After the Storm (Chambers of the Heart Book 3)

by C D Cain

  Gentry started filling out her paperwork. “You know, Sam, we aren’t dating. We’re just friends.” She glanced at Sam through the corner of her eye.

  Sam smirked impishly and raised her eyebrow. “Just friends, huh?”

  Gentry tapped the tip of the pen on Sam’s arm playfully. “Okay, smartass. Friends with extracurricular activities. How about that?”

  Sam grabbed the pen and held it. “I think that’ll do just fine.”

  “Seriously though, we aren’t dating. You know that, right? You can date anyone you like. I could be like your rebound girl.”

  Sam let go of the pen. She knew there were no ties to her and Gentry’s relationship. Although, she knew it was more than casual sex because they actually enjoyed each other’s company. She had missed Gentry when she found her own place. Which is one of many reasons she wanted to take her there tonight after their picnic. She wanted Gentry’s presence to be there. Hopefully, she wouldn’t miss her as much if she could have memories of her in her new space. Without them, as hard as she tried, she thought of Rayne. Alone in the sleepless nights, it was Rayne who kept her awake at night. She hadn’t thought of it like that but maybe Gentry was her rebound. She turned to look at the woman behind the counter, who in turn was watching them again. She did look a bit sadder than when Sam first walked in. Sam shook the thought of dating from her head. Plain and simple, she wasn’t ready. Gentry was earnestly filling out the remaining form. As quickly as a blink of the eye, she had returned to her task. “Are you dating?”

  “Are you serious?” She lifted the clipboard to expose her belly. “Honey, I’m four months pregnant. Don’t nobody want any of this.” Gentry laughed.

  Sam laughed too. “Well, I wouldn’t kick you out of bed.”

  Gentry softly tapped Sam on the tip of her nose with the pen. “If memory serves…or the couch either.”

  The two women’s flirting was interrupted when Gentry’s name was called to come to the back. She collected her things and followed the woman. As they were going through the waiting room door, Gentry noticed Sam was still sitting. “Aren’t you coming?”

  Sam looked up in surprise, quickly set down the magazine she had picked up, and followed them. “Oh, yeah. Sorry I didn’t know you wanted me to.”

  “It’s not like you haven’t seen this all before.”

  Sam ducked in between the nurse and Gentry. “Hi, Myra. How’s your day today?” She hoped Myra hadn’t noticed her read her nametag before addressing her. She really should get better with remembering everyone’s name. It’s not like it was a big clinic practice. She used to work around hundreds of people when at UAB. How is it she found herself struggling to remember a handful of names?

  “It’s been a quiet one today so that’s good. I hate to ask you this on your day off, Dr. LeJeune, but would you mind looking at a couple of labs I laid on your desk? I can give them to Dr. Waggoner if you want. Thought I’d throw it out there since you’re here.”

  “Sure, it’s no problem at all.”

  “Cool. I’ll be getting Ms. Bell ready and checked in. She’ll be in room five. Dr. Waggoner is running a few minutes behind, so you’ve got time.”

  Sam caressed Gentry’s arm. “I’ll be right back.”

  Gentry smiled and followed Myra into the triage area.

  It took Sam longer than she had hoped. When she got to Gentry’s room, the flag on the door was flipped to show an ultrasound was in progress. She tapped softly on the door. “Dr. Waggoner, it’s Sam. May I come in?”

  “Only if you remember to call me Timber,” Dr. Waggoner said from behind the door.

  The door opened enough to let Sam in but maintain Gentry’s privacy. Myra stood behind it, smiling. The baby’s heartbeat was loud through the ultrasound speakers. “Got a healthy heartbeat, Dr. LeJeune. Dr. Waggoner, is it alright if I step out to make more room?”

  “Sure thing, Myra. Thanks,” Timber said. “Come on over here, Sam, and get a closer look.” She was moving the ultrasound wand over Gentry’s belly.

  Sam walked to stand next to Gentry’s shoulder. She was smiling broadly and proudly at Gentry. She hadn’t in any way anticipated this reaction. She was truly beaming.

  “It’s completely different when it’s your baby and not a patient’s, isn’t it?” Timber was smiling at them both. “Sam, you didn’t tell me you were going to be a mother.”

  “Oh, no. I’m not,” Sam said, surprised. Her face dropped. “We aren’t together. Well, I mean,” Sam looked at Gentry for help but she just sat there speechless staring at the monitor, “we aren’t together like that. We’re…we’re just friends.”

  Timber shook her head. “Ah, I see. And a father?”

  “No,” Gentry said quietly.

  Timber placed the wand on the ultrasound cart, wiped the remaining gel from Gentry’s belly, and pulled a stool up next to the exam table to sit down. “Ms. Bell, would you like to talk about the options available to you for this pregnancy? Here at Seasons, we can offer you different options. When I built this practice, I knew I wanted to offer all aspects of healthcare for women’s health, including those related to planned parenthood, such as: abortion, which we are able to do here and can still offer to you; adoption, which we can also assist in as we are affiliated with an adoption agency designed to make adoption affordable; or full-term delivery at MDI Hospital. The choice of what is right for you is yours and yours alone.”

  For the first time, Gentry took her eyes from the monitor to look at Timber. “I know I don’t want an abortion. I considered it at first. For a long time really,” she said flatly. “For some reason, I got pregnant. I’m not sure why but I did. I feel like I need to see it through. How long do I have until I need to decide about adoption?”

  Timber patted Gentry’s hand. “As long as you want and need.” She stood up and pushed the stool back under the counter. “Well, ladies, that’s it for today. Ms. Bell, Myra will make you a follow-up appointment when you check out. Sam, I’ll see you next week when I get back.” She smiled. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a few days off. So nice to have you on board with us.”

  “Thanks, Timber. It’s nice to be here.”

  Sam pulled the picnic basket and hiking pack from the back of her SUV. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what?” Gentry asked. She hadn’t said much on the drive from the clinic.

  Sam held up the basket. “A picnic adventure.” She had not anticipated Gentry’s reaction to the ultrasound. She was thankful she had planned to take her over to the island today. She led Gentry out of the parking lot of the condominiums. “It’s low tide for another six hours. We better get a move on if we don’t want to get trapped.”

  “Okay,” Gentry said hesitantly. She pointed to Sam’s Xterra. “I don’t think you can park here. It’s for residents only.” She pointed to the sign.

  “Just so happens I’m one,” Sam said as she walked backward. “This is where I live. Nice, huh?”

  Gentry looked around the complex. “Very.”

  “I’ll show you my place when we get back. Right now, I need you to come on.”

  Sam led Gentry down a street alley that turned from old asphalt to a stretch of sand bar. Barnacle-covered rocks peppered each side of the sand. It was wide enough for a two-lane road.

  “I haven’t been brave enough to drive over it yet,” Sam said as she stepped out of the way of a slow-moving car. I don’t want to be the one whose car goes floating away when the tide comes up. But I’ve made a few walking trips after work.” Sam pulled out the tide schedule and looked at her watch. “I found a great spot I want to take you to.”

  “Okay.” She followed Sam along the sand until they had nearly reached the lush greenery of the island before them. She stopped when she heard the sound of the baby’s heartbeat in the waves of the surf upon the sand. She walked to the edge of the water and stared out
at the sailboats in the harbor. She focused on the bell of the dingy as it rang off in the distance. She squinted in the brightness of the sun and thought of the radiance in Sam’s smile when she saw the ultrasound.

  “Hey.” Sam had walked up next to her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, sure. It’s pretty out here. I love the sailboats.” Gentry hoped her deflection was convincing.

  “I do too. This is actually my view from my balcony.”

  “It sounds like you found a great place.”

  “I did.” She nudged Gentry. “I had to find something half as good as Big Blue.”

  “What happens when the tide comes in?”

  Sam laughed. “You’re stuck for eight hours or you call a water taxi for fifty bucks. Please don’t ask me how I know that.” She reached down to hold Gentry’s hand. She tugged her back on task.

  “Deal.” Gentry squeezed her hand as they entered the island. “I could think of worse places to be stuck.”

  Thirty minutes later, Sam maneuvered the rocks between a clearing and proudly displayed the coast behind her. “Isn’t it beautiful?” She set the basket down and began unpacking it to pull out an assortment of cheeses, fruits, and nuts.

  “It’s gorgeous.” Gentry sat on a rock next to her and took off her shoes to put her feet in the water. “Oh my God and very, very cold.”

  “Ha! Yeah, that’s why I didn’t tell you to bring your swimsuit.”

  They sat quietly as the water lapped at their feet. Sam stretched her legs out in front of her and covered her eyes as she held her face to the sky. The warmth of the sun, the smell of the salt air, and the cool water at her feet felt absolutely perfect.

  “So, you found this place?”

  “I did.” Sam smiled but kept her face toward the sun.

  “I’m impressed. Look at you, Ms. Outdoor Adventurer.”

  Sam opened one eye to Gentry. “I had a good teacher.”

  “Thank you for today. For all of it. This,” Gentry said softly, “and the appointment.”

  Sam sat up straight. “You’re welcome. Thank you for letting me.” She popped a grape in her mouth and studied Gentry who picked at a piece of Gouda. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”

  Gentry took in a deep breath and let it out. “I can’t be a mother, Sam. I don’t want to be a mother. I’ve never wanted it. Even if I did, it wouldn’t be fair to a child. I don’t want to be in one place too long. That’s why I was thrilled to get on with the National Park Service. Hopefully, I can transfer as much as possible.”

  “You could take a baby with you.”

  “But I don’t want to. You’re not listening. It’s me. It’s not the baby.” Gentry rubbed her belly. “I can appreciate the life inside of me. Appreciate that a little soul is developing from my genes. I will take the best care I can of my body until it’s born but beyond that, I want nothing more than to make sure it has a good home. A home where it’s loved and cared for. I can give it that. I can’t give it anything else.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you?”

  Sam squinted in the sun. “Not really. But it’s not for me to understand. It’s not my decision. It’s yours. I’ll support you whatever you decide.”

  “Do you want kids?”

  The thought of having children made Sam smile. A smile she didn’t try to hide. “I do.”

  “See? That right there. That’s the smile you had when you walked into the room during the ultrasound. You’re beaming just thinking about kids. I bet you’ll make a great mom.”

  “Maybe one day.”

  “Friends with extracurricular activities are the best,” Gentry said against Sam’s neck as she snuggled in next to her. She laid her palm to rest on Sam’s breast under the blanket.

  “Mmmm hmmm,” Sam murmured as she tried to catch her breath. The energy in which Gentry initiated and dominated their sexual escapades always seemed to wipe her out. She felt Gentry’s full nudity next to her when she wrapped her leg over the top of Sam’s. Each time there seemed to be something new that Gentry gave her. Tonight, she had let Sam take in and explore her full body without any hindrance of clothing. “Me too,” Sam said quietly as she nuzzled her nose in Gentry’s hair. She reached underneath the blanket and pulled Gentry’s leg across her more.

  “I’m going to miss you next week while I’m gone.” Sam wet her lips. “Can I call you?”

  Gentry gave a small snort of a laugh.

  “What?”

  “We just had sex and now you’re asking if you can call me after?”

  Sam laughed too and playfully pinched Gentry’s arm. “You know what I mean.”

  Gentry thought of the last two weeks since Sam had found her own place. She wasn’t looking forward to her being completely away. She began to rub Sam’s breast not in a means of turning her on but more in a soft embrace. “I guess you could call me sometime.”

  Sam bit her bottom lip. “Mmmm. Well, since you’re putting it that way, I suppose I will.”

  She felt Sam’s nipple harden. “You’ve got a great body. Do you know that? And the way it responds to me is such a turn on.” She took the skin of Sam’s neck gently between her teeth.

  Sam moaned and moved her neck to give Gentry more to explore. “Gentry, I have to tell you something.”

  “Yes,” Gentry mumbled as she nimbly trailed her tongue up Sam’s neck.

  “I have to say you’re like my bestest friend eva’.” Sam thought of Gentry’s body laid across the pallet she had made of blankets on the floor at the base of her floor-to-ceiling windows. What better vision to share with the view overlooking the bay. She took Gentry in another kiss, moved her hand up the back of her leg and around her hip to enter her for round two.

  Gentry moaned in her mouth.

  Chapter 16

  Sam walked down the crowded terminal of the Atlanta International Airport. She fell in line with a group of others headed to baggage claim. At the end of the terminal, she saw a crowd of people gathered to meet them. In the midst of them, she saw her mother, Quinn, standing against the barrier rope. She wasn’t jumping up and down or flailing her arms about in the air as most of the others were doing. She simply stood there. Periodically, she would stand up on her toes to try to see over the heads in front of her. Sam watched her as she neared. To the rest of the airport, Quinn probably looked as if she was a movie star waiting for her entourage to show. Never did Sam see her in casual attire like jeans or anything she would deem comfortable. Today was not any different. She wore a thin, white blouse buttoned low below her chest with a white camisole visible underneath and black dress pants with wide legs. For years, she kept her hair colored to the naturally light blonde it was but as Sam got closer, she realized at some point she had stop coloring her hair. The slump to her shoulders was also a new addition.

  “Thanks for coming,” Quinn said as she pulled her car out onto the interstate exit from the airport. “I can’t believe I’m the mother who needs her daughter to come save her.”

  “I can’t believe you came to get me at the airport. You hate this place. I figured you would send a car.”

  “I haven’t been using the car service since I left him.” Quinn sped along the interstate as she weaved in and out of the four-lane traffic. You would’ve thought she had driven in Atlanta traffic all of her life the way she maneuvered the car in between others. “I don’t want him to have another thing to gripe about.”

  “I get that, but you have to know you aren’t going to have to worry about money, right, Mom?”

  “He says I won’t get a penny.”

  “He can keep dreaming.” Sam adjusted the car vent to blow more air in her direction. She hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet and she was already missing the cooler temperatures of Maine. “Actually, you’ll probably have even more than you did when you were with his tight ass. Mom
, he made you live as if you had this strict budget unless it was something he deemed his money should be spent on. It’s always been half yours. Soon, it will be half yours to do with whatever the hell you want to do with. Plus, he’ll have to pay you alimony until you get married again.”

  “Fuck that,” Quinn yelled.

  Sam flinched in her seat and jerked her head to her swearing mother.

  “I’ll never get married again. Ever. Men are pigs.”

  “Not all men. Just the one you married.”

  “Says the lesbian.”

  “I’m not a lesbian because I hate men. I just prefer women.” Sam ran her knuckle down the window of the glass. “Women can break your heart equally as bad as men.”

  “I know they can.” Quinn put her hand on Sam’s lap as she pulled into valet parking at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead. “I’ve thought of you and what you went through this whole time. I wasn’t there for you. Not at all.” She stifled back a sniffle and daintily dotted the corners of her eyes. “Here you are. One phone call from me and you come running. I should’ve been the same for you. I’ll be better for you next time.”

  “Fuck that.” Sam gave her mother a sideways smile with her mocking. “I’ll never fall in love like that again. Women are heartbreakers.”

  Quinn smiled too. She stepped out of the car, handed the valet a folded bill, and instructed him to have the bags taken to her room. She looped her hand in the crook of Sam’s arm. “We’re meeting the realtor at a little sushi place around the corner.” She looked at her watch. “If we go now, we can visit before she arrives.”

  Cars whizzed by the women as they walked down the crowded sidewalk. Sam could feel the smell of exhaust fumes collecting on her body. Her clothes would smell for the rest of the day. A car horn followed by screams of road rage startled her. “I can’t believe I thought I actually missed all of this,” Sam said as a man walking by bumped into her arm. “That I wanted to live in all of this.”