The remainder of the packaging fell away at her feet as she stared at the framed painting in her hands, looking awed as her gaze moved from the painting to Julia and back again before resting on Julia.
Julia smiled. “Do you like it?”
Maddie smiled back, her eyes filling with tears. “Like it? I love it. It’s beautiful. I’ve never had anything like this. Why did you do this?”
“I know you love art, but I noticed you didn’t have any. Why don’t you have any?”
Maddie inhaled deeply and slowly. “I was raised to believe that spending money on things like art, music, film and theater were an unnecessary extravagance.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
“No, of course not.”
“Your mother?” Julia asked.
“Yes. She got angry with me when she stopped by once and noticed that I had fresh flowers in here. I lied and told her they were going to throw them out at work. It was easier to hide my love of so many things than to have to listen to her go on and on about it.” Maddie looked at the painting and smiled. “But not anymore.”
Julia smiled. “I want you to have beautiful things around you.”
“I have you,” Maddie whispered.
Julia stared at Maddie, thinking how sweet and loving she was, despite the misguided influences of her mother. “I want you to know what it can be to have all the art, music and dancing, and weird little art house films that you want.”
“You remember I like those?”
“I remember everything you’ve told me including that love shouldn’t be conditional.”
Maddie wiped away a stray tear. “It shouldn’t and it has never felt that way with you.”
Julia smiled. “Because it never was and it never will be.”
◆◆◆
Maddie placed one call on hold while she answered another, the Excel worksheet on her computer screen left unattended once again. She tried to handle the phone request as someone handed her a folder that apparently needed her immediate attention. She dropped it in front of her and rubbed her forehead. The only good thing about this Monday morning was that she didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on how much she missed Julia.
Having to say good-bye to Julia the previous afternoon had been as difficult as she had been afraid it was going to be. They had both cried and then laughed as they told each other there was nothing to cry about. They had spoken twice since then, but Maddie still missed her, knowing that she would not see Julia again until Friday at the earliest.
Maddie took care of the calls and leaned back in her chair, recalling their weekend, starting with the dancing, meeting Maria for lunch, the art gallery and hanging the painting that Julia had bought her in Maddie’s bedroom. Maddie wanted it to be the last thing she saw at night and the first thing she saw in the morning.
Julia had insisted on letting Gabriel pick the dinner venue that evening and his favorite spot was a hipster taqueria with loud eclectic music. Dinner had been a meal of guacamole, chips, tacos and beer and the three of them had talked and laughed throughout the simple but delicious meal. Maddie had caught herself imagining that this was what her life could be all the time. She had been toying with a plan for some time now, too afraid to take the final steps to put it into motion. Watching Julia drink beer from a bottle as she and Gabriel laughed together was the moment that Maddie found the last bit of courage that she needed.
She picked up the folder still needing her attention and opened it, but she could not concentrate so she closed it. She looked at the spreadsheet on her computer screen and then looked up at the ceiling. Her mind whirled with a thousand different thoughts concerning the tasks in front of her, as well as her son, her family and what was best for her. Maddie was not accustomed to putting herself first or simply doing what she wanted to do. One thought rose to the top of all the turmoil of thoughts in her head and settled gently over the rest, quieting her mind and making her smile. That thought was Julia.
◆◆◆
Julia paced slowly in the conference room she used as an office, gazing out the windows at the harbor with one of her own business cards in her hand. One of her realtors was at a desk up front talking quietly on the phone and she heard the bell of the front door jingle. She looked up to see Vivienne walk in and stop short.
“Are you alright?” Vivienne asked.
“Yeah, why?” Julia asked.
“You’ve not checked your e-mail or answered your phone,” Vivienne said to her with an impatient tone.
Julia had been lost in thought for a good part of the morning and hadn’t thought to check either. “Oh, I’m sorry. Really sorry, Vivie. Is there a problem?”
Vivienne smiled at her mother. “No. We got an offer on the Maple Street property.”
“Oh, good, that’s great. Can you take care of the follow-up on that?” Julia couldn’t seem to concentrate on business and knew that Vivie could handle it.
“Sure, but I thought you’d be thrilled. We haven’t had a bite on that listing.”
“I am,” Julia said, looking again at the business card in her hand. “Do you think we need a new logo? Maybe a slightly more modern look for us?”
Vivienne cocked her head. “Is there something wrong with the logo we have now?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about asking Maddie to take a look at it. She does graphic design and I saw some work she did for a friend of her brother’s and it was good, really good. Maybe she could just give ours a slight update, if she’d be willing.”
Vivienne laughed lightly. “Oh, I’m pretty sure Maddie would be willing to do absolutely anything for you.”
Julia looked at her daughter. “You think so?”
“Don’t you?”
Julia inhaled deeply and shrugged. “I’d really like to think so, but I don’t know.”
“Did something happen over the weekend?”
Julia shook her head. “Not really, except me realizing that I would like to be with Maddie…all the time and to the end of time.” Julia turned away from her daughter, suddenly feeling ridiculous for saying something that foolishly romantic. Julia liked to think of herself as practical and pragmatic, and was never overly dramatic or emotional. When she turned back around she saw Vivienne staring at her, her eyebrows high and her mouth open.
“Are you serious?” Vivienne asked as she walked around the table to her mother and pushed her down into a chair, sitting beside her. “You’ve really lost your head over Maddie, haven’t you?”
Julia shook her head and snorted. “Or maybe I’ve lost my mind.”
Vivienne smiled widely. “Maybe you’ve lost your heart?”
“Maybe I have,” Julia said quietly.
“Have you told Maddie how you feel?”
Julia looked at her daughter and blinked rapidly, trying to stave off the tears quickly forming. “She knows I’m in love with her but that’s all I’ve said. I don’t want to freak her out and I’m afraid to get my hopes up. You saw what it did to me after we stopped seeing each other.”
Vivienne sighed. “Are you doing that thing you always tell me…about keeping expectations within reason?” Julia nodded as Vivienne rolled her eyes. “Well, stop it because it’s stupid and it sucks.”
“Vivienne!” Julia looked at her daughter in surprise.
“Sorry, but that’s not an awfully positive way to look at life, Mom. I would much rather expect the best and so should you. You should expect that Maddie feels the same way you do and that everything will work out the way you want it to.”
“Easier said than done.”
“I know it is, but open your heart, Mom. I know it’s been stomped on in the past. Whose hasn’t? Just please stop expecting the worst. The worst has already happened to you…and you came out on the other side just fine.”
Julia nodded. “I’m scared, Vivie.”
“Of what?”
Julia sighed. “Deb said something to me after the first time Maddie and I were together and I had
n’t heard from her. Deb said that it may have meant something to Maddie, but that it meant everything to me. I don’t want to be just something to her, Vivie, I want to be everything to her.”
“Then be everything to her, Mom. Be here, be willing, be open. Let things happen, but expect the best. Try to relax and play it cool.”
Julia decided that maybe Vivienne was right and that her attitude or maybe her outlook did need some improving. Julia would try to take a lesson from Maddie and start to look at things differently. Maddie always seemed to be positive and upbeat, even after being raised by a woman as rigid and controlling as her mother. Julia remembered what Maddie had told her about hesitating to have fresh flowers around her to avoid her mother’s criticism.
Julia picked up her phone and smiled at her daughter. “I’m going to send Maddie some flowers.”
Vivienne laughed softly. “Way to play it cool, Mom.”
Julia laughed with her. “Shut up. I love you, Vivie. Thanks.”
◆◆◆
Maddie sat at the busy deli, waiting for Steven to join her for lunch. She stared at a list of pros and cons she had meticulously typed up and had been studying all morning. She was not staring at it to make a decision, but she was still surprised at how much longer the pros list was than the cons list. She put it down when Steven slid into the booth on the other side of her. He smiled widely as he noticed his favorite sandwich was waiting for him.
“Thank you, you’re a doll. So, what’s going on?”
“I need to talk to you about something,” she said quietly.
“Are you going to tell me about the rest of your Friday night?” He lifted an eyebrow.
Maddie smiled. “Sure. After we left the Marriott we went to my place and had mind-blowing sex all night,” Maddie said.
He choked on the sip of water he had just taken and stared at her, wide-eyed. Maddie was never this blunt or honest and he was obviously taken aback. “Holy shit, Mads. Okay. How was the rest of the weekend?”
“Life altering.”
“How?”
“We had breakfast with Maria, so they could meet and I held her hand as we walked in, in front of a ton of people who know me and my family. It was such a little thing but…”
He smiled. “I understand.”
“We went to an art gallery and she hesitated to kiss me. I told her if she wanted to kiss me she should.”
“And did she?” He asked smiling.
Maddie could feel herself blushing. “Yes.”
“You blush about the kiss, but not about the mind-blowing sex?” He teased.
Maddie shrugged. “Julia bought me a painting I admired at the art gallery. Just like that, I liked it and she bought it for me. Then we went home in the middle of the afternoon for more…mind-blowing sex.” She smiled at Steven. “Gabe was supposed to stay at Maria and Enzo’s, but she insisted that Gabe spend the evening with us. She took us out to that little Mexican place Gabe likes. We had tacos and beer for dinner and they were like two peas in a pod. That night there was more…”
“Mind-blowing sex?” He asked smiling.
“No. Slow, hot romantic sex. I cried when she left yesterday.”
Steven’s eyebrows had climbed high on his forehead and his mouth was open. “Mads, what’s gotten into you?”
“I’m completely in love with Julia.”
“Yes, I suspected as much.”
“And I want to be with her all the time.”
He smiled. “I’m happy for you. What are you going to do?”
“I’ve already done it, Steven, but I need you to tell me that I’m not completely crazy.”
He leaned forward and took one of her hands in his. “What did you do?” he whispered.
She looked around nervously and leaned forward as she whispered quietly to him for a moment. When she finished he leaned back and smiled widely.
“Oh, Mads, you’re not crazy at all.”
After lunch, Steven walked Maddie back to her office, but he stopped short outside of the glass doors leading to the VP’s reception area where her desk was located. He smiled widely.
“Well, I think you’re not the only one getting serious.”
Maddie turned to see what he was talking about and gasped. There was a large vase of red roses sitting on her desk. She walked through the doors and simply stared at the roses for a long moment, slightly overwhelmed by the romantic gesture. Steven nudged her gently.
“The card, Mads, read the card.”
Maddie reached for the envelope and realized that her hands were shaking as she tore it open. The card was a depiction of a Georgia O’Keefe painting. She opened the card and gasped.
“Jesus, tell me what it says,” Steven prodded.
“It’s a quote by Georgia O’Keefe. ‘I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore.’ Maddie, I could spend my life in the pleasure of exploring you.”
“Holy shit, Mads, that woman is gone over you.”
Maddie smiled. “Yeah, well I’m pretty gone over her, too.”
Chapter 20
Maddie smiled as she watched Julia take a cleansing breath and slightly move away from her in the kitchen while she drank deeply from a glass of water. Maddie had only just arrived at Julia’s and the sexual tension between them was almost overwhelming. Julia hadn’t even waited for Maddie to come into the house, but had simply run out the front door to meet Maddie in the driveway. They had held each other in a close embrace, both of them hanging on to each other tightly.
“God, I’ve missed you,” Maddie had finally whispered after long moments.
“Not as much as I’ve missed you,” Julia had whispered back.
They had gone into the house and spent long minutes kissing and groping each other in the foyer, but Eleanor was due off the bus in a few minutes so they had gone into the kitchen for water as she and Maddie tried to cool their raging libidos.
Maddie noticed that Julia was smiling. “Why are you smiling?”
Julia’s smile widened. “I’m so happy you’re here and…and I like knowing that you want me as badly as I want you.”
Maddie smiled as she rubbed her forehead, trying not to think of how good Julia felt in her arms. “Trust me, I want you more.”
“I do…trust you.” Julia cleared her throat. “And you won’t have to wait as long as you think to have me.”
“Waiting has never been the problem as long as you’re the reward.”
Julia smiled. “Good to know.”
The front door opened. “Maddie, where are you?” Maddie heard Norie’s excited voice and she smiled as she rushed into the hallway to greet Julia’s daughter. Maddie picked her up and Norie giggled as she was swung around in Maddie’s arms.
Maddie watched Julia pretend to pout and cross her arms. “Hi, Mom, I've missed you so much, too. My day at school was really interesting,” Julia teased in a singsong voice.
Norie smiled at Maddie and then rolled her eyes at her mother as she headed straight for her, hugging her. “Hi Mom, I did miss you, but not as much as I missed Maddie because I’ve seen you every day. Is that okay?”
Julia smiled and nodded. “I can live with that.”
“And the most interesting thing at school today was Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.”
Julia kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Thank you for sharing, although I have no idea what that is.”
Eleanor turned to Maddie. “And we talked about To Kill a Mockingbird today and after class Ms. Vaz said she was impressed by my grasp of the adult perspective juxtaposed with Scout’s childish ignorance. That was thanks to you, Maddie. So, thanks.”
Maddie smiled as she looked at Julia. “I have never said the word juxtaposed in my entire life.” She turned to Eleanor. “You’re welcome.”
Maddie and Eleanor were Facebook friends and they chatted online often. What Maddie had not admitted to anyone is that she had done some research on the Harper Lee novel so she could keep up with
the bright girl. Maddie loved that she and Norie had their own relationship, that Julia allowed her that kind of access to her daughter.
“Go get your stuff together, sweetie, so you won’t be late,” Julia said to her daughter.
Maddie looked at Julia as Eleanor ran upstairs. “Where is she going?”
Julia moved close to Maddie, not touching her but leaning in, her lips close to Maddie’s ear. “She’s going to her father’s in about an hour. I would never have let things get that far in the foyer if I had to wait the rest of the day to have you.” Julia softly licked Maddie’s earlobe.
Maddie groaned softly at Julia’s teasing. “You will pay for that, Julia Sinclair.”
Julia laughed softly. “I’m counting on it.”
◆◆◆
Julia crawled slowly over Maddie’s naked form and nestled herself between Maddie’s legs, Maddie’s warm wetness spreading against her ribs and stomach. Julia inhaled a sharp breath as her mouth returned to the now stiff nipples as her hand brushed the inside of her thigh.
“How did you get this wet?” Julia whispered.
“That is a ridiculous question,” Maddie panted out.
Julia stilled both her mouth and her hand. “It may be, but I want to hear your answer.”
Maddie caressed Julia’s jaw as their gazes met. “You may not know this, but simply being near you can make me wet. I’m this wet right now because you’re sweet and sexy and all I can think about is you coming in my mouth.”
Julia closed her eyes as her hips unconsciously arched against Maddie and she let out a small moan. “Oh?”
“Yes.” Maddie pulled Julia up. “Put your breasts in my mouth.”
Julia did not respond, but simply complied, moving slowly up over Maddie until her breasts were hanging within reach of Maddie’s mouth. Julia watched as Maddie pulled one of her nipples into her mouth, sucking it firmly until she ran her teeth against it the way that made Julia a little bit crazy. Julia heard her own loud moan.
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