by Aurora Rey
Because Darcy felt like she had more time, she let herself be talked into dessert. Emerson offered to share, but she was feeling indulgent, so they ordered both a lemon cake and a cannoli. A full moon was just beginning to rise when Emerson walked Darcy to her car. “Thank you for dinner.”
“My pleasure. I hope we can do it again soon.”
Darcy smiled. “I think that could be arranged.”
“Maybe you’ll let me pick you up next time, take you somewhere nice.”
“This was plenty nice,” Darcy insisted.
“You know what I mean.”
Darcy gave her a playful look. “Do I?”
“You most certainly do. Real date. A whole evening, or afternoon. You pick the day and time and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Emerson had a way of making Darcy feel like she was being courted. And while old-fashioned would be the last word Darcy used to describe herself, something about it made her feel fluttery. It was appealing in a way that caught her off guard. “Okay. I’ll set something up with my babysitter and let you know.”
“Good. I hope,” Emerson gave her a suggestive look, “you won’t make me wait that long for a first kiss.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“And I hope you don’t have personal objections to public displays of affection.”
Darcy realized just how much she’d been looking forward to kissing Emerson. The fact that it was about to happen gave her a feeling of giddiness. “None.”
“Excellent.”
Emerson leaned in. Darcy closed her eyes in anticipation. She’d never admit it, but on more than one occasion, she found herself making a grocery list or thinking about a bubble bath while kissing a woman. She knew this wouldn’t be that kind of kiss.
Emerson’s lips brushed lightly against hers. Darcy leaned in and the kiss grew firmer. Emerson’s lips covered hers in a way that both teased and promised more. When Emerson’s tongue slid into her mouth, Darcy felt a jolt of electricity course through her. Emerson’s hand fisted lightly in her hair.
She’d expected Emerson to be a good kisser. But even with that expectation, Darcy was caught off guard by the skill and sensuality of Emerson’s mouth. She took her time, changing the angle and the intensity in a way that was hot, but unhurried. It satisfied, but left Darcy wanting.
Emerson made her stomach do flips; Emerson gave her goose bumps.
The breeze kicked up, cooling Darcy’s skin as the rest of her heated, creating a delicious juxtaposition of sensations. She moaned, equal parts pleasure and frustration. The rest of her body wanted in on the action.
When Emerson broke the kiss, Darcy opened her eyes to Emerson’s intense gaze. She felt both relief and regret that they weren’t somewhere more private because it was the only thing that stopped her from taking things farther.
“I’ll call you.” Darcy’s voice was breathless, giving away how much the kiss had affected her.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Emerson seemed to have more control of her faculties, but the look in her eyes was hungry. It filled Darcy with a yearning to give in, to let go and see where it might take her. But they were standing in the street. And even though it was a quiet side lane with no traffic and even though they were in perhaps the most gay-friendly place in the country, she resisted. Not because she was afraid to go there with Emerson, but because she was expected at home. And if—no, when—she gave herself over, it wouldn’t be for some quickie before her self-imposed curfew.
Because of that, and because she wanted to fist her hands in Emerson’s shirt and pull her close, Darcy busied her hands with digging out her keys and unlocking the car. Emerson took a step back, but didn’t go anywhere. She just stood there looking relaxed. Well, except her eyes. They still had a look that said she’d happily drag Darcy into the back seat of her car. Darcy wouldn’t go there, but maybe one more kiss. What was the harm in that?
Darcy took the lead this time, pulling Emerson’s bottom lip into her mouth, teasing it with her tongue. One of Emerson’s hands returned to her hair, the other slid around her waist, pressing their bodies together. Darcy put her hands on Emerson’s narrow hips. She moved back slightly, letting her back push against the side of her car. Emerson followed, giving Darcy a hint of what it would be like to have Emerson on top of her.
Maybe the backseat wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Realizing how close she was to suggesting it, Darcy pulled back and shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Holy crap. “Uh, good night.”
Emerson trailed a finger along Darcy’s jaw to her chin, tipping it up slightly. Her eyes now had a sparkle of humor in them. No, not humor. Satisfaction. And just a hint of challenge. Darcy swallowed. Emerson leaned in and gave her a quick, almost chaste, kiss. “Night.”
Chapter Eight
Emerson scooped noodles from the wok into two large bowls. She tucked a pair of chopsticks into each and brought them to the futon where Will sat waiting. She handed Will one of the bowls. “Bon appétit.”
“Thanks.” Will sampled her food. “Your cooking has improved.”
Emerson smiled. “It’s amazing what having free time can do for one’s skills in the kitchen.”
“Touché.”
They ate in silence for a few moments. Emerson figured now was as good a time as any to broach the subject of Will’s arrival. “So, is everything okay? You know I love you visiting, but this trip feels out of the blue, even for you.”
Will glanced up at Emerson, then back down at her bowl. “I’m in between jobs and I wanted to get away for a while.”
“Is that it?”
She continued to look down. “I got fired.”
Emerson studied her sister. In a lot of ways, they couldn’t be more different. Will never suffered from the ambitious, over-achiever streak that dominated the first twenty or so years of Emerson’s life. She never finished college, she hopped from job to job. But even then, Will didn’t typically cross the line into irresponsible. That included getting fired. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I just did. I. Got. Fired.”
Emerson worked to keep her patience. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You never have to explain yourself to be welcome here. I’m asking because I care.”
Will rubbed her eye like she might be wiping away a tear. “I know.”
Emerson reached over and squeezed her arm. “Talk to me.”
Will sighed, confirming there was more to the story than she’d initially disclosed. “Kai and I had been fighting a lot. I walked out on one of those fights to go to work and she followed me to the store.”
“And caused a scene.” She’d only met Kai a couple of times, but everything about her set off alarm bells in Emerson’s brain. She was arrogant, short-tempered, and Emerson was sure she drank too much. Saying as much to Will set her off, so Emerson had let it go.
“Yeah. The first time, my boss cut me some slack.”
Emerson felt her spidey sense tingle. “The first time?”
“It happened again when she came to meet me for lunch and thought I was flirting with a customer.”
“Are you serious?” Emerson fought to keep her voice calm. As far as she was concerned, only two types of people behaved that way—those with the maturity of a fourteen-year-old and those who were abusive. The idea of her sister involved with someone who was either filled her with rage.
Will looked almost sheepish. “I know. Things between us had gotten pretty bad.”
Emerson narrowed her eyes. “How bad?”
Will looked away. “At first we just fought. You know, the usual kind of stuff. One of us forgot to pay a bill on time or didn’t stop at the grocery store.”
Emerson let out a disgusted snort. Those were the things of mild irritation, not fights. Emerson wondered if the ‘one of us’ was always Will. “And then?”
“Then it was her accusing me of hiding things, seeing other people.”
“And were you?”
Emerson’s jaw tightened. “And she had a problem with that?”
“Only that one time. Usually, she’d freak out when one of my regulars saw me when we were out and said hi. She was convinced something more was going on.”
“I’m sorry, Will, but that kind of jealous and possessive thing is bullshit.”
Will looked so defeated, Emerson’s heart broke. “I know. She always apologized, though, convinced me it was because I was so attractive, that she didn’t think she deserved me and was convinced she was going to lose me.”
Emerson didn’t want to ask the question burning in her mind, but knew she needed to. “Did she ever hit you?”
Will sat for a long time before she answered, looking at her bowl. “Only once.”
Emerson pushed down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat. Being outraged wouldn’t help anyone at this point. If anything, it might make Will clam up entirely. “What happened?”
“She’d been drinking. We both had. I made a joke about something, I don’t even remember what now. It set her off. She started yelling, then I did. She was in my face and I pushed her, not hard, but enough to make her step back. She backhanded me. It wasn’t a punch; it didn’t even leave a mark.”
“Will.” Emerson’s voice was louder than she wanted it to be.
“I know, I’m making excuses. I’m sorry.”
Emerson took a deep breath. She couldn’t let her anger make Will think any of this was her fault. “You don’t need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I did plenty wrong, but I know what you mean.”
“Is that what made you decide to leave?”
“In retrospect, I wish it had. Kai was horrified, though, and begged me to forgive her. She spent the next week showering me with gifts and attention. I told myself it was the heat of the moment, you know?”
Emerson couldn’t imagine ever wanting to speak to a person again after something like that, but didn’t say so. “So, what made you leave?”
Will shook her head. “The second time she caused a scene in the store, it was last week. My boss called me into his office and said he had to let me go. He couldn’t tolerate that sort of thing.”
Emerson was pretty sure that was illegal, but now wasn’t the time to go there. “I’m sorry, Will. I bet that was really hard.”
Will chuckled. “It definitely sucked. The worst part was how apologetic he was about it, like it wasn’t my fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was, in the fact I let her get away with it. Anyway, he seemed to feel sorry for me. That’s what did it. Kind of a dumb thing to bring me to my senses, isn’t it?”
As much as Emerson wanted more of the details, as much as she wanted to get Kai’s number and track her down and beat the living shit out of her, that’s not what Will needed. Will needed to know she’d made the right decision in the end, and that she was going to be okay. “It doesn’t matter what did it, only that it did. We all have to get to those places in our own way.”
Will nodded, then took a big, intentional bite of her food. “Right. And my focus now is on the future.”
“That sounds like a plan, but cut yourself some slack. Give yourself time to regroup. You know you’re welcome here as long as you want.”
“About that.”
“Yeah?” Emerson got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that Will planned to take off as quickly as she’d arrived.
“I was thinking I might try to get a job in town.”
As close as they were, Will had always been very adamant about living her own life—independent and apart from Emerson. “Really?”
“I might need to stay with you a little longer than we initially talked about, but I promise I won’t be a total mooch.”
The worry in her stomach became a hopeful swelling in her chest, laced with excitement. “I’d love for you to stay in town. You’re welcome here as long as you need.”
“I’ll chip in for rent and stuff. I’m not completely broke.”
“Don’t worry about that for now.”
Will nodded. “Thanks, Em.”
“Of course. Thanks for telling me everything that’s been going on. I’m sure it’s not easy to talk about.” It was hard for Emerson to admit that Will would hesitate to confide in her, that her avoidance of Kai might have made it even harder for Will to talk about it. But they were talking now and she wasn’t going to let that kind of stuff come between them again.
They finished eating and Emerson washed the dishes while Will took a shower. By the time Will emerged, hair wet and wearing a tank top and boxers, Emerson had opened up the futon and was making it with her spare set of sheets. Will walked over and they finished it together. “This is perfect. Thank you for letting me crash here.”
“I meant what I said. You are always welcome.”
Will glanced across the room to Emerson’s bed. “It kind of feels like old times.”
Emerson chuckled. “Something like that. Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good.”
“I don’t have cable, but we could Netflix a movie if you wanted.”
Will smiled. “I’d love that, but not tonight I think. I’m beat. If you want to watch something, I don’t mind. I can sleep through anything.”
“Don’t I know it. I’ll just read for a bit.” Emerson started to walk toward her bed, then paused. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
Will, who’d started pulling back the covers to climb into bed, stopped and walked over to where Emerson stood. “Me, too.”
She threw her arms around Emerson and squeezed. Emerson returned the hug and they stood like that for a long moment. As much as they’d had their differences, and as differently as they’d handled their parents’ death, they were sisters. Emerson knew better than to think that the distance between them would magically disappear, but she allowed herself to be hopeful.
Will broke the hug. “Night, Em.”
Emerson smiled. “Night, Will.”
Will settled into the futon and Emerson switched off the main light. She climbed into her own bed and picked up her book. She barely read a page before the snores started on the other side of the room. Will had made a joke about old times, but Emerson truly couldn’t begin to count the number of nights this exact scene had played out during their teenage years. Will, home late after yet another basketball game or soccer match, would tumble into bed and fall asleep almost instantly. Emerson would lie awake, studying or reading or sketching.
At the time, Emerson resented Will’s athleticism, her outgoing personality, her popularity. She’d also resented Will’s ease with boys, a fact that exacerbated Emerson’s fumbling attempts at coming to terms with her sexuality. It wasn’t until Will went away to college that Emerson learned the flirting and dating and making out had been Will’s way of covering up her own attraction to girls.
Emerson had a flashback to the week before she left for college—she and Will sat their parents down and came out together. Despite the anticipation and anxiety, the whole thing had gone surprisingly well. The days that followed were some of Emerson’s favorite memories, not because anything special happened, but because there were few other times she remembered feeling such a sense of family harmony.
She let the memory, and the bittersweet pang that came with it, wash over her before turning her attention to her book. She’d never been a reader of romance, but Lia had lent it to her, insisting she give it a try. Between the fact that it was set in Provincetown and it featured a doctor and a cop, Emerson relented. And she’d be damned if she wasn’t completely into it. She read a few chapters, until her eyes grew heavy, then turned off the light and fell asleep to the reassuring sound of her sister sleeping nearby.
Chapter Nine
Darcy looked at her phone. Sara had a sore throat and a fever. She sent a text back, assuring
Sara that she should stay home and get better. Darcy went to the kitchen, where Liam was having a bowl of cereal and reading a book. “Sara’s sick.”
Liam looked up at her and frowned. “That sucks.”
“Hopefully, she’ll feel better soon. But it means she isn’t coming today, so you’ve got two options.”
Liam closed his book. The seriousness with which he took decisions like this made her smile. “You can go to Nana and Pop’s or you can come to work with me.”
He nodded slowly, weighing his options. He loved his grandparents, but it wasn’t very often that he got to go to the café. In addition to seeing Lia and Alex, he’d eat really well. “I’ll go with you.”
“Okay. Can you get dressed and then put together your backpack with things to do?”
“Yep.” He finished his cereal, then tore off down the hall.
Normally, she’d make him come back to put his bowl in the sink, but since he was following other instructions, she didn’t want to nitpick. She tidied the kitchen, then went to her room to finish getting ready for work and text Alex. Ten minutes later, Liam was back in the kitchen stuffing things into his bag. “I’ve got two library books, math homework, and my science project.”
Darcy smiled. “Do you want the iPad?”
His eyes lit up. “Yeah! I can use it for research.”
She grabbed it from the coffee table and handed it to him. “Are you ready?”
He zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Ready.”
On the drive into P-town, they reviewed the ground rules of a day at the café. Mostly, it entailed not going outside alone and not asking too many questions of Alex and Jeff while they worked. “If Lia is there, that goes for her, too.”
Liam nodded. “Got it, Mom. Don’t worry, I can occupy myself.”
Darcy might be tempted to laugh at such an assertion, but it was true. “I know you can. And you can always come into the kitchen if you need something.”
“Like mac and cheese.”
“Like mac and cheese.”
When they got to the café, Alex was pulling bread from the oven. “Morning, Darcy.”
