Taylor could feel Alex tighten around her and she smiled at her.
“I love you. But do you think we could go somewhere softer?” Taylor inquired.
“Are you implying that making love in the front hall is not appropriate?” Alex teased.
“With you I’d make love anywhere, but right now I think I have rug burn.”
“Maybe somewhere softer is a good idea. How about the bedroom?” Alex said.
“Sounds wonderful.”
Later as Taylor lay on her stomach with Alex still on her back with her fingers inside her, she started to cry.
Alex rolled off.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Alex said, alarmed that in the throes of passion she had gotten carried away.
“No, I’m just happy,” Taylor said, trying not to be embarrassed at this sign of intense emotion.
“They’re good tears?” Alex inquired, wiping one from Taylor’s face and putting it in her mouth. She wanted to taste all of Taylor.
“My mother used to collect my tears when I was little and then freeze them,” Taylor said.
“That’s beautiful.”
“Until my overly helpful aunt defrosted the fridge and then threw them out. My mother was furious,” Taylor said.
Alex stroked her face, suddenly wanting to be all those people Taylor had lost in her life. With Taylor she felt she could totally commit, save jars of tears, and never intentionally throw one moment of happiness away. She jumped up.
“Where are you going?” Taylor asked.
“To get my bags. I don’t want you to change your mind,” Alex said.
“Like I would,” Taylor said, getting up to help her.
Mallory got the mail and began sifting through what was important and what could immediately go into the recycle bin. She had a soft spot for letter carriers now that she knew what Angel went through to deliver the mail she was stuffing into the trash. Angel on their long walks together during Mallory’s recuperation from her broken foot had explained the various methods of the postal service to her. Now she understood why they all received so much bulk (or as she referred to it as junk) mail. Still, it was hard to grasp how one person had to go to all the trouble to put this stuff in her mailbox only to have another throw it away. But today’s mail contained something different.
She tore open an invitation to a housewarming party. It seemed Angel and Kim had finally found the house they had been looking for, bought it and now were inviting their nearest and dearest friends. Mallory wondered who would be coming. She knew who wasn’t and that caused her a twinge of regret. Not that she would miss some of the usual party crowd. Mallory tried hard to put out of her mind those people who had caused havoc in everyone’s life but one of them was Gigi and try as might she still missed her long-lost best friend.
Dr. Kohlrabi had telephoned her to ask how she felt about her treating Gigi. Mallory had no problem with it. At least Gigi was getting some help and that was an important step forward. Mallory had no idea how they could ever get back to the place they had been before. It seemed there could be no going back. Even though Mallory missed Gigi she doubted they would ever patch this one up. This wasn’t like any of their other disagreements. It was a broken trust, and they had always been able to trust one another.
She had relived that moment a zillion times, dreamt about it, talked to Dr. Kohlrabi about it but the idea, the thought, the vision of Gigi cheating on her with the woman, the one and only woman Mallory had loved still seemed like some nightmare lesbian drama that wasn’t supposed to exist except in film and Naiad romance novels. It wasn’t supposed to happen in real life. In real life people were supposed to be better, supposed to have a conscience, supposed to restrain themselves from moments of unbridled lust.
But Del said otherwise. People do things like that. They shouldn’t but they do. Together they got through that tumultuous time and now as Mallory walked in the house to find Del perched over a mountain of books, writing an article for a medical journal, she knew it was worth all the turmoil to have this incredible woman sharing her life.
“What are you doing Saturday night?” Mallory said, nibbling at Del’s ear.
“Whatever you’re doing,” Del said, looking up, her blue eyes catching the light and sparkling.
“Kim and Angel are having a housewarming party.”
“Really? Good for them.”
“What are we going to get them for a present?” Mallory asked, suddenly panicked with the idea.
“How about a vending machine?” Del teased.
“That’s a great idea. I have one of the old Coke machines at the warehouse. It’s vintage. Now that would be an outstanding present,” Mallory said.
Del nodded, thinking that Mallory having been the most difficult woman to date was an incredibly easy person to live with. She had yet to experience one of her emotionally claustrophobic moments that usually accompanied moving in with someone. They worked everything out in a matter of days, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, social times and work times. In fact, Del kept peeking around corners looking for something to be wrong only to find a peaceful existence full of early relationship passion. Kim had told her that she shouldn’t be so leery of Cupid’s gift. Del told her that Cupid had not always been kind to either one of them. He’s a capricious little monster boy. A boy in charge of love is not good. Male images of love are comprised of conquer, copulate and cuckold, Del told her. Kim laughed and told her she didn’t think any one of their relationships were going in that direction.
“Did you want a new house?” Mallory asked, still sitting on the corner of Del’s desk contemplating how to wrap the housewarming present.
“Excuse me?” Del asked, closing her book and hearing her stomach rumble. She’d never gotten around to having lunch.
“Well, I was thinking about Angel and Kim starting over someplace fresh. Should we do that?”
“Why? I didn’t think Caroline ever lived here.”
“She didn’t.”
“That answers your question. I love this house. It is in the perfect location and it so reminds me of you that when you’re not here I don’t feel lonely. I feel surrounded by you. I’m never leaving.”
“I guess there’s no need to move.”
“No, now how about some egg rolls on a bed of cabbage with a hot and sour soup.”
“Starving?”
“Famished.”
“You really like it here?” Mallory asked, staring intently at Del as if she had x-ray vision.
“I love it here. Now are you ready to experience another one of my cooking delights?” Del inquired. She had been taking a cooking course via the Internet and had only managed to blow up the kitchen once.
“I’ll get the takeout menus ready just in case,” Mallory teased.
“This one might work,” Del said, picking up her directions and heading to the market.
“There’s a good Chinese takeout just down the street,” Mallory offered.
“No, it’s not the same. I’m a doctor and that was no easy task, certainly I can learn to cook you a decent meal,” Del said, putting her jacket on with that slightly lost look she got whenever she was required to do something practical.
“All right. I’ll call Angel and tell her we are definitely coming to the party.”
“I won’t be long and don’t snack. I can just feel that this time everything will work out,” Del said.
Mallory rolled her eyes. She went and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, knowing it would be hours before Del gave up and they ordered takeout. It was sweet of her to try being domestic but it never worked out. They had pink laundry, had to disembowel the vacuum cleaner after Del got the Persian rug stuck in it, and the kitchen disasters were beyond measure. And still Del tried. Mallory just laughed and told Angel the stories. They had it planned to put Del’s Household Adventures in the comic strip.
“So you’re coming?” Angel asked.
“Of course,” Mallory said.
“You don’t want me to invite you-know-who,” Angel said.
“No, we’re still not speaking. Doubt we ever will.”
“It is probably for the best. Want to hear something even stranger than that oddity?”
“Sure.”
“Guess who Jennifer is dating?”
“Who?”
“Ollie.”
“That is so positively lesbian,” Mallory said, making no attempt to hide her disgust.
“Isn’t that the truth? They can’t have the ones they want so they sleep with their lover’s ex-lovers. We are an incestuous bunch,” Angel said, peeking around the corner to see what Kim was up to. Angel hadn’t told Kim the news about Ollie and was thinking better of not telling. It didn’t really concern them but at the same time the thought of the two of them together didn’t sit well with Angel. Together they knew too much about Kim and herself and that gave Angel instant trepidation. They seemed like an odd match; their only similarities were for degrees of manipulation they routinely inflicted on their partners.
“Maybe they will find incredible happiness in each other’s arms,” Mallory said, snidely.
“You never know.”
“But we both doubt it,” Mallory said.
“I wouldn’t put money down on it. So what’s the newly crowned Queen of Domesticity doing?”
“She’s going to try and blow up the kitchen again. We’re having egg rolls. In fact, I better let you go. I need to make a quick trip to the hardware store.”
“What for?”
“Another fire extinguisher.”
Angel laughed. “See you at the party. I’ll watch the news tonight but hopefully they won’t be showing your house going up in flames.”
“Maybe I’ll get two extinguishers and a couple more smoke detectors.”
“Good idea.”
The new house was coming into its own, Kim thought as she put the last touches on the buffet table for the housewarming party. Angel was in the backyard finishing up the decorations. She had strung Chinese lanterns and hanging candles all over the yard. The veranda was filled with large pots of flowers and an odd collection of old furniture that Angel and Kim had refinished. The backyard of the fifty-year-old ranch house had a matured landscape with large shade trees, hedges and flower gardens as well as a small pond. On the whole it looked more like an overgrown English garden than it did anything native to Arizona. “Our oasis in the desert,” Angel had told Kim. They had decided to stay with that theme and improve upon it. Now as Angel sat in the backyard surveying her handiwork she liked what she saw.
“You know for an apartment dweller you sure make a motivated house restorer,” Kim said, wrapping her arms around Angel’s waist and kissing her forehead.
“It was all those years of pent-up feelings toward remodeling that just gushed forward when I first saw this house. In fact, I might just give up the post office and take to restoration,” Angel said.
“You’re joking,” Kim asked, concerned.
“No, I’m totally serious,” Angel said, smirking.
Kim pinched her.
The doorbell rang and Kim went to answer it.
It was Del and Mallory.
“What happened to your hand?” Kim asked, looking down at Del’s bandaged right hand.
“She doesn’t like to talk about it,” Mallory said.
“It is kind of hard not to notice it,” Kim said diplomatically.
“She was going to wear this absurd oven mitten, but I absolutely refused to be seen in public with her,” Mallory said.
Angel came around the corner into the foyer.
“The egg rolls?” Angel said, her eyes getting big.
Mallory nodded.
“Did you have to use the fire extinguisher?” Angel asked.
“No, but we did have to go to the emergency room for a spell,” Mallory replied.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Del said.
“What constitutes not bad?” Angel asked.
“Well, suffice to say Del can become a career criminal now as her right hand will most likely not have fingerprints anymore,” Mallory replied.
“That’s the up side?” Kim inquired.
“No, the up side is something much better,” replied Mallory, looking pointedly at Del.
“I’ve given up cooking. We’ve both decided it’s much too dangerous,” Del said.
Everyone laughed.
“I don’t think the culinary world will be any poorer for that,” Angel teased.
“Speaking of food,” Mallory said, eyeing the buffet table. “It looks outstanding.”
“Can we have a tour?” Del asked.
“Come this way,” Angel said.
Later after the guests had eaten and everyone was sitting around outside Angel asked Mallory if she minded that Gigi wasn’t around.
“It does seem odd that she isn’t here with all the others. I don’t think about it much until I see the rest of the group together and then I feel her lack of presence but then if she were here, Alex wouldn’t be with Taylor. Gigi would be off cruising someone and Alex and I would be pretending not to notice. I would feel bad because she’s my best friend and I can’t stop her from doing it. Alex would feel bad because she must not be the lover she’s supposed to be or Gigi wouldn’t be interested in other women, so I think it’s best this way. Does that make sense?” Mallory asked, suffering her first crisis in confidence in weeks.
It seemed not being around Gigi made Mallory feel more adequate in dealing with her life. Maybe Dr. Kohlrabi was right. Gigi had been her crutch all these years. She had always been there to remind Mallory how socially inept she was, especially when Gigi wasn’t there to fend for her. With her gone, Mallory was discovering new parts of herself and she found she liked most of them. It was a pity that to find herself she had to lose Gigi. The universe was truly a capricious place. It only gave you what you wanted when you’d forgotten you needed it.
“Of course, it makes sense. Gigi will grow up one day and she might even become a decent person. She has it in her. Perhaps she just needs to find the right person to bring it out,” Angel said.
“I think she lost the right person already,” Mallory said.
“You mean Alex?” Angel said, looking at Taylor and Alex cuddled up together in the hammock.
“No, Caroline. If only she’d done what she was supposed to have done, everything would be so different right now,” Mallory said, rather glumly.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. I’m kind of liking it right now.”
“Well, yeah, I guess things didn’t turn out so badly after all,” Mallory said, looking over at Kim and Del.
“Except for Gigi,” Angel said.
“For now. She could be doing penance.”
“Being the good Catholic girl she is,” Angel said brightly.
“Only time and the Astral Goddess will tell,” Mallory said.
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Saxon Bennett - Talk of the Town Page 24
