Captain of Industry

by Karin Kallmaker

  The miles slipped away and it was still before dawn as Suzanne turned off the highway toward the house. The coastal winds were coming in hard off the water. She expected the house to be cold and she wasn’t wrong. She turned off the alarm and opened the garage and Jennifer pulled the car in carefully.

  “The cold air feels delicious,” Jennifer said. “I don’t have words to describe how hot it was in Dallas.”

  Suzanne fussed with the heat. “It’ll take the chill off in a while. It’s practically breakfast time. There’s always pancake mix in the cupboard. Just add water.”

  “You must be exhausted,” Jennifer said suddenly. “I’m sorry, I’ve been selfish. Do you want to crash?”

  “I’m too wired.” Even as she said it she felt her eyelids droop.

  “Come on.” Jennifer pulled her along to the master bedroom. “Let’s curl up. Don’t worry, your virtue is safe.”

  Darn, Suzanne thought. She was not at all convinced she wanted safe virtue. It had seemed very mature to refuse the offer to share a shower, but now she was regretting not listening to her lizard brain.

  Shoes kicked off, they opted to get under just the comforter. Jennifer snuggled close behind, one arm over Suzanne’s hip.

  “I love the sound of the waves. And the moonlight.” A gentle kiss on the back of her neck melted Suzanne in all the places no one else had ever warmed.

  Sleep rose up for her in a wave.

  Sunlight in her face woke her. Jennifer was gone.

  And then she smelled pancakes.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  “This is the part where we mess up.” Jennifer tied her hair back before stepping out into the windswept backyard. She’d learned to go out the sliding glass door back first so nothing on the plate she carried blew off. “I have to be in LA day after tomorrow. You have an empire to run.”

  “It’s too big not to run itself most of the time. But I have meetings I can’t cancel tomorrow. From here it makes sense for me to go on up to San Francisco and fly home later.”

  “So today’s the last day we get to hide out.”

  “The trick is not to start a fight.” Suzanne reached the picnic table first, and put down the bag of fragrant pumpernickel rolls and her plate of smoked ham and fruit salad. From her jeans pocket she withdrew a light blue box.

  Jennifer froze at the sight of it. There was no mistaking the light robin’s egg blue. Only one thing came in that color box. For a moment she wrestled with the same feeling she’d had years before, that Suzanne was buying her. Maybe it was the soft, worn Fury Road T-shirt, the coastal sun on the spiky hair, or something in Suzanne’s smile that chased the anger away. “Is that the same Tiffany’s box?”

  “The same one.”

  She took her time getting out one of the rolls, splitting it open with her thumbs and slathering it with a shrimp and avocado mustard spread she’d become deeply enamored with the day before. The box seemed to glow in the noon sun. She told herself it was only a piece of jewelry, not a symbol of capitulation or submission.

  After a restorative bite, during which Suzanne watched her every move, she lifted the top and unwrapped the tissue-swaddled item inside.

  No diamonds. No pearls or gold.

  Instead she was holding a bracelet of tiny Lego pieces. “I said you were trying to buy me with this. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because by then I was angry and so were you, and I was afraid you would open it and you’d be charmed. I’m fatally charming, you know.”

  Jennifer ran a finger over the pieces as she blinked back tears. “So I’ve heard.”

  “And it would have only delayed the inevitable. I knew deep down we couldn’t last. I wouldn’t have paid a price at all, while you would have given up nearly everything. I’d have hated keeping it secret, you would have always been afraid of being discovered. No matter what, I had precious little to lose. But you would not be you. And you deserved to be you.”

  Suzanne looked up from the table, fixing Jennifer with an open gaze. “I didn’t have a right to expect you to abandon your life plans just because the sex was good and we looked good together, and I could buy you lots of stuff.”

  “I knew it was more than you just wanting to buy a pretty girl.”

  “I don’t know. Conquest was on my mind a lot.”

  “And now?”

  “We’ve both leveled up. That changes the nature of the game.”

  Jennifer was finding it hard to breathe. She looked at the bracelet again. The little bits of brightly colored plastic were orange and yellow and blue and strung together with thin elastic thread. “I can’t wear this.”

  “I really didn’t expect you to. It was just…” She shrugged. “A silly something I bought in New York, thinking I’d see you any minute. I kept it. Kind of like the pajamas.”

  “No, I mean, I’d have to take this one off.” She pushed up the sleeve of her sweatshirt. I am Unforgettable glinted in the sunlight.

  “You still have it.”

  “I’ve always carried it in my makeup kit. I found it this morning.”

  Suzanne ran a fingertip over the silver links. “I want to see you. Date you.”

  “That’s not a question. A question is ‘Will you date me?’”

  “Okay, will you date me, Jennifer Lamont?”

  “I asked you first.”

  Suzanne rolled her eyes. “So that’s how it’s gonna be?”

  “That’s how it’s gonna be.” Jennifer twined her fingers with Suzanne’s. “This has been magical. I haven’t felt this disconnected from the world and refreshed in forever. If this were a movie we’d just walk on the beach into the sunset. Or I’d call a press conference and we’d clinch on the red carpet.”

  A hint of wariness edged into Suzanne’s voice. “We’re not those people.”

  “It seems a lot more fun to get caught snogging in a Sapphic hot spot.”

  Suzanne grinned at the idea. “I know of a bar in the Castro.” Her expression changed to apprehension. “I’m going to have to tell Annemarie.”

  “She’s really not my biggest fan.”

  “No. But give her time. She doesn’t know what I see in you.”

  “Well, it would be kind of weird if she did, wouldn’t it?”

  “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  Jennifer finished her bread and avocado salad with an appreciative sigh. She could eat that every day of the year. “So you didn’t answer my question. About dating.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  “No, you didn’t. I was paying attention.”

  “What does dating mean to you?”

  “I’m kind of a Luddite about these things, but I’ve heard there’s a thing called Sharing Calendars.”

  “Oh, now who’s doing the sexy talk?”

  Jennifer preened. “The goal would be to make a Venn diagram with all the times I am free and all the times you are free and what overlaps in the middle is us, dating.”

  Suzanne paused with a bite of ham halfway to her mouth. “Holy tennis balls, I love you.”

  Her laughter faded. “No you don’t.”

  A slow smile crossed Suzanne’s face. “I think I do.”

  “I think I love you,” Jennifer said. “I think I always have, but it wasn’t enough to change the last twenty years. So what do I know about love?”

  “I do know that it takes failure to succeed.” She reached across the table to stroke the back of Jennifer’s hand. “And I’d rather think about the next twenty years.”

  All the air went out of Jennifer’s chest. “Okay. That’s not dating, that’s more like commitment.”

  “In that case…” Suzanne pulled the twist tie off the bag of rolls and wrapped it around her thumb to make a circle. She held out the result. “There, I’m putting a ring on it.”

  Jennifer gestured at the Tiffany’s box. “Well, with these riches I’d be a fool to say no.”

  “To what?”

  Jennifer played back their conversation in h
er head. “I lost track. Dating?”

  “Commitment.”

  “Commitment.” She let Suzanne slip the twist tie onto her ring finger. “You know, I really don’t care, but if word gets out you landed me with a Lego bracelet and a twist tie ring, you’re going to be hashtag Suzanne Mason is cheap.” She touched a knuckle on the back of Suzanne’s hand. “But I know I can have you for the price of a hot dog.”

  Suzanne turned Jennifer’s hand over and traced a line along her palm. “Now that we’ve at least started the hard part what about the easy part?”

  “God yes. For the record, I really love it when you ask.”

  Suzanne’s eyes narrowed. “I would really like to take you to bed.”

  Jennifer licked her lips. “Maybe I like it even better when you tell me.”

  “I remember that about you.” Her grip tightened on Jennifer’s hand as she pulled her to her feet. “Leave the dishes.”

  The moment the door was closed Suzanne kissed her with tenderness and rising heat. Jennifer hadn’t forgotten the feel of Suzanne’s lips on hers and how quickly they ignited her passion. She pushed Suzanne away long enough to strip off her own shirt.

  “You really know how to make me crazy.”

  Jennifer’s laugh was weak with desire as Suzanne’s hands swept over her bare back. “Whatever it is we’re doing here I’m an absolute virgin. It feels like I’ve never done this before but I make sense with you.” She hissed as Suzanne’s touch grew firmer.

  “You know this isn’t just about your body.” Suzanne’s hands slipped down the back of Jennifer’s jeans, sending fireworks of shivers up her spine. “But right now, it’s about your body.”

  Jennifer snaked her fingers into Suzanne’s hair and pulled her mouth down for a hungry kiss of half-spoken words and shared air.

  By the time they reached the bed Suzanne had only her shirt on. Jennifer swatted away Suzanne’s hands as she tried to pull Jennifer down on top of her.

  “Not yet.” Jennifer’s fingers went to Suzanne’s buttons. “I’m not going to be the only one naked.”

  “You still have my gigantic sexy socks on.”

  “Do you want me to take them off?”

  “I want everything off,” Suzanne said hoarsely. “I love you naked in my bed. I want to hold you tight and hold you down and enjoy the way you feel against me.”

  Jennifer brushed her lips at Suzanne’s ear. “Yes.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to hurt you.”

  “You know I’m not fragile.” She pulled Suzanne’s hands to her breasts. “You’ve always wanted me to be strong.”

  “Yes,” Suzanne said. “Show me. Show me how you’re strong.”

  Epilogue

  Eight Months Later

  Selena Ryan’s voice seemed to come from far away. “This is the life,” she said with a sleepy but heartfelt sigh.

  Suzanne shaded her eyes so she could see her. Basking in the sun in shorts and a tank top, Lena looked about to doze off. Suzanne herself wasn’t far behind her. “I told you so. You didn’t have to wait until we were announcing Parity in Film’s first grant awards to make the drive.”

  Lena shifted slightly on the chaise lounge. “Now you’re not going to be able to get rid of any of us.”

  A child’s shriek of laughter was accompanied by a loud splash and Suzanne rolled her head the other direction to look toward the pool. Hyde Butler, standing in waist-deep water, scooped up his eldest daughter and tossed her back into the pool a few feet away from him, then waded over to make sure the water wings she wore brought her to the surface quickly. Both of them seemed to have endless energy.

  At the nearer end of the pool, where the awning provided shade, Suzanne’s father was supervising the middle girl as she bobbed up and down in a toddler-sized floater. The Butlers’ nanny was reading a book and keeping a watchful eye on the infant tucked into a portable playpen while Hyde’s wife, Emma, was having a much-needed nap.

  Winter breezes off the coast of La Jolla were cool and damp, but February had been a month of sunshine. The hibiscus in the garden was in glorious bloom, and Suzanne loved that the poppies were already showing their golden-orange blossoms around the base of the nearest cypress tree. The patio’s terra-cotta tile was still cool underfoot, but the sun was trying to make up for it.

  The large awning that filtered the sunlight let through enough to warm Suzanne’s skin and make her drowsy. But every nerve in her body woke up when she heard the light tap tap of sandals. Jennifer was home.

  She swung up out of the chaise just as Jennifer tossed her phone onto the table with all the others as her entrance fee to the pool area. Emma was on to something with the Phone Quarantine Zone.

  Jennifer, already clad in a swimsuit and cover-up, snuggled close for a kiss. “Hello you.”

  “Was the drive awful?”

  “No, and the last loop is done. After all the issues yesterday we got it in two takes.” Her crimson bikini, as far as Suzanne was concerned, made life worth living. “Clementine called while I was on the road and she’s bringing a package with her this afternoon to the hotel, ready for signature. Australian Zombie Hunters here I come.”

  “Congratulations!” She hugged her close. Jennifer’s decision to sign with Clementine Molokomme’s agency had freed her from the endless anxiety that BeBe LaTour had fed. She personally loved Clementine’s respectful, pragmatic style and Jennifer was certainly pleased that voiceover and animation work had gone up, not down. “That and the remake of North by Northwest means you’re going to be a busy woman.”

  Jennifer squeezed Suzanne’s arm as they walked toward the cluster of chaises. “It’s enough.” She made a show of stepping around the tile that had tripped her into Suzanne’s arms not quite a year ago. “It’s finally enough.”

  Annemarie appeared from the direction of the kitchen with a plate of strawberries and a bottle of wine, which she handed to Suzanne. Her gaze on Jennifer she said, “Open this before something bad happens, like a corkscrew slips and cuts someone’s head off.”

  Jennifer’s voice was sticky sweet. “Bitch.”

  “I know I am but what are you?”

  “Language!” Lena called. “There are small people here.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jennifer said. “I meant to say ‘Bless your heart.’”

  Annemarie laughed and Suzanne relaxed. The more time the two of them spent together the less wary Annemarie seemed to be. Having a foundation to run where Annemarie got to do whatever she wanted made Annemarie a very happy woman.

  Jennifer dropped gratefully onto the lounger next to Gail, who wanted a recap of her experience with a director Gail would be working with in the fall.

  “You know it’s really not fair,” Annemarie said to Suzanne. “All that and she’s happy?”

  “I happen to think it’s totally fair.”

  “You would.”

  Suzanne set the unopened bottle on the sideboard and pointed at the lovely chardonnay that was already uncorked. “We can’t finish this before we have to leave. Drink what’s open.”

  “You are so cheap. I should tweet about how cheap you are.”

  “We’re about to give away ten million dollars, and I’m taking it out of your wine budget.” She wagged a finger at Annemarie as she returned to her lounger.

  “Somebody else made that decision, but I thought we were an autonomous collective,” Jennifer was saying to Gail. “I thought we all took turns acting as an executive officer for the week.”

  Gail immediately continued the Holy Grail riff. “But all the decisions of that officer…”

  Suzanne murmured to Lena, “They’re adorable, aren’t they?”

  “Agreed. You’ve certainly increased Jennifer’s Nerd Quotient.”

  “Is that a compliment?”

  “Up to you.” Lena swiped a finger through the condensation on the outside of her iced tea and dabbed the cool drops onto her forehead. “I may end up in the pool after all. Oh, been meaning to ask you a questi
on.”

  “Go for it.”

  “So what do you think the real truth is about that thriller that recast Jennifer’s part?”

  Suzanne sighed. “Exactly what everyone else thinks—three days after she comes out the star of one of the surprise hits of the summer isn’t ‘the right direction for the part’? Please. But their loss. And the superhero franchise’s gain.” She didn’t bother to hide a gloating smile.

  Lena stretched and shifted onto her side. “I’m not saying she didn’t earn the part because she’ll make a badass bad guy, but I know the producer and he was happy to make his feelings about discrimination clear one more time. He’d already threatened to boycott an entire state, though, so it wasn’t like he needed to boost his credibility with anyone. Jennifer was a great cast for them. As you say, their gain, and the producer seemed to appreciate that.”

  Suzanne grinned as Hyde settled his daughter on his shoulders and they played sea monster. “Be careful,” she called out. “It starts to get deeper right about there.”

  “We are invincible.” Hyde added a roar but it ended as a yelp when the little girl grabbed a handful of his hair to keep her balance.

  Lena had turned her head to watch Gail and Jennifer chatting like the best of friends. “Wonders never cease. Must be the sunshine and the hospitality. Thanks again.”

  “What’s the point of living in something the size of a small hotel if you can’t fill it with people you like?” Somewhere in the last few months the house had gone from her preferred place to spend her nights to simply “home.” It had been easy to make room for Jennifer, though they spent a number of nights at her place in LA. If they wanted to quickly and easily disconnect from everyone and everything, the house in Santa Cruz was waiting, and there was always some of her dad’s barbecue tucked in the freezer.

  Emma Butler was shaking off a yawn as she emerged from the cabana. “Time to feed Bethany. I’ll be back in a while.” The nanny immediately scooped up the infant and the two women disappeared into the house.

  Annemarie sat down at the nearest edge of the pool and dangled her legs in the water. “So how much did you love that Variety article calling you Jennifer Lamont’s girlfriend Susan Macy?”