“I’m doing something.”
“You are?” Paige frowned. “What?”
Lennox’s eyes coruscated. “You.”
Paige grinned. “Best idea ever.” She rang the bell.
“Thank you.” Lennox’s fingers tickled Paige’s palm. She sighed. “Tonight while we’re eating, I’ll be fantasizing about allll the things I’m going to do to you when we get back to my place.”
Paige’s jaw fell. Lennox smirked.
The door opened and Paige’s dad stood there, arms outspread, beaming. “Paige!”
Paige forced the air from her lungs, coughing. “Hey, Dad.”
Lennox put her hand on Paige’s forearm. “Are you good?”
Paige nodded.
Concern shadowed Mr. Galner’s expression, his mouth turned down. “Were you choking?”
“Uh. Yeah…with joy…for your cooking,” Paige said.
Lennox drew in her lips, quashing a laugh.
“Wonderful! The penne is almost ready.” Mr. Galner grinned at Paige. “I missed you, hun.”
“I missed you, too, Dad.”
“I missed you more.” Paige’s father squeezed her.
“Too tight. Can’t breathe,” Paige gasped.
“Sorry.” Mr. Galner let go of his daughter. “I’m happy you’re here.” He glimpsed at Lennox and smiled at her. “The both of you.”
Paige put her hand on the small of Lennox’s back. “Dad, this is my girlfriend, Lennox.”
Lennox lifted her arm to Paige’s father and he shook her hand.
“Hi, Mr. Galner. It’s nice to meet you,” Lennox said.
“The pleasure is mine,” Mr. Galner said. “And please, call me Toby.”
“Sure. Okay,” Lennox said.
“Paige has spoken to me about how you’ve inspired her,” Mr. Galner said to Lennox.
“Dad!” Paige shook her head. “No!”
Lennox extricated herself from Mr. Galner’s grip and smiled at Paige, then faced him again. “Has she?”
“Oh. She’s crazy for you,” Paige’s father said to Lennox. “She hasn’t ever changed her blog, then you came along.” He looked at Paige. “Also, it’s in how you said her name. I heard it.”
“Ugh!” Paige’s eyes rolled back. “Dad! Quit it!”
Lennox smirked and hip-checked Paige. “Cute.” She turned to Mr. Galner. “Well, your daughter’s words have had a great influence on me.” She gave a slight shrug. “I wanted to repay the favor.”
Mr. Galner chuckled. “Isn’t that tremendous!” He put his right hand on Paige’s left shoulder and his left hand on Lennox’s right shoulder. “Where are my manners? Step inside, you girls, dinner will be done in a jiff.” He pulled them into the house and motioned to the staircase. “Paige, take Lennox to your room.”
Paige glanced at Lennox and grinned. “Gladly.”
Lennox smiled. “You’re bad,” she said quietly to Paige.
“I’ll give ya a shout when it’s chow time,” Mr. Galner said.
“Sounds good.” Paige waved to her dad as he walked off toward the kitchen.
Paige clasped her pinky around Lennox’s and guided her up the stairs and down the short hallway that led to her bedroom. They stopped in front of the second door on the right. Paige opened it and motioned for Lennox to enter first.
Lennox passed through the threshold, Paige at her rear, and her eyes grazed over the area, Paige’s belongings. She dawdled across the room, glancing at the posters on the walls, the twin bed, the teeming bookshelf, and the pictures on Paige’s desk: one of Paige and Justin in their high school graduation gowns, another of Paige with her father, Paige holding her diploma.
Lennox looked back at Paige and smiled. “Thanks for bringing me in here. I like it, seeing other parts of your life, of you.”
Paige smiled. “Good, because I have more to show you.”
“Okay. I’m watching.”
Paige went into her closet and pulled from it a cherry wood case. She knelt on the carpet and placed the box next to her. She grinned at Lennox.
Lennox put her hand on her chest. “Is that what I think it is?”
Paige opened the portable turntable. “Voilà!”
Lennox gawked. “Your record player! She’s a beaut.”
“Do you want to take her for a spin?”
“You’re offering her to me whilst using a double entendre?” Lennox bit her bottom lip. “I am really excited right now.”
“And you just said a word from fourteenth century English, so I’m kinda hot and bothered myself.”
Lennox smirked. “How’s about I take you for a spin instead?”
“Girl, I’ve been spinning since I laid eyes on you.”
Lennox started to laugh. “Oh, you smooth talker, you. I am putty in your hands.”
“Then come hither and touch my….phonograph.” Paige signaled with her index finger for Lennox to move closer.
Lennox curbed her laughter and put the back of her wrist to her forehead. “Paige, the forces of your lusciousness, I can’t fight them any longer.”
Paige chuckled. “Stop trying and get over here.”
Lennox smiled. “As you wish.” She took a few steps towards Paige and sat on the floor in front of the record player. She stared at it, then her fingertips carefully wended along the plinth of the turntable. She tilted her head up at Paige. “Can we listen to her?”
“That’s the idea.” Paige got off the floor, reached in her closet again, and lifted a storage container from the bottom-right corner of it. She brought the bin to Lennox and set it down left of the turntable. Paige sat beside Lennox and opened the container. Lennox gasped at Paige’s sizable collection of vinyls.
Paige smiled at her. “Pick a song, any song.”
“This is awesome.” Lennox began thumbing through the wealth of cardboard sleeves, each possessing a record. “Wow.” Her fingers settled on an unvarnished, yellow album jacket. “You have Leela Clementine’s deluxe EP.”
“I do.” Paige still had a smile on her face.
Lennox looked at Paige. “Can you play ‘Winter’?”
“Yes.” Paige took the record out of the container, slid the vinyl from its casing, and placed the EP on the turntable’s platter. She moved the record player’s tonearm onto the vinyl and a few seconds later the song started. Chords of an acoustic guitar, notes of a harp, the rattling of kettledrums, and hoarse, alto vocals permeated Paige’s bedroom.
Lennox threaded her fingers with Paige’s and gazed into Paige’s eyes. “I never thought I’d share this song with anyone. It’s the soundtrack to my soul.”
“I wonder if it’s fortuitous.”
“What?” Lennox asked.
“That I already have it memorized.”
“Yeah?”
Paige nodded. “Every. Single. Word.”
“Huh. Isn’t that something?” Lennox smiled.
“It certainly is.” Paige lowered her mouth to Lennox’s. Her heartbeat sped and she exhaled a discernible breath. Their lips met, brushing slowly, erotically, across one another’s to the measures of the music that filled the space around them.
After the bridge, the final repeat of the chorus, and the outro, the song and their kiss receded.
Lennox laid her head on Paige’s shoulder. “Will this be one of your moments?”
“Lennox, with you, it’s all a moment.”
“Girls!” Mr. Galner called from the stairwell. “Let’s feast!”
Paige winced and Lennox laughed.
“I’m sorry.” Paige shook her head. “I had that. It was going to be perfect.”
“Don’t apologize. It was.”
Paige and Lennox sat side by side at the dinner table across from Mr. Galner in the kitchen of Paige’s house, plates of Chicken Florentine before each of them. Paige’s dad took a sip from his wine glass and smiled up at the girls.
“This is nice,” Mr. Galner said. “The three of us here.”
Lennox nodded. “It is. Tha
nk you for having me,” she said to Paige’s father.
“Nonsense,” Mr. Galner said. “I should be thanking you, Lennox. It’s a treat to have dinner with two lovely ladies and not just Paige.”
Paige coughed on her forkful of chicken and frowned at her father. “Gee, Dad, that’s kind of you to say.”
Lennox chuckled and had a bite of her meal.
“You know what I mean, hun,” Mr. Galner said to Paige. “The more, the merrier.”
“Right,” Paige said and drank from her cup of water.
“How’s the collegiate life, Paige?” Mr. Galner asked. “I know it was rough at the onset.”
“It’s shaping up like you said it would.”
“Good,” he said. “The class with the despotic professor?”
“My average is an A.”
“That’s my Paige! And the militant lesbians?”
Paige and Lennox both smiled.
“They’re a non-issue,” Paige said.
“Atta girl!” Mr. Galner grinned. “How are the horoscopes?” He looked at Lennox. “I told Paige that women love when you ask them what their sign is.”
Paige grimaced. “Dad!”
“Really?” Lennox raised an eyebrow at Paige.
“What’s your sign, Lennox?” Mr. Galner asked.
“She’s a Libra, Dad,” Paige said. “The horoscope section is going well.”
“Great.” Mr. Galner nodded. “So what did you girls do all day?” Mr. Galner asked. “Whatever it was, it must have been awesome because you’re both glowing.”
Paige spit out her drink and put her napkin over her mouth.
Lennox cleared her throat, tapped her knee against Paige’s, and glanced to her left, smirking at Paige. “Yeah, Paige. Tell your father what we did today.”
Paige glared at Lennox, then faced her dad. “We…um…we went sightseeing.”
“In Cambridge?” Mr. Galner asked.
“No. In town,” Paige said.
“That’s wonderful!” Mr. Galner turned to Lennox. “Boston is very historical. There’s lots to do here.”
“Yes,” Lennox said, nodding. “We did tons of doing.”
Paige’s cheeks became a deep shade of red. She hung her head, cringing.
“Paige, is something wrong?” Mr. Galner asked.
“Nope.” Paige looked at her father. “I, uh, had a kink in my neck.”
“Oh. Do you want aspirin for that?” Mr. Galner asked.
“Nah. It’s better now,” Paige said.
“Are you sure?” Lennox asked Paige. “Because I can rub it.”
Paige scowled at Lennox. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Okay.” Lennox smiled enigmatically at Paige.
“Lennox,” Mr. Galner said. “Are you from this area?”
Lennox switched her attention to Paige’s father. “No, I’m from Vermont.”
Mr. Galner pointed his fork at Lennox. “Vermont’s a great state for skiing.”
“Do you ski?” Lennox asked him.
“No,” he said. “Do you?”
“Yes,” Lennox said.
Paige looked to Lennox. “You do?”
“Yup. And I’m guessing you don’t,” Lennox said to Paige.
Paige shook her head. “No.”
“Hmm.” Lennox pursed her lips. “If you come to Vermont with me, I could teach you how.”
Paige smiled. “Then I will definitely be going to Vermont.”
Lennox swallowed the water she had taken a sip of. She grinned. “Excellent.”
“How did you two meet?” Mr. Galner asked the girls.
“At school,” Paige said. “Lennox is the drummer for Poser America, my friends’ band. She’s a gifted musician.”
Lennox touched Paige’s arm. “Thank you.”
“You play the drums?” Mr. Galner smiled at Lennox. “That’s tubular!”
“Dad. Tubular? What?” Paige put her palm to her forehead.
Lennox giggled and ate another piece of chicken.
“It’s the lingo, Paige,” Mr. Galner said.
“No. It’s not, Dad.”
“I started reading Paige’s blog when I was in high school,” Lennox said. “I kinda got to know her through her writing before we met in person.”
“Paige is a superb writer!” Mr. Galner winked at his daughter.
“She really is,” Lennox said.
Mr. Galner raised his glass to Paige. “She makes her old man proud.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I’m only speaking the truth,” he said. “Your mom agrees. She called me again.”
Paige tensed and put her silverware down. Intuitively, Lennox held Paige’s hand.
Mr. Galner continued, “I had told her about your blog. She’s since read all your posts. She’s proud of you, too.”
Paige scoffed. “I don’t give a shit what she thinks.”
“She’s your mother, Paige,” Mr. Galner said.
“Dad, stop talking to her about me.”
Mr. Galner sighed. “Paige—”
“Dad! This is not the time.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Mr. Galner said. “But please can I relay a message to you from her?”
Paige rolled her eyes. “What?”
Mr. Galner inhaled. “She loves you.”
The three of them were silent. Paige’s hand shook within Lennox’s.
A couple of seconds passed. Paige looked at Lennox. “How’s your food?”
“I’m stuffed.” Lennox pushed her plate aside.
Paige smiled, but it was weak. “Let’s go, okay?”
Lennox nodded.
Paige stood, gently pulling Lennox up with her. She glimpsed over at her father. “Want me to clean anything?”
“No, that’s alright,” he said.
“Dinner was delicious, Toby. Thank you,” Lennox said.
“You’re welcome, Lennox.” Mr. Galner rose from his seat. “I’ll walk you girls to the door.”
Paige and Lennox headed down the hall towards the exit hand in hand, Mr. Galner tagging along behind them. They stopped at the entryway.
“Thanks for having us,” Paige said to her father.
“Any time,” Mr. Galner said.
Paige opened the door. “Goodnight, Dad.”
Mr. Galner put his hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Paige.”
Paige stared at him. “Yeah?”
“I’ll drop it,” he said. “I don’t want there to be a rift between us.”
“Me either.”
Mr. Galner wrapped Paige in his arms and Lennox turned Paige’s hand loose.
“I love you,” he said to Paige.
Paige hugged him back. “I love you, too, Dad.” She gave him a final squeeze and backed out of his grip.
Mr. Galner smiled at his daughter. “I’ll call you next week?”
“It’s a plan.”
Mr. Galner went to Lennox and gave her a cordial embrace. “I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you again.” His arms fell away from her. “Take care.”
Lennox smiled at him. “Thanks. You, too.”
“Bye!” Paige yelled to her father as she and Lennox left the house and made their way to Paige’s car.
Mr. Galner waved to them. “Bye, girls! Drive safe!”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Lennox and Paige got inside Paige’s sedan, shut their doors, and fastened their belts.
Paige started the engine, exhaled, and looked at Lennox. “I am so sor—”
Lennox pressed her forefinger to Paige’s lips. “Shh. Don’t say it. There’s nowhere else I would’ve wanted to be.”
Paige kissed Lennox’s finger before it left her mouth. “Ready?”
“Eh. Not quite.” Lennox put her hand in the right back pocket of her jeans and pulled a piece of paper from it. She gave the note to Paige. “This is for you.”
Paige took the paper, unfolded it, and stared at the phone number scribbled across it. She glanced at Lennox. “Why did you bring
this?”
“It hasn’t left my custody since you told me to keep it,” Lennox said. “I thought eventually you’d ask me for it.”
“Why are you giving it to me now? I didn’t do any asking.”
Lennox shrugged. “You didn’t need to ask me. It’s in your eyes.”
“I’m scared.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Will you hold my hand?” Paige asked.
“Yes.”
Paige took her phone out of the front pocket of her pants, dialed the number on the scrap paper, and put the cell to her ear. It started to ring.
Lennox placed her open palm on Paige’s right thigh. Paige touched the underside of her hand to Lennox’s. Their fingers braided.
The call went to voicemail. Paige’s chest condensed listening to her mother’s familiar intonation on the other end, requesting people leave her a message with their name and contact information. When her mother was done talking, there was a beep.
Paige closed her eyes and spoke. “Mom. Hi. It’s Paige. The number on your caller ID is mine so…um…that’s where you can reach me and we can talk then. Okay. Bye.” Paige hung up, opened her eyes, and fixed them on Lennox.
Lennox smiled. “How are you?”
Paige took a deep breath. “Slightly stressed, mostly relieved.”
“Stellar! Relief is what we were going for. And stress I have the antidote to.” Lennox waggled her eyebrows.
Paige smiled, leaned over, and kissed Lennox’s cheek. “Thanks for coming.”
“Oh. That hasn’t happened yet.” Lennox smirked.
“Mmm. But it’s inevitable.” Paige winked.
Lennox laughed. “I’m counting on it.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“What is it that you want me to do now?” Lennox asked Paige as she stared at the screen of the computer nestled in her lap.
Paige and Lennox were lounging horizontally, shoulder to shoulder on Paige’s bed, their backs against the headboard, cushioned by a legion of pillows arranged behind them.
“Click on the ‘publish’ box in the right corner,” Paige said.
Lennox shook her head and looked at Paige. “Or we could save it as a draft forever.”
Never the Same Page 20
