Sweet, Sweet Wine

by Jaime Clevenger

  Part Five

  Omissions

  The shuttle driver got Riley from Napa to the Sacramento airport in under an hour, managing somehow to escape getting any speeding tickets in the process. Nearly two hours early for her flight back to Denver as a result, she made her way through the security check distractedly thinking of Ana. With plenty of time to spare before boarding, she walked the length of the terminal twice, then grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch. As she made her way back to her gate, she spotted Blair.

  She was seated cross-legged near the gate for an Austin flight. Her laptop was plugged into an outlet and headphones were plugged into her ears. Riley watched her tap the keyboard keys. She hesitated a moment longer and then approached.

  Riley waved when she was a few feet away. Blair startled at first, then grinned, pulled her headphones off and jumped up to hug her. “What the hell are you doing in this airport?”

  “Long story,” Riley said. “It’s good to see you. You look great.” Riley noted the changes that the past several years had had on Blair. Notably, her hair was longer and she’d lost weight. Her round face was more angular. Of course, she had the same sky-blue sparkling eyes that had arrested Riley on their first meeting.

  “How’d you end up with a layover here from the Seattle flight?” Blair asked. “Oh, I’ve missed you. What a nice surprise.” Blair hugged her again. “My flight boards in ten minutes. I wish we had bumped into each other an hour ago. I’ve been wasting time watching Internet videos. It’s so different being face-to-face. I like the haircut.” She rubbed her hand up the back of Riley’s head. “You got a close shave. Anyone mistake you for a teenage boy lately?”

  “Not lately.” Riley grinned. It was an old joke. “I’ve been walking back and forth for an hour. I don’t know how I missed you before.” It was really good seeing Blair in person. She felt a pang of guilt letting her think that she was in Sacramento on a layover, but telling her about Ana was more than a ten-minute conversation. “I’m surprised you’re just now flying back to Austin. Work let you off this long?”

  “I’m going to pay for it over the next few weeks with a crazy patient load, but yes, I got a full two weeks off. And I interviewed on Friday at a practice in Sac. The place is in midtown a few blocks from where we used to live. They liked me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to accept their offer, but I’m thinking about it.”

  “That’s great. Did you tell your parents? They’re going to love having you back in town.”

  “I’m not going to mention it until I decide if I’m taking the job. Speaking of which, how’s your job?”

  “Fine. Sometimes I hate having a boss, but otherwise, I like the work.”

  “You should think about starting your own practice. You have the money to do it. Why deal with bosses if you don’t have to?”

  The gate attendant interrupted their conversation with an announcement about early boarding. Several passengers had already lined up next to the gate entrance. Blair unplugged her laptop and packed up her things. Riley clasped Blair’s hand. She didn’t want to let her go so soon. “I wish we had a little longer.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Blair shouldered her bag. “Wait with me until I board? You never know how many years will pass before we bump into each other again.”

  They stood together, not talking, just holding hands. Blair’s company had always been so comforting, and it was again, as if no time had passed. But there was no spark. Riley didn’t long to kiss her. She just wanted to hold her close, for a long night, as they had so many times before, then say goodbye and meet again a few years later. As the last passenger in the waiting area boarded, Blair turned and kissed her. Her lips were soft and familiar. Riley let go of her hand and watched her disappear down the gangway.

  A bitterly cold wind greeted Riley as she stepped out of the airport in Denver. The Christmas snow had disappeared, but the temperature felt even lower than before. Riley raced to get a seat in the parking lot shuttle. She had her gloves and hat on but couldn’t stop shivering. She found her car and climbed in quickly. As she waited for the car to heat up, she noticed the coffee cup that Ana had left in her cup holder. Ana’s lipstick was on the edge of the lid.

  She listened to the evening news report as she drove home. It was the first time she’d heard the news in two weeks, and the announcer’s voice conveyed the reality of being home in her old life. Her “old” old life, that is. The one she’d been living prior to the snowstorm that had shut down the airport and brought Ana into her present reality.

  She texted Ana when she finally made it home, as requested, then walked into the kitchen. She immediately knew that Lisa had been there. There was an empty carton of milk in the recycling basket and a copy of the Independent open on the counter. She had dropped by, at the very least, or, more likely, spent nights there while Riley was away. Riley tossed the paper in the recycling basket. She headed upstairs and saw a light on in her bedroom.

  Lisa was sitting on the bed. She had her iPad on her lap and closed the cover as soon as Riley walked into the room. “Hey, honey. You’re home.”

  “Yeah,” Riley said. “And you’re in the wrong bed. Last I checked, you didn’t sleep here.”

  Lisa watched Riley take off her clothes, making no effort to leave. Riley headed to the shower, too tired to make a scene. Lisa came into the bathroom while Riley was still in the shower. Riley watched her put the toilet seat lid down and take a seat. Riley closed her eyes, letting the water pelt her face.

  “We broke up.”

  “Yeah, I remember. We broke up a year ago last December and then again in September. Am I missing a breakup in May too? Or did we just talk about breaking up and you slept in the guest room for a few weeks and then you somehow were back in my bed again?” Riley kept her eyes closed. She dropped her head and the water drenched her hair.

  “I mean, Jen and I broke up.”

  Riley shut off the water and grabbed a towel. She dried off her face and her hair and then eyed Lisa. She realized now that Lisa’s eyes were ringed with red. She’d been crying. Riley sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “You never asked how things went in Alaska.”

  “Because I didn’t care. And didn’t want to know.” Riley wrapped the towel around her waist. “How’d things go in Alaska?”

  “Terrible. She got so drunk the first night that she was sick. Then we both got seasick on the second day, and it never really got better. It was awful, really.”

  “I’m sorry. Why is this important now? It’s been four months.” Riley wasn’t actually sorry that the Alaska trip had been terrible. She doubted that Lisa believed her anyway. “Clearly you patched things up and moved on. And then what happened?”

  “But that’s the thing…We never did patch anything. It never really worked after the Alaska trip. We didn’t click anywhere except in bed. And the thing was, I knew all along. It hadn’t worked before, so why did I expect it to this time?”

  Riley walked out of the bathroom. “Because she moved out here to be with you.”

  “Yeah, and apparently I was stupid or crazy for thinking that would change anything.” Lisa got off the toilet and followed Riley back into the bedroom. “Anyway, I’m done with her. Once and for all.”

  “We’ll see.” Riley smiled. “One cold and lonely February night and I bet you’ll be on the phone asking her if she wants company.”

  “Not likely. She’ll be in Sacramento. She’s moving back next week. She told me just before Christmas. It was one year, to the day, that you and I broke up. That first time anyway.”

  “Well, I just found out Blair is probably moving back to Sacramento too. Maybe we should hook them up.”

  “I’m not up for jokes tonight, Riley.”

  Riley dug out the flannel pajamas that she rarely wore. With Lisa watching her every move, she wanted to be wearing something. She pulled them on and sat down on the bed. Lisa moved to sit beside her, but Riley held up her hand. “You know you can’t spend the
night here. Not in my bed anyway.”

  Lisa stood awkwardly by the bed looking down at Riley. “I take it things are going well with what’s her name.”

  “It doesn’t really matter how that is going. I can’t have you in this bed.” Riley had no interest in talking to Lisa about Ana. She didn’t want to admit aloud how well things were going, even to herself. “I am sorry it didn’t work out with you and Jen. Really. I don’t care anymore what happened before or if you are sorry or whatever, though I have to admit that in some small way I’m glad to hear you didn’t have an amazing time in Alaska.”

  Riley sighed. Lisa had sat down on the edge of the bed and was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

  “At this point, though, I’d like you to be happy. But I don’t want you happy here. Not in my bed. If you want to sleep in the guest room or downstairs on the sofa, go ahead.”

  Lisa stood up slowly. She looked at the door and then again at Riley as if to test her resolve. “It’s weird how things worked out, isn’t it? You’re so much happier, and meanwhile, I’ve started on meds for depression. And I was the one who screwed you over.” She laughed cynically. “You don’t have to tell me things are going well with your little femme crush. I can tell.”

  Riley turned off the light when Lisa left. She heard her use the downstairs bathroom and didn’t hear the front door open or close afterward, so she guessed she was sleeping on the sofa after all. Riley settled under the covers. Ana’s face came right to mind. She pictured Ana in the red dress she’d worn on New Year’s Eve and the look she’d given Riley when they had finished dancing the last song of the night. Things had gone well, but three weeks was a long time to wait to spend a weekend together.

  * * *

  Riley circled the airport twice, averting her gaze each time she drove past the blue horse. At three stories tall and with flaming eyes, the horse would haunt her dreams if she didn’t carefully avoid it. A fresh snowfall had covered the plains in blinding white. Against this backdrop, the horse appeared all the more sinister. She spotted Ana on the third pass through the loading zone. She had her sunglasses on and was staring at the line of cars. Riley parked and waved.

  Ana’s smile was infectious. She beamed. “I swear this has been the only layover I’ve ever looked forward to. Ever.”

  “It’s good to see you too.”

  “No, Riley, what you meant to say was: ‘It’s really damn good to see you and I’ve been pining away for three weeks thinking of nothing but our time together,’” Ana said. She kissed Riley’s cheek. “That’s what you meant, right? You can drop the ‘yeah, whatever’ attitude. I see right through it.”

  Riley grinned. It was true that she had been thinking of little else for the past three weeks other than Ana’s visit. She had even started to count down the days, but she wouldn’t have admitted it. Riley grabbed Ana as she started past her with the suitcase. She rested her hands on Ana’s hips and then kissed her, feeling a rush of excitement as their lips met. “It’s really damn good to see you.”

  Ana pulled away. “That’s better. Now pop the trunk.”

  Riley had canceled her afternoon appointments and rescheduled tomorrow’s as well. Jeanette had raised an eyebrow but didn’t pry further than to ask if she had a good reason. Riley had told her that she did, and they left it at that. Their working relationship had remained surprisingly unchanged despite the headaches Jeanette was having from Lisa moving back home with her trunk full of drama.

  A week after Riley had returned to work, she’d gotten a message from Ana saying that she’d reserved Sharon’s cottage. When Riley had called her back, she’d been vague about her plans but seemed to want to avoid going to Riley’s place. She was determined that they drive straight to Sharon’s. Now that Riley had Ana in her car, she was tempted to ask her to change her mind. She didn’t want to wait for another two hours before she could take Ana’s clothes off and pull her into bed.

  “You sure you want to go all the way to the mountains? We could be at my place in a half hour.”

  “We’ve already got reservations. And I’ve been thinking of the last time we were in Sharon’s hot tub together.” Ana buckled her seat belt. “You aren’t going to change my mind, so don’t even try. And this time we’ll have snow instead of a torrential downpour. You may have been thinking of what you wanted to do in bed, but I’ve been thinking of what I want to do with you in that hot tub.”

  “Okay, sold.”

  “I thought so.” Ana smiled. “So, how did the drama with Lisa finally turn out?”

  “Well, her stuff is mostly out of my house.”

  “Tom finally came for his furniture. We had a big fight over it. I told him he could leave the TV, but he couldn’t drop in anymore to watch his games or whatever the excuse was and sort through my mail, check my phone messages or whatever he was doing to generally keep tabs on me. Apparently you left a dirty phone message on my home phone and didn’t warn me.”

  Riley cringed. “I was wondering why you never mentioned that. I was just joking around…but, yeah, it was dirty. No worse than the messages I’ve left on your cell, though.”

  “Which are explicit enough.” She set her hand on Riley’s thigh and inched it up her leg. “I know you like to play games, but I had no idea you were the type to leave dirty messages. I kind of like it.”

  “My guess is that Tom wasn’t impressed?”

  Ana sighed. “I think he’s figuring out that the ball isn’t in his court anymore. In a way, it’s good he heard the message. He needed a push.”

  They reached Sharon’s place at dinnertime. Sharon had left her Christmas lights up and the Victorian looked like the set of an old Christmas movie. Sharon met them at the door with hugs. She smelled of cinnamon and cloves and pointed the way to a pot of mulled wine that she’d just finished setting out in the dining room.

  “I’ve only got one couple other than you staying tonight, but I can’t resist an excuse to make the wine. Deb likes it too.”

  Riley glanced over at her with this. “So you guys are seeing more of each other then?”

  Sharon smiled. “She moved in last week. We have a lot of catching up to do.” She waved her hand toward Ana. “But tonight isn’t the time. I know you two have your minds on other things. Ana, I got your message about next month. It’s no problem if you want the cottage, but you might consider a room in the main house. I doubt I’ll have any other guests and we have central heat here.”

  “You’ve already got something scheduled here in February?” Riley asked.

  Ana nodded.

  Sharon looked from Riley to Ana and then raised her eyebrows. “You gals need to catch up as well, apparently.” She went to pour the wine into two mugs and then hurried off to get the keys for the cottage.

  “I had a feeling there was something you weren’t telling me when we talked last.”

  Ana sipped the wine and then said, “I wasn’t quite ready to tell you. I’m not sure I am now either. There are a lot of details I still need to work out. Can I just say that, yes, I’ll be in Colorado in mid-February?”

  “I want to have time to get some days off if I can.”

  “I am only coming for a short trip. And I might not be alone.”

  Riley didn’t look at Ana. She was thrown by the idea that Ana might come here with someone else—of course she could—and glad when Sharon returned at that moment, jingling the keys. “I already fired up the woodstove. It should be toasty in there for you two. And the tub’s hot as well. But you might have to dust some snow off the cover.”

  The cottage was warm as promised. Ana hung up her coat and a few things from her suitcase. She placed everything in neat order before glancing at Riley.

  “You’re upset, aren’t you? I really was planning on telling you. Just not tonight.” She brushed her hand up Riley’s arm. “I’ve been thinking of all the other things I’d like to do to you. But we can talk. After would be better.”

  “I don’t like secrets.”
>
  “I noticed. Your jaw clenched right up.” Ana’s hand dropped off Riley’s shoulder. She went to the bed and kicked off her shoes. She leaned back and stretched across the pillows.

  Riley had lost the urge to take Ana to bed first thing. She didn’t like the feeling that something had come between them and had lost her footing when she noticed Ana’s set expression as Sharon spoke. The feelings of distrust that so often had come up in conversations with Lisa resurfaced with an unsteadying rush.

  “Come here,” Ana said.

  Riley took off her coat and hung it over the chair. She stood next to the stove, her hands close enough to the heat to be uncomfortable. “I’d really like you to tell me what’s going on first.”

  “What if it is a good secret that I don’t want to share with you because I want it to be a surprise? Loosen up. You’re too serious sometimes.”

  Riley went over to the bed. Ana was propped up on the pillows, but her legs dangled off the bed. Riley moved them apart and stood between them. She stared at Ana for a long moment, feeling a pulsing energy between her own legs. “I generally don’t like surprises any better than I like secrets.”

  Ana stuck her tongue out and licked her lips suggestively. She slipped off her blouse and bra. “I want to think about something else for the next hour or two. Maybe you should as well.”

  “I don’t know if I want to.”

  “Really?” Ana slowly sat up and began unbuttoning Riley’s shirt. Riley watched her but didn’t make a move. Ana continued, “I’m suddenly remembering how much of a pain in the ass you can be.” She finished with the last button but didn’t pull the shirt off. She leaned back on the bed and undid her pants, then lowered them past her hips and licked her fingertip. “But I also remember that you are terrible at keeping your hands to yourself.”