Chasing Mercury

by Kimberly Cooper Griffin

  “I’m shooting for tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Good. Good. I want to hear all about your adventure. You had me worried sick, girl.”

  “Sorry, Aunt Mace.” Nora hated to have put undue stress on her aunt who didn’t need anything more to weaken her immune system. She couldn’t wait to get home just so she could hug her.

  “No sorry necessary. As long as I can see you soon. I miss you,” said Aunt Mace, her voice was softer.

  “I miss you, too.”

  “Well, I gotta go. The crones’ society is descending upon the house, waiting for me to hand them their asses in a friendly game. Call me when you know when you’ll be back.”

  Nora pictured Aunt Mace at the head of the old Formica-topped kitchen table, Ship and Elphie at either elbow, each holding their cards close to their chests, sipping strong coffee—a little whiskey added to the brew in Ship’s cup—as they harped at each other incessantly until one or more of them threw down their cards in disgust. Just another card game at Aunt Mace’s place. Nora smiled.

  “I will Aunt Mace. Give them hell. I know you will. Love you.”

  “Love you more.”

  Nora ended the call to the sound of Ship’s loud laugh in the background. Despite the way Aunt Mace had led the conversation, she had sounded frail on the phone. Nora walked back into the bedroom full of worry and tossed her phone onto the huge bed. She’d never forgive herself if the stress of the crash caused her aunt to get sicker. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but the blame would have to go somewhere.

  Nora stripped out of her clothes and padded into the bathroom. The shower felt like a miracle. The spa-inspired scents of the shampoo and body wash rinsed away the smells of the forest, and the hot water penetrated her sore muscles. Getting the knots out of her hair made her feel human again.

  When Nora emerged from the shower, she felt like a new woman. With the dirt of the past several days washed away, her head was clear and her spirits were a little better. She was still tired, though, and the bed looked inviting. However, despite her weariness, Nora couldn’t wait to see 4B again. She just hoped 4B was still up for company. Even if it was just to curl around each other and fall into a feather comforter coma. She wasn’t surprised she missed her, but the depth of it was a revelation. She really cared for 4B. And it went beyond responsibility. Beyond friendship. Beyond the simple attraction of new passion. She’d been there before with other women, but this was new, and the uncertainty of where their new relationship was going scared the hell out of her. A flood of what ifs tried to fill her head as she stood in her hotel robe and finished brushing her damp hair, contemplating the bags of new clothes, wondering what to wear. Jeans? Sweats? Pajamas? The airline really hadn’t held back when they tried to anticipate their needs.

  The room phone rang.

  “This is Nora Kavendash,” she said, putting on her business voice to answer the phone. She knew who it was. The caller ID displayed 4B’s room number.

  “You sound so… professional,” replied the familiar voice.

  “Habit, I guess.” Nora laughed, feeling silly for her greeting. 4B didn’t sound distant. It was a good sign. “In my real life, I answer a lot of phone calls.”

  “Do you make house calls in your real life?” asked 4B. Her voice dropped to a lower tone. Goosebumps rose on Nora’s arms.

  “Only for special customers,” replied Nora, feeling the proximity of 4B on the other side of the wall. She wondered what she was wearing.

  “I hope you didn’t bother to get gussied up for me. I’m in my jammies,” said 4B, reading her mind. Did that mean 4B was going to cancel their dinner plans?

  “Sounds comfy. They didn’t miss a thing, did they?” asked Nora, trying not to sound too disappointed. She pulled her own pair of classic striped pajamas from the bag sporting the fancy underwear store logo.

  “Nope.”

  There was a silence and Nora wondered if 4B was still on the line. She wanted to ask her to come over but didn’t want to appear too needy.

  “Are you still there?” asked Nora.

  “Yes. Why are you still over there? Come over. I miss you.”

  The words sent a shiver through Nora, and she heard a knock on a door that she hadn’t noticed before on the other side of the front room. It was camouflaged by wallpaper. It connected her room to 4B’s. When Nora pulled it open, 4B was standing on the other side, adorable with her damp hair and pajamas that had yellow ducks all over them. The other room was a mirror image of the one in which she stood.

  Nora had thought 4B beautiful before, but with all of the grit washed away, and her damp hair brushed back, standing there all fresh and glowing, she took Nora’s breath away.

  Nora hung up and tossed the cordless phone onto the seat of a chair, followed by her pajamas. She didn’t think she’d need them now.

  “I was worried you would want to be alone tonight,” she said, reducing the gap between them.

  “Are you kidding? With you on the other side of this door? With all of the room there is in these incredible beds? Maybe you didn’t hear me before. I missed you.”

  4B’s green eyes flashed in the low lighting of the room, growing steadily darker the nearer Nora got to her. When they were within a breath of one another, Nora took the phone that dangled in 4B’s hand and dropped it onto a nearby couch, closing the final inches between them.

  “I missed you, too,” said Nora, and she wrapped 4B in her arms, kissing her softly.

  4B pushed her hands into Nora’s robe, opening it, wrapping her arms around Nora’s naked torso. Nora shivered at the feel of 4B’s fingers skimming over her skin. She squeezed 4B to her, her kiss becoming more insistent. She began to walk 4B backward, toward the nearest piece of furniture, her only intent to be close to her again.

  The long hours of the day had been draining, emotionally and physically. They had endured examinations, interviews, and the reliving of the accident and their subsequent survival in the wild. It had been torture to go through all of it again and again and not be able to touch. 4B’s kiss drew her into another world, though, and Nora felt the return of the closeness that had been the center of their world the night before. She was impatient to let 4B know she missed her, too.

  Even as she gloried in the feel of 4B in her arms, a thread of apprehension tried to steal her dream. What did 4B’s unknown life contain? How would it shape their future? Not that Nora had thought much about a future. The circumstances of their union made it difficult to believe in permanency. But hope flared within her, even as the thought gave her heart a mean twist. She refused to think about it. The present moment was all that counted. Her hands became insistent. She unbuttoned the top of 4B’s pajamas and cradled her breasts as their kiss became more urgent.

  4B moaned into her mouth just as the back of her legs hit the edge of the sofa. She fell back. Nora held the back of 4B’s head and fell with her. When they were lying down, her mouth moved from 4B’s lips to the velvet tip of one of her nipples. 4B moaned again and Nora sighed as the pliant skin grow firm in her mouth. A pulse of desire tightened her core. Nora pressed against 4B’s thigh, her need driving her actions.

  The sound of a chime filled the room and Nora barely registered it above the rush of desire compelling her. The chime sounded again. 4B laughed. Gentle hands led Nora’s lips from the warm breast that consumed Nora’s attention.

  “Dinner,” whispered 4B, and Nora groaned against 4B’s chest. The soft skin of 4B’s breasts against Nora’s face still claimed her attention, but the insistent chime sounded again.

  “Room service,” called a voice from the hall.

  “Just a second!” Nora shouted distractedly at the unsuspecting intruder.

  With an aching reluctance she stood and offered 4B her hand. 4B laughed again as she took it, and once up, she kissed Nora as she started for the door. It was Nora’s turn to laugh. She pulled 4B back and pointed to her unbuttoned top.

  “I think you need to do something about that. I’ll ge
t the door unless you want to give the food service person a different kind of tip.”

  4B looked down, and Nora witnessed the pink hue, which had started as passion on her chest, deepen and rise up her neck. Nora couldn’t resist one more kiss before she answered the door while 4B buttoned up.

  Dinner was wonderful.

  After days of meager rations in the woods, followed by limp hospital fare, the food 4B had ordered from the hotel’s four-star restaurant was like manna. The entrees of lightly seasoned and grilled-to-perfection New York strip and cashew-encrusted salmon were amazing. Unashamed, they ate every bite, sharing from each other’s plates. In similar fashion, the sides of scalloped potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and braised asparagus tips were nearly gone when they pushed their plates away, unable to eat another bite.

  Nora swung her leg up, crooked it so she sat with her back against the arm of the sofa, and faced 4B. She eyed the decadent chocolate dessert sitting untouched next to the half-finished complimentary bottle of champagne the hotel had sent up with their meal. It would have to wait. She had no more room left in her stomach.

  “We should have started with dessert.” Nora rubbed her belly.

  “I can truly say I ate like I hadn’t eaten in days,” said 4B, patting her own stomach.

  “I’ll never take a decent meal for granted again.”

  “It all seems like a bad dream, doesn’t it?” asked 4B, resting a hand on Nora’s leg, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

  Nora studied 4B’s profile. She admired the straight line of her nose, lingered over her defined jawline, and took in her smooth face, marred only by the much smaller bandage Dr. Warren had applied to the healing wound on her forehead. Nora was pleased when the Dr. had praised her treatment of the wound, predicting the scaring would be minimal. But it was the pulse at the base of 4B’s throat that captivated Nora. She could almost feel it fluttering against her lips.

  “Yes, it does,” agreed Nora a beat later than she should have, barely remembering she was supposed to respond.

  They were quiet for another moment and Nora enjoyed the warm imprint of 4B’s hand on her thigh.

  “I’m afraid of what I’m going to find out about… things,” said 4B, breaking the easy silence.

  “When you regain your memory?” asked Nora. She reached down to touch the hand on her leg and watched her own fingers trace the outlines of 4B’s fingers.

  “Yeah,” said 4B, opening her eyes and looking down at their hands.

  “If you had to guess, what do you think you’ll find out?” asked Nora, venturing into the subject she was so afraid of herself.

  4B withdrew her hand and sat up, pulling her legs under herself. She faced Nora.

  “That’s just the thing. I honestly don’t know. I look in the mirror and I know it’s me, and I know stuff about certain things, but I don’t know how I know it, like the medical stuff when the doctor was examining me and talking to me about my wound, the MRI and ultrasounds. She didn’t need to dumb it down for me, and I was aware of that. Thank you, by the way. You did a great job of preventing infection and excessive scarring,” said 4B, reaching up and touching the small, white bandage. “And when I went to the bathroom earlier and two women were standing at the sink speaking Spanish I knew what they were saying and responded to them in Spanish like it was my first language. Maybe it is, who knows? But everything else is a great big blank.”

  “You speak fluent Spanish?”

  “Apparently.”

  “That’s hot,” said Nora.

  “Yeah, right,” replied 4B sounding unconvinced. “I can speak another language, but I don’t recognize my own name.”

  Nora ignored the self-derision.

  “You’re smart, no matter what you remember. It’s obvious. And it is hot,” said Nora, running a hand down 4B’s calf. “I have to admit I have a hard time thinking of you as anything other than 4B, though. The name Grace just doesn’t want to come from my mouth.”

  “I know. Grace Trackton. Grace Trackton,” repeated 4B, sampling the sound as if it were strange even to her. “It doesn’t sound familiar. It doesn’t feel like my name. It doesn’t jar any memories loose for me, either.”

  “You know, maybe you have someone else’s boarding pass. You could have picked it up off the floor, or you could have been holding it for someone,” suggested Nora, trying to come up with a plausible alternative.

  “The ID in the purse they found proves it’s me. It was definitely my face in the picture.”

  “I forgot about that. I wonder why they haven’t found your family yet,” said Nora.

  “They’d tell me if they knew anything. Don’t you think?”

  “Yes, I think they would,” agreed Nora.

  They sat for a moment, each lost in their own private thoughts.

  “Nora?” asked 4B, and Nora looked up from her musings. “What happens if I find out I’m someone I don’t want to be?”

  The question surprised Nora. She scooted closer to 4B.

  “Like who?” asked Nora.

  “I don’t know… there are so many possibilities. But the one thing I keep thinking about is, what if… what if I already have someone?”

  Nora’s stomach dropped. Their ordeal had kept the real world at bay. She knew there was a possibility, but now that it was said out loud, it somehow made it more possible.

  “Do you feel like you do?”

  “Honestly? No. Not at all. But…”

  “But…?”

  “But, what if I do? When I’m with you, I feel right. It’s weird. It’s as if there’s something so… I don’t know… essential about it. About us. But at the same time, I have this sense that I have to look over my shoulder.”

  “For a lover or a husband or something like that?”

  Nora asked it casually, but inside her guts twisted at the possibilities.

  4B seemed to give the suggestions some thought, which didn’t provide much comfort to Nora, who waited, barely breathing.

  “No. It’s more like I did something wrong and I’m not sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll caught.”

  Despite the fear 4B might belong in someone else’s life, Nora leaned closer and kissed her shoulder. She’d face whatever it was when it became a reality. Until then, she wanted to support 4B and take advantage of the time they had. She tried to lighten the mood.

  “Maybe you’re really some sort of conservative, right-wing, church-type. Someone who might be in for a whopper of a surprise when your memory comes back,” teased Nora.

  “How can you be so sure I’m not this conservative type you speak of?” asked 4B with a playful smile. Nora was happy to see the worry lines on her forehead smooth.

  “I know for a fact there is no way it could be true.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, for example, there’s this thing you do with your tongue—”

  “My tongue?” 4B leaned closer and her eyes darkened. Her hands snaked into the front of Nora’s robe and opened it. Nora’s sex clenched at the way 4B’s eyes devoured her breasts.

  “Yes, your tongue.” Nora turned so she was sitting back against the couch and pulled 4B toward her so she straddled her lap.

  “And what is it I do with my tongue that you like so much?” 4B’s hands were now poised on the sofa back on either side of Nora’s head and her eyes bored into Nora as her hips moved suggestively.

  “You do this thing where you take me to the edge when you have me in your mouth and you wind me up until I explode into a million pieces.”

  “Oh, that thing. I thought you meant this,” said 4B as she lowered her head and took one of Nora’s nipples into her mouth. Nora dropped her head back against the couch and sucked air between her teeth.

  “Oh, that, too,” she moaned. “See what I mean? You are far too talented to be a novice at pleasing women, darlin’,” replied Nora, lifting her head and running her hands up and down 4B’s sides, slowing to trace the swells at the sides of her breasts. 4B sat up and pressed he
r center into Nora’s lap.

  “You think so, do you?” asked 4B. She leaned into Nora with a pleased smile and nuzzled her neck. “I am seriously happy to hear you say that. I hope you mean it.”

  “Oh, I mean it,” said Nora, tilting her head to give 4B more space to work with. 4B had an amazing talent for hitting all of her favorite spots, and some new ones she didn’t know she had. Every one sent a path of fire to her core. Her next words were breathless. “That thing you’re currently doing? Expert workmanship.”

  “This just feels so right,” murmured 4B, pulling Nora’s head toward her to kiss her mouth. Nora couldn’t agree more.

  The next morning began earlier than Nora wanted. 4B’s bedside phone rang at 8:00 AM, waking them both from the kind of sleep that only comes from a long night of making love. Nora snuggled against 4B as she eavesdropped on her side of the conversation. It was the airline. They had been expecting the call, but both of them wanted all of the meetings and interviews to be over. Nora wondered if they had found 4B’s family.

  She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and listened to 4B make plans for the airline to send a car around to get them in an hour. As 4B hung up, the phone in Nora’s room began to ring through the door adjoining their rooms, which still stood wide open. Of course, the airline didn’t know they were sharing a bed, so they were calling her now. She thought about letting it go to message, but she reluctantly got up and went to her room to answer it.

  When she came back to 4B’s room minutes later, wrapped in another hotel robe, 4B was still in bed. She sat with her back against the headboard, sheet pulled up to her chest, and a sour look on her face.

  “I want all of this to be over,” she said.

  “I know you don’t mean this,” said Nora, crawling up the bed from the foot, kissing a trail to 4B’s throat, starting at the exposed skin at the top of the sheet just above her breasts.

  4B responded by sliding down onto her back and pulling Nora on top of her.

  “I want to make you come at least one more time before the real world claims us today,” whispered 4B into Nora’s ear, as she slipped her hand into the open front of Nora’s robe, sliding her fingers over Nora’s ready center.