Breaking New Grounds

by Amy DeMeritt

  “Whatever. Just don’t try to manipulate me or trick me into thinking I did something all on my own. Just talk to me first if you’re going to toss my name out to someone.”

  “I can do that. I’m sorry I assumed you’d prefer it the other way.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, does that mean you’ll do it?”

  “Whatever.” I smile really big and Jo’s lips quirk into a small smile. “You can get off of me now.”

  I pull Jo up off of the ground and both of us dust our backs off from rolling around in the grass. My mom pats my cheek with an amused smile and offers Eerin to me to take.

  “We’re going to get the food set out. Behave, sweetie.”

  I blush and rub the back of my neck. “Ok, sorry.”

  She pats my cheek again as she kisses the other. “I love you, angel.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  She glances at Sorina for a moment and releases little laugh as she turns to walk back in the house with my wives’ mothers, bringing the instruments with them. Jo turns to walk away, but I tap her on the ass with my toe. She turns around with a raised eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest.

  “What now?”

  “We just made a pact to make music together. Aren’t you going to hang out with us?”

  “Fine.”

  Eerin releases a sharp cry and swings her little arms around. I rub her torso and give her a little bounce.

  “She’s probably hungry. Save me a seat by the fire?”

  “Sure.”

  Sorina, Jo, Hayley, and my wives walk out to the bonfire with Malana, Helaku, and Montana in their arms, but Jaime follows me inside. Our mothers abruptly end their conversation when we walk into the kitchen then start laughing.

  “Uh, what are all of you talking about?”

  “Nothing. What do you need, sweetie? Is Eerin ok?”

  “She’s hungry.”

  Jaime rubs Eerin’s head and walks to the sink to prepare a bottle for our baby. I slide up next to my mom, where she’s working with Susan and Sequoia on arranging platters of various finger foods and salads.

  “Why did you laugh at me?”

  “No reason.”

  My mom giggles, but then quickly bites her bottom lip to silence herself. I give her a grumpy pout and bend into her neck to bite her. She laughs hard and wraps an arm around my shoulders.

  “Oh, leave her alone, stud. So, who do you like kissing on more, Sorina or Yolanda?”

  Eliza’s question makes me gasp and my cheeks flame red hot in embarrassment. I can’t believe Sam’s mom just asked me that. All of the mothers start laughing really hard.

  “You women are bad, bad girls.”

  “Would you make out with a woman that old?”

  “Oh, my god, stop it!”

  They laugh again, and my mom tickles my side. Jaime walks over laughing and gives me a kiss on the cheek as she hands me the bottle.

  “I think she would make out with Yolanda. We’ve all seen how she lights up when Yolanda is around. She gets that lovesick puppy dog look in her eyes.” All of the mothers laugh hard, but I’m stunned speechless. “Lena, you should ask Yolanda if she would kiss Kayla. If we get it on camera, the over fifty crowd is going to go nuts.”

  I choke on my words, unable to come up with a retort, and they laugh really hard at me. I pick up the closest thing to me, which happens to be a piece of broccoli, and I throw it at Eliza. She catches it and laughs again.

  “You women are crazy. I need to go feed my baby. Behave in here!”

  I walk away from them while they’re still snickering. As soon as we get outside, Jaime releases a loud laugh. I pout and she giggles again with a cute grin. We sit down with our wives, Hayley, Sorina, and Jo around the fire and I start feeding Eerin, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

  “Why is your face so red?” Jaime giggles at Sam’s question and I feel my blush deepen as I dip my head lower. “Oh, this must be good. What did the mothers do now?”

  “It was your mom, actually.”

  I glance up to see Sam’s reaction to Jaime’s comment. Her face is pinched in agitation.

  “What did she do? God, why is she so embarrassing?”

  “She asked Kayla if she would make out with Yolanda.”

  “Ewww! You are not allowed to kiss Gran! We don’t even kiss like that! Why would they ask that?” All of my wives laugh as Sorina shivers and shakes dramatically. “Please tell me you’re not thinking about making out with my grandmother.”

  “No! Oh, my god, what is wrong with everyone today? You know this is your fault.”

  “How is it my fault that you want to kiss my grandmother?”

  Everyone laughs as I throw my head back, groaning. “Oh, my god, I do not want to kiss Yolanda! This is all your fault for kissing me in front of the mothers. They blow everything out of proportion.”

  “Oh, you are not going to put that on me. You kiss at least half of your friends on the lips, and your elders. You know what? This is definitely your fault. I think you really do want to make out with Gran. You linger much longer in your kisses with her than you do with me or your other friends. What’s with that? I swear, if you kiss my grandmother…”

  “Stop, I am not going to kiss her! Jesus! Seriously, you need to chill out. I love Yolanda, but that would be completely inappropriate and… Ok, stop. This is too fucking weird. Sam, I’m going to toss your mom in the pool for bringing this up.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Why are all of you being antisocial and sitting all of the way over here?”

  “Hey! When the hell did you get here?”

  Talia smiles as she playfully kicks at Sam leg. “Get up. I want to sit.”

  “Then get a chair.”

  Talia pretends like she’s going to sit on Sam, but Sam puts her foot up and pushes on Talia’s butt, making her stumble forward.

  “Come on, get up. Go sit in someone’s lap.”

  “Fine, but only because that’s a better seating arrangement for me.”

  Talia rolls her eyes and Sam comes over to sit in Jaime’s lap. Jaime gives Sam a kiss on the lips and wraps her arms around her.

  “Jo, this is my little sister, Talia. She’s a spoiled brat. Talia, this is Jo. She’s ex-army, hero for life, and currently working as a contractor, but she’ll one day be a famous guitar player.”

  “Let me get this straight. I’m your sister and all I get is ‘she’s a spoiled brat’ in your introduction, but your new friend gets all of those glowing accolades? How rude.”

  Jo releases a small laugh, but then clears her throat and tries to push her smile down. She is really going to be a tough nut to crack.

  “Ok, fine. Jo, this is Talia, my brilliant and immensely talented little sister. She’s a biology major at Harvard and finished her first year with top grades. She can dance, she can actually beat me in a foot race, and she’s really good at swindling me out of my money.”

  “Much better. Speaking of money, did you book my Brazil trip yet?”

  “Yes, brat. Maddi has all of the details she can give you later. You leave in two weeks.”

  Talia looks at Madison with a nervous smile, and asks, “Is it too late to add a person?”

  “I’ll have to check if there are any first-class seats left on your flight, but the house I found for you has extra beds. If I can’t get first-class, do you want me to get coach?”

  Talia looks at Madison like she’s deep in thought and puckers her lips to the side. “I don’t want her to feel left out having to sit in coach, but I guess it would be worse to uninvite her completely. Yeah, if that’s all you can get.”

  “You could just sit in coach yourself and let your friend sit in first-class.” Talia looks at me like I’m crazy. “Who is the new addition?”

  “A person.”

  “A friend person or a lover person?”

  Talia’s cheeks blush and she shifts awkwardly in chair. “Leave me alone, Sam.”

  “I thoug
ht you were dating a guy from school?”

  “That’s over.”

  “And now you’re dating a girl? What does she look like?” Talia groans as she pulls her phone out. She hands Sam the phone and Sam’s face spreads into a big toothy grin. “She’s cute. What’s her name?”

  “Maya.”

  Sam holds the phone out for me to see. She is cute. She has light brown skin, tight kinky curls, plump lips, and light brown eyes. She looks like she’s similar in build to Madison, so she’s fit with nice curves and thicker thighs.

  “She’s pretty. How’d you meet?”

  “She’s in the same major, so we have like all of the same classes. We’ve been friends since like day one and she’s over all the time. We tried to get together halfway through the year, but she was working out some stuff with her ex. While we were in Cherokee, she texted me that I need to break up with Brian because she was ready to try to be more than friends.”

  “So, you weren’t going to take Brian to Brazil, but you’re going to take Maya?”

  “Well, yeah. Brian was just kind of there. We weren’t really serious with each other. Taking him would have made it seem like I was more into him than I was and I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on him or feel like he was using me for an awesome vacation. Maya is different.”

  Sam grins and Talia’s cheeks blush deeper. “You love her, don’t you?”

  “Shut up, Sam.”

  “Talia and Maya sitting in a tree…”

  All of us laugh as Talia jumps up and tickles Sam’s sides, making her squirm and shriek.

  As Sam looks like she’s going to slip off of Jaime’s lap, panic surges in my chest. “Knock it off, Talia. She’s pregnant. You can’t attack a pregnant woman.”

  “Where in Brazil are you going?”

  Talia plops down and looks over at Jo, looking relieved for a change of subject. “Rio de Janeiro.”

  “I’ve been there. It’s beautiful and the food is amazing. Just be careful going out at night. The nightlife is great, but some areas aren’t too safe.”

  “That’s true about everywhere, but we’ll be careful. Where else have you been outside of the US?”

  “With the army, I’ve been to Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Sudan. For pleasure, I’ve been to Brazil, Mexico, and Peru.”

  “Did you get to enjoy your trips at all with the army?”

  “Not in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sudan was actually my favorite trip with the army. I was able to go on a safari to see the animals in their natural habitat. That was a once in a lifetime experience.”

  “I want to do that!”

  “No, that’s not a safe country, especially for women.”

  I smile at Jo’s protective nature towards my sister, even though she doesn’t really know us yet.

  “I can’t believe you said that in front of Kayla. Now, she’ll never let me go.”

  “That’s correct. I’ve already told you before, I’m not sending you anywhere dangerous.”

  “I could use my own money.”

  “Then I’ll cut you off.”

  Talia scoffs and falls backwards in her chair with her arms folded over her chest. “What if I allow you to send security with me?”

  “Just put it at the very bottom of your list. You have like a thousand places you want to go.”

  “Fine.”

  “Why didn’t you bring Maya so we can meet her?”

  “I did.”

  “What?” All of us sit up and crane our necks to look around the lawn. “Where is she?”

  “She was talking to Sara and Keira when I came to say hi.”

  All of us are giving Talia the same look of disbelief, but Sam is the one who calls her out first, saying, “You just left your girlfriend like that?”

  “She’s a big girl. She doesn’t need me to hold her hand at a party.” All of us raise our eyebrows and Talia rolls her eyes as she stands up. “Ok, I’ll go get her.

  When Talia reaches the deck, Sorina asks, “Since when is Talia bi?”

  “Why, are you interested in my baby sister?”

  Sorina laughs hard and shakes her head. “No, not at all. Stop looking at me like that.”

  I fix my scowling pout and Sorina flashes me a beautiful smile and winks at me. “Brat. Talia has always been very secretive about who she’s interested in or dating. We actually thought she was straight till her senior year of high school. One of her friends let slip in front of us that she was dating a guy and a girl at the same time – not like how we are though. The three of them weren’t in a relationship with each other.”

  “You think she’d ever do that?”

  “I have no idea. Why don’t you ask her?”

  “We’ll let Sam do that. Here they come. I actually would have expected Talia to hook up with a girl like you, Sam. She seems to have a crush on you.”

  Sam laughs hard at Sorina’s comment and pulls Jaime’s arms tighter around herself. “Kayla, you’re right. They’ve all lost their minds today.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Everyone, this is Maya.”

  Maya steps into the center of our group with a broad smile and bends down to hug Awenasa. “It’s nice to finally meet all of you. You’re Awenasa, right?”

  “I am, and this is Malana.”

  Maya tickles Malana’s tummy, making our baby girl giggle and squirm to lay her head on Awenasa’s chest in a bashful way.

  “Hello, Malana. You are very pretty.”

  She goes around our entire circle giving everyone a hug and playing with the babies. She even recognizes who Sorina and Hayley are. When she reaches Jo, she stands back with her hands on her hips and looks like she’s trying to determine if she knows who she is. Jo’s lips quirk into a grin and she holds her hand out to shake.

  “You don’t know me. I’m Jo.”

  Maya accepts her hand with a small smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  She turns to see Talia sitting down and looks around the circle with her lips quirked to the side because there aren’t any empty chairs.

  “Here, you can have my chair. Kayla, get up.”

  “Where am I going to sit?”

  Sorina smiles as she comes over and pats my upper back. “You can sit in front of me on the ground. I want to play with your hair.”

  “Why are you always turning me into a doll when you’re bored?”

  I stand up and Sam holds her hands. “Let me have Eerin.”

  “Ok, she’s almost finished her bottle.”

  As I sit down in front of Sorina she slides forward with her legs straddling my shoulders. She combs her fingers through my hair, scrapping her nails against my scalp, which feels amazing and elicits an involuntary low burring moan from my closed lips. Sorina giggles and playfully tugs my earlobe for a moment.

  “Weirdo.”

  “Shut up, Talia. So, Maya, what’s my sister like at school?”

  Maya grins as she looks at Talia, before meeting my eyes. “Very quiet.”

  I laugh hard and shake my head. “I’m not buying it.”

  Talia crosses her arms over her chest and tries hard to give me a scowl, but her mouth is puckered in a tight grin. “Are you trying to say I’m loud?”

  “I think that’s another question for Maya.”

  All of us laugh hard at Sam’s comment as Talia’s face blushes bright red. Maya laughs but quickly clears her throat and licks her lips in an amused embarrassed way.

  “Why are you guys so weird?”

  “I bet you are.”

  “Like you have any room to judge anyone for that, Sam. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve all heard you guys, or people have walked in on you. Didn’t you and Kayla do it during a thunderstorm in the middle Sequoia’s backyard last month? And Keira and Sara walked in on you both on the kitchen island. Like, really? People prepare food there!”

  Sam couldn’t have a prouder smile on her face if she tried. She shrugs a shoulder and leans into Jaime’s chest more, saying, �
�Whatever, prude.”

  “She’s definitely not a prude. She’s a freak.”

  Talia scoffs at Maya, and all of us laugh hard. Talia looks away from us with bright red cheeks, then suddenly stands up.

  “Oh, look at that, the food is ready.”

  Awenasa shows Talia mercy, saying, “We should all go get a table so we can eat.”

  Everyone starts to stand, but Sorina pushes on my shoulders, forcing me back down on the ground. “I’m not done with your hair yet.”

  “Woman, are you holding me hostage again?”

  She laughs and grabs my hair to continue playing with it, saying, “You can get up when I’m done.”

  “I thought you were starving.”

  “I am, but I want to finish this.”

  “Fine.”

  “We’ll save you seats.”

  After they walk away, Sorina bends down and kisses my cheek. I turn to face her, bumping noses with her, and she releases a cute giggle as I press my lips against hers.

  “What are you doing to my hair?”

  “Well…” Sorina trails off as she looks at my head, turning it side to side. I lift my hand to feel my head, but she lightly slaps my hand away. “Don’t touch it. You might ruin my masterpiece.”

  I close my eyes and just enjoy the feeling of her fingers combing through my hair and gliding across my neck and ears as she picks up more hair. She could be doing something crazy to my hair right now, but it’s such a relaxing feeling that I just don’t care.

  “Why is Talia so shy about people knowing who she’s dating and talking about sex?”

  “I don’t know. She’s always been like that. Sara has always been kind of private about her business, but not out of embarrassment like Talia.”

  “And you’ve always been very out and open about everything?”

  “Pretty much. I mean, I have a really hard time saying what I want, but I’m not shy about showing what I want.”

  “Maybe Talia doesn’t want to look like she’s following in yours or Sara’s shoes. Maybe she doesn’t want people to think her sexuality is about her trying to fit in or something.”