“Always when I’m alone,” Sam said.
“Good. Let’s make something decadent and devour it so we can look sufficiently guilty about our debauchery tomorrow and make everyone wonder what we’ve been up to.” Paul clapped his hands.
“You’re so gay.” She hugged him. “I knew I loved you for all the right reasons.” Sam followed Paul to the kitchen, stopping in the living room to turn on her docked iPod. Sheryl Crow blasted out of the speakers. “Just for you,” she said as she sidled up to Paul.
“I’m thinking something with chocolate and alcohol.” He browsed the cupboards. “May I spend the night? I really don’t feel like going back in that house, knowing the computer will only taunt me because I haven’t kept up with tonight’s word count goal.”
“Poor baby. You know you can.” Sam danced to the rhythmic beat of the music.
“Hey, you’ve been practicing.” Paul smiled.
“Dance Dance Revolution,” Sam said, referring to the Wii game.
“Oh, good heavens.” Paul rolled his eyes. “We need to get some real people in your life.”
Sam laughed and hugged her friend. “You’re real enough for me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Sam faced off with the copy machine for the second time in thirty minutes. Tambor was out sick, and Sam needed copies for that night’s class. Why shouldn’t she be able to walk into the mail room, check the amount of blank paper in the lower tray, and put the originals in to be copied, collated, and stapled? Simple enough and the reason they leased a top-of-the-line machine, or so she thought. She was wrong again. She had already sorted one jam of the blank paper. Now the indicator for an original stuck in the top rollers was blinking.
“Goddamn worthless son of a bitch!” Sam yanked the front door of the machine open and went through the sequence of manually turning the rollers. No loose paper revealed itself.
Sam kicked the base of the machine and cringed with the pain that shot through her foot. “Fuck!” She had lost all trace of reason with the first paper jam.
“Hello?” The call was tentative, telling Sam that her tirade had been overheard.
“Shit!” Sam said to herself as she cast one last withering look at the copier, hoping for tendrils of smoke to waft out of the open compartment. “Coming,” she called.
Lisa stood in the front reception area. “Brag, brag, brag.”
Sam frowned, puzzled, then got the joke as her frustration with the machine lifted. “The only thing more aggravating than most women is that damn cantankerous copier. Sorry.” Sam gestured to the chairs around the low table. Sam took it as a good sign that Lisa chuckled.
“I was on my way to work and decided to stop in for just a minute,” Lisa said.
“I’ve missed you in class.” Sam adjusted the fanned business magazines. She had to do something with her hands. “I’m willing to help you make up the work.”
Lisa shook her head. “I started to just blow off the rest. I’ve wasted $20 on worse. I decided I needed to withdraw in person even if it did take me a while to get here.”
Sam only charged materials costs for the class. She was rethinking the value she put on Tambor’s time coaxing copies from their machine.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m also sorry about the drama between Kelly and me. It was extremely unprofessional of both of us,” Sam said.
“Look. What you do in your place of work is your business. I see it all the time at the hospital. There’s nothing more convenient than working with another bored lesbian.” Lisa was clearly distancing herself.
“Ouch,” Sam said with an exaggerated flinch, “that one burned.”
“The truth usually does.”
“No argument, no excuses,” Sam said. “Please tell me you’re not giving up on your business idea.”
Lisa shook her head. “Part of why I’m dropping the class is that my schedule changed. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to commit to the same evening off each week for two months. I know better. I’ve been rotated onto double shifts during the week so I can pull a single on the weekend. I’m saving all my OT pay for my business. I’m not giving up on making a change in my life. I also have my boys to consider. I have more visitations with Alex now that he’s thirteen and lost time to make up for.”
“That’s great,” Sam said. She added, “Me either. Not giving up on changes.”
Lisa looked at Sam several moments before speaking. “Here I go again. Listen. How can you expect any happiness in a relationship if you just keep throwing yourself at any single woman who’s willing? You’ve gone through how many just since the first time I met you in the ER?”
Sam closed her eyes and started to count.
Lisa reached over and touched Sam’s hand. “That was a rhetorical question. I don’t want to know a number. You string Kelly along while you go through all the others. How long before you hit on your friend Haley? Don’t turn a midlife crisis into speed dating. Honey, you need to settle down and think about your next relationship with your head, not your twat.”
“Is that actually a medical term?” Sam asked. She didn’t know whether to be pissed or encouraged by the turn of the conversation.
“Smart ass. You know what I’m saying is true, or you would have kicked my butt out of here by now.” Lisa challenged her.
“I had a similar conversation with Ava.” Sam touched her own forearm. “The burn victim.”
Lisa nodded. “I thought at first she was your mom.”
“Close enough.” Sam looked Lisa in her eyes that were more a gorgeous green than hazel. “Point taken. For what it’s worth, Kelly and I have agreed to be no more than co-workers and friends. I’m hoping Haley and Kelly will get together. They’d be good for each other.” Sam changed gears. “Now how about what’s good for you?”
Lisa actually blushed.
“Are you going to keep your business small and operating out of your home?” Sam asked.
“No, I’ve got to take the plunge. I just don’t have the capacity I need at home, but how can I rent somewhere when I can only work in spurts between shifts?”
Sam grinned. “That’s where I come in. I just happen to know of a commercial kitchen that’s setting dormant because the potato salad manufacturer went out of business last year. The building is old and will be almost impossible to find a tenant for as is. If I can persuade the owner to subdivide the kitchen and warehouse space, I know I can fill all the warehouse square footage. I bet we could get the kitchen at a low ball rent to get his insurance company off his back about the building being empty. It would at least give you a place to start with little or no upgrade cost as you see if the business is really there. Let me make a few phone calls and gauge the owner’s willingness.”
Lisa stared. “Damn. Is this what you do for all your clients?”
“It amazes me sometimes to realize that if I just hang out with businesses owners and commercial Realtors, listen, and connect the dots what deals can be put together. Plus I have an inside track with the state on their loans and business assistance grants. Your business is fucking doable.”
“Is that a business school term?” Lisa asked.
“Now who’s the smart ass?”
“No, I’m the grateful ass. We seem to talk about asses a lot.” Lisa glanced at her watch. “And mine is going to be in a sling if I don’t get going. Call me? My cell number is on my class application.”
Sam nodded. “Absolutely.”
Kelly walked in from the conference room. She stopped short of Lisa and held up her hands as though surrendering. “Sorry. I was just letting Sam know that I’m here a little early today.”
“Don’t let me interrupt anything,” Lisa said.
Kelly shook her head. “Nothing to interrupt. I owe you an apology for acting like a jerk—must’ve been my male hormones kicking in. I’m sorry. Sam and I have moved on to a better relationship—gal pals.” Kelly batted her eyes.
Lisa laughed and accepted Kelly’s handsha
ke. “You’re forgiven. I think you two are finally banging smarts.”
Kelly turned the handshake into a knuckle bump. “See you, cutie.” She walked away.
Lisa paused before leaving the building. “She’s okay. You know, it’s a damn shame you can’t focus on the concept of one woman like you do with a business proposal. If you ever start applying that technique to dating, let me know.” She left as Sam stood speechless at the table.
A slow smile spread across Sam’s face. She returned to the copy machine and eased the side panel open, gently manipulating the jammed original off the roller. She stroked the copier as the collating resumed. “I can do that.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Sam thought about her mother, hearing her voice as she used to caution Sam about being careful about what she wished for because it just might come true. Sam heard giggling and the slam of a car door and smiled. Kelly had waited until she and Sam were history for two months before calling Haley. Haley had been single long enough to already survive two first dates that would progress no further. Sam sat up in bed when the subdued chit-chat turned into loud, arguing voices. She marked her progress in the book she was reading.
“I wonder if Ava would take me with her.” Sam rolled out of bed, reaching for the robe hanging on the bedpost. She had learned her lesson about opening her door in too few clothes.
By the time Sam reached her front door, the argument outside was in full swing.
KD stood as though guarding the front of Haley’s house, keeping the other two women at bay in the street next to Kelly’s SUV. Kelly was closest to KD with Haley held behind her by the arm that wasn’t shaking a fist at KD.
“You’re not pushing her around anymore,” Kelly said. “I’ll beat the shit out of you, KD, if you don’t leave Haley alone. She broke up with you four months ago.”
Haley tugged Kelly toward Sam’s yard to get more separation between them and KD.
KD paced from edge to edge of the concrete stoop. “We’ll see who winds up in the hospital.”
“How about if we see who winds up in jail?” Sam stepped outside, clutching her robe around her and holding her phone aloft.
KD pointed at Sam as she advanced from the stoop. “You call the cops on me again, and I’ll put you in the hospital alongside your squeeze. I didn’t know Haley was into sharing, or I’d have brought someone else home years ago.” She leered at Kelly. “Haley’s shy. She takes a lot of coaxing to come, doesn’t she?”
Haley grabbed Kelly’s arm and dug her heels in. Sam dashed across her yard.
Kelly fumed. “I was in the service, bitch. I know how to put your fat ass down for the count.”
KD motioned her to bring it on, stepping closer to Kelly.
Sam took hold of Haley’s arm and backed the couple up. “Kelly, don’t do it. She’ll bring charges against you in a heartbeat. You’ll lose your job.”
“You like working with the redhead, don’t you?” KD said. “All those perks. What do you do, Haley—watch?” KD looked past the couple at Sam. “I won’t forget this. You set them up, didn’t you?” KD leaned toward Kelly, taunting her.
Kelly kicked up from the hip and knocked KD backward. KD’s head banged on the ground, momentarily stunning her.
Sam punched 911 on her cell phone. She gave her address and KD’s full name, stating that the woman was on her property and that there was an outstanding warrant on her. “Kelly, get your ass in my house right now before KD slips and falls in my yard again.”
Haley and Sam pulled Kelly into the house. Sam closed the front door as KD stood and charged. Sam braced the door with her shoulder while engaging the deadbolt as KD fumbled with opening the storm door.
Sam punched the speed dial for Paul. “Home run. KD’s at my door.” Sam mentally checked the other exterior doors. She had not gone out of any other than the front lately. They were safely locked in.
Haley continued to hold on to Kelly.
“Goddamn her!” Kelly said. “We had such a great evening, and her fat ass is ruining it.”
“Only if you allow her to,” Haley said.
Paul’s Subaru tore down the street and pulled into Sam’s driveway. He stayed in the wagon with headlights on bright.
KD turned and shielded her eyes. “Like you’re going to scare me off. If I can’t get to them, I’ll settle for your scrawny ass. I’m an equal opportunity butt whupper.”
KD lumbered toward Paul, then stopped as an oversized engine came within hearing. She hesitated a moment, then did a run-waddle for her truck parked in the cul-de-sac. She did a donut with her truck protesting with a shrill shriek of the transfer case and sped up the street. She passed the approaching county police’s sedan.
Paul jumped out of his Subaru and met the brown and tan car, pointing after KD. The car did a quick U-turn and took off after the truck.
Paul stood in the street, straining to watch the disappearing taillights. He looked toward the house as Sam opened the front door. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yes,” Sam said, “thanks to you. Come in for a drink.”
“I have company.” Paul feigned a curtsey.
Sam laughed. “Sorry to disturb you. Go home. We’re fine.” She watched him drive away.
“I’ll take you up on a drink,” Kelly said. She dropped to the sofa, pulling Haley down beside her.
Haley ran her hand over her forehead, brushing her hair back, then rested her hand on Kelly’s thigh. “Sorry, babe.”
Kelly reached for the cold beer from Sam. She nodded toward Haley. “She calls me babe. Don’t you love it?”
Sam sighed. “Oh, God. You two are in that stage where everything you do is precious.”
“Thanks to you.” Haley blushed.
It was true. Sam had campaigned with them each individually to go out on one date and see how it went. That was two weeks earlier, and they hadn’t missed contact of some sort each day since. Sam chuckled every time she saw Kelly at work furiously texting away on her cell phone.
Kelly tapped her bottle against Sam’s. “Damn right. It’s about time she had someone being sweet to her. KD gives butches a bad rep.”
Sam sank into the other half of the L-shaped sofa and briefly raised her bottle before taking a long drink. “More power to both of you. I hope this stage lasts years.”
Haley ran her finger around the rim of the bottle. “I have something I want to say while both of you are in the same room.”
Sam choked on her beer.
Haley held her hand up to Kelly’s lips to silence her. “I know you two had a thing together. I know it was the ‘buddy thing.’” She made air quotation marks. “I also know it’s over. I trust you guys. I’ve been friends with Sam long enough to know that if she gives me her word, she keeps it. I’m sensing the same about you, babe.”
Sam crossed her heart. “I wouldn’t hurt either of you for anything.”
Kelly held Haley’s hand. “I’m not smart enough to handle more than one woman. Not like some lesbians we know and love.”
Haley snickered.
Sam leaned forward and punched Kelly in the arm. “We’re so much better off as buddies.”
“That’s the only time I’ll bring up your past,” Haley said. “I can’t judge or criticize anyone after what I’ve put up with and seen KD do to others, as well as me, these past ten years.”
Sam went to the kitchen for three more beers. She returned and made a toast. “A fresh start for all of us.”
Kelly chugged her beer and smothered a belch. “Excuse me.” She looked at Haley and nodded toward the door.
“You can take the beer with you,” Sam said, sensing Haley’s dilemma. “I’ll make you guys breakfast if you plan on getting out of bed today.”
Kelly grinned as Haley hesitated. “How about a late lunch?”
“Animals.” Sam pushed them out of the front door.
The giggling recommenced.
“Now that’s a sound I could get used to from across the street.” Sam
went to the kitchen and started the coffeemaker as she waited for the officer to return. Would KD ever give up?
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Sam was surprised to find a space midway in the parking lot. It amazed her that the hospital had been approved to construct a huge addition based upon surface parking after it merged with two other Richmond-area facilities. Was it any wonder that visiting the hospital during the week entailed parking along the outer perimeter access road and hiking to the main entrance. Saturdays and Sundays, the lot was half full when doctors’ offices were closed.
“I foresee a parking deck in your near future,” Sam said as she referenced her car’s location. It was bad enough becoming lost inside the building much less not being able to find your means home.
Sam entered through the original lobby. For some reason, the sidewalk sloped down toward the double doors. Sam wondered if the long narrow trench drain caught the runoff from heavy thunderstorms.
The lobby had been remodeled with a long, low counter to accommodate the volunteers who provided patient information. Chairs with thick cushions filled the waiting area. The low ceiling emphasized the feeling of a basement. As she approached the elevator bank, Sam glanced into the glass display cases like those in a pawn shop that exhibited antique medical devices and photographs of the original building.
Sam made herself pay attention to the small signs and color-coded stripes on the floor so that she wouldn’t become hopelessly lost. She purposely didn’t park in the lot closest to the ER area since this was one time she was non-critical. She couldn’t shake the feeling of a rat in a maze.
Sam thought back to her earlier conversation with Lisa. She had known better than to call for a social reason.
“Hey, Lisa. It’s Sam. Hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.”
“Just going in for today’s shift.” Lisa sounded out of breath.
“ER?”
“NICU—sorry, Neuro Intensive Care Unit—is my shift this weekend.”
Sam waited as she heard Lisa speaking to others as she entered the building. “I have a book you need to see. May I drop it off tonight?”
Just A Little Romance Page 18
