From Heel to Heart

by Amy DeMeritt

  Elli hasn’t kissed another woman this long and passionately since Isabell. She is completely lost in the beauty and heat of the kiss. Every nerve ending in her body is alive and desperately trying to memorize the feeling of Lana’s body and how well their bodies cradle together in this position. Lana’s weight draped over her is not significant in a lung crushing way, although the sensations and the power of the kiss are quickly stealing the air from her lungs as each minute passes, making her feel lightheaded and out of breath. But she doesn’t want to stop. She doesn’t want this to end. She’d rather pass out from lack of oxygen than end this kiss.

  Lana can feel the increased labor of Elli’s breathing with each rapid rise and fall of her chest that she’s laying on. She can feel their hot breath clashing together while their mouths tirelessly twist and glide together. She feels like her world has been turned upside down – like she’s floating in gently rocking waves with the sun baking her front. The air above them is the ocean, and Elli is the sun – the beautiful warm passionate sun that she can’t get enough of.

  As a spark erupts between her own thighs, causing her to release a small gasping moan into Lana’s mouth, Elli’s hand grips Lana’s round cheek. The tug causes Lana’s sensitive groin to press against the seam of Elli’s jeans and causes her to moan deeply into Elli’s mouth. The power of the shockwave causes Lana to unintentionally break apart from the kiss for the first time since it began several minutes ago. Lana’s head tilts back as she takes panting breaths with her eyes closed. Elli smiles up at her, seeing the passion and pleasure Lana is experiencing and trying to get control of. She caresses Lana’s pink cheek with one hand and slides her other off of Lana’s ass to rest on the middle of her back.

  Without their mouths locked together, their lungs refill with oxygen and the passionate haze begins to settle enough that they can get a grip of themselves. After taking a few deep breaths, Lana looks down at Elli with a serene smile. She lightly kisses her lips and traces her thumb over Elli’s soft cheek.

  “I’ve never been kissed like that before.” Lana kisses her lips again before continuing. “Elli, I don’t know how to say what I feel, so I’m sorry if this comes out like a rambling mess. I really like you, more than I think should be possible after only one date and two cups of coffee. I want you to know I’m not just here to share in the good times with you. Whatever pains you have from your past, I want to take them on as well. I want to be the secret place you can escape to for peace, happiness, and love.”

  The words peace, happiness, and love hit Elli between the ribs in the flesh of her lifeforce and hang in the air like the hum reverberating off of a tuning fork.

  In her sweet English accent that melts Lana, Elli says, “It has been too many years since someone has said something so wonderful and with sincerity. And it has been just as long since I felt like those wonderful things are possible to have again.”

  The word “again” registers as confirmation in Lana’s gut that Elli has lost someone very dear – a soulmate. It causes her a bit of nervousness, but knowing Elli feels like she could fall in love with Lana – just as deeply as the one she lost, makes Lana hopeful.

  “Elli, can I ask you something?”

  “Aye.”

  “What happened?”

  The question could mean a million things, but Elli understands without any specifications. Her smile pinches in sadness, and she starts to sit up, with Lana quickly following. Elli takes both of Lana’s hands and kisses the tops of both, which Lana doesn’t know how to read – she doesn’t know if this is a moment of affection or a moment of farewell. She suddenly is very terrified that she stepped over the line in asking something she shouldn’t have.

  “Your question is a fair one, and one that deserves an answer. But I must ask you to have patience with me and forgive me for not being ready just yet to answer it. I just want to bask in your glow a bit longer before I pull out the past.”

  Lana’s heart melts and all of her insecurities are washed away. She leans forward and gently kisses Elli’s lips for a few moments.

  “If my patience is what you need, then it is what I will give you. Whenever you are ready, you tell me in your own time.”

  “Thank you. Now, would you like to have dinner first or start on your boots?”

  “That’s a very difficult decision. I want to do both.”

  Elli smiles as she caresses Lana’s cheek. “Come on, Sunshine, we’ll start on your boots first.”

  Chapter Twelve

  With her arms wrapped around her, Elli guides Lana’s hands to trace the pattern for the sole of her boot that they already measured with her feet. Her hands are soft and warm as she helps Lana to pass the razor-sharp knife through the thick cardstock they’ll use for the layers of fabric, cushioning, leather, wood, and rubber for the innersole and outer sole of her boots. After the shape is cut, Lana looks over her shoulder and kisses Elli’s lips, making her smile widen.

  “The next part you’ll probably enjoy. You’ll need your math skills for determining the dimensions and angles for the other pieces of the boots.”

  “Really? What do I do?”

  Elli laughs a little from the excitement in Lana’s voice and on her face. She pulls the binder over with the instructions for making the boots and gives Lana a pencil, protractor, triangle, T-square, and a large sheet of cardstock. Elli explains how to measure the dimensions based off of the measurements they took of her feet and the length and thickness of her calves and ankles.

  Lana studies the instructions, makes a few mental calculations, then writes out the dimensions for the leg portion of the boot.

  “I knew you’d be good at this. That is perfect.”

  “Really? This is correct?”

  “Aye, Sunshine, it’s right on the money.”

  Lana’s eyes mist up as pride and excitement overwhelms her emotions. She has never really used her math skills for much outside of the financial sector at work and her own personal finances. It’s exciting and refreshing to see that her skills can be of use in something completely new and different.

  “Now, you’ll draw out the pattern. You’ll want to start in the corner so you can get as much out of the cardstock as possible.”

  Elli supervises while Lana begins to draw the first straight line with the use of a T-square. Lana is slow, meticulous, and checks her measurements and angles multiple times while she’s going along. She only needs a few promptings from Elli on what to do next. After about twenty minutes, Lana has each piece of the boot drawn out on cardstock and ready to cut.

  “This is fun. Okay, what’s next?”

  The eagerness in Lana’s voice and the authenticity on her face makes Elli really happy. She’s thrilled to be able to share this part of her life with Lana. Before she answers, she kisses Lana’s smiling lips. Lana releases a happy giggle, then promptly parts her lips to share a short sweet kiss.

  “Okay, Sunshine, time to cut out your patterns. Here you go.” Elli hands her a pair of scissors. “You should first cut wide around each piece so you can work with them separately, just in case your blade slips and cuts through another pattern.”

  Lana accepts the scissors and carefully cuts between each piece, cutting them into easy to handle chunks. Then, using the razor-sharp knife, she carefully cuts away the excess with the T-square and protractor guiding her blade to get perfect lines.

  “Very good. I think we should have you pick your leather and the material for the lining now.”

  Elli leads Lana over to several racks with rolls of leather, both real and faux, as well as several racks with skeins of fabrics of all types – twill, satin, silk, cotton, and polyester blends.

  “For your lining, I recommend two layers – cotton and satin. The cotton will help with moisture wicking and the satin will make it easier to slip in and out. Plus, I think satin lining is just lovely.”

  “Okay, whatever you think is best. Are these the satins? They are really nice. They feel amazing and the patter
ns are so elegant. I really love this one.”

  “Nice choice.” Elli pulls the skein down and sets it aside. “For the leather, you can choose from anything on this half of the rack. This shelf is authentic cowhide, and this shelf is top of the line faux leather.”

  “Isn’t real leather very expensive?”

  “It is, but if that is what you want, then…”

  “No, I’m fine with faux. Really, I don’t want to use real leather on the first pair of shoes I make. I don’t want to mess it up and then it goes to waste.”

  “Okay, Sunshine.”

  Elli tries hard not to focus too heavily on Lana’s statement of “first pair of shoes” so she doesn’t get her hopes up too much. But the idea that Lana might be thinking she wants to do this again is very promising.

  “I really like this hazelnut brown color. In the picture in the book, it has some darker parts around the sole and seams. How did you do that?”

  “Oh, that is a patina. Natural leather will develop a weathered look on its own with wear and use over time, creating darker spots where oil builds up in the leather. We can speed up that process with heat and polishing techniques. Faux leather, however, isn’t capable of developing a natural patina. But we can create the look by polishing it with a leather dye. The boots in the picture were made with faux leather.”

  “Can we do that?”

  “Absolutely. Now, you need to pick your clasp buttons.”

  Elli adds the roll of leather Lana picked to the work table, then leads her to a cabinet with dozens of square six-by-six-inch wooden drawers with faded paper labels in old metal slats on the drawer faces.

  “This cabinet looks like something out of an old-world apothecary or something. I love this.” Elli smiles as Lana glides her fingers over the drawers and studies the labels. “How old is this?”

  “Close to two-hundred-years old.”

  Lana’s jaw drops and she releases a shocked gasp. “Are you serious? Wow, that’s incredible. God, this place is just amazing.” Lana turns around to look at the work studio with contentment curling her lips and intrigue twinkling in her soft brown eyes. “I like it here.”

  The statement is quiet but thick with emotion. Since the moment she came into the work studio with Elli, her body has been buzzing. Her senses have been in overdrive, trying to take in every detail of the way it smells, the muffled sounds of the city outside, and everything surrounding them. Even though she feels like she is standing in a completely different world, a world unlike anything she has experienced before, the work studio feels comfortable and inviting. It’s also intimidating with its history and the incredible work Elli continues to do here. But it’s not a scary intimidation – it’s welcoming, like the shop is inviting her to try something new.

  Elli slips her arms around Lana from behind, making Lana smile really big. She rests her arms over Elli’s and sighs deeply. Elli kisses the back of her shoulders and the back of her neck before resting her cheek against her back and closing her eyes. Lana’s genuine interest in her work and her family’s history is wonderfully overwhelming and she feels like she has grown indescribably closer to Lana in just the past hour while they’ve been working on making the pattern for her boots.

  “Elli, thank you for sharing this with me and for allowing me to try to make shoes. I can’t even describe how happy I am right now.”

  Elli kisses the back of Lana’s neck again, then Lana slowly turns in her arms and wraps her own arms around the back of Elli’s neck.

  “You’re welcome, Sunshine. It means more to me than you’ll ever know that you are interested in this part of my life.”

  “I’m interested in everything about you. After I pick the snap buttons, can we work on dinner together? I’m starting to get pretty hungry.”

  “Aye, dinner sounds great.”

  After they release each other, Elli opens a few drawers that are two-feet deep with thin wood insert dividers separating several styles of buttons.

  As if she’s picking up a fragile miniature beating heart, Lana gently picks up and inspects each snap button to study the details till she makes her choice – an antique brass tone with a beautiful open rose engraved on the top. Elli places the buttons on the work table then leads Lana upstairs.

  They wash their hands in the kitchen sink, then Elli opens the fridge to pull out ingredients for dinner. Lana accepts each item to set on the counter till Elli has pulled out the last remaining item and closes the door.

  “This looks like a fancy dinner we’re about to make. What can I do?”

  Elli smiles as she holds out a bottle of white wine and a corkscrew. “Will you open this, please?”

  “Of course. Is this for drinking or cooking? I mean, should I also pour us a glass?”

  Elli laughs a little at the nervous way Lana clarified, as if she’s embarrassed for assuming that they’re going to have wine. “This one is for cooking. However,” Elli goes back to the fridge and pulls out a different bottle of wine and sets it on the counter next to Lana, “you can open this one for us to drink.”

  Before Elli can open the cabinet, Lana reaches up and opens the correct cabinet to pull down two wine glasses, having remembered where they are from their last date. With a feeling of contentment with having Lana here in her kitchen, Elli turns her attention to the ingredients lined up on the counter.

  She places the items in groups and in order of what she’ll need to prepare the meal, then grabs a medium size stock pot to fill with water. After placing it on a burner turned to high heat to bring it to a boil, Elli adds a sizeable amount of sea salt to season the water.

  As she’s about to grab a large chef knife, Lana holds out a glass of wine to her. Elli smiles as she accepts the glass and looks into Lana’s twinkling soft, doe eyes and the serene smile gently curling her lips.

  “Thank you.”

  “Cheers.” They clink glasses, then savor a sip of the mild, slightly dry pale yellow-green tinted white wine. “What can I do now?”

  “Would you like to grate cheese or chop mushrooms and shallots?”

  “Whatever you need me to do, I can do either.”

  “Okay, Sunshine.”

  Elli places a large cutting board on the counter with a cheese grater and three blocks of pungent white cheeses.

  “I need about a heaping half a cup of each of these.”

  As Lana steps forward to begin the requested task, her hip brushes against Elli’s, causing a bolt of energy to shiver its way from the point of contact, all the way up Elli’s body to crawl back down her spine. The unexpected sensation leaves Elli feeling weak in the knees and her brain has clouded over, nearly causing her to forget what she needs to do next.

  Before she can give into the sudden impulse to grab Lana and kiss her with the full force of her heart, she grabs a large chef knife and cutting board, then sets a shiny heavy bottomed stainless-steel frying pan on a burner. She adds a few swirls of extra virgin olive oil to the pan with a small pad of butter, and while it melts and heats, she quickly washes, dries, and trims a bundle of thin tender asparagus.

  She places the asparagus in the oil, quickly salts and peppers the vegetables with fresh grinders, then gently tosses the young twigs, turning them from a dull matte green to a vibrant glossy green. After only a couple of minutes, Elli moves the tender asparagus to a plate to rest.

  With deft hands, she removes the dry skin off of a pale rosy red shallot, revealing its rosy lavender tented white flesh, then finely chops the moderately aromatic onion into a fine mince. The aroma fully comes to life as she scrapes the minced onion into the hot oil. She quickly tosses the translucent flavor packets and lowers the heat to prevent the onions from burning. She then finely chops and minces a heaping pile of golden chanterelle mushrooms to add to the frying pan. After salting the onion and mushroom mixture, she watches them carefully, constantly moving them around, not wanting a single one to char while they cook down and concentrate in flavor. After a few minutes, she adds a couple of
cups worth of white wine.

  While watching the pan carefully so it doesn’t catch fire, Elli pulls two large plump lobster tails from their package. She cuts through the top, slightly pulling it open, then places both in the pan. While she uses a ladle to continuously pour the seasoned wine over the lobster, she adds a container of fresh mushroom ravioli to the pot of boiling water.

  In just a few short minutes, the lobster shell has reddened and the flesh has puffed up to a snow-white luster. She plates the lobster tails, pours the wine mixture out into a measuring cup, adds butter and flour to the frying pan to create a roux, then after the flour has toasted, she adds the cheeses Lana has finished grating. With a fast whisk blending in one hand, she slowly pours the wine mixture back into the melting cheeses then adds a bit of heavy cream to richen the sauce.

  Once the cheese sauce is blended, Elli drains the raviolis. With care to the presentation, Elli plates the food with the asparagus down first, then tops it with the sauced raviolis, and places the lobster tail on the side. She adds a fresh lemon squeeze to the lobster, a sprinkle of fresh sea salt, then adds a small micro green salad to the side tossed with lemon and oil.

  After she washes her hands and turns to dry them, she comes face to face with Lana, who is wearing an impressed smile. Elli had been so in the zone trying to prepare dinner she nearly forgot Lana was here.

  “Hello, Sunshine. Are you ready to eat?”

  “This looks amazing. I wanted to ask what else I could help with, but I didn’t want to interrupt your flow. You were really moving. It was impressive.”