“DeMarco’s was a good choice tonight, Stephen,” Tala said. She’d learned long ago that stroking her husband’s ego in insignificant ways was the quickest way to pull him out of a mood.
Stephen’s smile was genuine. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, darling. Shall we stick around for dessert?”
Tala nodded. The longer they stayed at dinner, the more exhausted Stephen would be when they got home, and he wouldn’t trouble her for sex –even though it was just about time for their once-a-month session.
**********
Kelsey spent the evening paying bills but her thoughts kept drifting to Tala. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about a married woman, but she couldn’t stop the images that kept appearing in her head. Tala’s sweet smile, her gentle laugh, her long black hair, expressive dark eyes, and her surprisingly tiny wrists. Kelsey didn’t often notice a woman’s wrists but Tala’s were so tiny, it was hard not to notice. Her wrists were as dainty as the rest of her.
And yet Tala was strong; both physically and emotionally. She’d stood up to Julia with ease, and Julia could be intimidating to say the least! On one of her jogs, Kelsey had also seen Tala moving giant barrels of debris out of the garden. It was hard to imagine that tiny body had the strength to do it, but do it she had.
Kelsey was fascinated by Tala. The woman she had once assumed sad and standoffish was actually the opposite. All it had taken was a hello to draw her out of her shell. Kelsey thought there was still a slight sadness about Tala, but standoffish she was not. She was actually quite kind. Kelsey still couldn’t believe the lengths Tala had gone to in order to get Snickers to her, and it warmed her heart to know there was still genuine kindness in the world. After dealing with someone like Julia, it was easy to forget that.
Inviting Tala to lunch might have been a mistake though. Kelsey knew she was attracted to Tala, and you just didn’t go to lunch with married women you were attracted to.
That was against the rules, right?
Kelsey went to her closet and wondered what to wear tomorrow.
**********
Much to Tala’s surprise, morning came quicker than she could have hoped. Excited for the day ahead, she happily prepared Stephen’s breakfast, saw him off to work, then showered and dressed. She chose a long brown skirt that clung to her hips and stretched to her ankles and a flowing cream-colored peasant top with a neckline that cut just above her small breasts. Tala rarely wore pants in the summer.
Kelsey had said she’d pick her up at noon. That meant Tala still had four hours to kill. Not knowing how else to fill the time, she turned on the TV and watched a Will & Grace rerun on Logo. One episode turned into another, and then another, and before long Kelsey’s Grand Cherokee was pulling into the driveway.
Excited, Tala ran outside and jumped in the vehicle.
Kelsey laughed. “No need to knock on your door, I see.”
“I did not wish to make you wait,” Tala said with a shy giggle.
Kelsey shifted the Jeep into reverse and eased the vehicle onto the street. “Where would you like to go for lunch?”
Tala wasn’t used to being given a choice in such matters and took her time deciding. “Would Thai food be good for you?” she said, after long moments of consideration.
Kelsey nodded. “Sounds great.”
Tala gave Kelsey directions to her favorite Thai restaurant. Whenever she said “turn left” her hand pointed right. After the third time Kelsey burst out laughing.
“What is funny?” Tala asked, confused.
“I’m sorry,” Kelsey said. “I’m just never sure which way you actually want me to turn. Your words say left but your hand gestures keep saying right.”
Tala laughed. “I did not realize. Please ignore my hands. My mouth is correct.”
If Tala could be any more adorable, Kelsey didn’t see how.
When they finally arrived at the restaurant, Tala got out of the vehicle and closed the door as gently as if she were being careful not to wake a sleeping baby. Kelsey jumped from the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind her, startling Tala.
“Sorry,” Kelsey said, sheepishly.
Tala smiled. “I am jumpy like a rabbit sometimes. Have you been here before?”
Kelsey shook her head. “I usually go to the one closer to us.”
“There is a Thai restaurant close to us? Why did you let me bring you all the way here then?”
Kelsey shrugged. “It’s where you wanted to go.”
Tala wasn’t used to someone willingly letting her take the lead and she liked it. Stephen would have pointed out that there was another Thai restaurant much closer and insisted they go there instead.
“I think the food will have been worth the drive,” Tala said, as they went inside.
“The company has already been worth the drive.”
Tala smiled. Kelsey genuinely seemed to like being around her. That shouldn’t surprise Tala, she’d had many friends growing up, but she now spent so much time alone, she wasn’t always sure she knew how to relate to people anymore. Kelsey made it easy.
Over spring rolls and pad thai, the two women learned about each other’s lives in great detail. Tala learned about Kelsey’s work, her travels, and her failed relationship with Julia. Kelsey learned about Tala’s childhood in Manila, her family, and her eventual marriage to Stephen in order to protect her family.
“So, you don’t love him?” Kelsey asked, surprised.
Tala thought about the question. “I love him as one loves a friend. He is a decent man, but I cannot say that I love him as a wife loves a husband.”
Kelsey digested this news over a long sip of tea. She didn’t fully understand how Tala could stay with a man she didn’t love, but she had also never been in the difficult position Tala was in. She couldn’t imagine how it felt to have your whole family relying on your marriage to survive.
“But my problem is bigger than this,” Tala admitted, quietly. “I could not love Stephen in that way even if I wanted to.”
Kelsey nodded knowingly. “Because you love women.”
“You can see this about me?” Tala asked, shocked. Not one person she’d met in America had ever even suspected.
Kelsey smiled. “I got a feeling. Much as I’m sure you got the same feeling about me.”
Tala’s dark eyes lingered on Kelsey’s face for a moment. Was that why she had been drawn to Kelsey even before meeting her? Had she subconsciously known that the pretty woman who jogged by her house twice daily was “like her”?
“There is nothing about you to suggest it,” she said, before she could stop herself.
Kelsey grinned. “That’s because you haven’t seen my tool belt.”
“Your tool belt? This is for sex? I have not heard it called this before.”
Kelsey laughed so hard she could barely catch her breath. “It’s not for sex. It’s for fixing things. It’s a belt that holds my tools while I’m working.”
“Oh!” Tala blushed beet red beneath her tanned skin. “Yes, my father had one of these.”
“You have a dirty mind,” Kelsey teased.
Tala shrugged. “Thoughts are all I may have.”
Kelsey frowned but kept her opinion to herself. It wasn’t her place to tell the beautiful woman across from her that she could have so much more than thoughts. Tala lived in a world that left her believing she had no choice in anything.
“So now that you know these things about me,” Tala said. “You are still willing to be my friend?”
“Of course.”
“I would like that. You are very easy to talk to, Kelsey.”
Tala watched Kelsey’s lips form the words “as are you”, and felt a gentle stirring in her heart. Kelsey was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.
Chapter 6
When Tala crawled into bed that evening, Kelsey was still on her mind. Even Stephen’s panting and thrusting inside of her could not erase the image of the beautiful redhead. Tala thought about K
elsey’s “tool belt” and nearly laughed out loud.
“You’re so beautiful when you smile like that,” Stephen whispered.
Tala knew he would reach completion soon and urged it along with a couple of tried and true squeezes.
Stephen felt his wife’s passion tighten around him and quickly reached the end. He fell on top of her with a groan, kissed her forehead, then rolled to the side and rapidly fell asleep.
Relieved that it was over, Tala quietly slipped from the bed, and went to run a warm bath. Her naked body taunted her from the mirror. The physical signs of Stephen’s lovemaking were not evident, but the emotional signs were. Her eyes looked as dead as they always did after these encounters.
Sighing, she turned away from her reflection and stepped into the welcoming bath. Her thoughts drifted to Kelsey again as she sank down into the warm water. She imagined Kelsey’s mouth on hers, and that it was Kelsey’s hand that dipped under the water and slipped between her legs, urging them farther apart. Tala felt the first wave of pleasure approach and embraced it with abandon. Her conscious mind dropped away as her fantasy of Kelsey took over and she reached orgasm easily.
But satisfaction quickly turned to sadness as she realized this was all she would ever have; fantasy. She was locked in a marriage there was no escaping. At least not until one of her siblings was old enough to help shoulder some responsibility.
**********
“So, who’s the Asian chick?” Kelsey’s best friend Alison Gershwin asked over drinks at their favorite girl bar, Underground.
When Kelsey didn’t respond, Alison shoved her phone under Kelsey’s face, and Kelsey was surprised to see a picture of Tala and her at a stoplight.
“What the fuck, Al? Are you stalking me?”
Alison threw her phone in her pocket and laughed. “I was at the light on the other side of the street. I thought it would be funny to take your picture and anonymously send it to you – only I forgot to do it. So, who is she?”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “You’re so nosy. She’s a neighbor.”
“She’s hot,” Alison said, appreciatively.
Kelsey waved down the bartender for another round of martinis. “She’s also married.”
“I notice you didn’t say ‘straight’?”
“What difference does it make? Married is married.” Kelsey looked around the bar and it was the same old faces. Even if she didn’t know everyone in here by name, she knew them by face, and she knew that at some point or another they had or will have all slept with each other. It was the lesbian fishbowl and she was sick of it. Even Alison frequently circled the fishbowl. Probably the only woman Alison hadn’t slept with in this bar was Kelsey.
“The choices are thinning,” Alison said, following Kelsey’s eyes around the bar.
Kelsey shrugged. “Maybe you should widen your net.”
“Yeah,” Alison said. “The problem is my neighbors are all straight.”
“Would you stop? I’m not sleeping with Tala.”
Alison pulled her phone out of her pocket again and inspected the picture more closely. “So, what is she, Vietnamese?”
“Filipino.”
“I didn’t know you were into third world pussy.” Alison snickered at her own joke.
Kelsey glared at her best friend. “You know Al; you can be a real asshole.” She turned to walk away but Alison stepped in front of her, stopping her in place.
“Come on, Kelsey. I was just joking.”
From across the bar, Kelsey could see Julia making a beeline toward them. “Shit.”
“Here comes the thing you’ll regret doing tomorrow morning,” Alison teased.
“Hell no,” Kelsey said.
Julia approached the two women and took Kelsey in with one sweeping glance. She may have been using Kelsey, but there was no denying she’d been using a very attractive woman. Kelsey’s hand reached out to stop Julia before she got too close and she remembered what those hands felt like on her body.
“Hello Kelsey,” she said, giving the sweet smile that had won Kelsey over in the first place. “You look good.”
“Hi Julia,” Alison interrupted.
Julia shot Alison a dirty look that only reminded Kelsey of who this woman really was. “What do you want Julia?” she said.
Julia ignored Kelsey’s bored tone. “How’s Snickers? Or should I say Sneekers?”
Between Alison’s third world joke and Julia’s making fun of Tala’s accent, Kelsey felt like Tala was under attack and it roused her anger. Tala had done nothing to either of these people, and yet they both felt it was okay to make jokes about her.
“Do you really think it’s okay to make fun of someone’s accent?” Kelsey demanded.
Julia shrugged. “Who cares?”
“I do.”
Julia saw the danger in Kelsey’s green eyes and felt her jealousy grow. Tala was beautiful and Julia knew that by comparison she was no match. Tala had a kind, earthy beauty about her. She was the complete opposite of Julia and absolutely Kelsey’s type. Kelsey had a soft spot for weak people and, from what Julia could tell, Tala was weak.
“I really don’t give a shit,” Julia barked. “I’ll make fun of whoever I want.”
“Go away, Julia,” Kelsey said. “We have nothing to say to each other anymore.”
Julia stalked away from the bar but not before getting in one last jab. “Just make sure she doesn’t eat the cat.”
“Fuck off, Julia,” Alison said, before Kelsey could. She moved to confront her but Kelsey grabbed her arm. “Let her go. Hopefully it will be the last encounter either of us has to have with her.”
Within thirty minutes Julia was making out with one of the fishbowl regulars and Kelsey couldn’t have been happier. The sooner Julia moved on with her life, the sooner she’d leave Kelsey alone.
Alison took a sip of her drink and eyed her best friend curiously. Julia wasn’t often right, but she was right about one thing; Kelsey loved a good underdog.
“So,” she said. “How does Julia know Tala?”
Kelsey let out a longwinded sigh and reached for her martini. She explained how Snickers ended up in Tala’s yard and how Tala had tried to bring him back to her.
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Alison said. “Just be careful, Kels. She’s married.”
“I have no interest in anything other than friendship,” Kelsey said, but even she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Tala had been popping up in her thoughts all day. Tala’s smile, her shy giggle, her soft voice, the slight curves of her thin body—Kelsey had noticed every little thing about Tala and there wasn’t one part of her she didn’t appreciate.
Well, almost one part. Kelsey kept coming back to their conversation over lunch and how Tala had, somewhat emotionlessly, expressed her future –or lack of it. Tala saw herself as stuck and Kelsey didn’t believe in stuck. She also knew that was a simplistic view and one that was easy to have for a person in her position. She was one of the lucky ones, she supposed, or at least, luckier than Tala.
In the morning, Kelsey woke up with what felt like the hangover from hell. She didn’t understand how though. She’d only had three drinks the entire night before, and at thirty-two years old, she’d learned long ago to pace herself.
Her stomach churned as she ran for the bathroom and quickly deposited last night’s dinner into the toilet. The vomiting went on for what seemed like hours, until she finally ended up on the couch, curled up in a fetal position with a tall glass of water on the coffee table beside her and the bathroom trash can held tightly in her arms should it all start again.
When the doorbell rang at half-past noon, she wanted to ignore it but the person doing the ringing was persistent. On legs that struggled to propel her forward, Kelsey swung open the front door to find Tala on the other side, carrying a large pot of something.
“I think that is no longer my favorite restaurant,” Tala said, stepping past Kelsey to enter the house. Kelsey looked pale and weak. Tala could relate. Somewhere
around two in the morning she had awakened to a sickness so fierce, even Stephen had gotten out of bed to see what was wrong. She’d spent the evening vomiting and knew exactly why. It was the spring rolls. Tala had thought they’d tasted off, but she’d been so enjoying her conversation with Kelsey that she’d ignored the warning her taste buds had been sending her.
“Are you sick too?” Kelsey asked, leading Tala into a brightly lit kitchen with hardwood floors, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.
Tala placed the pot she was carrying on the stove and turned up the heat. “What a beautiful kitchen,” she commented. “Yes, I was sick during the night but I am feeling better now.” She smiled. “Somewhat.”
Kelsey slowly lowered herself into a chair and smiled back. “That smells wonderful. What is it?”
“This is my mother’s chicken sinigang. The best in Manila,” she said, proudly.
It was the first time Kelsey saw Tala seem proud of anything and it warmed her heart. “You made soup for me?”
“For both of us,” Tala corrected. “Where are your bowls?”
Kelsey started to rise from her chair but Tala shook her head. “No, you sit. Just tell me and I will find them.”
“This was very nice of you Tala,” Kelsey said, pointing at a cabinet above the counter and feeling more than a little embarrassed by her appearance. Her hair was back in a messy red ponytail that probably smelled like puke, and she was wearing a blue hoodie she’d had since college, and ripped gray sweatpants.
Kelsey watched Tala prepare two heaping bowls of steaming liquid. She didn’t look like a woman who’d been up sick half the night. She wore a long, loose skirt that swayed gently over her tanned legs, and a flowing green top. Her sandals made quiet shuffling sounds across the hardwood floor as she placed the two bowls of soup on the table.
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