“Good,” I said as I reached his wife. I hugged her and smiled up at him. “You’re still as amazing as I remember. And I owe you a lunch date,” I said to Regina.
“Uh-huh, you do.”
“Who’s your friend?” Darius asked me.
Eve answered. “You don’t remember me, do you?” She held her heart like it was breaking. “I’m the girl who saved your ass in Calculus by tutoring you every day during lunch for a month.”
His eyes widened, a delighted grin creasing his light-brown face. “Get out. Eve Poe? And yes, ma’am, you did. I would’ve failed without you.”
Regina smiled. “You knew him in high school? I didn’t meet him until later. Maybe you should join us for girls’ lunch so you can give me all the gossip about what kind of boy he was.”
He groaned. “What’d I do to y’all?” All three of us laughed, and he looked down at Eve again. “I’ve seen you somewhere else recently, but damned if I can remember.”
“Been in trouble with the law?” Eve asked, her face bland.
His eyes widened. “Uh, no. Why?”
She let him off the hook. “I’m with the city police department. Used to be a patrol officer, now I’m part of Community Relations.”
I bumped her hip. “Commander of Community Relations, she means. And she won an award last month, so her picture was in the paper.”
“Really. Has anyone asked you to speak at the high school for career day?” he asked, ever the charmer.
I bit back a snort. I knew how much Eve loved putting the spotlight on herself, which was not at all. “I’m Eve’s admin. I’ll check her calendar tomorrow,” I said, earning an exasperated look from her. “Oh, come on. It’s for kids.”
Regina laughed. “Oh, girl, give it up. Talia’s as relentless as humanly possible when it comes to the kids. I can’t tell you how many times the rest of the faculty spouses and I wound up doing stuff for the school we never expected to. The new principal’s husband doesn’t know how to lay on the guilt.”
“I wasn’t that bad,” I said, flushing.
Regina smiled. “I didn’t say it was bad. It made us all family.”
My heart twinged. “That came from Seth, really. You know how he felt about the kids in his care and the people who worked for him.”
Darius hopped off the stage and joined his wife, slinging an arm around her shoulder. “This many years, and I still miss him,” he said. “He was one in a million.”
I hadn’t expected this trip down memory lane, hadn’t guarded myself against it, and my throat grew tight. It had been easy to dismiss the blowhard’s insensitive comments in the hall, but Darius had been Seth’s friend so his words meant something. “Yes, he was. He’ll always be a part of my heart.” Tears threatened, even though I was standing with a woman who’d made me think I might just possibly find the same kind of happiness again.
“Hell,” Darius muttered, drawing me into a bear hug. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I squeezed him and stepped back, giving him a tremulous smile. “You didn’t. And I’m doing fine, really. It’s been four years, and I’ve moved on with my life.”
Eyes still troubled, he pulled his wife close again, and this time, she spoke. “You’re seeing someone?”
The last time we’d had lunch, she’d gently asked if I’d dated anyone since Seth. I’d told her no, so her question wasn’t out of the blue. I shifted my eyes to Eve and took her hand, which she tightened around mine. “I am.”
The couple seemed momentarily startled but then Regina grinned. “You’re dating your boss? Haven’t you always said fishing in the company pond is a bad idea?”
Relieved by her almost-immediate acceptance I had to laugh. “You sound exactly like Lila. She gave Eve grief when she found out.”
“Girl’s got a good head on her shoulders.” Darius looked between us, and I could practically see the gears moving in his head as he tried reconciling the fact that I’d been married to a man but was dating a woman. “I guess you’re happy, then I’m happy for you,” he said, his voice still warm but slightly wary.
“Darius Washington.” Regina frowned at him, hands on her hips. “Really?”
Surprise painted his features. “What? I said I was happy for them.”
She turned to me and Eve and rolled her eyes. “Men. How about girls’ lunch next week? The new Cuban place?”
“I’d love to.” I hadn’t talked with Regina since Rissa had gone back to school, and I was sure she had a million questions for me. “Eve?”
“Sounds good,” Eve said, though I wasn’t sure she meant it. Her voice was quieter than usual, and her eyes were guarded. My stomach twisted, but I didn’t let go of her hand, and she didn’t pull away. I squeezed once.
We said our goodbyes and headed out to the parking deck behind the building, walking in not-quite-comfortable silence. At this time of night on this part of campus, it was mostly empty, and I shivered.
Eve shook her head as though she’d been deep in thought and raised a brow. “Cold?”
“I hate parking decks. My mind always gets the better of me.” Hoping to get her out of her mood, I rolled my eyes. “I’m expecting a serial killer to be lurking in the stairwell.”
That made her laugh. “You watch too much TV.” She patted the handbag over her shoulder. “Besides, I’d protect you.”
“You’re armed?” It was hard for me to keep my voice from turning up at the end. “Now?”
This time, she was the one who rolled her eyes. “Yes, always. I never know when I’ll get pulled into something.”
I mulled over her words for a moment. I didn’t like it much—because carrying her weapon while off duty meant she’d use it if she had to, and the action would put her in the line of fire—but I’d have to accept it if we were together. The thought made my insides clench. “That’s kind of scary.”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s what my life is.”
As it turned out, we were parked on the same level, the only two cars left. Hers was first, and I stopped with her. She stood there, staring into space for a long moment. I called her name but she didn’t seem to notice. I was getting worried, so I touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
She started to nod, then blew out a sigh. “No, actually, I’m not. Though why I give a damn about what a guy I knew thirty years ago cares about my sexual orientation, I don’t know.” She paused. “No, I do know. It’s because he liked and admired your husband, and I feel like he’s judging me—and therefore you—which pisses me off.”
My words came slowly, because I’d been thinking about that expression on his face myself. “I don’t think Darius is the kind of guy to judge. Maybe he was just shocked and trying to sort it out in his head? I mean, he had no reason to assume I wasn’t straight.”
She made a rude noise and threw her hands up. “That shouldn’t matter to him at all.”
She was right, but I didn’t have any response to that. This was all so new to me, and so far the few people who knew about me and Eve hadn’t given me grief. I’d still been bisexual while I was with Seth—not that I’d been one hundred percent sure about it—but being married to a man, I hadn’t had to deal with any bias. I didn’t know how much shit she’d taken over the years for her sexuality, though I imagined it had been a lot.
I hated seeing Eve like this, and the need to touch her and soothe her was strong. I stepped close and put my arms around her. She squeezed me tightly and held on for a few long moments. When she broke away, she looked less stressed.
“It’s getting late, but do you want to come over?” I asked, fiddling with the sleeve on her dress.
She pulled out her phone, checked the time, and winced. “I want to. I really do, but tomorrow I have part two of that budget meeting first thing in the morning.”
“No problem,” I said, stifling my disappointment. I must not have done a good job of it, though, because Eve’s eyes softened and she grazed my cheek with her fingers.
“
Liar. But it doesn’t leave me nearly enough time to do what I want to do with you.” She walked me over to my car, then turned me so I was leaning against it. She didn’t touch me again after that, only braced her arms on the car on either side of my body. “If I put my hands on you, I’m not going to be able to make myself go home. One kiss. That’s all I’ll allow myself.”
My heart leapt as she bent forward. “Then make it good.”
Sixteen days. That’s how many more days we had to wait to get some alone time. I thought I was going climb out of my skin, and Eve didn’t seem to be doing much better. The budget meetings had consumed the rest of the week, so we’d planned for her to join Lila and me for Shabbat dinner Friday night. But then her mother had taken a bad fall and Eve had gone down to South Carolina to help out for a week or so. I’d handled the office with input from different officers they rotated in and out daily, and when Eve had come back to work the following Wednesday, she’d been nose to the computer trying to power through the things we hadn’t been able to handle for her.
By midafternoon Friday, she looked like she was going to fall over. I put on my mom voice and told her she was done for the day, and she was coming home with me for a hot meal and a nap, not necessarily in that order.
She proved exactly how tired she was when she didn’t argue, just followed me home and parked behind me.
I’d brought her to my room, kissed her, and told her to lie down, and by the time I’d gone to the bathroom and come back, she’d been out cold.
She was still sound asleep and I was in the kitchen, singing softly to the playlist on my phone. I was putting together the ingredients for an apple pie, and I had a chicken roasting in the oven along with potatoes and other root vegetables.
I’d made enough in case Lila showed up, though she probably wouldn’t. She’d told me earlier this week she would make Shabbat dinner at her place, and she and Ryan would talk. She’d decided to allow Ryan to explain, and while it wasn’t the decision I’d have made, she was a grown woman who had to make her own choices.
I had my doubts that Ryan would listen to what she had to say, really listen. My heart hurt for her, though I’d never expected them to last long-term anyway. He’d seemed selfish to me, and the cheating proved that. Plus, he’d never been all that comfortable with Lila’s observation of her faith and the rituals that were part of her normal, regular family life. I didn’t see her giving them up, because they were too important to her, and I hoped she made sure she told him that. It wouldn’t be an easy discussion or an easy path if she decided to give him another chance, and my mother’s heart hoped she’d give him the boot.
The phone rang and I picked it up, smiling as I saw the caller ID. “Hi, baby girl. Shabbat shalom.”
“Shabbat shalom, Mom.” Rissa sounded happy and relaxed, and I could hear people in the background. “I’m at Professor Levine’s house for dinner. He’s a new teacher this year, and he and his wife invite students every week. I came with a girl from my MechE lab. She comes every week, but this is the first time I’ve been. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. And guess what? He knew Dad. They were fraternity brothers. He said he met you once at a conference in New York.”
I racked my brain, trying to remember. “David Levine? Tall, dark hair, deep Southern accent?”
I practically heard her grin. “Yep.”
“I do remember him. We ran into him and then wound up having dinner. He seemed like a nice guy. I thought he was a high school principal.”
“He was, but now he teaches here. Math department. He asked me to be a TA for his Calc classes in the spring, Mom. I’m going to do it. He’s really funny, and he told me some stories about Dad that legit cracked me up.”
My daughter could talk at the speed of light when she was excited, and it took me a few seconds to untangle the words. “That’s great, sweetheart. Quite an honor.”
She could also change gears at the drop of a hat. “Is your hickey-maker there with you?”
I burst out laughing. “Rissa Leah.”
“Sorry, Mom,” she sang, her teasing tone proving she wasn’t repentant in the least. “But is she? I wanted to talk to her. It’s not fair that Lila already got to meet her and I haven’t.”
Rissa and I had talked a bit last week about mine and Eve’s relationship, but she was right. “She’s sleeping. Her mother was in a bad accident so she’s been away helping most of this week, and then she spent the last two days catching up at work. I made her take a na—” Before I could get the word out, I felt lips against the back of my neck.
“Something smells good in here,” Eve murmured, sinking her teeth into the tendon between my neck and shoulder, making me shudder. Her arms came around my waist, her still-warm-from-sleep body pressing against mine “And while the chicken smells divine, that’s not what I mean.”
“Mom?”
Even though my daughter wasn’t standing here, I turned eight shades of red. I stepped out of Eve’s embrace and thrust the phone at her. “Rissa wants to talk with you.”
Eve’s eyes went wide, but she took the phone. “Hello?” I only heard a word here and there from Rissa’s end, and Eve’s first tentative and then amused responses as my daughter obviously grilled her. “Yes, ma’am,” she ended, handing the phone back with laughter dancing in her eyes.
I put the phone to my ear. “You’d have best been polite.”
Rissa’s tinkling laugh came over the line. “I was. She sounds very nice, Mom. And I stalked her online. She’s pretty and she looks badass in her uniform.”
I grinned. “She not only looks badass, she is badass.”
There was a commotion on the other end of the line, a female voice calling out for Rissa. “Mom, I have to go. I just wanted to call because being here tonight made me a little homesick, but I feel better now. I love you.”
My sweet girl. “I love you too, baby. Enjoy your dinner. I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks.”
We hung up and I turned back to Eve, studying her. “You look about a thousand times better with some sleep. I’m not sure how you were functioning.”
“Barely,” she admitted, rolling her neck. “I probably should’ve taken an extra day off to decompress.”
I put my hands on my hips and gave her the face that made my girls quake in their boots. “You think?”
She ignored my question and nicked a piece of apple off the cutting board. “Chicken and homemade apple pie? You’re the wife I’ve always needed.” She popped the apple in her mouth and bit down.
“I’ve gotten better at the cooking thing. Poor Seth had it rough when we first got married. I burned everything, and I had no idea how to keep a kosher kitchen. It horrified his mother, but mostly he just laughed.” The memory was a good one, and I smiled. “You don’t cook?”
She wiggled her hand in a so-so gesture. “I’m good at tacos and burgers and ribs and pizza—food teenagers like to eat. Derrick was a bottomless pit, and he always dragged his boys home with him. Now that he’s gone, I’m doing more healthy cooking for myself. Baking is something I never got the hang of. But I don’t love cooking. I do it because I like to eat.”
“That’s a lot. If it makes you feel better, I have no idea how to cook pork or shellfish, since I don’t eat it.”
Eve groaned. “No bacon or crab cakes? Ouch.”
“You don’t miss what you don’t try,” I said, making a pretense of looking over my shoulder. I lowered my voice. “Keep this to yourself, but . . . I allow myself one crab cake a year at the fair.”
She chuckled. “Bad Talia.”
“I know.” I shook my head sadly. “If my girls only knew . . .”
She plucked another apple slice and popped it into her mouth.
I rapped her hand with my stirring spoon as she reached for a third. “Stop that. If you steal them all, we won’t have pie.”
“And that would be a tragedy.” She glanced into the dining room, saw the set table. “That’s a lot of work for just the two
of us.”
“It’s not work for me. Not when it’s Shabbat dinner.”
“So like a big Sunday dinner for Christians?” When I nodded, Eve continued. “Ah. Mama cooks like a fiend for those. Says family is worth it.”
Exactly how I felt. “I think I’d like your mother.”
“She’s one of a kind, that’s for sure. I’m glad she’s going to be okay. She scared the hell outta me.” Eve went to the oven, popped the door, and bent over to peek in, sniffing appreciatively.
Since we weren’t in the office and she already knew how I felt about her, I allowed myself to stare at her ass as much as I wanted to. All that exercise she did, all those morning runs—they really paid off. Since she’d come from the office, she was still in uniform. After her nap, it was rumpled, but the way the pants hugged her hips and butt and thighs—good lord. If she looked this good in clothes, I couldn’t imagine how good she’d look out of them.
She turned and raised a brow as I lifted my gaze. “My eyes are up here?” she quipped, something I’d said to many a man who’d stared at my breasts instead of my face. I choked on a laugh. She cocked her head. “Tell me what you were thinking.”
Oy, I was so very rusty at this flirting thing, but I’d give it my best shot. “I was thinking about how good your ass looks.”
Her eyes dropped to the snug black pants I’d worn today, the ones my girls had made me buy. “I have those same thoughts about you, so I guess we’re even.”
“And what you’d look like out of those trousers.” When she didn’t answer, I swallowed hard. “Too much?”
She walked forward with purpose, stopping mere inches from where I stood. My heart thudded at the heat in her eyes and the way she locked her gaze with mine. She grabbed my wrists lightly, then played her fingers over the skin there and across my palms. I shuddered. Who knew hands were such an erogenous zone?
“Not too much,” she said, her voice husky as she continued to run her hands up my arm, teasing the spaghetti straps of the cami I’d worn under a sweater. “I know this is all new to you, and I know we’re moving fast. If you want me to slow down, I will. But we’re not teenagers. I know what I like and what I want. I want you. Under me, over me, my mouth on you, yours on me. Like the first time, only more. So much more, and all night long.”
Twice in a Lifetime Page 9
