“Who is this?” I asked.
“Yumi Zouma,” said Maggie. “They’re from New Zealand. Really good, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, letting a smile creep onto my face. “We listened to this before.”
“We did,” she said. “A few times on this trip. I feel like it’s become the soundtrack to my life lately.”
“I’ll have to get this from you.”
“I’ll gift the album to you on Bandcamp when we get back,” said Maggie, looking over at me and smiling.
“Nice.”
“This construction traffic is the pits,” remarked Maggie, craning her neck down and trying to look further out of the windshield, as though this move would allow her to see past the horizon and find the break in traffic. “Can you see up there?”
“Not really,” I said.
“Hmm,” she mused.
“What are you going to do tonight?” I asked after a moment of quiet. “I mean, once we get home.”
“Laundry, probably,” she said. “Wine. I might start putting together this lesson plan but, honestly… I don’t wanna.” Maggie grinned.
“I don’t want to do anything,” I whined, tossing my head back against the headrest.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Well,” I sighed. “Probably laundry, too. But I’m just dreading checking my work email. I bet I’ll have a thousand messages to go through.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not,” I said. “We were gone for almost 3 weeks. You should see how people email at my job. Back and forth a hundred times, saying nothing. God! Let’s stop talking about it.” Maggie snickered at me.
“Okay, babe,” she said. “Vacation ain’t over yet.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at her.
“We’re probably not going to make it home for the funeral, are we?” Maggie asked, her voice becoming solemn. “I bet we missed it.”
“We did,” I said, feeling slightly pained. “My mother texted and said it was fine. You know, they’re always generally fine. As fine as a funeral can be.”
“Right,” said Maggie. “I’m sorry, Dana.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s sad,” she said. “But it’ll pass, just like everything does.”
“I know,” I said. “But weirdly, I’m not super sad about it. I guess I’m sad because I’m supposed to be, if that makes any sense.”
“It does.”
“It’s not like I was all that close with her in my adult life,” I went on. “So I just… move on.”
“You know, it’s kind of a blessing,” said Maggie. “You don’t have her hanging over you anymore, cramping your style.” I let out a short laugh.
“Cramping my style, huh?” I looked over at Maggie with rolled eyes.
“You know what I mean,” she said with that familiar wildness painted on her face.
“I know what you mean,” I replied.
“I mean only good stuff,” said Maggie. “The best stuff.”
Reaching over, I squeezed her arm lightly and held on for a moment. I felt the connection.
“Did you really tell that girl that I stole her dildo and put it in your bags?” I asked tepidly.
“I really did,” said Maggie. “And she thought it was ridiculous.”
“So I can never go back there,” I said. “I’m not going to be welcomed in Salt Lake City anymore.”
“Or…” she said. “Maybe she’ll be eager for you to bring it back.”
“Stop!” I said through a giggle, lightly smacking her arm.
“Never,” said Maggie grinning. “I’m never going to stop.”
“It’s just what came out,” I admitted. “I don’t want you to stop.”
“We have good conversations,” said Maggie after a beat. “I love talking with you. It’s so easy.”
“I know,” I said. “I didn’t get mad or frustrated with you one time on this trip.”
“Nope,” said Maggie in agreement.
“That’s reassuring,” I said.
“Mm hmm,” hummed Maggie, giving me another joyous look before reverting her eyes to road.
I tried to think about what life would be like for me once we got back to Chicago, once I returned to my normal daily existence. I lived on the westside of Chicago and Maggie was on the northside, so there’d be a lot of commuting in store for us. Though I could probably take the Red Line from work all the way up to Andersonville to see her. That wouldn’t be so bad. And I could stay over her place, hop on the train in the morning, ride down to work. I laughed internally at myself. I was already planning out my commute from Maggie’s place. I felt silly about it but it also gave me a nice sense of comfort. I was excited to be in a good relationship after spending so long being unenthused.
There was so much to look forward to. So much love. So much exploration. I felt newly reborn, in a way. I felt like I still had so much more to learn. And if I was confused at all, or struggled, I knew that Maggie would be there to help me through it. She was such an understanding woman, so much heart, and a keen sense of a humor that could show you the absurdity surrounding you. To help you laugh when you needed it most. Between the death of my grandmother and my own coming out, I was sure that I could use the comforting levity that Maggie was so good at providing.
Soon enough, we’d entered the city of Chicago, navigating the traffic, the construction, the bisecting freeways, until we took the exit for my neighborhood and Maggie drove me toward my destination. I felt a bit sad as we approached my place. I didn’t want to leave her. I didn’t want the trip to be over. It had been too special for it to end now. If there was any justice in this world, our road trip would have gone on for all eternity.
“No, no, no,” I mourned as I saw my graystone house coming into sight.
“What?” said Maggie, looking over at me with some concern.
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m just not ready.”
“This isn’t over,” said Maggie matter-of-factly. “Maybe for today, but this,” she said, pointing between the two of us. “This is just starting, babe.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m just being bratty.”
Once Maggie pulled up to the curb in front of my house, it took a little coaxing for her to kick me out of the car. She, too, stepped out and opened up the back door of the SUV so that I could get my bags. I felt queasy in my stomach. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want it to end.
With my duffel over my shoulder, satchel over the other side, and a third bag in my hand, Maggie shut the door with a thud, turned, and smiled wide at me.
“Don’t give me that face,” she said. Stepping forward, Maggie hugged me tightly. I tried to return her hug but I was somewhat encumbered from all my luggage.
“Kiss me,” I said. Maggie laughed and then pushed her lips to mine and the two of us stood there, lips locked for a wonderful final moment of road trip bliss. Once the kiss finally ended, I could still taste Maggie on my lips and I yearned for even more.
“Don’t pout,” Maggie said. “Maybe you could just come over tonight.”
“I don’t know,” I whined, looking to my bags, looking at my house. “I should get my life sorted out before work on Monday.” I then closed my eyes tightly and whined some more. “Stop thinking about work.”
“You have Sunday to get your shit together,” said Maggie.
“You vastly underestimate how long it takes me to get my shit together.” This gave Maggie a tickle.
“Okay,” she said. “Get out of here, then.” Leaning in again, she planted a soft, sweet, short kiss on my lips and turned. “We’ll get together in a couple of days and figure out what the fuck is going on. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said lethargically.
“Love you, doll,” said Maggie. She blew me a kiss and then climbed back into the car. After slamming the door shut, she leaned out of the window. “I’ll watch to make sure you get in safely.”
“Love you, too,” I said, slinking up
toward the house. I climbed the stairs of my stoop, took out my house keys, and slowly unlocked the door. I looked back to the street and Maggie started blowing me kiss after kiss after kiss. I smiled bravely, plucked her kisses from the air and shoved them into my pocket. She laughed, she waved, and then she began driving away. I felt my heart sink.
I climbed the tiled staircase of the somewhat familiar apartment building, the soles of my leather shoes clacking on the steps and echoing throughout the stairwell. Readjusting my side bag, I looked up as I climbed, hand on the railing, taking a deep breath, feeling the speed of my heartbeats increase as I ascended. Outside the sun had set but I felt the light. There was a wine bottle shoved into my bag, among other things, and it bounced against my hip with each slow step upward.
At the top of the stairs I was met with a landing. I turned to one side and inspected the number on the doors. I saw the number 5 and I smiled, eagerly stepping up toward it. I brought my hand up and gently knocked on the door, tapping out a little melody, and then I stepped back a few feet from the door.
I heard the clanking of the wooden door unlocking, two bolts, and then it swung wide open. Behind that door was Maggie, grinning back at me. She stood in the door way wearing her glasses, hair messily tied back, a tank top on with no bra underneath, and worn in striped cotton sleeping shorts. Crossing her arms, she smirked at me.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away,” she said.
“I was a little hasty in that assertion, yes,” I said. “But whatever. I’m here now.” I smiled.
“Thai food is on its way,” said Maggie. “Pad Woon Sen with shrimp?”
“Exactly,” I said. “Oh, and I brought something for you, too.”
“I love presents,” said Maggie, raising a brow as she watched. Reaching into my bag, I first grabbed at the bottle of wine. But then I reached further in and took hold of something else.
“Here you go,” I said, quickly pulling out the purple dildo and tossing it inside of Maggie’s apartment. It smacked into the ground with a thud and bounced once haphazardly. As I did this, she squealed and pulled one of her feet from the ground to avoid getting hit. Then, realizing what was happening, she began to crack up.
“You found it,” she beamed.
“Yeah,” I said. “You hid it in my duffel bag.”
“I thought you wanted a keepsake from our trip,” said Maggie sweetly, teasingly.
“That was you,” I countered. “You wanted that thing as a keepsake.” She laughed again. Maggie found the whole thing hilarious and, I admit, I did also.
“Fine!” she said. “Twist my arm. I’ll keep it!”
“Are you going to invite me in?” I asked in mock exasperation. I went to step forward and Maggie immediately blocked the entrance with her small figure, arm against the door frame.
“Not if you’re going to throw dildos at me,” she said. “If you’re going to throw dildos in me, well, that’s a different story.”
“You’re a dildo,” I said, pushing past her, pretending to be upset, but loving every second of our back and forth. Once inside, Maggie closed the door behind us and I could hear her giggling. She was loving it too.
This was everything I had always wanted. This was a real relationship, a real love. Not everybody is lucky enough to find their partner, the person that completes them, the person that makes you be more than you ever thought you could be. Well, not everybody finds that partner on the first, second, maybe even the third go around. But they’re out there. And maybe it’s someone who’s been hiding in plain sight for a very long time. There’s nothing wrong in taking your time to find that person, and there’s nothing wrong in making a mistake. I’d made plenty of mistakes. I’d been making mistake after mistake for the entirety of my love life. I wasn’t going to screw things up anymore. With Maggie, I knew I was finally on the right track.
As we sat together on Maggie’s couch, sipping wine, cuddling, plucking at each other in teasing gestures, waiting for Thai food to arrive, I knew that this was for real. This was what I had always wanted. I’d just been too clouded to see straight. Or, rather, I’d only been seeing straight. It was only when I decided to give myself a little bit of freedom that I was able to discover who I truly was. And freedom was the best discovery I could have ever found. Freedom… and Maggie, of course.
There’s more to this story!
To read the hot and steamy epilogue
sign up for Nico’s mailing list
at the following link:
http://bit.ly/nicosub
One more sexy scene featuring
Dana and Maggie!
Thank you for reading!
If you enjoyed this novel,
please leave a review!
Reviews are super important!
Your review can help Nico
reach more readers!
Even if you’re not the wordy type,
leaving a review saying
“I really enjoyed this book!”
is still incredibly helpful.
Pretty please?
If you want to be notified
of all new releases from Nico,
sign up for her mailing list today
and get a FREE STORY!
Click the following link
or type it into your web browser
and sign up right now!
http://bit.ly/nicosub
There is more to read in this book!
Keep reading past Nico’s catalog list
to find excerpts from her other novels.
Full Bodied In The Vineyard
A Lesbian Romance
After yet another breakup and on the cusp of her 40th birthday, Shannon Laughlin is feeling lost. Life hasn’t gone quite how she expected and she’s ready for something new, a new outlook, a new adventure. A new love. One night, as she tries to figure out what’s next, a chance post on social media by an old friend offers to give her that change she’s been seeking.
That old friend is Alina. Alina is a seasonal worker at Wild Love Winery up on Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan’s wine appellation. A free-spirited woman, Alina has orchestrated a life for herself that revolves around following her bliss. It’s something Shan has always admired in her friend. That, and Alina’s undeniable sensuality. Shan can’t help but remember the one night in college that the two women shared a bed. And the possibility Alina is offering is just too good to pass up.
Will Shan figure out how to get both her work life and her love life back on track as she stumbles into her 40s? Can the magic of Michigan’s wine country and the surrounding beauty convince Shan that there’s more to this world than she’s been able to see? Or will this second chance at making it work with Alina prove to be out of her reach? Sometimes life is only just beginning at 40, as Shan is about to find out. And there’s so much more of it to live.
Click Here For More!
www.nicolettedane.com
Hotel Hollywood
A Lesbian Romance
Audra Durand is stuck. She has slowly come to the realization that life in her small town on the west coast of Michigan isn’t quite what she imagined for herself. And as she sits unfulfilled behind the reception desk of the Hotel Champlain, an old hotel on her town’s main street, she dreams of the places she could go… if only she could muster up the courage and overcome her fears. Life and love have been a struggle for Audra, and she has difficulty imagining a way out.
But her world is about to change when Hollywood comes to town. Thanks to some easy tax credits a big budget movie production sets up in Champlain, making Audra’s hotel their homebase. And with the movie comes young starlet Kelsie Kent, a beautiful, free-spirited, fun-loving girl who inspires Audra in every way. Kelsie represents the things Audra can’t see in herself, but as the girls grow closer and love begins to bloom, Audra’s fear and trepidation melt in Kelsie’s light.
Can Audra overcome the demons of both her past and present, open her heart, and give herself over to the freedom that Kelsie
arouses? Or will she succumb to her fear of change, do nothing, and remain in her stagnant existence? Sometimes unexpected kismet can deliver what you need most at exactly the right time. You just need to open your eyes to see it.
Click Here For More!
www.nicolettedane.com
Freestyle Flirting
A Lesbian Romance
Marie Mullally, competitive swimmer, has had it tough. Just a few short years back family tragedy kept her from her dreams of competing in the Olympic Games. But 4 years later she’s more driven than ever, focused on her training, and ready to bring home the Gold in the Summer Olympics. That singular focus, keeping her eyes on the prize, has proven to be great for her athletic goals… but not so much for her love life.
These goals get challenged once Marie meets her new coach, Dasha Belenko. Dasha is beautiful, fit, inspiring, a former Olympic Medal winner herself and the kind of coach any swimmer could easily swoon over. Marie and Dasha soon find themselves entangled in a joyful secretive affair, excited for the possibility of love. But jealousy on the team mixed with the impropriety of a coach/swimmer relationship cause for some conflict that could once again keep Marie from her Gold Medal ambitions.
Will Marie be able to navigate unfounded jealousy, regain focus on her swimming, and hoist the Gold Medal? Or will this high level competition on the world’s stage leave Marie dead in the water? With tragedy behind her, the spirit of a champion, and love in her heart, Marie is prepared to do what it takes to win in the pool… but at what cost?
Click Here For More!
Restless On A Road Trip: A Lesbian Romance Page 17
