by Jane Frances
As if on cue, Steph’s head appeared around the door frame. “Hey Leese, we’re waiting for you to—” Lisa glanced in her direction and Steph immediately understood something was going down, gave an almost imperceptible nod and disappeared again.
Lisa continued to provide answers to all the so-called evidence presented, all the while her eyes growing larger as it became clear how many innocent comments and actions had been interpreted altogether incorrectly.
“Yes,” Lisa agreed, “I did say I was through with women.” She frowned, unable to recall ever saying that in Cathy’s presence. But, of late she’d been spouting that line to anyone who’d listen, so maybe she had said it in front of Cathy after all. “I’ve been saying that ever since I broke up with my last girlfriend.” The emphasis she placed on girl was intentional. “But no one who knows me believed a word of it.”
There was a sudden silence. It seemed Cathy and Toni had come to the end of their material. Both of them looked utterly miserable.
“I’m sorry Lisa,” Cathy said at length. Color had returned to her cheeks, but they were red and splotchy, advertising her embarrassment.
“Me, too.” Toni said in a small voice. She was still scuffing her shoes against the rug. Lisa felt inclined to tell her to quit it before she ruined the edge, but she didn’t. She almost felt sorry for Toni, knowing there was likely to be an argument once they went home.
“That’s okay.” Lisa forced a smile and nodded in the direction of the backyard. Barbeque smells drifted into the lounge. “I think dinner’s ready.”
“Come on you two.” Lisa urged when Toni said maybe it was better if they left. “There’s no reason why you should go.”
Sensing the worry coming from across the room, Lisa crossed her heart and said, “I promise this will stay just between us, okay?”
Cathy and Toni finally acquiesced and the three of them headed to the rear of the house, Lisa stopping at the kitchen to get Lee her wine. The glass she left on the bench was gone, Lee obviously finding the wait too long and helping herself.
Steph shot a questioning look as Lisa resumed her seat next to Emma but Lisa shook her head slightly. Steph raised her eyebrows but didn’t press the issue. Lisa knew there would be questions once they were alone.
“I wonder who that could be?” Lisa frowned as Joel resumed doorman status, a knock sounding not two minutes after she had returned to the patio. Everyone who should have arrived, had arrived.
Joel beckoned her from the back door.
“Don’t you touch my sausage,” Lisa jokingly warned Emma as she stood. Maybe this was Joel’s way of getting her out of the backyard so her birthday surprise could be arranged. There had to be a birthday surprise, there had been every year prior.
She wondered what it was as she wandered back along the hallway. Last year it had been the four-burner gas barbeque they were using tonight.
“I tried to get her to go, but she insisted on staying until she saw you,” Joel whispered as he pulled open the door.
Oh crap. Lisa’s eyes narrowed when she saw the woman standing on her veranda. She was sporting a very petulant look and a very large bunch of flowers.
Lisa decided she must have done something very, very bad in a previous life. So much for no drama this evening. She folded her arms. “Hello Janice. What do you want?”
It was nearly midnight when all but the last of Lisa’s guests left. Lisa sat on the front steps, waving to Van and Steph as their car passed her front gate. She yawned, tired.
Emma emerged from the house, keys jangling in her hand. “All done.”
“Thanks Emma.” Lisa had protested Emma’s offer to help clear up, but not enough to prevent her from running a sink full of water and begin stacking dishes. Steph also pitched in, grabbing a tea towel. Lisa and Van busied themselves outside, stacking chairs and moving the kitchen table back indoors. Once the lifting was over, Van made sure the two braziers that had kept everyone warm while outside were not smoldering. Lisa sat at the kitchen table and did nothing. After all, it was her birthday, she had every right to be idle.
Emma settled on the step next to Lisa. “It was a good night.”
“It was wasn’t it?” Lisa rested her chin on her hands. Despite being mistaken for a heterosexual by the ex she wanted and begged for a second chance by one she didn’t, the night had turned out surprisingly well. Lisa was impressed by her own diplomacy. She had successfully maneuvered through two potential disasters without anyone, apart from the main players, being aware of what was going on.
Actually, she hadn’t really displayed much diplomacy in her dealing with Janice.
Still reeling from what had been revealed in the lounge room only minutes beforehand, she answered Janice’s request for forgiveness by telling her to piss off and shove her flowers “where the sun don’t shine.” Always a sucker for tears, however she retracted her remark when Janice’s face crumpled. Still, she had been firm, refusing to let Janice past the threshold and reiterating that it was over between them. For good.
Realizing further protest was futile, Janice threw the flowers into a garden bed and left. Once Janice’s car had sped off, Lisa retrieved the flowers and crept up the path to her next door neighbor’s house, thinking old Mrs. Trimble would get a nice surprise when she opened her front door the next morning. Moments later, Lisa dashed up the garden path again. Given her luck at present, old Mrs. Trimble wouldn’t see the bouquet on her doorstep, trip over it and break her hip. Lisa tossed the flowers into her wheelie bin. As she did so she wondered if tossing out perfectly good flowers was a lesbianly thing to do or if it would be seen as another piece of evidence she was obviously heterosexual. Shaking her head at the thought, How on earth could Cathy have . . . Lisa wiped her hands on her jeans and headed back inside, hoping Cathy and Toni had settled a bit.
However, it appeared she was worrying over nothing. In actual fact, Lisa was astounded at how well Cathy and Toni fared. She had seen them have a very quiet but earnest exchange as they resumed their seats. However, they were soon participating in the conversations around them, by all accounts seemingly having a grand old time. They stayed well into the evening, not leaving until the major exodus began soon after eleven.
“Lisa?”
Still thinking about the strangeness of the night, Lisa’s reply was a distracted, “Hmm.”
“Is Cathy the ex you recently broke up with?”
“No.” Lisa raised her eyebrows. Why would Emma think that? She tossed up telling of the unscheduled visit from the actual recent ex but decided against it. It was late and she had an early start, so epic tales of her woeful love life could wait. “Cathy’s an ex, but from a long, long time ago.”
It seemed to take a while for that to sink in. Emma stared out into the night in silence. Eventually she spoke, “You still like her don’t you?”
Lisa turned wide eyes to Emma. Having Joel pick up the vibes was understandable, they knew each other inside out. But for Emma to have also caught on . . . even though she and Emma had clicked they’d only known each other for a blip in time. “Am I that transparent?”
Emma nodded. “To me you are.” She smiled gently, adding, “I can see myself in you.”
Lisa returned Emma’s smile, remembering she was involved in her own exercise of futility. A post-run heart-to-heart on a bench overlooking the lake they had just circled revealed Emma’s long-term devotion to Justine, her neighbor from a few doors down. It seemed Emma had fallen head over heels for the woman from the moment she moved into the neighborhood a few months before Christmas. Only problem was, Justine liked men. Despite this, Emma continued to do anything and everything to ensure she had as much contact with her neighbor as possible. Hence the request for Lisa’s business card. Knowing Justine was in the market for a tiler, it provided a valid excuse to pop over for a visit. Plus the possibility of a thank-you hug for the tip.
Lisa hooked her arm into Emma’s. “We’re both pathetic aren’t we?”
“T
otally.”
It suddenly occurred that Emma should already know Cathy was not a recent ex of Lisa’s. After all, they had been friends for years, both attending the same wine club. “Shouldn’t you know who Cathy is and isn’t seeing?” Lisa asked.
“Not really. She’s not one to reveal much. I didn’t even know she was seeing anyone until tonight.”
“They haven’t been together for long.” Lisa sighed heavily. “Not long at all.”
“Obviously long enough for you to develop a great dislike for Toni,” Emma scolded. “She’s really quite a funny woman you know. I like her.”
“You’re a fine one to talk!” Lisa retorted. During their heart-toheart, Emma shot Justine’s current boyfriend down in flames. Lisa met him while she worked on Justine’s kitchen the weekend just gone. She found him okay. Nothing to write home about, but okay. “Paul’s only crime is he has Justine and you don’t.”
“And Toni’s only crime is she has Cathy and you don’t.”
It was on the tip of Lisa’s tongue to point out that wasn’t Toni’s only crime. She was also guilty of spreading wildly inaccurate rumors. But she didn’t spill the beans. She had promised to keep that little fact a secret and she would. “I know. I told you, we’re both pathetic.”
Lisa yawned and checked her watch. It had now gone past midnight. Luckily she and Joel had agreed to a late start in the morning, eight instead of seven. Even so, if she went to bed right this minute she’d still only get seven hours sleep and Lisa needed at least eight to run on full power. “I think I’d better go to bed.”
“Oh shit. Sorry.” Emma stood, pulling Lisa with her. “I forgot you had to work tomorrow.”
“Well, you know. No rest for the wicked.” Lisa drew Emma in for their usual parting hug and kiss on the cheek. That Emma turned her head so they kissed instead on the lips was totally unexpected. Lisa pulled away.
But Emma was not to be swayed. “Kiss me,” she said.
Lisa made sure this time she made contact with Emma’s cheek. “There you go.”
“Kiss me properly.”
“No.” Lisa lowered her eyes to stare at her feet. “I don’t want to.”
“Come on Lisa, humor me.”
“Why?”
Emma shrugged, “It just seems stupid we both want what we can’t have, but we get on so well I just thought, you know, maybe we can’t see the woods for the trees.”
Hands on hips, Lisa considered her friend. She thought it was a stupid idea. She knew she didn’t need to kiss Emma to be certain of her feelings. But, well, what the hell. After all, it was only a kiss.
“So?” Lisa asked a few moments later.
Emma shook her head sadly. “Nothing.”
“Me, either.” Emma kissed nicely, technically perfect actually. But technique did not rouse passion. Lisa’s grin was cheeky as she said, “Although I think I may have to go and have one of those chicken and pine nut sausages. They taste nice.”
“They were good.” Emma laughed as she hugged Lisa. “Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.” Lisa watched Emma head down the path.
Emma didn’t get far, turning back after only a few steps. “Can we try one more thing?”
“You’re starting to freak me out Emma.” Her suggestion they try another kiss, but this time Lisa was to pretend Emma was Cathy, and Emma was to pretend Lisa was Justine, seemed totally absurd. And what would it achieve anyway? “It’s too late to be playing let’s pretend on my doorstep.”
“Humor me,” Emma said again.
“You’re lucky I don’t run inside and call the men in the white wagon.” Lisa warned as she again acquiesced and drew Emma into her arms. She closed her eyes and did as instructed, her mind filling with images of Cathy. Lips were warm and yielding as she mumbled into them, “Because you’re totally off this planet.”
“Shit Lisa,” Emma opened her eyes long moments later. Her face was flushed and her breathing heavy. “You’ve got it really bad for Cathy.”
“And you for Justine.” Lisa pulled at the collar of her sports shirt feeling, literally, hot under the collar. And like Emma, her breath was labored. She knew this had been a bad idea. Now she was no longer tired and her body was crying out for more attention.
So too, it seemed, was Emma’s. “Do you want to take this inside?”
“I do.” Lisa admitted, easing Emma’s hands from her butt and holding them by her side. Living out a fantasy for the length of a kiss was one thing, but Lisa doubted she could suspend reality for the duration of a lovemaking session. Besides, it wouldn’t be making love, it would just be sex. And just sex, especially just sex with friends, was something Lisa had discarded years ago, along with her party-hard days. None of the women she casually bedded in the days before starting her tiling career were now in her life, and she didn’t want Emma to disappear down the same track. “But I don’t—if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” Emma lightly squeezed Lisa’s hands before releasing them. “I think I do.”
Chapter Twelve
The stairway was well lit, but the steps were steep, so Lisa picked her way carefully to the venue for the evening’s meeting. The cellar.
It all sounded rather surreal, having a meeting in a cellar. Lisa imagined it as dank and cold, with a constant drip from an unseen water source sounding in the background. It wasn’t like that at all. The cellar was cool but not cold, it was clean and roomy, large enough for the twenty or so women present. And there was no evidence of a drip. If there was one it was drowned out by the chatter of the crowd.
Lisa scanned the area. It took but a moment for her to spy the two people she most wanted to see and she headed straight for them.
“Hi Emma. Hi Cathy.”
“Hey Lisa.” Emma grinned, “You made it.”
“Yeah finally.” Lisa gave Emma a hello kiss on the cheek and tossed up also giving one to Cathy. She decided she would. Steph would have been proud of her. Glowing from the contact, Lisa diverted her attention to the large table that dominated the cellar floor. It was strewn with bottles, most empty, some with remnants of wine, a few uncorked but untouched. “Looks like you lot have been getting stuck into it.”
“Mmm,” Emma reached for a fresh glass. “We’ve been trying the latest offerings from some little country on the other side of the planet.”
“And?” Lisa accepted the glass of white offered to her.
“Pretty crap really.” Emma whispered.
Cathy nodded. “Crap.”
“Crap,” Lisa repeated, holding the glass up to the light as per Emma’s instruction. “Is that a technical wino term?”
“It’s a shame you had to arrive so late,” Emma said as she walked with Lisa to her Ute. It had just gone ten and the night was already over. Apparently the evenings didn’t usually wind up so early but since the wine was crap, most women had taken their leave, begging the excuse of having to work the next day. The patron for the night, the owner of the bottle shop, was not overly happy. None of the women were pushovers and couldn’t be swayed into placing an order.
“Yeah. But it couldn’t be helped.” Lisa’s late arrival was due to the need to get the tiling finished in time for the painters to begin work the next morning. It was Lisa’s fault they were running behind, she’d slept badly on her birthday night and her progress the next day was slow and clumsy. So while Joel told Lisa she could pack it in and he’d finish it off—he knew how she was looking forward to the wine club—she refused the offer. Although she trusted Joel to do it right, she wanted to make doubly sure everything was just so. When they finished she dashed home, had a cursory wash, threw on some clean clothes and headed straight out the door. “I’m glad I did make it though. It was fun.”
It had been fun. Made even more so by the company. Lisa halfexpected Cathy to wander off and socialize with all her friends, but apart from a few short bursts of conversation as women entered their fray, Cathy seemed content to stay with her and Emma. Which suited Lisa
just fine. The hour slipped by in a flash, and before Lisa knew it, the three of them were heading up the stairs and out to their cars. They reached Cathy’s car first.
The temptation to kiss Cathy a second time was overwhelming. Again she gave in. Her lips brushed Cathy’s cheek. “Goodnight Cathy.”
Her kiss was returned. “Goodnight Lisa.”
Lisa watched Cathy’s car disappear into the night. She raised her hand to her cheek, which was still pulsating warmth from Cathy’s lips. The time until Lisa would see her again seemed interminable, even though it was only nine hours away. As agreed, they were to meet at the offices at seven the next morning, half an hour before the painters were scheduled to arrive. All being well, Cathy would hand over the balance of payment. The knowledge the meeting would be her last regular contact with Cathy, apart from the wine club, was a fact that had been playing on Lisa’s mind all day and all evening. She’d almost done the unthinkable a couple of times over the past hour, she’d almost made the first move and asked Cathy if she’d like to meet up one day soon for a coffee. But, as usual, she’d chickened out.
Having reached her utility, Lisa twisted the key in the lock and opened the door.
“Goodnight Emma.”
“Goodnight Lisa.”
Emma turned and walked a few steps, then stopped and turned back around. “Lisa?”
“Hmm?” Lisa eyed her friend with suspicion. She hoped Emma wasn’t going to request another kissing session.
“I think you should ring Cathy.”
