Twice in a Lifetime

by Jodie Griffin

  I walked toward her and quietly introduced myself.

  Travelers flowed around the island that was Eve and Derrick, though several people stopped and thanked him for his service. I realized this same scene was going on all around us, and in a big way.

  Something must’ve shown on my face because Gabriela spoke up, her voice thick. “The flight was about one-third service members. Various branches and from different duty stations, but we all came through Germany. Everyone was so nice. This is . . .” Her eyes flowed over. “Amazing.”

  It really was.

  We weren’t in any hurry to get home, so I did some people watching while Eve reassured herself her son was in one piece. People were starting to grab bags off the carousel, and Gabriela and I moved over toward it. “Derrick’s looks like everyone else’s.”

  I realized what she meant as a whole stream of green bags exited from between the fringed black rubber that separated the airport’s side of the luggage area from the patron side. “Oh, boy.”

  Gabriela laughed. “His will have his last name stenciled on it.” She snagged a desert camouflage bag from the belt. “This one is mine. Was Papa’s from when he served.” She was a tiny thing, but she hefted it with no problems, dropping it behind her.

  We watched the bags go ’round and I read the names. Ortiz, Anderson, Connelly, Luciano, Ahmed, Wisnewski, Wong, Stein, Kawahara, Davis. The stream continued, and finally I spotted Derrick’s bag emblazoned with Poe. “There it is.”

  Before I could grab it, a muscular arm reached around me and lifted it like it weighed nothing. “I’ve got it, ma’am.”

  Eve was right there beside her son, her face as content as I’d ever seen it. She held her hand out to me. I took it, and she drew me close to her side. “Derrick, this is Talia. Tal, this is my baby.”

  He laughed in a deep baritone as he rolled his eyes. “Mama. Haven’t been a baby in a long time.”

  She patted his cheek. “You’ll always be my baby.”

  He smirked but inclined his head in acknowledgment. “Nice to meet you, Talia.” He pulled Gabriela close, nuzzled her temple. “And this is Gabriela Munoz. Gabri, my mother, Eve Poe.”

  Eve studied Gabriela with what I always called her cop face. Slightly suspicious, ready to detect bullshit in a single word. I’d seen her use it on recruits who helped us with Community Relations events and it was quite an effective method of intimidation. I stifled a sigh.

  Gabriela shifted slightly on her feet, moving closer to Derrick.

  Finally, Eve nodded. “Gabriela.”

  I slid a glance Eve’s way and mentally shook my head. I knew how hard it was to let your kids fall in love and risk heartache, but she was going to have to ease back a little. I’d work on her, because from what I could see, Derrick and Gabriela looked like a lovely couple.

  We made our way out of the airport and to my SUV, and then we went home, which took nearly as long as the drive to the airport had taken.

  Exhausted, I dropped Eve, Derrick, and Gabriela at Eve’s duplex. When Derrick and Gabriela went inside, I held Eve back. “Go easy on them, babe.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I’m gonna make that girl sleep on the sofa.”

  “Eve,” I chided. “Really?”

  She sighed. “No, not really, but I should.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So if you stay over while Rissa’s home, you should sleep on the sofa?”

  “There you go being all logical,” she muttered. “No.”

  I had to laugh at her petulance. “Go enjoy time with your son. I talked a bit with Gabriela while you were with Derrick. She’s a nice person. I think you’ll like her.” I slid my hand on her waist, pulled her so we were pressed close. I kissed her once, lightly, but then I deepened it. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She kissed me back, then leaned her forehead against mine. “Don’t kill the girl. Got it.”

  I laughed again and went back to my car, already missing her presence as I drove away.

  When I got home it was to discover that Rissa had made a pumpkin pie for tomorrow, and was in the process of making a kosher apple cake, one of our family’s favorite recipes. I kissed my daughter’s forehead. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  Her brown eyes shone bright. “Did Eve’s son get in okay? I thought everyone would come here.”

  “He did. I just dropped them all off at Eve’s house, but they’ll be here tomorrow.” I shuffled things around in the fridge, organizing them for easy prep in the morning. “They were really tired.”

  I dropped onto a stool at the counter and watched Rissa move competently around the kitchen. She favored her father’s side of the family, and while both girls had the Wasserman nose, that was where their physical resemblance ended. Rissa was tall, easily five nine, and slender where Lila was curvy. Her hair was brown and curly, though when she’d left for college at the end of the summer it had been long, and now it was super short and cute. I’d been taken aback when I’d first seen the drastic change, but now I liked it. It fit her.

  “Mom, can I ask you something?”

  “Anything, you know that.” Tired as I was, I relished the chance to sit and talk with my daughter—I missed her when she was away at school. I inclined my head. “What’s up?”

  Rissa shifted from foot to foot. “How did you know you liked Eve? Like, as more than friends? What was it that made you think you were interested in her?”

  “I just knew,” I said, but that was a pretty nonspecific answer. “I’m not sure I know how to describe it, but things felt . . . right. Flutters in my stomach. Wanting to spend time with her. She makes me happy, like Dad did.”

  Rissa shook her head and bit her lip. “I get that part. I meant . . . what made you realize you liked women?”

  I blinked, and regarded my daughter closely. New haircut. Different clothes. No mention of male friends, or dating any guys. A lot of talk about Jules from MechE lab. “Honey, are you telling me you’re gay?”

  She gave me a sidelong look. “Maybe?”

  I stood and pulled her into my arms for a hug. “You know I’m fine with that, right?”

  She snorted as though she was questioning my sanity. “I know that. But that’s not what I’m asking. I really mean maybe. How do you know?”

  Aha. My scientific, studious daughter hadn’t dated in high school, hadn’t talked about crushes, and in fact had told me she had no interest in dating. She’d had a group of close friends, boys and girls both, and none of them had dated either. When she hadn’t told me about anyone during her freshman year of college, I’d assumed she just hadn’t met anyone who measured up, and I’d been fine with that. I’d wanted her to get her life settled first, anyway, and she’d been so very young—only seventeen when she’d gone off to college. But maybe there had been more to it.

  “Well, for me, it was more a case of accepting that I liked women as well as men.” I shared more about my own experiences with her than I had with her sister, because I understood how vitally important this conversation was. “When I was young, maybe early teens, I realized I was looking at girls the same way I was looking at boys, but I never did anything about it. Times were different then, though. Being gay or lesbian wasn’t easily accepted, and I don’t think I ever knew anyone who was bisexual.”

  I squeezed her again, then sat back down while she went back to work on the cake. She’d always been like this, happier to talk while she was focused on doing something else.

  “But then I met Dad, and I loved him, so it didn’t really matter, you know? And after he died, I didn’t think about anyone for a long time, because I was still grieving. When I met Eve, I felt that attraction again, very similar to how it had felt with your father. I guess what I’m saying is I just knew. But knowing is one thing. Accepting it is another.”

  “I feel that way about Jules. She’s the girl I was telling you about, my partner in my MechE lab. I get all tongue-tied around her.” She looked at me, her eyes troubled. “I tried dating some guys last ye
ar. They were nice, and the kissing was okay, I guess, but their kisses didn’t make me feel the way I do even just talking with Jules.”

  My heart ached for my baby’s confusion. “Honey, you’re not required to like guys, honest. I know the world tries to make women believe they have to, but I want you to be happy, and kissing should be far more than just okay. If you find a woman who makes you happy, then I say go for it. I guess my question is, does Jules feel the same way?”

  Rissa lifted an elegant shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe? I think so.”

  “Then you owe it to each other to find out,” I said. “Start with a conversation and see where it goes from there.”

  She nodded, and we left it at that.

  Thanksgiving morning dawned cool and crisp, the sky a deep, pretty blue with puffy white clouds. I’d gotten up early to put the turkey in the oven, and now I was getting other things ready.

  Eve had already texted me this morning to tell me That girl made herself right at home in my kitchen.

  I’d laughed, and sent back a text. That’s good, since you don’t like to cook.

  I was still grinning when another text came in. Whose side are you on, anyway?

  I took a moment to compose my reply. Always yours. Your side, your back, your front . . .

  Then my phone rang.

  “She made me breakfast, Tal.”

  Eve sounded put out, and I laughed. “And this is a problem, how?”

  A gusty sigh. “She’s making me like her, damn it.”

  “And no woman will ever be good enough for your baby boy.” I tsked. “If he’s going to get married, isn’t it better for him to be with a woman you actually like?”

  “There you go being all reasonable again. Remind me why I put up with you?”

  “Because I give you lots of screaming orgasms?”

  “Mom!” Lila’s horrified voice came from behind me. I hadn’t even heard her come in the door. I turned just in time to see her put her hands over her ears, red splotches on her cheeks and her eyes shocked. “Ew. I love Eve, but I did not need to know that.”

  Eve spluttered hysterically on the other end of the line, and her words were full of laughter. “You go deal with your kid. I’ll go deal with mine. We’ll see you around noon.”

  I hung up the phone and regarded my daughter. “Weren’t you the one who said you knew I had sex?”

  “Stop. Forget I ever said it,” Lila pleaded, her hand out as if to ward off something evil. She covered her ears. “La la la la la la la not listening.”

  I laughed, then pulled her hands off her ears. “Your sister is upstairs in bed watching the parade. She said to send you up when you got here.” I hoped Rissa would want to talk with Lila about what she’d told me last night, but I wasn’t sure. I handed her a box of donuts, our annual Thanksgiving breakfast tradition. None of us wanted to fill up on real food before it was time for the feast. “Don’t eat all of them.”

  Lila kissed me on the cheek and bounded upstairs. When they’d been young teens, we’d converted the angle-ceilinged second floor, which had been a dark and dreary attic space, into two cheerful, light-strewn bedrooms with a small shared bathroom. Rissa’s room was still her room and would stay that way until she was done with college, but when Lila had gotten her own place and taken her furniture, her room had become my craft room.

  Upstairs, boards creaked and something crashed to the floor, and I figured Lila had jumped on the bed. I went to the door and yelled up. “Girls!”

  A chorus of giggles ensued, and it did my heart good. Though they might be young women now, they were still my little girls.

  It took me about an hour to finish prepping my side dishes, including my special homemade stuffing which I put in a slow cooker instead of the bird. I tasted it and sighed. I hadn’t been raised in a kosher home and, though I’d kept one for over twenty years, sometimes I really missed bacon in my stuffing. This year was, apparently, one of those years.

  When everything was cooking or ready to be heated up, I went to my room to grab a shower. I closed my door, then stripped, and as I headed for the bathroom, my phone buzzed.

  It was Eve, and warmth suffused my heart. “Hey, babe. What’s up?” I asked.

  She made a rude noise. “They’re having sex in my house.”

  I laughed. “He’s a grown man. And they’re getting married.”

  “Would you want Lila and her boyfriend to be messin’ around under your roof? Be honest.”

  I winced. “Point taken. And anyway, pretty sure they’re over for good. She didn’t say she invited him to dinner.”

  “Mm-hmm. And what if she had? I know you didn’t like him, but who was it who said you’re going to have to let things happen? Let me think . . .”

  “Now that was just mean. And on a holiday too. See if I give you pie later.”

  There was a beat of silence. “I’ll take some cream pie.”

  The laugh that burst from me sounded like a snort. “It’s like you’re twelve.”

  “Takes one to know one.” I heard the smile in Eve’s voice. “What are you doing right now? I’m trying to stay on the other side of the house.”

  The devil stood on my bare shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Getting a shower. I’m naked and I’m going to get very, very wet.”

  “Girl.” That one word held so much feeling that it was almost as if she was standing beside me. “You are killing me.”

  “I’d much rather . . . do other things to you.” I’d almost said make love to, but I’d been very careful not to use the L word. I knew what I felt for Eve was likely love, but it was still so new that I didn’t want to jinx anything. And I think she felt the same about me.

  Maybe.

  “Like what?”

  “Are we really going to have shower sex by phone?” I countered. “Why don’t you leave the directions to my house for Gabriela and Derrick? That way we can have real live shower sex.”

  A huff of air. “With your girls in the house?”

  I gave a half laugh. “Goodness, I actually forgot. I’ve gotten so used to having you here, alone. So maybe not. Not today, anyway.”

  “Phone sex it is.” I heard a rustling noise and imagined Eve in her lush bed. It was a hedonist’s dream, with soft sheets and fluffy pillows and a thick comforter. One of the best days I’d spent in recent memory had been a Sunday morning in that bed with Eve, watching a marathon of our shared favorite show, and having long, slow, incredibly intense sex.

  Since my phone wasn’t waterproof, the shower was out. I made beeline to my door to lock it, then climbed back into bed, still naked. My hand drifted between my legs. “I’m touching myself, babe. Now you do it. I wish you were here with me.” I closed my eyes, imagined the scene. “I want you over me, your mouth on me while I do the same to you. I want those to be my fingers inside you, teasing you until you can’t take it anymore.”

  A soft moan from Eve. “Oh, God. It feels good but not as good as when you touch me. Get the green monster out.”

  I laughed and groaned at the same time. The green monster was this long, incredibly thick veined dildo that Eve had brought over one night. And yeah, it was a garish green. She’d said she’d liked it better than any of the supposedly flesh-colored ones, but I’d just stared at it in shock and maybe a little bit of horror. It was slightly curved with a bulbous tip, and I’d been hesitant, though Eve had convinced me to give it a try. I’d agreed, and when she’d used it on me and it had hit a certain spot, I’d completely lost control.

  Whenever she was in a feisty mood, she pulled it out and tortured me with it.

  I opened the drawer and snagged it out. I could barely wrap my fingers around it, and I’d never imagined something this big would fit inside me or that I’d enjoy it, but both things were true. “Got it.”

  “Run it between your folds like I do, but don’t put it inside yet.”

  I rubbed it through the slick wetness between my thighs, my breath becoming unsteady. “I bet you only h
ave one finger inside you. Slip another one in there and if that’s too easy, put a third in, then slide them back and forth.”

  Her laugh was ragged. “Done.” She must’ve moved, held the phone low, because suddenly I could hear the lush, wet sounds as she moved her fingers in and out. “That feels so good. Now put that monster inside you, but no fucking yourself with it. Not yet.”

  Knowing she was aroused made me even wetter, and though I’d never tried it this way before, I knelt on the bed facing the headboard, then sat on the head of the dildo until it was just inside me. I bit my lip. There was always a stretch when it went in, a burn that was so damn good I wished I could prolong the feeling. I gasped as the ridges passed over my swollen flesh, and the temptation to move up and down on it was so damn tempting. “Oh, I want to.” I sank onto it a bit further, spreading my knees out as it slid deeper inside me. “I’m sitting on it right now,” I panted. “I need to move.”

  “Sitting on it? Jesus. Next time we’re alone you’re showing me that.” Her voice hitched, became breathier. “Four fingers, just for you.”

  Stars exploded behind my eyelids. “Make yourself come, babe. Now.”

  Her voice hitched again. “You . . . too.”

  I sank as low as I could onto the dildo, then slicked my wet finger over my clit. It didn’t take long until I was spasming around the thing, my head thrown back and the muscles in my neck taut as I tried not to shout. “Oh, Eve.”

  “Talia,” she cried out, then made that familiar, deep noise I knew and loved, the one that told me she’d flown over the edge. “Want you.”

  We lay there, each in our own beds, silent for several long minutes as we came back down to earth. When I could speak again, I kept my voice low. “That was . . . wow.”

  Eve laughed softly. “Yeah.”

  We talked for a bit, the same kind of pillow talk we shared in bed together. It was better in person, when I could touch her and be touched by her, when we shared small strokes of fingers and hands, lazy kisses and quiet intimacy.