Rewriting the Ending

by H P Tune

  So Juliet barely blinked when Mia finally looked up, drew in a deep breath, and asked, “Would you be upset if I wanted to move from here? Sell and live somewhere else?”

  She just gently shook her head, smiling. “Of course not.”

  Mia nodded and fell silent again.

  “It took me a while to realize it,” Juliet said, “but as long as I’m with you, I’ll be happy.”

  “I didn’t think I could be happy. And even if I could be, I wasn’t sure I was allowed.”

  “You’re allowed, honey.”

  Tears welled up again, but Mia smiled through them. “Yeah, I don’t remember a time when I was. Not really. Not even Zalia would have fixed me or my marriage. Not that I’ve admitted that to anyone, but I know that. Maybe this protected her from…whatever damage I was going to cause her.”

  Sighing, Juliet slowly shook her head no. “I don’t believe that. You would have been the most incredible mom to her; I know that. We can look for reasons for shitty things all the time, but in the end, it doesn’t stop crap from happening to good people. It just does, and it isn’t fair. It’s okay to think that it just isn’t fair. Not every shitty thing has to have a silver lining.”

  “I guess,” Mia said, leaning back on her arms and tapping her knee to Juliet’s. “And I suppose it’s me kind of saying that my life wasn’t what I wanted it to be. And I know that you’re not sure about kids and all that. But one day, if that’s something we want, then that will just make us happier; it’ll add to our happy.” She smiled, shrugging. “It won’t be about trying to make something work that was never going to work.” Mia’s eyes scanned around the room again. “I can’t believe I’ve never been back in here.”

  “Pretty hard, huh?”

  “Yeah, hard; and kind of good too. It hasn’t destroyed me, coming in here. It hasn’t made me lose it. I’ve avoided this room for so long. It took so much to get myself off the ground that I didn’t want to go back to feeling like that.”

  “That I get,” Juliet said gently, shuffling herself back to lean against the wall, fingertips trailing over the leg of the oversized teddy bear. Mia followed, settling close to Juliet, their elbows touching as she lolled her head to rest on Juliet’s shoulder.

  “I have a little box, just umm, maybe an enveloped-sized box. It sits at the bottom of my pack inside a bright-red waterproof travel sack. It has a few things from home, but I haven’t looked at it since I put it there. I even keep a pair of hiking pants on top of it that I never wear or move so I don’t even have to see it.” She laughed. It sounded ridiculous as she described it.

  “Don’t laugh,” Mia murmured, moving her face so that she could kiss Juliet’s neck. “I have one like that too, but it’s in the cupboard up there, behind a box of old vinyl records and two boxes of my fat clothes.”

  “Maybe,” Juliet said after a moment, tracing patterns on Mia’s leg, “that’s all we take of the past when we move. Just our boxes and the things that are important to us.”

  Mia exhaled quickly. “Whoa, that sounds oddly liberating. And we build our life together.”

  “As corny as it sounds, yeah.”

  “I can take my clothes, though, right? And my boots!”

  Juliet laughed quietly. “You’re going to need your own wardrobe, aren’t you?”

  “Of course. That goes without saying.”

  Chuckling, Juliet said, “Whatever you like. I think it’s the symbolism of it all rather than the actual stuff.”

  “I like it,” Mia agreed, curling into Juliet and draping an arm around her middle. “Can I show you my box?” she asked, ever so quietly.

  “Hmmm,” Juliet murmured. “Can I show you mine?”

  CHAPTER 24

  Mia found the apartment leasing process in Dundee simple and carefree, though the move had taken almost two months in the end. The timing was perfect, as the move ended up happening just a few weeks prior to Mia’s enrolment in medical school at the University of Dundee and Juliet’s temporary appointment there as well to a few junior teaching roles in English Studies and Creative Writing. One of the professors would be going on maternity leave midway through the semester, and the expectation was that Juliet would step into that role if all went well.

  They had methodically packed up the Highlands house, designating a pile of furniture and random items to donate to charity and another pile of things that they took either to their new apartment or put in storage. Mia was particularly proud to admit that the charity pile was by far the larger of the two.

  And then the house was on the market.

  Entering their new apartment, with the door swinging shut behind her, Mia jumped in place as she untangled herself from her satchel, hair and jewellery tangled in the strap. “Juliet!” she called out from the doorway.

  Finding Juliet waiting expectantly in the kitchen, dishwasher open and dishes lining the bench, Mia skipped a step towards her. “I’m so glad you’re here!” she said.

  “Did you get them?” Juliet asked immediately.

  “Yep,” Mia said, grinning and tumbling into Juliet, knocking her backwards two steps before they hit the bench together. “I didn’t just pass, I aced them. First exams, Juliet, and I kicked ass!”

  She engaged Juliet in a passionate kiss, leaning back and lifting Juliet, spinning her in a full circle. They stumbled together, laughing and grasping at shirt material and the table top.

  “You did? That’s so awesome, Mia, freakin’ amazing! I’m not surprised. You knew that stuff inside out.”

  “This week is…It’s so good. This decision, coming here—best decision we ever made.”

  “I agree,” Juliet responded, untangling herself to place two open palms to Mia’s cheeks. “I’m so proud of you,” she said, her blue eyes bright.

  “I’m just relieved and excited, and we still have your launch to do. Fuck, we’re amazing! We’re, like, successful and happy and…”

  “Whoa,” Juliet interrupted with a smile and a chaste kiss. “Let’s not be too loud about that. Things are likely to come crashing down in some apocalyptic disaster.”

  “Oh Juliet, stop it. Celebrate, dance, jump up and down, because we’re that couple.”

  Eyebrows rising and falling, Juliet nodded. “We are,” she said, pushing at Mia’s shoulder. “Now, go get sorted. We have to leave in an hour. You need to pack some clothes and whatever else you need.”

  “Yep, on to it.” Mia rolled up on her toes, jumping a little with a wild grin. “Have you heard how the invite response has gone? Got the interest you were hoping for?”

  “Mmm, and more. There’re even reps from the States and a couple of publishers from Europe. And apparently that gorgeous bookstore woman from Durness has a whole heap of independent store owners who are loving on me and coming along. And, if you can believe it, they’re doing some Internet podcasty thing. Apparently, this second book has created a bit of a stir.”

  “Does this mean I’m going to get to read it now?”

  Juliet grinned. “I’ll even sign you a copy.”

  “See how good we are?”

  “Shhhh, stop it.” Juliet playfully touched an index finger to Mia’s lips. That earned her a kiss against the underside of her knuckle.

  “Do we have to go right away?” Mia asked, fingers curling coyly around Juliet’s wrist.

  “Ah, kind of. We don’t want it too dark when we arrive. Why?”

  Mia laughed. “You’re so adorable sometimes. In that case, I’m booking you in for a marathon sex session tonight, agreed?”

  “Ah…” Juliet stumbled, looking confused.

  Mia waved her hands between them. “Well, with all my studying and your midnight meetings with your publisher, I am insanely desperate to devour your body.”

  “Ohhh, yes…yes, yep. I, ah, I wholeheartedly agree. Your body, I want to do more than devour your body.”

  Smiling at Juliet’s quick change in demeanour, from confused to pointedly keen, Mia stepped away with a slight spring. �
��Glad we agree.”

  “Oh we do. We definitely agree.”

  “I should get ready.”

  “I’ll umm, finish the dishwasher.”

  Mia nodded, and walked towards the bedroom, calling out over her shoulder, “I’ll pack that cute red bra and panty set you bought me.”

  * * *

  After a lengthy drive, they arrived to the now-familiar seaside bed and breakfast where the book launch would be held the following afternoon. Juliet stumbled into the open arms of her editor, publisher, and the publishing company’s media representative. She was showered with praise and complimented a thousand times over.

  Juliet didn’t hesitate to include Mia in her every move. She introduced her to each person slowly and carefully. She draped an arm over Mia’s shoulder at every chance, replacing her wine glass as soon as it was close to empty. Juliet was balancing the different aspects of her life, and it was all falling together. It all fitted in an effortless kind of way.

  They were chatting easily as the night progressed, a countless number of wine bottles consumed between the group of nine or ten. Mia listened and laughed at stories of Juliet’s procrastination and complete disregard for deadlines, not to mention her refusal to change a range of scenes in her books. They talked. They smiled. They drank. They celebrated something unidentifiable, something that felt a lifetime away from the past.

  At the sound of a gruff male voice, Mia and Juliet both turned, and the table fell into a muffled distant laughter and monotone speech.

  “Juliet Taylor.”

  A wide smile spread over Juliet’s face, and she stood quickly, chair grating back across the floor behind her. “Jack,” she gasped, fingertips running along Mia’s neck as she gained momentum into a quick run towards him. “Jack,” she repeated, voice cracking as she tumbled into the middle-aged man. Juliet had to stretch onto her tiptoes to even get close to wrapping her arms around his neck. When he stretched upward, still holding her, her legs hung limply off the ground.

  “How did…? I haven’t been able to get hold of you.” Juliet’s words scraped through a constricted throat. “How did you know?”

  “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I missed the funeral, and then when I got back, you were gone. You are, as always, impossible to track down.”

  “I’m impossible to track down?” He returned her to her feet, and Juliet shook her head, one hand cupping her mouth and the other resting on his chest. She bowed her head, tears pooling in her eyes. “So much has happened.”

  “Your second book, darling,” he said, placing two fingers under her chin and drawing her gaze up to meet his eyes. “I hear it’s a good one.”

  Juliet shrugged and slipped her hand into his, turning back and beckoning Mia with a wave. “I want you to meet someone,” she told him. “Mia! M, come over here.”

  Fingers curling around Juliet’s elbow, Mia slipped in behind her.

  “This is, ah, this is Jack. Jack is, well, like family. Umm, and this is Mia, my partner.”

  A wide smile spread across Jack’s face, and he dropped Juliet’s hand, reaching out to shake Mia’s before leaning in to kiss her cheek and briefly embrace her. “It’s an absolute pleasure.”

  “Likewise,” she said, squinting slightly, and Juliet realised that Mia would have no idea who he was.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Jack lived near us at a few bases when we were growing up. He’s Harry’s father. He used to house us when Dad was shipping off or when we needed somewhere to crash for a few days.”

  Mia nodded, smiling. It was all making sense. Juliet and Jack were clearly close, and it was almost a relief to see someone from Juliet’s past who didn’t fill her with angst and hurt.

  “Ah, Harry,” she said. “The one who manages that great motel we stayed in for a few days.”

  “Yes,” Jack said. “He’s already moved on, though. If I could get that boy to settle down, I would.”

  “He will,” Juliet insisted.

  “There’s still hope.” Jack’s eyes darted from Juliet to Mia. “After all, if I’m judging right, it looks like you ah…might have…settled down?”

  Juliet pressed a kiss to Mia’s cheek before wrapping her arms again around Jack’s shoulders. “I have,” she whispered. “I really have.” Pulling back, she rubbed at her eyes and glanced around the room. “Umm, can I get you a drink? You’re staying, aren’t you? I really want to catch up.”

  He nodded. “Yes, I am staying. But I’m actually going to check in and get some sleep. What the hell made you have this launch in the middle of nowhere?”

  Juliet felt the heat rise to her cheeks. “Sorry, I know—insane right? You didn’t have to come. I mean, I’m so, so happy to see you, but yeah, it’s so far from anywhere.”

  “Juliet?” He placed a hand on Mia’s shoulder. “I would have travelled anywhere to see you this happy. You…You’re like my daughter.”

  “I remember when you first said that,” she whispered.

  He grinned at her and Mia, dropping his hand to scratch at his beard. “She was this little eight-year-old girl running after the boys. They kept hiding from her. She said that she hated them, but I told her that one day she would like boys and marry one and that I would be at her wedding, just as proud as her father.”

  Mia scoffed, and Juliet laughed.

  “Well, I was wrong about some things.”

  “Including my dad,” Juliet murmured, leaning into Mia. “You were a more supportive father than he ever was.”

  He nodded slowly. “Your father was a damaged man.”

  “Yeah, yeah, he was.”

  “I am sorry about missing his funeral.”

  Juliet shrugged and shook her head. “It’s fine, really. We can talk more tomorrow. I’m just so glad you’re here. You have no idea.”

  Mia pulled Juliet close, kissing her temple. “We should get to the room too. It’s lovely to meet you, Jack. I look forward to hearing more about this cute little Juliet. How about we meet down here for a late breakfast? Ten?”

  “Great,” he responded, leaning forward and kissing Juliet’s cheek. “Go on. You go and get some sleep.”

  Juliet nodded and let Mia lead her away, up along the side of the café, treading the same narrow path that they had used during their last stay. Their room was the same too in all of its isolated and decadent glory. They chuckled as they walked, stumbling and swaying from the alcohol.

  Juliet rambled initially, as they walked. “I can’t believe he would fly all this way. Seriously, this is the stuff that my father was supposed to do. It’s so strange when I look back. Jack was everything that Dad wasn’t or couldn’t be or didn’t want to be. Can you believe it? We don’t even always stay in touch. I think I disappeared for a year once, backpacking, and then I ran out of money and ended up on his doorstep.”

  She shook her head. “Insane. I remember that afternoon, Jack’s wife, who was so nice and died way too young, didn’t even look surprised when she opened the door to me. She just gave me a hug and asked me if lasagne was okay for dinner. Like I had been away for a weekend. I was always welcome there, the complete opposite to Dad’s place. They really were the family I never had.”

  Until Mia had bowled into her life with the biggest heart she had ever known. Juliet had built her own family now too.

  And by the time Juliet was aware of it, Mia was standing opposite her, still nodding as Juliet talked and talked. Mia was dressed in the stunning red underwear set, and she was slowly peeling layers of clothing off Juliet’s body. Kissing each miniscule section of exposed skin as every item was discarded to the floor. Juliet moaned into her touch, arching her back and enveloping Mia, their legs tangling together and moving in a symbiotic rhythm.

  “God, you’ve driven me crazy all night.” Mia sat on the side of the bed and tugged at Juliet until she sat on her lap, breasts falling to Mia’s mouth.

  “I was so hoping you had this underwear on,” Juliet spoke into Mia’s hair. “It looks amazing,” she whispered, slow
ly spreading her hands until they smoothed down Mia’s back, thumbs hooking into the waistband of her panties and fingers kneading at her backside.

  “You have exceptional taste.”

  Glancing down between them, Juliet asked, “Does that go for these too?” Her own simple black hipsters paled in comparison.

  “Mmm, they’re practical, and you look hot in anything.”

  “You only care about what’s under them.”

  Mia shrugged, tonguing one of Juliet’s nipples as her fingers slid into Juliet. “True,” she murmured as she stroked underneath her breast.

  “Mia.” Juliet rolled her hips. “We should move up the bed.”

  Continuing her onslaught, Mia made a few encouraging sounds. “Okay,” she eventually whispered, as Juliet lifted herself slightly and rode her hand. “These need to come off.” She flicked at Juliet’s cotton panties.

  Grinning, Juliet slipped off the bed, her feet landing hesitantly on the cold floor. She slowly pushed her underwear down her legs and stepped out of them, palms falling to her hips as Mia cast her eyes up and down. Exposed, she stood in front of her.

  Sliding back along the bed, Mia unclipped her bra, tossing it aside. Pressed back against two pillows, Mia lifted her lower body and slid the red lace down her legs, then spun them around her finger until they flew off. Juliet grinned, eyes still locked intensely on the darkness of Mia’s irises.

  Slowly tucking her hair behind her ears, Juliet crawled up the bed, straddling one of Mia’s legs before lowering and meeting her mouth. She slowly built momentum, thumb flicking at Mia’s nipples and fingers tangling in her hair.

  Fluid pooled across their thighs as they rolled their hips slowly and evenly at first, then in increasing urgency, before becoming rapid and plain erratic. Mia knew Juliet’s body intimately now, and she responded on instinct. Gone were the hastily moving fingers desperate to find the right spot or the sudden position changes out of some misguided, altruistic need to please the other first.

  Juliet’s shoulders rolled back. Mia cupped her breasts and traced patterns with her index finger. And when Mia’s pelvis shuddered, Juliet pushed her thigh firmly against her. Her mouth opened slightly as she held herself just inches from Mia’s face.