Lightning Strikes Twice

by Erik Schubach

  Leigh had flown back to London with Brandon, he couldn’t put off clients for too long, and his mother volunteered, enthusiastically, to watch Brandon while he was at work until Candice came back to London.

  Candi had stayed behind babbling something about the best friend contract, paragraph thirteen, subsection B. “A best friend will always be there when they are needed.” She also reinforced the fact that I was a “bloody git.” I loves me some Candice.

  Mia started disappearing into her studio in the garage for hours at a time and nobody was allowed in there. Whenever we went out to an appointment, she would drive the FJ Cruiser out and pick me up at the front door. The one time I dressed to go to work at the gallery I was about tackled by the evil women in the house. Then they tattled on me when I insisted I was going stir crazy. They had Missy on the phone with me saying, “Are you a fucking idiot blondie? We don’t need your sorry ass here until Mia clears you for duty.”

  I tried to argue. “Why does Mia have to…”

  Missy cut me off. “Do I need to come up there?”

  I sighed. “No. Fine, I’ll stay home, but I’m not going to like it!”

  She mocked me. “But I’m not going to like it. Good god woman, just accept defeat gracefully.” I blew a raspberry and hung up.

  God these women are all so frustrating! And just look at the smug look on all of their faces! I shot a menacing “Grr,” at them, but it was as frightening as a kitten yawning.

  My third day at physical therapy was like torture. As always, Mia was there, encouraging me. I was able to touch each of my fingers to my thumb that day and the master of the torture dungeon, Larry, made me make a fist. “Holy snarklepuss!” I spat at the pain as I tried. It wasn’t so much my fingers that hurt, but the palm of my hand where the pins were felt like it was on fire, but I managed a semblance of a fist.

  Mia had a silly look on her face. I had to grin at it as I asked, “What?”

  She shrugged, and scrunched up her nose as she asked, “Holy snarklepuss?”

  I gave her a cheesy grin and defended myself. “I didn’t want to say ‘shit,’ I’m a lady.” Just then, Larry applied pressure to my fingers, straightening them out on a board and I blurted, “Fuck!”

  Mia winced then grinned like she had just won a prize as she giggled. “Yes, such a lady.”

  I blushed and smiled. “That’s enough from the peanut gallery, or ‘the claw’ will get you!” I held my hand up in a claw. Then I shot out in rapid succession, “Oooo that sounds like a good movie monster, the Claw. It could be this severed hand that wants to take over a living host so that it has a body again. People could run from it in the forest but keep tripping on like air molecules and junk, because people can’t possibly take more than four steps in a horror movie without tripping and then the…”

  Mia interrupted me as Larry chuckled. “Vickster, slow down, remember to put pauses between each word.”

  I blushed then shot her a coy look as I said like a petulant child, “Sorry. But I’d so make an awesome movie monster!”

  I was given two balls to take home, a hard rubber ball for me to squeeze and a soft stress ball to alternate with to build strength and keep my tendons flexible. Larry babbled something about atrophy, but I wasn’t listening as I was grinning at Mia absently organizing the items on the counter beside where she sat. It was cute the way she nudged things around with a finger. It used to really turn Vee on.

  I started replaying what I heard in the hospital. That was a real memory wasn’t it? Not just a vivid dream? I was pretty out of it. My mind was suddenly assaulted by everything Mia and Vee. I fought hard to create white noise to control myself. 1-6-9-3-9-9-3-7-5. Harmon R. Scaffer, Hiruku Nakagawa, Roberta Valentine. I smiled internally at that one since I knew her. Parrots actually name their young with different calls. It wasn’t working so I remembered Professor Klein’s formula on the whiteboards and it filled all the recesses of my mind with its beautiful symphony.

  My breathing slowed and I noticed Mia was beside me with a worried look on her face. I gave her an embarrassed smile and squeezed the hand she had in mine. I just gave an almost imperceptible nod and she relaxed.

  Larry gave me a list of exercises for my hand and then used something like Torture-Device-One to poke my hand all over, I swear just to be evil. There were some dead spots but both the doctors and Larry both said that feeling may or may not come back in those areas over time. Could take days, weeks, months or more.

  Four weeks into my recovery, Abs and Sammi started shopping for furniture for their place, I was saddened at the realization that even though I saw them as kids, they were full blown adults about to embark on a new chapter of their lives, no matter how badly I wanted them to stay at “home.” Mia was half excited for them and half terrified of her daughter leaving the nest. She still had the ridiculous notion in her head that she didn’t know who she was without Abbey.

  Both Mia and I couldn’t hold back tears when the first of Abbey’s things were packed into some boxes. They would split time between packing here and packing Samantha’s things over at Sky and Kim’s. The fangirl part of me was still amazed that I was actually friends with Satin Thunder. If I had a little sign to hold up that said, “Squee!” every time I spoke to them, I would.

  The thing that was killing me is that Mia started our nightly talk sessions again as we learned even more things about each other’s last twenty years. She seemed to be committing it all to memory like I was. But she would steer me away from talking about us. She would say, “There will be time to talk about that stuff after you are recovered Vic.”

  I was always painfully aware of her proximity, the heat of her body, her intoxicating scent as we sat across from each other. She would delicately rub my left hand with her thumb as we clasped hands. I swear she was doing more and more seductive things on purpose as she had a cute but slightly sly smile on her face at all times. My body felt like it was on fire just having her close.

  Beatrice was a sexy woman, but my body never reacted so intensely to her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Mia was doing this on purpose, some sort of sweet, sweet torture that I just wanted more of. Does that make me a masochist? I don’t think I’d make an awesome masochist.

  We’d wake up every morning after our talks in her bed with her cuddled into me. More of that beautiful torture. Somehow she always knew when I was awake and staring at her, taking every inch of her in and storing it in the library in my head that was dedicated to her. She would always just grin sweetly with her eyes still closed and snuggle in and say, “You’re watching me again.”

  Candice was getting more and more comfortable here and was telling us how much she was coming to love Seattle. I huge part of my heart warmed as I saw her and Mia becoming fast friends. Candice once whispered to me, “Your descriptions of her didn’t do her justice, she brill Vicky!” I took pride in that fact.

  Mia finally started letting people into her studio again after a visit from Missy. I swear all of us at one time or another went snooping around in the studio after that to see if we could figure out what Mia had been doing. But as usual the place was spotless and organized and not even a single spec of dust seemed to infiltrate the almost sterile environment. We couldn’t get her to fess up to anything either. I learned my lesson when I asked once and only got a smile from her and a seductive dance move to some unheard melody in her head and bumping of hips with me. Leaving me panting in arousal of the display and her swiveling hips as she went back into the house giggling. She was flirting and teasing me! Let me tell you, I had a really interesting time alone in the shower after that… twice.

  The next week the doctor’s signed off on my recovery. The bones healed nicely, I would always have the pins in my hand and I still have months of physical therapy to go through for my hand. I had most of my mobility and fine motor control of my hand back now, though the dead spots still plagued me. There was always an ache in the hand like arthritis that I would probably always have. I could
n’t complain, it was my fault to begin with.

  With that news, Missy informed me that she would “allow” me back at my own business! The cheeky bird… umm woman. Then the inevitable. The girls announced that they had rented a moving truck. All of their new furniture had been delivered to their house over the past few days and they basically had everything set up over there. All that was left was to move their personal belongings, June had joined us to help out.

  Everyone’s mood was sort of solemn but hopeful as we helped load up the truck. Then we made our way over to the Roth’s and picked up Samantha’s stuff. Our procession of vehicles made our way to the girl’s place. There was an ominous feeling hanging thick in the air, a feeling I have felt few times in my life, it was the feeling of the end of an era. It was coupled and eclipsed by the excitement of the girls embarking on a new adventure in their lives.

  We all sat down for a home cooked meal in the dining area of the great-room of the A-frame house. The huge glass wall had a spectacular view of the mountains above the trees behind the house.

  Samantha looked around as everyone dished up. “I feel like I should say something here. Like this is an auspicious occasion or something.” She grinned. “But I got nothin.’”

  June stood up with her wine glass and a toothy grin. “That’s ok Hank, I got this shit.”

  We all grabbed our wine glasses as we chuckled at June. She was suddenly very serious, a side of June not many see and it just added to the girl’s presence. “Hank and AJ. The moment I saw the two of you together, I and everyone around, knew that there were never two people who belonged together more. You inspire awe and love and hope in anyone lucky enough to know you. So here’s to Abbey and Samantha’s long and happy life together.”

  We all said, “Here here,” and clinked our wine glasses.

  Abbey just blushed and said, “I love you all.” Everyone reciprocated and we dug into Samantha’s lasagna. Mmmm… I’m all about Italian food!

  After dinner, somehow Mia and I wound up outside hand in hand, walking down the path to the creek. It was a serene scene in the twilight, as slivers of light played along the lazily moving stream. Mia sat us on one of the two carved benches at the sunken fire pit at the bank. The ground was covered in pebbles around the little clearing to keep grass and underbrush from encroaching on the little oasis of tranquility.

  Mia laid her head on my shoulder and said softly, “It’s nice out here.”

  I nodded, acutely aware of our shared body heat. Then she pulled back and asked, “You ever think about the future? You’re hopes and dreams?”

  I nodded. “I sort of can’t help doing that. Such is my curse. I’m always thinking about everything whether I want to or not.” She just nodded slowly, I could see her mind working in her eyes, there was that intelligence, the shadow of Vee, something sparking and glittering that looked so much like a mix of passion and something else… mischief?

  I squinted at that. She was so much fun when she was mischievous. “What you up to Mia?”

  She grinned and said, “Oh nothing much. I’m just imagining the fun that the universe has in store for us.”

  Cryptic much oh cute cryptic one? I was about to say something when she asked, “Do you mind if I go into the Galley with you in the morning? There is something I need to show you.”

  I nodded and then my mind went blank when she stood and leaned down and kissed me so delicately on the lips that it felt like I had been brushed by butterfly wings. I was trying to reboot my brain, all of the voices and lines of thought had just derailed, leaving me only feeling the tingling of my lips and the heat inside me. I heard her giggling through the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears. “Race you back, and Victoria… breathe.”

  Wait, what? She… the… oh no she doesn’t. I was able to reconnect the pathways between my brain and my body and I got up and ran after the giggling imp. We were met on the lawn of the girl’s house by everyone. Mia hid behind Kim, who comically side stepped as I ran up. Mia reached up and shoved Kimi’s shoulder playfully. “Traitor.”

  This got her some waggling eyebrows from the exotic looking woman as we all laughed. Before I knew it, Mia had grabbed my hand and laced our fingers like always. This is how it should always be.

  Abbey and Candi were scrutinizing both of us with amused looks on their faces. What were they looking at? I blushed into the core of the planet when Abbey reached over discretely when we all started into the house and brushed below my lower lip with her thumb, whispering, “You got a little of mom’s lip-gloss there.”

  I was fighting with shame and guilt until I noticed she was grinning like a Cheshire cat. She wasn’t appalled? Gawd I loved her like my own daughter.

  Then the tear fest began when us “adults” and June, said our goodbyes. Though we rationally knew this moment was coming, we still weren’t ready for the emotional realization that Abbey and Sam weren’t coming home with us. This was their home now. I’d like to tell you I was a paragon of control and grace, but that would be a lie. I blubbered like a baby and didn’t want to release my hug with Abbey. Mia had a similar reaction.

  When we arrived home and Candice settled into my room. I wandered out to find Mia standing in Abbey’s room. It was antiseptic clean of course, with nothing but a bed, dresser and nightstand in it. She was staring at the ceiling. I stood next to her and looked up as I turned the light off. I knew Mia would never call this a guest room nor ever let anyone use it. It would always be Abbey’s room, anytime she needed to come home.

  Thousands of stars glowed on the ceiling. Each star was composed of dozens of tiny dots of glow in the dark paint. Mia glanced at me that hugged onto my arm, placing her head on my shoulder as we watched them glow. She said, “I remember like it was yesterday. Me painting those stars in the nursery here when I was pregnant with Abbey, while you and Valla painted the walls. I was so worried I would mess up that they wouldn’t be perfect. I had to get the stars just right so that they would match the stars in the sky on her projected due date.”

  I leaned my head on top of hers as she spoke. “I loved my baby so much already and she hadn’t even been born yet. I was amazed, how could this wonderful gift growing inside of me effect me so much already?”

  I glanced down and her eyes were watering a bit as she said, “They were always Abbey’s favorite thing in her room. No matter how many times she changed the decor or repainted the walls, the stars had to stay. She told me once that looking up at them in bed always told her that she was home.”

  Then she broke down and I just held her. It was all I could do. We just stood like that until she led me to her bedroom and she just laid in bed and raised the covers for me expectantly. I remembered the times she did that for me in the past, of course, I could do the same for her. I slid in behind her and just held her until we both fell asleep.

  Chapter 16 – The Art of Confession

  The next morning, I woke up to my phone alarm chiming softly, still holding my raven haired beauty, still protecting her from unseen specters that would do her harm. I know it was just my imagination, but the house sounded so silent with the girls gone. They would still be asleep so it should be this silent anyway, and Candice was there as well. But it did sound quieter in my imagination, and it felt a little less alive knowing that Abbey was gone.

  I looked down at Mia and just had to smile at her. Like her, I wondered how she would fill her time now. She didn’t have any real hobbies outside of art, and she shouldn’t immerse herself in that 24/7.

  I swear by our platypus overlords, she was beautiful even with her cute bedhead. I snickered inwardly as my mind suddenly created an entire universe at that thought, ruled by the benevolent platypus race. Right down to culture, politics, and economy. Sometimes my curse is fun.

  I longed for the woman as I memorized yet another moment with her in my arms. Then I caught the slight quirk of a smile on her lips as she snuggled in tighter and said, “You’re staring at me again Vickster.”

  I
smiled and admitted offhandedly, “Yes… yes I am.” Then I started poking her ribs causing her to laugh and escape my tickling grasp as I added, “Up and at em’ if you want to go into work with me today.”

  She stood and looked back over her shoulder, almost demurely as she said, “You lady, are no lady.” Then she escaped into her bathroom as I grinned at her. I swear she put a little extra wiggle in her hips. I must be imagining things again, but I swear lately she has deliberately been flirting with me.

  I shook that out of my head, then I hopped up and made my way to my room.

  I knocked lightly on the open door and said to a sleepy looking Candice, who was already sitting up, “Hey girl. I’m heading into work in a bit. I need to get ready. Mia is coming with me, did you want to tag along and see what I’m doing with my new life?”

  She gave me her typical morning yawn and cute closed mouth grin. “That would be brill Vicky.” Then she got out of the bed and shuffled toward the door like a zombie moaning, “I need a cuppa. You get cleaned up, I’ll start the coffee.”

  Coffee about now sounded divine. I grabbed one of my business suits and dragged myself into my bathroom. After my familiar ritual of showering and preparing for the day, slowed a little by the limited use of my left hand, I emerged as Victoria Davenport, Business Woman v1.0. I perked up a little at the divine smell of fresh coffee wafting into the room.

  I wandered out to the great room. Mia was already there whispering with Candice. Mia was looking a little too sexy for my libido, she was in one of her gorgeous formal dresses that showed a tantalizing amount of her shapely calf at the slit by her left leg. I tried to say good morning, but I think it came out something like, “Gwamllaaa.” I may have been drooling. All kinds of naughty thoughts went through my mind that I had to quell with a good dose of white noise.