The Plan

by Kim Pritekel

  That was certainly how she made Eleanor feel.

  Reaching up, she was going to rebutton the two buttons, but in a moment of rebellion, she let them be and hurried to her own class, knowing she’d see Lysette again in math class later.

  ****

  “Here you are, Mrs. Holdstead. Don’t forget your fabric. Should make a real pretty dress for your granddaughter,” Eleanor said with a smile, handing the older woman her bundled purchases.

  “Thank you, honey. You have a nice day and tell your mama I said hello.”

  “Will do.” She watched one of their regular customers leave before turning back to what she’d been doing before helping cut the length of flower-printed fabric that was requested.

  “All right, Eleanor, I got that other delivery to make, then y’all are done with those,” Gabby said, hurrying to the front of the store with a box filled with collected goods off the shelves. “Check it?”

  Eleanor took the written list from him and checked the listed items with those in the box. Gabby was just this side of illiterate, so her father had mandated someone double-check his order before he left for delivery after a few mishaps.

  “This is all good, Gabby, except you forgot the beeswax,” she said, folding the page before handing it back to him.

  He nodded and sent her a salute before disappearing to grab the tin, tossing it into the box and picking up the box, hugging it to his body. “Shouldn’t be long.”

  She gave him a small smile and wave before returning to the opened ledger that lay on the counter where she’d been recording the numbers her father had counted that day for inventory.

  “Let me get that for you, Mr. Gabby,” a deep, friendly voice said as the bells above the door jingled.

  Eleanor glanced over, recognizing the voice. Samuel held open the door, Gabby giving him a long look as he passed him with the box of goods, never saying a word to the tall black man, though he offered a greeting to someone else outside who Eleanor couldn’t see.

  Samuel entered the store, Lysette strolling in behind him, though she had a strange look on her face as she glanced over her shoulder for a moment, her focus outside. Eleanor glanced out the front window to try to see what had so caught her friend’s attention. All she saw was Gabby loading the box into the back of the truck before climbing in behind the wheel. She turned back to Lysette, who was headed her way, a smile sprouting on Lysette’s lips.

  “Hey,” Eleanor greeted, unable to stop her own smile. “Hello, Samuel. How are you today? We got the new pipe tobacco in.”

  “You spoil me, Miss Eleanor,” he said, waggling a finger at her. “I come to pick up a new watering can.”

  Eleanor pointed to the aisle where that sort of thing was. “We’ve got a few to choose from.”

  He nodded and tipped the flat cap he wore, then headed off, leaving Lysette behind.

  “Hey,” Eleanor said again, her voice quieter, meant only for Lysette. She leaned on her forearms, which rested on the open pages of the ledger, pencil tapping nervously between her fingers. “How are you?”

  “I’m good. I stole a ride with Samuel.” Lysette grinned, leaning her forearms on the counter, then leaning slightly over them.

  It was hard for Eleanor not to notice it pushed her breasts up, almost putting them in her face. She forced herself to look into Lysette’s eyes, so they wouldn’t stray downward where they had no business.

  “No, actually, I drove us here,” Lysette was saying.

  “Wait, your father lets you drive?” Eleanor asked, aghast. “Wait, never mind. What he doesn’t know…”

  “No, silly!” Lysette waved her off. “Who do you think taught me?”

  Eleanor shook her head, amazed. “Wow. That would make my life so much easier, but Father will never allow that. He says a woman has no place driving.”

  “Of course he does,” Lysette muttered, grabbing a nearby pack of Black Jack gum. “This stuff is heinous,” she said, putting it back. “To allow you or your mama to drive would actually mean admitting you had a brain and ability to have freedom.”

  Eleanor felt panic as she looked around the store. She knew full well neither her father nor Gabby was there, but she couldn’t help the fear that Lysette’s words—no matter how true they were—would be overheard. Retribution would be swift and harsh.

  “Please don’t say things like that here,” she whispered.

  Lysette gave her a contrite smile. “Sorry. So did you talk to your mom about what we talked about the other day?” she asked, her voice remaining quieter.

  Eleanor shook her head again, glancing around the near-empty store. “I haven’t had time.”

  “What? Ellie, I talked to you about that four days ago!”

  “Yes, and my mother isn’t allowed to work in here, and when we’re at home, he’s always there.” She tossed the pencil to the counter and stood straight, running a hand over her tightly bound hair. “I think he has one of those meeting things with Gabby this Saturday night. I planned to talk to her then.”

  “Okay. You promise?” Lysette asked, a single eyebrow rose in a doubtful expression.

  Eleanor smiled. “I promise.”

  “And I promise to help you with your math,” Lysette said sweetly.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Okay, wait. Let’s try this.” Lysette grabbed a fresh piece of paper and scribbled the equation down as it was written in the textbook.

  Eleanor lay on her stomach next to where Lysette sat cross-legged on the redhead’s bed, their textbooks for Mr. Barnes’ algebra class between them. She was getting frustrated, which meant she was getting cranky, which meant no doubt Lysette wanted her to go home already.

  “Look,” Lysette said gently. “If you do it this way,” she said, writing out the steps of the equation on the page, ending up with the correct answer.

  “But wait, that’s not what Mr. Barnes showed us,” Eleanor grumbled, her frustration evident.

  “I know, but obviously, the way he’s showing us isn’t clicking with you. Besides, he’s doing it the long way. This way,” she said, tapping her style with the tip of the pencil, “is shorter with fewer steps, so it’s less confusing.”

  Eleanor studied it for a long moment, slowly nodding as it began to “click,” as Lysette had put it. She glanced at the textbook and jotted down the next problem on the page and tried to use the method Lysette had used on the previous problem. It took a moment and a few pointers from Lysette, but ultimately, not only did she get the problem right, but she also understood how she’d come to the correct answer.

  Shocked, she lifted herself to her elbows and looked down at the page. “Wait, did I do it?” She looked at Lysette, who was grinning ear to ear. “I got it right?”

  “You got it right.”

  With a whoop of victory, Eleanor slammed her textbook closed, thrilled that torture was over with. She grinned at Lysette, rather proud of herself. “Thank you. I really appreciate your patience with me on this.”

  “Of course, silly.” Lysette laughed. “Besides, I’m only good at math. You help me with everything else. She closed her book and stacked the loose-leaf pages atop it with her pencil. “So I want to show you something.” She climbed off the bed, setting her school supplies on her dresser before leaving the bedroom.

  Pushing up from where she’d been lying on the bed, Eleanor also cleaned up her mess, putting it all in her school bag before sitting on the bed again. A few moments later, Lysette returned, closing the bedroom door behind her and returning to the bed. She had a photo album tucked into her arms.

  “Okay, these are pretty neat,” she said, getting settled next to Eleanor, the teens sitting thigh to thigh. “So you know my dad and his twin, Josie, went to school with your mama, right?” she asked, flipping open the cover of the leather-bound album.

  Eleanor nodded. “I knew about your father. I don’t know anything about a sister, though.”

  Lysette’s smile was sweet and loving. “Aunt Josie is wonderful. She li
ves over in Gunnison now.” She flipped the stiff, picture-filled pages until she found what she was looking for. “Look. That’s the three of them when they were about our age.”

  Eleanor accepted the half of the photo album that was being laid across her thigh, the other half on Lysette’s. There were two teenage girls and one teenage boy, all standing in a line arm in arm. The little bit that could be seen around them seemed to be a parade or some sort of festival, complete with someone in the distance dressed like a clown talking to a group of kids, their excitement forever frozen on their faces.

  Her gaze returned to the grinning teenager in the center of the trio. The basic features belonged to her mother, but the joy in her smile and life in her eyes did not.

  “God,” she breathed, slowly shaking her head, unable to take her eyes off the image. “She looks so happy.”

  “They were all so young,” Lysette added, resting her chin on Eleanor’s shoulder. “That’s my dad,” she said, bringing a hand into Eleanor’s view, lightly tapping the old picture where the young man stood grinning to Emma’s right. “And,” she continued, tapping the young woman to Emma’s left, a very pretty thing who looked to be caught in the middle of a laugh. “Aunt Josie.”

  “The three of them were close?” Eleanor asked, turning her focus to the siblings. “Honestly, before meeting you at school that day, I’d never heard about your family.” She turned and met Lysette’s gaze, so close to her own as her chin still rested on Eleanor’s shoulder. “Never heard of Josie, either.”

  “Yeah. From what my father says, they were all three best friends, inseparable.” Lysette, sitting to Eleanor’s right, reached her left arm out, her hand resting on the bed next to Eleanor’s left hip, which made her breath hitch slightly at the proximity of Lysette’s body to her own.

  Eleanor swallowed several times as she watched Lysette flip a few pages to settle on two adorable toddlers, looking as though they were caught in a moment of waddling around in cloth diapers. She was able to forget about the butterflies that were dive bombing her nether regions as she smiled. One toddler had dark curly hair while the other had blond hair—looking nearly white in the black and white tone of the photograph only to darken to red—both with the same bow in their hair at the top of their heads.

  “They’re absolutely adorable,” Eleanor said at length. “Who are they?” When she got no answer, she turned to see Lysette staring at her like she was crazy. “What?”

  “These two are us,” Lysette responded, tapping the picture. “Maman said we were about a year and a half in this one.”

  “Us? But how?” Eleanor asked absently, looking back at the picture. She didn’t recognize the room at all where they were, including a beautiful grand piano and expansive fireplace. “Where is this?”

  “Our house in Denver. I guess early in your parents’ marriage, your mama worked for us. After the war ended, your father was really struggling with the farm, so Daddy gave her a job with us. She brought you with her.” She grinned. “Guess we were meant to be best friends.”

  Eleanor returned the smile. “What did she do for you?” she asked, studying the picture to take in the room and exquisite furnishings. She could only imagine what the house must look like in person. The one they were sitting in was grand enough.

  “Cleaned, cooked with Maman. But I think mostly just spent time there, both of you.”

  “Escape,” Eleanor murmured.

  “Yeah,” Lysette agreed softly.

  “How long? And what happened? It seems my father practically hates your parents now.”

  Lysette let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. They won’t tell me that. I’m not sure how long it lasted. A year or so, maybe.”

  Eleanor sat back, staring off into the distance as she considered all that she’d been told. “You know, it’s really shocking to hear things about your parents that you had no idea about. I’m close to Mama.” She shook her head. “I wonder why she never told me this.” She indicated the toddler picture.

  “I know my parents really care about her,” Lysette said, moving slightly away from Eleanor just enough to be able to grab the photo album with both hands and gently close it, hugging it to her chest. “That’s why we really want to give you both a fun day in Denver in October.”

  “Well,” Eleanor said, watching as Lysette pushed up from the bed to set the photo album next to her math textbook. “I told you that I was finally able to bring it up to her last Saturday night.”

  “Right,” Lysette agreed with a nod as she sat back down. “And? Last you told me, she was going to think about it.”

  Eleanor nodded and took a deep, steadying breath. She wasn’t sure why she was nervous to give her friend the news. “Well, she told me as best she could this morning that she wants to try and make it happen.”

  “Really?” Lysette squealed, nearly tackling Eleanor to the bed in her excitement.

  Eleanor laughed, trying to push her away. “She just said ‘try’!”

  Lysette grinned, moving away from where Eleanor had been pushed back across the bed to scoot up against the pillows at the head of the bed. She patted the space beside her in silent invitation.

  Eleanor sat up and turned to crawl the short distance to turn again and sit next to Lysette, both leaning back against the large pillows that sat against her headboard. The two got settled, Lysette turning to rest on her side with a hand cradling her head. She studied Eleanor’s face for a moment before her gaze dropped to her ever-present white blouse buttoned to the top.

  With a dramatic sigh, she brought up a hand and began to undo the first two buttons. “I like you so much better when you loosen up,” she said, sparing a glance up into Eleanor’s eyes, unaware that the brunette was attempting to keep her breathing even and calm. “How many times a day do I have to halfway undress you, hmm?”

  Eleanor took a quiet, steadying breath. “My father’s just weird.”

  “No kidding.” Lysette chuckled, finished with her task. She brushed her fingers over her handiwork, leaving the blouse opened just a bit to show the pale skin beneath. “Why the white blouse and dark skirts and crazy bun?”

  “I honestly don’t know, it’s just always been that way. Like, I remember one time, I had to have been maybe five. Mama bought some fabric, it was pink with little white flowers all over it. I guess she’d gotten enough to make me a dress and herself an apron. He absolutely lost his top. Father was so angry, he took the fabric from her and made her watch him as he burned it, she told me.”

  Lysette shook her head, reaching a hand up and scooping out the tiny gold cross Eleanor wore on a simple chain around her neck. She brought it out into the light of the bedside lamp. The feather-light touch of her fingertips against her skin made Eleanor’s heart skip a beat.

  “This is beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it before.”

  “It belonged to my grandmother,” Eleanor explained. “I didn’t really know her, but Mama says I’m a lot like her, so,” she added with a shrug, “I guess I wear it to feel close to her somehow.”

  “How long do we have until your father is set to pick you up?” Lysette asked, gently zipping the cross pendant back and forth on the chain.

  Eleanor grabbed Lysette’s wrist, taking a peek at the delicate gold watch she wore before releasing it. “Twenty minutes.”

  “Well,” Lysette said in a teasing voice, “we can work on more equations or we can try that practicing thing again. As I recall, we got interrupted last time, and I didn’t get my money’s worth.”

  “Not worth the price of admission?” Eleanor managed to say without her voice squeaking. It had been many weeks since that night, and it came back to her often. To her immense surprise, a deep blush colored Lysette’s cheeks.

  “Oh, definitely a price I’d pay time and again.”

  Eleanor wasn’t able to hold Lysette’s gaze and had to look away. Something changed between them in that moment, but she honestly wasn’t sure what it was or what to do with it.


  “You ready?” Lysette asked softly, pulling Eleanor out of her thoughts.

  Ignorance and naiveté on her side the first time, she was even more nervous the second, as she knew how it would make her feel, but still she didn’t know what she was doing. An awkward feeling, to be sure.

  Moving to her side in the nest of pillows, Eleanor closed her eyes as she felt Lysette move in, her lips brushing against her own before pressing lightly to them. A bolt of sensation shot through her body, beginning with her lips and shooting straight down south. She let out an imperceptible sigh as Lysette’s hand rested on her shoulder as their lips pressed together again, this time lingering.

  As Lysette moved her lips lightly against Eleanor’s, they scooted slightly closer together. Eleanor’s hand found its way to rest on Lysette’s waist; the tiny sigh shot another bolt of sensation through her.

  Eleanor gasped slightly when she felt the slightest touch of a soft tongue swipe at her lip. She felt Lysette begin to pull away, but her tightened grip on her waist stopped her retreat. Eleanor returned the favor, not sure what she was doing, but knowing she liked it when Lysette did it.

  Lysette’s hand slid from Eleanor’s shoulder to cup the side of her neck as their kiss continued, deepening from timid and awkward to exploring freely, their bodies moving just a bit closer until their breasts grazed each other.

  Eleanor gasped again, pulling away from the kiss as she nearly bolted out of her skin at the touch.

  “I’m sorry, Ellie!” Lysette exclaimed. “Did I hurt you?”

  Eleanor shook her head, chest heaving with her excitement and arousal. She managed to shake her head as she caught her breath. “No,” she said at length, sitting up fully. She blew out a breath and ran a hand over her hair, brushing back a strand that had been pulled free from her bun while resting against the pillows. “No. I’m sorry, I’m okay.”

  Lysette sat up, also seeming to be affected by what they’d done. After a long moment, they shared a long, knowing glance. “I think I like practicing.”