Small Town Angel

by K'Anne Meinel

  “I’m not laughing at you, we all have first times. It’s a matter of choosing the when, the how, or the who.”

  “Would you do me the honor of being my first?” she asked naïvely.

  Abby felt this was the strangest conversation she had ever had. The idea of being Amy’s first appealed to her on so many levels. But all the signs pointed to Amy being straight. She was the one that was going to be hurt here, her emotions were involved, not Amy’s. “I’d like to,” she admitted honestly. She could feel herself becoming aroused…and strangely protective as she held the woman in her arms. “But I don’t think you are ready,” she finished, just as honestly.

  “How will we know when I am ready?” her voice almost had the marbles in it, it sounded so southern at this point.

  “We’ll know,” Abby smiled as she played a little more with Amy’s hair. It smelled of…gardenias, something inherently south in her mind.

  Amy looked deep into the soft velvety eyes that held her captured. She leaned in again to kiss Abby and this time was thrilled to feel her respond.

  Abby kissed her back for all she was worth, putting so much pent up emotion and passion into that one kiss that Amy was overwhelmed for a moment and then, her own emotions chaotic, returned it just as hard. Her arms wrapped around Abby and held her fast, drawing her closer if she could. Pulling at her, her body surging against her in her joy to find her kiss returned. Abby slowly lowered her to the bed, covering her with her body, pressing her into the mattress.

  It was the feel of the badge against her belly where Abby’s belt dug into her that had Amy coming to her senses. For a moment she had been overwhelmed by her passions. Her body throbbed between her legs where she desperately wanted to feel the pressure of Abby’s body, the thought of her touching there made her mind go weak. The badge all brought that to a halt as she realized what it was. She pulled back, almost violently.

  Abby sensed her withdrawal and immediately pulled back. For a minute there her mind had gone and her body had reacted automatically, almost without her consent. She ached to continue where they had left off, the kisses had been so sweet, Amy’s tongue so velvety soft and delicious… She stopped herself at Amy’s confusion and pulled up. Looking down she saw the redheads alarm and shock. “You see, you aren’t quite ready,” she said kindly, through her own hurt as she caressed Amy’s face with her hand. For a second she thought Amy was going to flinch from the caress and she wondered if she had been hurt at one time. She wondered so much about this woman and needed to know before they went any further. She sat up with a little smile, showing none of what she was thinking, trying to calm the redhead’s obvious distress. “We can take this slow,” she assured her.

  “I’m sorry…I want…you. But I just don’t…” Amy faded off looking up at the brunette worriedly. She was sure she had offended her with her high school behavior. Hot one minute, cold the next.

  “It’s new. It will happen if we just take it slow. You have to be sure though…”

  “Thank you,” she drawled, realizing this wonderful woman was a lot wiser than she was in the ways of love and lust.

  Abby smiled again, hiding her own needs and desires. She didn’t want to frighten Amy off. It had been too long since she was this attracted to a woman. Since her wife, she realized. “So, would you mind telling me where you had to run off to so quickly this last week? This guy,” she said rubbing Toby’s head that had poked between them affectionately. “Worried about you,” she finished, never mind that she had worried about her too.

  Amy slowly sat up again. She had to tell Abby something. She decided on telling her the truth. “My grandmother died,” she confessed.

  Abby’s head swiveled up as though on a fulcrum. She had wondered but the obvious anguish in Amy’s voice had her hurting for her. “I’m sorry,” she said automatically. “Were you close?”

  Amy nodded but didn’t add to it. She didn’t tell her that she couldn’t go to the actual funeral. She couldn’t tell her why. She couldn’t tell her that she had instead, gone to the attorney’s office. “She helped to raise me after my parents died,” she added. She’d been an adult and Grams had made sure she wasn’t neglected, wasn’t totally left destitute. She’d outlasted them all.

  “Didn’t you say you had a brother?” Abby recalled. “Did you see him?”

  Amy shook her head to the negative.

  “Why not?” she asked curious. Her own family she didn’t see by choice but she couldn’t imagine this kind and generous woman not having a loving family that would want to see her.

  She shrugged trying to avoid the questions.

  Abby tried to see under the swath of hair that fell forward, hiding Amy’s face. “Is there something you don’t want to tell me?” she asked softly. She wanted to learn everything she could about this woman, she wanted a relationship with her, but she didn’t like how little she did know, how little Amy shared with her friends.

  Amy hesitated. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to confide in Abby, it was just…she would be obligated to…she didn’t finish the thought as she shook her head in answer to the question. “He would have made things difficult for me,” she confessed instead.

  “Is he domineering?” Abby smiled, trying to make a joke and lighten things up.

  Amy glanced up and Abby nearly sucked in her breath at the look in her eyes. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something…Amy swallowed and looked down at her hands, she was wringing them. “He would make decisions for me that I don’t want,” she confessed.

  “Is that what he did before?” she asked gently, not joking anymore.

  Amy nodded. She glanced up again, whatever was there before was under control again. “He’s a bit…” She bit her lip again, hesitating for the word. “…chauvinistic,” she finished but knew that was a weak word for what he was.

  Abby laughed slightly, relieved that it wasn’t more. “Ah, we get those a lot anywhere. You don’t have them exclusively in the south,” she consoled.

  Amy smiled tremulously, glad that Abby hadn’t probed further. “It’s a bit sexist too,” she shared but knew that wasn’t an adequate description either. He would control her life, her destiny if he could have.

  “And your grandmother kept him from behaving that way around you?”

  Amy wanted to share with her, everything, but something held her back and she found herself staring at the badge on Abby’s belt. She knew now what it was and nodded as she got up off the bed, pushing Toby aside so she could move. She sighed gustily as she stood with her back to Abby. “I am going to miss that old bird,” she said with her twang.

  “I miss my grandparents too,” Abby confessed as she too got up. She was thrilled to have this in common with Amy and to have her confiding in her, finally. She didn’t know, she couldn’t know, that this was just such a tiny part of the woman that was Amy.

  Amy escorted Abby out of the cabin and to the front porch.

  “Hey, don’t worry about this. We’ll take it slow and figure out where it’s going, okay?” Abby assured her as she gently brushed back the red tresses hanging over her shoulder, brushing her neck deliberately as she did.

  Amy loved the tender touch and wanted to explore it more. This wasn’t the right time though for that. She almost hated that she had started anything with this kind woman. Her damned curiosity was getting the best of her.

  “Oh look, there’s fireflies out tonight,” Abby pointed out in order to change the tense subject. It was all too much, too soon at this moment. She thought perhaps Amy was feeling vulnerable about her grandmother’s death.

  “Them ain’t fireflies,” Amy protested with a laugh. “They is lightnin’ bugs,” she corrected.

  Abby laughed at the different words for the same thing. “Whatever they are they are pretty,” she countered.

  “They shore are,” Amy had to agree. She reached out and took Abby’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for being my friend….and thank you for not pushin’,” s
he added.

  “You’re welcome. Someday though, we need to have a long talk okay? I want to know you, all of you.”

  Amy nodded and with a kiss on her cheek, Abby left her standing and watching as she got back in her patrol car and drove away. The last thing Abby saw as she left was Amy waving madly.

  Amy turned and went back inside before the mosquitos could eat her alive. She was sad, not only about her grandmother’s death, but she was scared. The money she had used to start her new life had dried up rather suddenly with that death. She didn’t dare take anymore out as her brother would be alerted and if he knew where the money had gone, he would be sure to tell…she left off thinking about the consequences before fate or karma or something in the universe made it a fact. The lawyer had been straight with her, until Gram’s estate was settled, any further draws on her inheritance and they would have to notify the other heir, her brother. She knew what that meant and the warning behind it.

  * * * * *

  Amy returned to work the next day with a chipper attitude. You would never have known that she was gone for a week as she quickly got down to work, greeting customers, new and old alike, playing the consummate hostess to her many visitors at the store. It wasn’t until noon that she realized how many people from town had stopped in and told her how sorry they were for her grandmother’s death. She rolled her eyes that the only person she had told was Abby and she could bet Abby had told Bonnie. From there it got all over the small town. She appreciated it, and realized how many friends she had made. It was nice to be ‘home.’

  The Fourth of July celebration was spectacular. The town swelled up with visitors from Chicago, Milwaukee, and elsewhere. Many on boats so they could watch the fireworks out over the water. Some would leave to go down south to Green Bay and watch the celebrations there too. The Emporium was very busy with people ‘discovering’ it all the time. Amy was excited at the success and carefully watched her expenses so she could tuck the profits away in an interest bearing account.

  She was also excited because she had been invited to spend the evening with Abby’s family, Bonnie had invited her and she had offered to bring her grandmother’s secret fried chicken recipe. The chicken tasted good hot or cold. They closed The Emporium at a reasonable hour so that all the employees could go home and enjoy time with their own families. Amy had considered leaving it open to take advantage of the crowds but selling ice cream when her employees couldn’t enjoy their own families seemed wrong. It was then that Gladys Winters suggested she ask who might want to work for overtime pay. She had enough single people who would rather earn money than go to the celebrations to keep the store open and supply the crowds with ice cream and other treats.

  She roped off a spot on her own boardwalk from the surging crowd gathered by the marina to watch the fireworks. She had chairs set up for Abby and her family. Abby was out in the crowd keeping the peace along with the volunteer officers who came up every year in order to earn some extra money. She saw her long enough for her to grab some cold chicken and other goodies that Bonnie had laid out for the family. Amy gazed at the muscular officer and wondered what it was about this woman that had her dreaming about making love to her. Abby caught her watching her and smiled up at her in return. They hadn’t had any time to be alone again but both thought about it.

  July was such a perfect time of year for the town that it was a couple of weeks after the Fourth that the two of them were able to find some time alone together. Abby, under the pretense of heading south for dinner, actually arrived on Amy’s doorstep for the promised biscuits and gravy that the redhead had made.

  “This is good,” she said around a mouthful. It really was delicious. She had always thought that biscuits and gravy would be something sloppy but whatever was in this gravy was almost sinful.

  “Grams woulda been proud,” she drawled and smiled. “Would you like some more sweet tea?” she asked generously.

  Not really a tea drinker she declined. She wasn’t used to these southern ways but this southern belle sure intrigued her. She watched her many times over the past few months and the past few weeks alone she found reasons to hang out near The Emporium. She handled the most fractious customers, the drunks, and the various personalities with charm and wit. Few if any weren’t endeared by her accent and treated her like a lady. She demanded it without saying more than a few words. There was a steely grit under the petite exterior.

  “Then how about a beer?” she offered, being the consummate hostess.

  “That sounds good,” Abby agreed and watched as Amy got up from the dining room table to make her way into the kitchen. She unashamedly watched as the jean clad body swayed slightly within them. They looked painted on they were so tight and her buttocks were molded beautifully. She wasn’t embarrassed when Amy looked back for a moment and caught her admiring glance.

  “Like what you see?” she asked as she returned with a bottle of the local brew.

  “I do,” she smiled as she took the beer. Glancing at it she raised an eyebrow. “This is new; I don’t think I’ve seen this bottle of theirs before.”

  “Thomas only makes a small amount of this for their special friends,” she explained as she smiled.

  “Rumor has it that they had an anonymous investor to start their microbrewery?” she asked, wondering if Amy would fess up or not that she was the reason they had gone ahead with the idea.

  “I’ve heard that rumor too,” she admitted as she took a drink of her sweet tea and her eyes twinkled over the glass.

  Abby smiled, this woman could teach evasion to people. She was really good at it. “Come on now, I’ve known you how long? What’s your story?” she asked in a kidding manner, hoping that Amy would confide in her, finally.

  “There’s not too much to tell. I grew up down south; I got sick of it and wanted to start over. I told you about my parent’s place. It’s how I learned to run a store.” She tucked into the rest of her meal, hoping to evade the rest of the questions.

  “Did you go to school for business? You seem to know a lot about how to run things? Have you ever had a boyfriend? Come on Amy, I won’t bite,” she smiled to show she was friendly.

  Amy stopped eating to fix the cop with a stare. “Is this an interrogation?” she asked kiddingly. “I thought it was two friends having a meal together.”

  “You never tell me anything,” Abby pointed out, using her fork to emphasize what she was saying as she gestured with it.

  Amy shrugged. “You know enough. How about you?”

  “Nuh uh, you know more about me than I know about you!”

  “I know you had a wife, you have two children and a mother-in-law. That all is common knowledge.”

  “See, you know more about me…” she argued.

  “You know that I own a business in town and that I love my dog. Is there any more than that?” she said it with a smile, still joking but trying desperately to turn the conversation away from herself again. Something she had become very adept at for a long time.

  “You really don’t want to talk about your past do you?” Abby suddenly got serious.

  Amy shrugged. “It’s in the past. I’m making a future here. That’s all that matters.”

  Abby had to be accepting of that. “I hope someday to find out the mystery that is Amy Adams,” she teased to lighten the mood again.

  Amy just grinned and said, “I made cherry pie for desert. Do you want yours with or without ice cream?”

  * * * * *

  They played cards after dinner, a light and friendly game of Rummy but found that each had their own set of rules.

  “I think you should tell me which Rummy game we are playing before springing those on me,” Abby complained good-naturedly.

  “I think there are too many kinds of Rummy not to discuss which one we are playing when the cards are dealt,” she agreed.

  They still found each was competitive in her own way and they had a nice time. Despite the heat of the summer evening, Abby started a
fire in the fireplace and they ended up drinking a local wine in front of it as they discussed non-confrontational things such as people in town and things that went on around The Thumb. They were planning on going to some of those things together, including a fair, a carnival, and a few of the festivals that took place in the various towns. Some of them with Abby’s kids, some of them by themselves.

  “This is nice,” Amy commented as they wound down and relaxed together.

  “It is,” Abby agreed. She’d learned quickly not to ask any personal questions but she was enjoying spending time with the redhead.

  “Are you dating me?” Amy suddenly asked out of the blue.

  Abby started in surprise. She looked over at the redhead over the brim of her wine glass. “I guess I am,” she answered.

  “You don’t want to?” Amy asked, misinterpreting the brunette’s surprise.

  “Of course I do. I just…” she almost said what she was thinking and stopped in time.

  “Just what?” she asked with a hint of humor. It wasn’t often the cop was unnerved or stuttering.

  “I’d like you to trust me,” she finished lamely, not quite what she wanted to say.

  “I trust you,” she protested.

  “Not with the stories of your life,” she said quietly, suddenly serious again. She looked into her wine, knowing it was a mistake, but she wanted to know. She knew Amy was hiding something from her.

  “Someday, maybe,” she promised but didn’t sound too confident in that promise.

  “But not now?” she glanced up again.

  Amy shook her head. “Please don’t push,” she requested.

  Abby let it drop again.

  “I do trust you,” she repeated softly and moved in to kiss her gently on her cheek.

  Abby felt warmed from the wine and the nice little kiss. She looked deeply into the green eyes and smiled, feeling captured by them.

  Amy loved the browns in Abby’s eyes. They were flecked with various shades. You couldn’t see them though until you were closer. Otherwise they just looked brown, but even then they were so soft, she thought of them as velvety. Very expressive too. Right now she could see the attraction in Abby’s eyes and with that in mind she set her wine glass down on the coffee table. Carefully she took the brunette’s face in both her hands and leaned her head sideways so they wouldn’t mash noses as she leaned in for a gentle kiss on her lips.