Cathy was reaching the limits of her temper. She stopped, turned, and within a few moments they were on their way to Lisa’s house.

  “I still don’t think heterophobe is a word.” Toni helped Cathy up the three steps leading onto Lisa’s front veranda. “Although we could make it one. Wouldn’t that be good,” Toni grinned, “If we invented a word.”

  Cathy smiled, a lot happier now they had made it to Lisa’s front door. Despite Toni’s dawdling and Cathy’s slow progress during the walk around the block, they arrived less than fifteen minutes after Cathy’s self-imposed deadline. She took the weight off her ankle by leaning against Toni as they waited for their knock to be answered. “You’re a dag To
ni.”

  “Yeah I know.” Toni slipped an arm around Cathy’s waist, “But it takes one to know one.”

  A gravelly female voice called from the direction of the front garden, “Cathy?”

  Both Cathy and Toni turned. Two women ascended the steps and joined them on the veranda. Cathy blinked. One of the women, the one with the gravelly voice, was Rebecca from the wine club. The other she guessed was Dee, their hand holding indicating they were a couple. What on earth are they doing here? Cathy wondered.

  Rebecca broke into a grin. “I thought it was you.” She quickly flicked her eyes over Toni but settled her gaze on Cathy. “I hope you’re feeling better. We missed you the other week.”

  Cathy again gave her apologies for missing the anniversary dinner. She said she was much better; it was just a passing bug. They were in the middle of their introductions when the front door opened.

  “Welcome ladies.” Joel bowed formally, and said, “Everyone’s out the back.”

  They all followed Joel down the hallway, Rebecca’s heavy boots loud against the polished floorboards. “I didn’t know you knew Lisa.”

  Curious, Cathy was disappointed that the doors they passed all seemed to be closed. The first set were double doors, dark wood framing opaque glass. Cathy supposed they led to the lounge room. “We went to Uni together. It’s just lately we’ve caught up again.”

  Even more curious about Rebecca and Dee’s association with Lisa than she was with the decor, Cathy asked, “How do you know Lisa?”

  Rebecca thought for a moment then laughed. “You know, it’s been so long I really can’t remember.” She shrugged at Dee, “What was it, some party or something?”

  “No silly.” Dee shook her head. “It was that picnic out in the Swan Valley. For Shorty’s birthday. Remember?”

  Cathy tuned out of their ensuing banter about who was at the picnic and whatever had happened to so-and-so, realizing Lisa must have known them from the days prior to Joel. It was good to know Lisa still had some ties with the lesbian community, and that Joel was seemingly okay with it. From comments overheard behind Lisa’s fence, Cathy had feared he may put up barriers, feeling some threat to his manhood or something. But then again, he didn’t seem the type of guy to be ruled by his testosterone. From the little Cathy had seen of Joel, she liked him. She stopped short of the thought he was good for Lisa, but still, he seemed okay.

  Cathy halted her analysis as they reached the French doors leading out to the back. She wasn’t going to make much of an impression on Lisa’s friends if she was staring off into space, lost in her own thoughts.

  Less than two minutes later, Cathy was again lost in thought. This time as she tried to assimilate the visual evidence with her preconceived notions, for the two did not coincide.

  From the moment Cathy stepped onto the patio it was apparent the number of women far outweighed the men. In fact, Cathy could see only Joel and one other male in the entire group. Body language evidenced that most of the women were paired up—with each other. Her eyes opened in wide surprise as she spied Steph. The woman whose lap she sat on was quite mannish, but definitely a female and definitely not the male footballer she had been expecting. And from the affectionate looks they exchanged as Steph held court, laughing and joking with those around them, Cathy assumed she hadn’t placed herself on the woman’s knee because of a lack of seats. Emma was also present, seated beside Lisa. Cathy knew Emma was a lesbian. They’d known each other for a good three years, both longstanding members of the wine club. What Cathy hadn’t known was that Emma knew Lisa.

  Any shred left of her preconceived notions quickly disappeared as Cathy watched Joel interact with the other fellow—Scott, she remembered from Lisa’s introduction.

  The men were standing around the barbeque, but that was the only part of Toni’s stereotypical prediction to come to light. Joel and Scott certainly weren’t swilling beer and scratching their balls. They were sipping Chardonnay and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. Cathy watched the pair, very much doubting Lisa had changed so much she would condone her partner playing with another man’s butt. There was only one conclusion to draw.

  Toni had obviously come to the same conclusion. The quick glance they managed to exchange before Toni was drawn into a hug by a woman she introduced as one of her newer clients, revealed her similar astonishment.

  Cathy desperately needed some space. As was reasonably typical, Toni’s client took the opportunity of a social function to extract some free tax advice, so Cathy took the opportunity to escape. “Will you please excuse me?”

  Ignoring the don’t go look from Toni, Cathy stood and headed back inside.

  She limped down the hallway, stopping at the double doors she had passed earlier. Once open the doors presented, as suspected, a lounge room. Cathy plopped herself onto the couch, feeling quite lightheaded as she absorbed her new surroundings. Three framed commemorative posters from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, one from only the year prior, dominated one wall. A corner bookshelf revealed a couple of shelves devoted to women’s literature, many titles matching those in Cathy’s own collection. Cathy picked up a stone sculpture from the center of the coffee table. The piece was finely crafted and pleasing to the eye, an abstract study of two women in what could only be described as an erotic embrace. Cathy ran her fingertips over the statue’s curves, trying to ground herself with the cold stone.

  She wasn’t overly successful.

  Lisa was in high spirits, having experienced an upswing in mood that, predictably, occurred at the exact moment Cathy appeared at her back door. Prior to that, Lisa had been making a real effort not to let her disappointment break through. She had been clock watching, and with each minute that passed she became more convinced Cathy wouldn’t show. After all, history told Lisa if she was going to turn up it would be at seven thirty. Cathy’s actual arrival had not been until nearly seven forty-five, and from the glance between Cathy and Toni only moments after they took their seats at the table, Lisa figured Toni was to blame for the tardiness.

  Tardy or not, Lisa was thrilled Cathy had come. Reminding herself Toni was there as Cathy’s partner, Lisa swallowed her first impulse, the one that told her to rush over to Cathy and give her a big hug. Instead she grinned a hello, quickly introduced everyone, and set herself ten minutes before she’d go and have a proper chat. She quickly changed her mind. Ten minutes was far too long. Five minutes was better.

  Two minutes before her five minutes was up Lisa stole a glance to the far end of the table. She immediately noticed Cathy had gone pale. Then she watched her stand and limp back into the house.

  Lisa paled at the thought that crossed her mind as her eyes followed Cathy’s retreat, the thought that said maybe Cathy had some illness, one that affected her balance and made her fall down a lot. Oh shit. Maybe that’s why she got upset when Lisa had laughed at her. Lisa touched Emma lightly on the arm and nodded her apologies to Lee and Fleur, who were busy telling of their recent holiday in the south of the state. “Can you just excuse me for a minute?”

  “Will you get me another wine on your way back?”

  “Sure.” Her promise not to be fridge runner forgotten, Lisa took Lee’s glass and headed inside.

  Cathy wasn’t in the kitchen or the dining area. A quick check of the bathroom also revealed it empty. Lisa glanced down the length of the hallway. The doors to the lounge room were open. Lisa quickened her step.

  “It’s a nice piece isn’t it?” Lisa stood at the entrance to the lounge room, her voice soft so as not to startle Cathy at the interruption. Cathy was intent on the statue that lived on Lisa’s coffee table, running her fingers over and around its form. “I picked it up at the last Fair Day.”

  Cathy took one last look at the sculpture before placing it back in the middle of the table. Lisa crossed the floor, now even more concerned at the state of Cathy’s health. She looked like she was going to faint. “Cathy—are you okay?”

  “I—” Cathy be
gan, then stopped, not seeming to know what to say. “You—”

  “Cathy.” The look Lisa received was stricken. “Cathy, what’s wrong?”

  “I thought—”

  “You thought what?” Lisa coaxed, Cathy again trailing away before finishing her sentence.

  A minute later—when Cathy had told her what she had thought—Lisa burst out laughing. “You are kidding aren’t you?”

  All mirth vanished when it became clear Cathy was deadly serious. Lisa sank onto the couch, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her attention was momentarily diverted as another figure appeared at the entrance to the lounge room. It was Toni. Lisa ignored her and focused on Cathy.

  “Can you please tell me what on earth gave you the idea I had turned straight?”

  Cathy said in a small voice, “Someone told me you were.”

  “What!” Lisa’s eyes opened wide, incredulous. Why would anyone be spreading that sort of rumor about her? “Who told you that?”

  Cathy just shook her head, but Lisa didn’t need to be told, quickly figuring who was the culprit. Toni had moved into the lounge room and was standing with hands in pockets, looking guiltily at her feet as she scuffed a shoe against the edge of the rug. Lisa swallowed the urge to throttle her, instead returning her attention to the figure perched next to her on the edge of the couch. “How could you take something like that on board Cathy? You, of all people, should know me better than that.”

  Lisa shook her head, trying to gather how she’d ended up in her lounge room with an ex-lover, being forced to defend her sexuality. “What have I ever said or done to make you believe something so stupid?”

  She soon found she had apparently said and done quite a lot.

  Of course she casually announced she and Joel had been together for seven years. She was a lesbian for goodness sake, why would she have thought Cathy was talking about anything but their business relationship? No, she and Joel did not share a house, and definitely not a bed. What an awful thought. Joel’s damn phone message was only there because she hated talking into a machine and had not gotten around to changing it. Lisa made a mental note never to doubt Steph again. She’d been spot on about the phone message, also spot on something weird had been going on at the cinema. No wonder Cathy had looked at her so oddly. And she’d been right about Toni too. Obviously the woman was so threatened she had to make up some ridiculous story to keep Cathy away from her.