“What if you find someone… better. In college? Someone smarter? Or… prettier…” She mutters, and I bark out a laugh. I trace my finger along her bottom lip, snagging the new piercing in the middle. I grin, giving it a teasing little tug.
“Oh, there could be no one more beautiful. To think, I used to think piercings were tacky.” I grin, teasing her.
“And I used to think short skirts and heels were dumb.” She retorts, quirking a grin. My watch begins to beep, and I curse, looking at the alarm that signals it’s nearing time for me to leave. She looks pained for a moment, but shakes it off, gathering me in her arms and peppering kisses across my face.
“As much as I’ll miss you, you had better head out. Be safe, okay? If it starts raining or gets too dark to see or--” She rambles, but I cut her off with a chaste little kiss.
“It’s not that far a drive, baby.” I murmur. She reluctantly seems to accept that, releasing me and walking me back to the bakery, where my car is parked. As I slip into the driver’s seat, she leans in the window to steal one, final kiss.
“I love you, Kitten.” She murmurs, drawing away.
“I love you too!” I call out the window, turning the ignition and slowly backing out. As I drive away, I catch sight of my family and my newfound love in the rearview mirror. Though we have to be apart for now, I know that nothing will come between our love-- Not even murder allegations. Resolving to text her that little joke later, I draw my eyes away from my rearview mirror and look to the road ahead.
What a great summer.
Coming Back To You
~ Bonus Story ~
A Thriller Lesbian Romance
Fresh out of a prestigious NYC culinary School, Emily Stewart burns with a passion to start her own business and carve out a niche in the hyper-competitive pastry market. With her good friend Michael and her sexy, driven, and super smart girlfriend Claire working with her the company is bound to succeed. But nothing has ever been straightforward in Emily’s life. Problems in her past, problems that have haunted her family for many years, emerge and threaten to ruin everything that she has built.
Claire Belmont is an ambitious and driven woman, residing in Manhattan’s Murray Hill District. She finds a deep sense of fulfillment running a business with her girlfriend Emily. They complement each other well and envision spending their lives together. But those plans are thrown into disarray when Emily's past comes back to haunt her. Their relationship will never be the same. And that's something that Claire isn't prepared to deal with. So she leaves town, leaves the relationship, leaves the business behind her, in search of a new life. But circumstances, or maybe it is fate, will bring her back to New York City, back to the woman that she has never stopped loving.
Chapter 1
On the other side of the table, the two investors covered their mouths, whispered, and nodded.
Emily felt the muscles in her stomach tightening. Everything hinged on this moment. They were so close, only inches away, from people who had the power and resources to change the entire fortune of the company.
They had worked so hard, constantly pushing themselves, never accepting anything but their absolute best. But they had been in this position before, full of hope and enthusiasm, presenting a great offer to the right people, only to be rejected.
We love this idea. But you guys just aren't ready yet.
We need to see some hard sales numbers before we can put up any serious money.
They had heard a litany of reasons. But they continued to fight on, refining their pitch, refusing to give into the long odds.
“Emily, Claire, Michael, we really believe in Sunday Morning Pastries,” the grey-haired Mr. Jenkins, a renowned venture capitalist, said. “Our offer is…2.5 million for a 25 percent royalty share until the money is recouped. After that, the royalty split will go down to five percent.”
“Are you serious?” Michael blurted out. Both Emily and Claire turned and stared at him sharply. He quickly shrunk back into his shell. Sometimes that was definitely the best place for him to be.
“Yes, we normally ask for much more advantageous terms. But the story you told me about why you chose that name really softened me up.”
Emily suppressed the urge to scream ecstatically that she felt rising in her chest. “That sounds excellent. You have a deal!”
After the investors left, Emily, Claire, and Michael beamed with pride. They had finally done it! Sunday Morning Pastries was going to be huge!
Their pastries would be on the shelves in more than 850 supermarkets. It wouldn't be long before they were bringing in more than a million a year in profit.
Emily smiled brightly as she felt Claire’s breath on her neck, then her lips kissing her ear. She turned red with excitement. They stared into each other's eyes and kissed gently on the lips then tightly embraced.
“I can see that I need to leave you two alone,” Michael said. Neither Emily nor Claire turned towards him. They were still locked in on each other. Their love was real. Their business was real. This life that they had been building together had never felt more real.
“Yeah, I think we need some time alone,” Claire said. “But maybe we can all meet up tomorrow for dinner and drinks.”
Emily wasn't going to argue with that. There would be plenty of time for all three of them to celebrate together. But for now, on this night, there were things that she wanted to do with Claire all alone. Just the two of them. Legs and arms intertwined, tongues twirling, swapping saliva and… so much more.
“How about we stay in bed for the next couple days?” Claire proposed. “Just the two of us.”
“That sounds good to me,” Emily said. “Let's go.” They kissed again. Then Emily heard her phone ringing. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. Who could possibly be calling her? It was Friday afternoon. She probably should've ignored it, let it go straight to voicemail. But instead she pulled it out of her purse. When she saw the name on the screen, a chill passed over her body.
“What's wrong?” Claire asked.
Emily didn't answer. She kept staring at the name: Dad. It was hardly ever good when he called.
After Claire backed away, she answered the call. “Hi, Dad. Is everything okay?”
She should've known before she asked that question, before she opened her mouth, that there was no way that things were okay. Why would he be calling her if things were okay?
“No, honey. Things are not okay. Not at all.” He sounded like he was sniffling, holding back tears. He also was slurring his words.
Oh no, Emily said to herself. What had he done this time?
“I don't want to talk about this over the phone,” he said. “Please come up here tonight.”
“Dad, I just got out of an important meeting and I have a weekend planned with…”
“No, no, no. You have to come tonight. This can’t wait.”
Emily closed her eyes and sighed. “Baby, what's wrong,” Claire asked.
“Everything.”
Ten minutes later Emily was in her car and heading out of the city to Westchester County, an affluent New York City suburb. She couldn’t believe how quickly her mood had changed. The investment agreement had been such a high. It was something that they had waited so long for. And then within an hour, she was pulled back to reality, back to this part of her life that she still hadn't been able to leave behind her. Westchester, her childhood. Her gambling, drunken father, the man who had driven her mother to a premature death, who had driven her younger brother all the way across the country.
She was the only one that he could turn to. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to handle that burden.
Chapter 2
Emily was barely a teenager when her parent's marriage began falling apart, when her mother left and shortly after died of breast cancer, leaving behind two children and a gambling, drinking, chain-smoking husband.
When her younger brother had turned eighteen, he headed to the other side of the country
never to return again. He couldn’t take it any more. Emily had considered doing the same but something had held her back. She hadn't been able to abandon her old man, even though she should have, even though it would have been justified. He had hardly ever been there for her. But deep down she had never lost her love for him or sense of loyalty. There was something so helpless about him. There was hardly anyone in the world that would do anything for him. His out of control drinking and gambling had left many bridges burned and friendships broken.
She hated returning home and couldn’t wait until this visit was over. The neighborhood hadn't changed much. Indistinguishable suburban homes with freshly painted fences, neatly trimmed lawns, and two cars in the driveway, lined the streets. From the outside, everything seemed so perfect and idyllic. Just like things had seemed from the outside of her home.
As she pulled into the driveway, she saw her father on the front porch, pacing back and forth. Then she saw a cloud of smoke coming from his mouth. She gritted her teeth. Yet another promise he’d broken. Two years ago, after a cancer scare, he’d promised her that he would never smoke another cigarette. She closed her eyes and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Several minutes later, they were inside, sitting on the couch. Her father reeked of scotch and cigarettes. His eyes were bloodshot. He’d been crying and drinking, drinking and crying.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. This was going to be my last time. I just needed to win…that stupid horse…”
Emily looked away in disgust. Once again he’d taken a big loan from a man she hated. And once again, he’d lost. She didn't want to hear about any horses, or gambling, or last times. She’d heard it all before. The last race, the last basketball game, this last football game. She’d heard it all before.
“So how much do you owe him?” She asked.
Eyes lowered, he mumbled something under his breath,
“How much, dad? How much this time? I’ll write a check.”
“No…No”
“How much?”
He raised his eyes slowly. “850,000.”
Emily's mouth gaped open. “Are you serious?”
He nodded up and down. She’d never seen him so broken, so pathetic.
“I don't have that kind of money that,” she said, dazed. “I’m not sure that I can help you out this time.”
“Yes. There's one thing that you can do. And you have to do it.”
“What?”
He swallowed hard and stared directly into her eyes. A chill came over her. She felt like hopping off the couch, running out the door, jumping into her car, and zooming back to the city.
“You have to marry him.”
“Marry him?”
“It's the only way. Or else he’ll go to the cops…And I’m still on probation from last year. I’ll go to jail!”
As he lurched towards her, Emily got off the couch and turned her back to him. She couldn't listen to anymore. She went to the back porch, head spinning, legs wobbly, stomach churning. Marry Eric Anderson? That asshole had always wanted to get his hands on her, especially after he found out that she was only interested in women.
Emily felt like she'd just been kicked in the stomach. She had waited so long for this day, for her company to finally win the backing of big time investors. This is what she’d fantasized about every night while watching Shark Tank. Along the way, there had been so many disappointments and setbacks. But they’d made it.
Just hours later everything was being ripped away from her. Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. This is what her father had been doing his whole life. It's exactly what had driven her mother to despair—pills, vodka, two failed suicide attempts.
Witnessing the way her mother had suffered, inspired Emily to fight relentlessly for her independence, in particular financial. And now she would be forced to marry someone that she had despised her entire life to keep her father out of jail?
After sitting down, she let her head slump onto her chest. Tears formed in her eyes. Her heart beat wildly. She gripped the sides of the chair. Her absolute worse nightmare was coming true! How would she explain this to Claire? What would happen to Sunday Morning Pastries?
Chapter 3
During the 45 minute drive from the suburbs back to the city, Emily couldn't stop crying, sobbing at the wheel, trying not to lose complete control of herself. Yet again her father had gotten himself into a terrible situation. Yet again she would have to go above and beyond to drag him out of the pit that he'd fallen into. Yes, she had done this before. But nothing quite like this. $850,000. How the hell was she going to get her hands on that kind of money? Even if she married that jerk, would the debt ever be paid off?
One of her absolute worse nightmares was coming true. When she got back to her apartment, all she could bear to do was sit on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen, wondering how her life had come to this. She didn't have any more energy to cry. It all felt so strange, unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.
She looked at the clock. 730. Claire was supposed to come over in an hour. They had planned on ordering Chinese food, drinking a bottle of wine or two, and cuddling and kissing on the couch while watching Netflix. Emily couldn't wait that long. She could feel her chest tightening, her breathing, and heart rate picking up.
She needed to get out into the night air, needed to feel Claire's arms around her, to hear Claire's comforting words. There was no one else for her to turn to. No one else that she wanted to turn to. Instead of waiting, for what would have seemed like forever, she took an Uber to Claire’s apartment in Murray Hill.
The door opened. Claire’s face lit up with surprise. Distraught and heartbroken, Emily struggled to maintain eye contact.
“What's wrong, baby?” Claire said. “What happened?”
Emily spent the next 15 minutes explaining to Claire the absurd, the impossible, the nightmarish situation that she found herself in.
After finishing her story, getting that huge weight off her chest, she was finally able to raise her eyes. She immediately noticed that something was wrong. The warm, kind expression that she'd expected to see in Claire's eyes, the expression of empathy that she'd seen in Claire's eyes several times before when talking about her fuck up, alcoholic, gambling father, was not there. Instead, Claire stared at her icily.
“Marry him?” Claire said, recoiling, getting off the couch, crossing her arms against her chest, then pacing back and forth.
“Yes,” Emily said. “Marry him. Have you ever heard of anything so sick and twisted?”
She was pleading, desperate for Claire to say something, to offer her some words of solace, some words of wisdom. But now it was Claire who wasn’t making eye contact, who seemed to be mumbling something under her breath, withdrawn into her own thoughts.
Claire turned towards her, arms still crossed against her chest, brow furrowed.
“And what did you say?”
“I said yes. I had no choice. Where can I get $850,000?”
Claire turned her back again, shaking her head.
“You said yes? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Claire, please don't be angry with me. I had to do it.”
“Don't be angry with you? You’re going to marry some asshole over a debt…”
“Those are the conditions. If I don’t do it, my father will go to jail.”
“Maybe that would be the best thing for him.”
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe he’ll finally get his act together in jail. And stop being such a fuck up.”
“Claire, don't say that.”
“Yes. I think that would be the best thing for him. A couple years in the slammer and he might finally learn what it is to be responsible.”
“Claire!”
Claire didn’t seem to have any more patience for what Emily had to say.
“Please don't be angry with me,” Emily pleaded. “I don't know what I'll do if you're mad at me.”
&nb
sp; “What do you mean, you don't know what you’ll do? You have a husband now, isn’t that right?”
“Don't say that!”
“Why don’t you get the fuck out of my apartment!”
Emily swallowed hard. Tears burst in her eyes. Claire's words struck her with the sting of a vicious slap. There was nothing more to say. The hard, angry, unforgiving look in Claire's eyes was too much for Emily to take. She took several deep breaths, did her best to fight from screaming out, from dropping to her knees and begging at Claire’s feet.
As she walked past Claire and towards the door, Emily turned, slowly raised her head, “I’m so sorry, Claire. I love you…I…”
“Get out!”
Chapter 4
After leaving Claire's apartment, Emily wandered around the West Village in a daze. So much had happened over the last few hours. Her life had gone completely off the tracks.
The successful meeting with the investors seemed like it had taken place years ago. She remembered being out in the hallway, wrapping her arms around Claire, staring deep into her eyes. They'd made it. Finally!!! The moment they’d been waiting for, dreaming about, working every night for, well into the early morning hours, had finally arrived. And this first major investor was only going to be the beginning. So much more excitement and success awaited them.
Taxi lights speared through the darkness. Loud horns honked. Tires skidded. Couples walked hand-in-hand on the sidewalk. It all seemed like a blur to her. Her father had fallen into deep shit, deeper shit than he had ever fallen into before. She had agreed to marry a man, Eric Anderson, that she had known all her life, just to keep him out of jail. And now the person that she leaned on more than anyone else in the world, had thrown her out of her apartment, and seemingly out of her life.
Double Grades Page 26
