Sweet, Sweet Wine

by Jaime Clevenger

  Lisa stared at Riley. After a long moment, she said, “Why were you thinking about that now?”

  “I guess I was wondering if you’d changed your mind.”

  Lisa shook her head. “Maybe I should ask if you want an open relationship. Something you want to tell me, Riley?” Lisa smiled.

  Jeanette walked up to them. She nodded at Lisa and then turned to Riley and said, “Everything okay at the clinic tonight?”

  “Yeah, fine.” For all of Jeanette’s gruff exterior, Riley had learned quickly that she was quite sensitive and very capable of deciphering Riley’s mood as well as nearly everyone else’s. Overall, Riley had to admit that she managed the clinic well, despite her propensity to keep employees that made too many mistakes. Her relationship with her daughter was a different matter altogether. Jeanette did seem to love Lisa, but they clearly didn’t get along well enough to exchange more than a few words. This had made Riley’s position between them uncomfortable on more than one occasion.

  Elaine, the other therapist from the clinic, came up to the group. She had a small plate of crispy fried shrimp and dipping sauce. “Have you all tried the shrimp?”

  “My stomach’s a bit off tonight,” Riley managed when Elaine pushed the plate toward her. “I think I might need some air.” She headed for the back patio.

  “It is a little stuffy, isn’t it? Lisa, do you mind opening a few windows? Just a crack. It’s snowing out there, and I don’t want to freeze anyone.”

  Jeanette’s patio had a panoramic view of the city, but its lights were blurred by low-hanging clouds. When she stepped outside, Riley nearly bumped into Sharon. “I’m sorry. I just need some air.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “I don’t want to invade your quiet time here, however.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I used to smoke and on nights like this, I miss it. I just wanted to step outside for a moment and watch the snow fall, you know? Anyway, I’m trying not to reminisce about anything this year. This is my year for moving forward.”

  Riley shivered. “Sharon, what did you hear?”

  “What did I hear? Well,” Sharon gazed past her. The house lights struck the snowflakes and made them shimmer as they fell. “Jeanette said something…I doubt she would want me to tell you, however.”

  Riley waited. She needed to know why Sharon had spoken up in the first place. “Please.”

  “You know, Jeanette has never liked any of Lisa’s girlfriends except you. This Jen is one of her least favorites. She gave me an earful about her after everything that happened in California. I also know she told Lisa that Jen wasn’t invited to this party.”

  “Well, Lisa and Jen are still friends.”

  “Sweetie, Jeanette called me last week. She said that Lisa and Jen had spent the night here. She was upset that Lisa was back together with Jen and beside herself knowing that you had no clue about any of it. They are definitely more than friends.”

  Riley realized she’d been holding her breath. She took a step away from Sharon and glanced back at the living room window. She couldn’t pick out Lisa among the crowd. “Wait, when was this?”

  “Last week.”

  Lisa appeared at the back door. Her green blouse and black slacks were thin polyester, and she shivered as the wind blew a gust of snow. “Riley, find me when you come inside, okay?”

  Riley nodded. Lisa closed the door but watched her for a moment longer before finally turning and walking back toward the family room.

  Sharon reached into the pocket of her jacket. “This is my number. I run a bed-and-breakfast in Catori. Remember?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Riley answered her automatically. She could hardly believe what Sharon had told her. “You invited me out there last year.”

  “This year I mean it. Come stay for a few nights and clear your head—my treat. I really appreciated you listening to my story last year. I didn’t know how much I needed to talk about it until afterward.”

  Riley took the card. She stared at the picture of a little Victorian house set up on a hill and framed by towering mountains. She had no intention of taking Sharon up on her offer, but she jammed the card in her pocket anyway. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to Lisa.”

  “Let her do the talking. Maybe you two can get through this. If she’s honest when you ask her about it…”

  “Maybe. But I doubt she’ll tell me the truth. And I believe Jeanette’s story more than any excuse Lisa is going to come up with.”

  “And you can’t be in a relationship with someone you don’t trust.” Sharon shook her head. “In my younger years, I would have taken you out to a bar to flirt with some cuties. Sometimes nothing feels better than playing someone else at their own game.”

  “I don’t even feel up for a drink.”

  “Then go home. Because the last thing you’re going to want to see is Lisa and that other woman together.”

  “You’re right. I’ve gotta get out of here.” Riley hugged Sharon. “Thank you for telling me. I feel like shit, but at least I know.” She reluctantly headed back inside. The family room felt more crowded than before and the hallway, made narrow by clusters of strangers, was stifling. She cut a path to the front dining area and found her coat. She was finishing with the buttons when she saw Lisa. Jen was with her at the bottom of the staircase.

  Riley ducked out the front door as a couple was coming inside, shaking off snow as they did. The sidewalks were covered with powder and crunched as she walked. She turned her car on and blasted the heat, then grabbed her ice scraper and set to work clearing off the windows. Lisa appeared on the passenger side of the car. She glanced at Riley, then climbed into the front seat without a word.

  Riley finished scraping. She wanted to yell at Lisa to get out of the car but said nothing as she climbed in the driver’s seat. Lisa had turned off the radio, and the only sound was the roar of the heater. Riley dialed the heat down and buckled her seat belt. She pulled out into the street and drove to the freeway.

  “Tell me.”

  “What?” Riley asked.

  “What’s wrong? You are so pissed that you can’t even look at me.”

  “Take a guess.”

  Lisa shook her head. “I don’t know, Riley. What? You don’t want me talking to Jen?”

  “You can talk to whoever the hell you want to. You can sleep with them too, for all I care.” Riley punched the steering wheel and the horn honked in response. She was parked at a stoplight and the red lights glared back at her. No other cars were anywhere in sight. “Jeanette told her friend, Sharon, about you and Jen…So, that friend of hers, basically a stranger to me, decides to be the one decent person and tells me to get my head out of the sand.”

  “What the hell did my mom tell her?” Lisa cussed under her breath. “There’s nothing to say about me and Jen. There’s nothing going on.”

  “Yeah. Your mom likes to make shit up, right? But you know why I’m really mad? I knew something was going to happen with you and Jen. It was only a matter of when. So, now I’m stuck wondering…Was this a one-time thing or were you fucking around in California too?”

  “What exactly did my mom say? Damn it, you won’t believe me anyway.”

  “I won’t believe you because I can tell when you are lying. Get out of my damn car.”

  “Here? Seriously?”

  The light had turned green and Riley floored the gas pedal. The car sped through the intersection onto the freeway onramp. “How long have you been sleeping with her? Three weeks ago you promised me that nothing was going to happen. Fine. It did. Just tell me. When did Jen start at the hospital anyway? Last week? How has your week been? Been having a good time?”

  “I’m not sleeping with her,” Lisa said, nearly yelling. “But you obviously aren’t going to listen to anything I say. Riley, would you slow down? The roads are terrible.”

  Riley slowed down despite her inclination to gun it. They drove in silence until they reached their street. The roads were icy, and the tir
es slid through the first stop sign. Riley pulled half onto the curb and parked. She closed her eyes. “Tell me what your mom knows.”

  Lisa was silent for a long while. When Riley turned off the car’s heater and started to get out, she said, “Jen slept at my mom’s place. One night. My mom was livid. Jen and my mom have never gotten along, so everything was awkward. Jen left as soon as my mom started yelling.”

  “Thank you, Jeanette.”

  Lisa shook her head. “I told her nothing happened. But she didn’t believe me.”

  “I can’t see why she wouldn’t,” Riley said. “I mean to me it makes so much sense that you two would just bunk together for the night and stay in your PJs the entire time. I’m sure there was no touching. Fuck, Lisa. When was this?”

  “We didn’t have sex, Riley.”

  “You know what?” Riley climbed out of the car. “I don’t care.”

  “I didn’t tell you because I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Jen didn’t have time to find an apartment before they wanted her to start working so she got a hotel room, but the place was terrible and she wasn’t sleeping well. On Tuesday she asked if she could stay at my mom’s place. She just needed a room for a night or two.”

  “And then she could sleep in your old room, which is fine because you’re not sleeping there anymore, right? But instead of coming home last Tuesday, you decided to stay at your mom’s. It was snowing that night, remember? You told me you had dinner with your mom and you’d had a few drinks. You didn’t want to drive once the snowstorm hit. Convenient, right?” Riley unlocked the front door and turned to Lisa. “Except, even when you called me, I had this funny feeling that something was off about your story. I remembered later that Jeanette had concert tickets for that night. The next day I almost asked her if she’d liked the concert but I didn’t. Know why? I wanted to believe you.” She went inside and took off her coat. “Where’s your car?”

  “I left it at the hospital.”

  “Of course you did. Why drive when Jen can give you a ride to the party?” Riley didn’t wait for Lisa’s answer. “I don’t believe that nothing happened. That nothing is happening between you two…And I’m so damn tired of this crap.”

  “You aren’t listening to my side of things,” Lisa started. “You’ve already made up your mind because some old friend of my mom’s had nothing better to do than spread rumors.”

  “And you know, if at the very beginning you had said that you wanted to keep Jen in your life, maybe I would have been okay with this. But now I’m questioning everything, because you told me more than once that there was nothing going on— that nothing would ever happen—because you were done. Why lie?”

  “I wasn’t lying, Riley. Jen and I are friends. That’s it.”

  Riley shook her head. She hung her coat and took off her shoes. She headed for the stairs, brushing off Lisa’s hand as she reached for her. “I don’t care how you’ve made this weird threesome thing all work out in your brain, but as soon as you start lying, I’m done. I’m not going to play along anymore. You can sleep on the sofa or in the spare room. Just don’t come into my room.”

  Lisa sank down on the first stair. Riley heard her crying but didn’t turn around. She had no words to comfort her. Riley took off her clothes and showered in the dark. She didn’t want to see her reflection in the mirror. She climbed in bed naked, pulling the comforter up to her chin, and buried her head in her pillow. She fought back the tears that pressed at the corner of her eyes.

  A few minutes later, she felt Lisa slip into bed. She was naked as well and pressed herself against Riley’s backside. “I’m sorry, Riley.”

  Riley didn’t answer.

  “You’re right. My mom was at a concert, and I had dinner with Jen. But then it started snowing and I didn’t want to drive. Jen and I slept in the same bed, but like I told you earlier, nothing happened. We didn’t have sex.” Lisa ran her hand down Riley’s arm. “You have to believe me. I’m so sorry.”

  Riley didn’t move when Lisa kissed her neck. She gave no response to Lisa’s hands as they moved up and down her back. She let Lisa roll her onto her back and kept her eyes closed as Lisa climbed on top of her. She felt Lisa’s lips lightly kissing her chest, her belly and all the way down to her thighs. Lisa moved Riley’s legs apart and shifted in between them. Her tongue flicked lightly over Riley’s clit and her hands slipped under Riley’s butt cheeks. When she pulled Riley into her waiting mouth, Riley didn’t move away. She let Lisa’s tongue work up and down and felt the climax coming as a craving that had taken over. She’d lost control. The rush filled her and washed over her in the moment that Lisa’s tongue pushed hard on her swollen clit.

  Lisa lay on top of her for a while afterward, then rolled off without a word. Riley stared at the ceiling, thinking again of the night Lisa hadn’t come home. She’d been trying to spend more time at home in the evenings when she knew Lisa was off. When Lisa called with the excuse about having dinner and drinks with her mom, Riley had wanted to believe her. But Jeanette’s concert plans had nagged at her. A few days later she’d finally asked Lisa if her mom hadn’t gone to the concert because of the snow. The look of confusion and panic that had crossed Lisa’s face as she stammered out an excuse about her mom leaving the concert early had left a hard knot in Riley’s stomach. Jen had started work at the hospital that week. Part of her knew that somehow she was the reason Lisa was stammering. But she couldn’t accuse her of anything. She’d only had her suspicions to go on then.

  * * *

  Riley went to the gym early the next morning. She left Lisa sleeping. The place was crowded for a Saturday morning. Her favorite trainer was setting up to teach the morning weight class and waved when Riley walked past. As had been her habit four times a week for the past year, she went directly to the treadmill and ran for twenty minutes to warm up for the class. Her phone beeped several times; she knew it was Lisa, sending a message. Instead of thinking of Lisa or of the image of Jen and Lisa standing together by the Christmas tree, she thought of Sharon. When the class finished and she’d showered, she went out to her car and called Sharon.

  “Morning, sunshine!”

  “Sharon? This is Riley.” Riley wondered if she always answered the phone with that line or if she was expecting someone else to call. “We talked at Jeanette’s Christmas party last night.”

  “Oh, I know who you are, sweetie.”

  Riley wondered at the surreal friendliness in her voice. “You know, I’m not sure why I’m calling. I guess I wanted to thank you for telling me what you knew.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You want to take a drive up to the mountains this morning? It’s beautiful. I spent last night in Jeanette’s guest room and drove home with the sunrise. It’s a gorgeous time of year.”

  “That’s right. Jeanette does have a guest room, doesn’t she?” Riley felt the last bit of doubt that she had been holding on to slip away. Even if Jen had wanted to get out of a bad hotel situation, there was no reason, other than the obvious, that she would need to sleep in Lisa’s old room when Jeanette had a nicer guest bedroom available.

  Sharon repeated her question. “So, you want to take a drive to the mountains this morning? Snow’s sparkling in the sun.”

  “I do. But I’ve got clients to see. I’m doing a few home visits today…Anyway, there’s no point in running away from this, is there?”

  “I suppose not, sweetie. Just know the offer stands. Any time you need it, just call.”

  Riley hung up the line and did not answer the next call coming from Lisa. She drove to work, stopping on the way at a coffee shop to pick up breakfast. The baristas were friendly with the regulars and knew Riley’s order before she said it. She grabbed an extra coffee for Laney, who was supposed to be at work already unlocking the doors, though Riley guessed she’d be running five minutes late as usual.

  Riley saw her first two appointments in the clinic and then gathered up her things to head out for her home visits. Her schedule was light, so
she planned to grab lunch somewhere along the way. Elaine was working in the clinic that morning and seemed a bit hung over from the party. Riley waved to her as she left the office, and Elaine only nodded in response.

  Lisa walked into the front lobby as Riley was heading out. Laney waved to her and said, “Your mom throws a great party!” in the artificially sweet voice she used only while standing at the front desk.

  “I’ll tell her,” Lisa said, forcing a smile. She met Riley’s gaze. “Can you take a lunch break?”

  Riley glanced at her watch. She had hoped that work would give her an excuse for not having called back, but now that Lisa was at the clinic, the situation was even worse. She couldn’t easily dismiss her with Laney watching, and there was no quiet place to talk. All of the walls were thin and too many ears could hear their tone if not every word. “Yeah, sure,” she said, heading out the door.

  Lisa followed her to the Italian restaurant next door. They sat down in a booth and ordered two half calzones to go. “I know you wanted to avoid me today, but the fact that you don’t believe me about Jen is driving me crazy. I can’t think about anything else. I’m freaked out that you are going to break up with me over this.”

  Riley nodded.

  “What? That’s it? You’re just going to agree with me?” Lisa asked.

  “I’m pretty sure we broke up last night,” Riley replied, her voice several notches quieter than Lisa’s.

  “No, we didn’t. You were mad that I hadn’t told you what happened. So I told you. And now you know that nothing is going on, so we can figure out a way to move past this.”

  “Look, Lisa, I’m not going to kick you out of the house today. You can sleep in the spare room for as long as you need to. We’ll be housemates for a while. You can do whatever the hell you want to do with Jen at her place.”

  Lisa slammed her hands on the table. She stood up, grabbed her coat, then turned back to Riley and said, “Nothing happened, Riley. Nothing.”

  Riley watched her walk outside. She stopped on the sidewalk for a moment with her hand covering her face, standing in nearly the same spot Riley had stood the night before. Finally, she turned to the left, toward the hospital and walked beyond Riley’s view. When Gary finally arrived with their order, he seemed apologetic. Lisa’s volume had left little to the imagination. Riley paid for the calzones despite Gary’s offer for them to be on the house and headed out to her first home visit. Henry was one of her longest-running Saturday appointments. He wouldn’t mind the calzone or the lunch company.