Parker laughed and sat behind the steering wheel. She pressed the gas pedal and the glistening black car rumbled to life.
“This is a beautiful car,” Amy said.
“I got it from a guy who couldn’t pay his bill, so I took it in trade. It sat in his garage for years. I’ve been working on it. Slowly.”
“That’s how you know about cars,” Amy said.
“I’m learning. Teaching myself as I go.”
Parker drove them through downtown. At a stoplight, a car full of teenage boys called out compliments as they waited at the stop light.
Parker nodded. “Thanks, guys. Drive safe.”
The second the light turned green, the boys burned rubber. Justin, the police officer, flashed his lights and they obediently slowed.
“Millie gets flashed all the time in her car,” Amy said. She watched Parker’s long fingers as they gripped the stick shift. This woman was perfection, Amy thought.
“As she should,” Parker said. “Don’t underestimate Millie. She can be dangerous behind the wheel.”
They wound up the hill past the park. The evening had turned golden and the cherry trees and dogwoods were in bloom. People were planting flowers in their yards and hanging out baskets of ferns and geraniums on their porches. Amy had forgotten how pretty and green Fenton was. From the top of the hill the road afforded a nice overview of the lake. There was a pull-off overlooking the lake. Amy remembered it as the local necking spot for the town’s teenagers.
“You know, this dinner thing has matchmaking written all over it,” Parker said, interrupting Amy’s thoughts.
“You think?” Amy asked. Her heart was in her throat.
Parker glanced over at her and said, “Rosa’s been trying to get Susan and Tess together for months.”
“Oh,” Amy said. Her heart eased back down where it belonged. How silly was she? She had actually thought Parker was talking about them. Then a thought occurred to Amy. “I thought you and Tess…?”
“What?” Parker said. “No! Tess is a friend. There’s no chemistry there.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Amy blurted. She tried to quickly take it back. “I don’t mean good. I mean…never mind.”
Parker laughed. “I think it’s good, too.”
They were silent for a while, then Parker said, “Do you play Frisbee golf by any chance?”
“Um… no. But it looks interesting. I’m not too good at sports, but I’d like to learn someday,” Amy said. She hoped she didn’t sound too anxious.
“Well then, you’re in luck. I know how to play and I’m the best teacher around.”
“That would be great.”
Parker pulled the car into the drive of Rosa and Steph’s house.
“Oh, this house is so cute!” Amy exclaimed. She loved the big porch running the width of the front of the house. It looked like a cottage from a fairy tale—exactly the type of house she had always fantasized living in.
Steph came out on the porch and put her hands on her hips. “I thought I heard that old bucket of bolts.”
Parker got out and came around the car to Amy’s side. “This bucket of bolts is an antique and it’s worth some cash.” She pulled Amy’s door open. It squeaked loudly.
Steph laughed and said, “She fixes everything except that door. She thinks as long as she has to open it for the ladies it makes her look like a real big shot.”
Parker offered Amy her hand. Amy accepted her hand and got out of the car. They walked up to the porch. Delicious smells wafted out the front door.
“Smells great,” Amy said.
A hummingbird darted by and flitted up to a feeder. “Wow. I had almost forgotten they existed.”
“No hummingbirds in the big city?” Steph asked.
“Not the part where I live,” Amy said. “There’s not a lot of nature. Mostly concrete.”
A fire alarm shrieked, breaking the tranquility of the night. “That would be my wife’s fault,” Steph said. “I leave her alone in the kitchen for five minutes and she sets off the fire alarm.”
Amy and Parker followed Steph inside. They found Rosa in the dining room, broom in hand, swatting at a fire alarm over the doorway.
“Rosa Marie! Put that broom down!” Steph yelled over the alarm.
Rosa turned and glared at Steph with her broom held like a baseball bat.
“I mean it! Put it down!” Steph said.
“Then make it stop,” Rosa yelled back.
Steph pulled out a dining room chair. She stood on it, pulled the alarm off the wall, and two seconds later the shrieking alarm stopped.
Amy’s ears were still ringing. “Are those like supersonic smoke detectors?”
“Best that money can buy,” Steph said, reattaching the alarm to the wall. She looked at Rosa and said, “What did you do this time to set off the smoke alarm?”
“I only lit some candles,” Rosa said. “The wicks were too long and the candles smoked a little. What do you have those things set on? High alert?”
“Of course. What good is a smoke alarm if the place has to be engulfed in smoke before it goes off?”
“Do you want me to trim the wicks?” Parker asked, extracting her car keys from her trouser pocket. She had a Leatherman multi-tool attached to her key ring. She pulled out the scissors part.
“Yes, please. That would be great,” Rosa said.
“After the wicks started smoking, did you blow them out?” Steph asked. She climbed down from the chair.
“Of course I did. You can’t trim wicks with them lit,” Rosa huffed.
“That put a lot of smoke in the air, hence the alarm went off,” Steph said, pushing the dining room chair back under the table.
“Hence? Did you really just say hence to me?’” Rosa asked.
Steph shrugged. She smiled at Rosa and pulled her into a quick embrace. Amy’s attention was drawn to Parker. She was leaning over a table, trimming candle wicks. But it wasn’t the candles that were holding Amy’s attention. It was Parker’s tush.
Steph pecked Rosa on the lips and took the broom out of her hands at the same time. “No more broom, okay?”
Rosa looked at her guests and asked, “How many smoke alarms do you think this house has?”
Amy thought about it. The house was small. It probably had one bath, two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room. Steph was probably the type to have one alarm in each room. “Six?” she hazarded.
“Try twelve,” Rosa said.
“A house fire is one of the worst things that can happen. Smoke alarms save lives and property,” Steph said.
“Twelve?” Parker asked. “That’s overkill for a twelve-hundred-square-foot house.”
“Says you. Who’s the firewoman here?” Steph asked.
They were saved from any more discussions on fire safety as the oven timer beeped. “I gotta go. The lasagna is done,” Steph said.
As if they knew it was time to arrive, the door opened and Tess came in carrying a bottle of merlot, followed by Susan, who looked flustered and out of sorts.
“I’m sorry I’m late. We had an episode at Brookside,” Susan said. She looked at Amy and said, “No worries, it wasn’t your mother.”
“Oh, thank god,” Amy said.
Tess stepped forward, saying, “I don’t believe we’ve met. Parker’s told me about you—good things. I’m Tess.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Amy said shaking Tess’s hand. She had a firm handshake.
“Here, let me take that and get it poured,” Rosa said. Tess handed over the bottle of wine.
“I wish I would’ve thought to bring something,” Amy whispered to Parker.
“I forgot! We brought beer. It’s in the trunk,” Parker said. “I’ll be right back.” She headed out the door.
Susan went to the kitchen, explaining, “I’ll help Rosa with the wine.”
That left Tess and Amy alone in the dining room. Tess broke the silence. “You know, Parker really likes you.”
Amy
was flabbergasted by the sudden revelation. “She does?”
Tess nodded. “But it’ll take months for her to tell you that. You probably noticed that she’s not too good at showing or acknowledging emotions.”
Before she had a chance to reply, Parker returned with a half case of Corona and a small bag of limes. “We need to get these on ice. They’re losing their chill,” Parker said. She made her way to the kitchen.
Susan came out of the kitchen precariously holding three glasses of wine. “I needed a glass pronto,” she said.
“Ditto,” Tess said, accepting a glass.
“Amy, you want to see the hummingbirds out back?” Parker asked from the kitchen doorway.
“Sure,” Amy said. She made a hasty exit, walking through the kitchen where Rosa and Steph were cutting up French bread, freshly made.
The backyard was a gardener’s paradise. Right off the deck was an herb garden filled with basil, thyme, fennel, and rosemary. A path led from the deck into a riot of colorful flowers— petunias, zinnias, and purple coneflowers. Off to one side was a pond with a waterfall. Calla lilies and Shasta daisies surrounded the pond and monkey grass lined its sides.
“Wow,” Amy said, standing on the large redwood deck. She looked at the garden in amazement. “This place is unbelievable.” Three hummingbirds flitted around a feeder.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Parker said, sliding into a comfortable chair.
Outside patio furniture had come a long way since the furniture Amy remembered as a kid. This stuff was downright posh. Amy rubbed her hands up and down the cushions, feeling the fabric.
“I’d like to show you my house sometime,” Parker said.
“Where do you live?” Amy had an ongoing bet with herself over whether Parker lived in some funky, artsy district or in a sterile apartment. Parker was a puzzle, to say the least. Amy desperately wanted to break the code, but she didn’t have the slightest idea how to go about it.
“I live in my van,” Parker said, her face deadpan.
Amy blanched. She tired to regain her composure by saying, “I’m sure it’s very economical to heat and cool.”
Parker chuckled. “I was kidding. That was a joke.”
“Thank god,” Amy breathed. “Because that would be…very disappointing.”
“I want to tell you something, but…”
“You can tell me,” Amy said. “Anything.”
Parker blurted, “I’m attracted to you. I’d like to get to know you. Better.”
“Well, that’s nice,” Amy said. “I’d like to get closer to you, too.”
“You would?”
“Yes, I would.”
Parker smiled. “You sure you’re not just saying that to be nice to me?”
“Of course not,” Amy said.
Parker nodded. “Okay.”
They sat in silence for a moment.
Parker said, “How are you holding up?”
“What do you mean?”
“With your mother.”
Amy decided to tell the truth. “Not well. I can’t sleep and the only reason I keep going is that I don’t want to let you or Millie down. You guys have helped me so much.”
“We both want to help,” Parker said. “Helping you helps us.”
“How so?”
“I mean, it makes us feel good to help. That’s why you should always accept help from people.”
“Dinner’s on the table!” Steph called out. She stepped out on the porch. “Get your butts in here, you two. Before it gets cold.”
Rosa appeared behind Steph. “She means to say, please come in.” She turned and walked back into the house. Steph gave Rosa a swat on the butt. “Damn, I love your ass,” she growled.
“Not in front of company,” Rosa reprimanded, but it was obvious that she loved it.
Amy couldn’t help but smile at Steph and Rosa. She wanted what they had someday—a great relationship that was loving and playful, a cozy house, and good friends. But who knows, Amy thought, maybe all those things were on their way to coming true.
Chapter Eleven
Amy lay in bed, snuggled under the blue chenille bed spread, basking in thoughts of earlier that evening. When Parker had driven her home, she’d reached for Amy’s hand and squeezed it. “I hope you had fun tonight,” she’d said.
“I did win at Cards Against Humanity.”
“Beginner’s luck,” Parker teased.
Amy had spent the night watching new love blossoming between Susan and Tess while she was winning the game.
“Do you think Tess and Susan stand a chance?” Amy asked. She wanted to believe they did.
“Actually, I do,” Parker responded. “Susan needs the right person to come along and break her funk. I think Tess might be just the one to do that.”
“Are you in a funk, Parker?”
“I like to think I’m not,” she said. “You?”
“Lately, I’m confused about all my funks,” Amy said. “They all run together.”
Parker laughed. “I can see why. But it won’t always be like this. Do you have a target date on ETD?”
“ETD?”
“Estimated Time of Departure. For New York. If you authorize me, I can fix the house up so you can sell it. You don’t have to be here, you know. And there’s always the phone.”
Amy’s glow diminished. “Actually, I think I’m going to sublet my apartment. I have a friend of mine taking care of it for me. That way I can stay here as long as my mother needs me.”
“Good. That means I get to have you for a little while longer.” With that hanging in the air, Parker got out and opened her door.
“Goodnight, Parker.”
“Goodnight, Amy. Sleep well.”
Amy had walked to Millie’s front door, acutely aware of Parker’s gaze on her back. She unlocked the door, turned and waved goodbye to Parker, and stepped inside the house. She leaned against the door and took a deep breath.
Her emotions were in a turmoil. On the one hand, she wanted to explore this spark she had with Parker. On the other hand, she was scared. Scared of letting go, scared of being hurt, scared of losing her mother, scared of…everything.
***
The next morning, the smell of coffee woke Amy up. She stretched in bed and listened to Millie scooting around in the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled loudly.
When Amy walked into the kitchen, Millie handed her a cup of perfectly doctored coffee in an “I Love Bingo” mug.
“You’re spoiling me,” Amy said.
“I’m just being neighborly. And it’s nice to have coffee with you.”
“Yeah, but you’re also making me breakfast,” Amy said.
“Two pieces of toast enough?”
Amy laughed. “Not really. I could eat a whole loaf. I’m starving all the time.”
“It’s all the hard labor,” Millie said, putting two plates of eggs and toast on the table. There were also bowls of Greek yogurt. From what Amy could deduce, Millie was a pro-green consumer. All the produce was organic, the eggs free-range, and the milk BHG free. Amy didn’t know what BHG stood for, but the milk tasted good. Amy wondered if Parker cooked. Could two non-cooking lesbians survive? Love can live on pizza and take-out Chinese, she was certain.
Millie interrupted Amy’s thoughts by saying, “I’m sore in places I didn’t even know I had muscles.”
“I know. If it’s too much, you have to tell me. I don’t want to overwork you,” Amy said.
“Honey, I like to keep busy. De-junking your mama’s house is doing a great job of that.”
“Okay, but you have to promise to say something if you need to rest.”
“You’re making me feel old. Stop it. My mind thinks I’m still twenty-five. I’d like to keep it that way. It makes it easier to get up in the morning.”
“Gotcha.” Amy spied the loaf of fresh baked bread sitting on the counter. “Why is it that everywhere I go there’s homemade bread?”
“You haven’t been to Molly’s Bake
ry yet?” Millie asked.
Amy shook her head.
“Molly makes magic bread dough. All you have to do is take it home and throw it in the oven.”
“It’s the best bread I’ve ever tasted,” Amy said.
“You’ll have to get Parker to take you there. They have great pies and good coffee, too,” Millie said as she lathered her toast with strawberry jam.
“Now you’re setting up dates,” Amy said, her voice teasing.
“Anything to get the ball of love rolling,” Millie said, pouring more coffee from the carafe into both their cups.
“The ball of love?”
Millie chuckled. “All right, it wasn’t the best turn of phrase. By the way, I found several of Harry’s old shirts for you to work in. No sense in trashing your expensive big city clothes. ”
“Thanks. I’m going to stop in and see mom first, then I’ll be over. I wish you’d wait for me before you start working.”
“No worries. I’ll have a cup of coffee with Parker and talk about you,” Millie said.
“Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’ll tell you everything I find out. I’m doing some reconnaissance. That’s all.”
“Millie,” Amy pleaded. “Please don’t.”
“She won’t even know,” Millie said with a swish of her hand.
Amy sighed heavily. If there was one thing she knew about Millie, when she put her mind to something, it stuck. “At least promise you won’t be obvious about it.”
“I promise,” Millie said, crossing her heart then pointing at her eye.
***
Amy cruised down Dorset in her mother’s Rabbit looking for the bakery Millie had mentioned. She wanted to stop and get her mother some maple bars. They used to be her favorite. Amy hoped she remembered that.
Last night, Susan had told her that sometimes her patients forgot such big things as smoking. “One day they smoke cigarettes and obsess about having enough and the next day they don’t remember ever having smoked.”
Molly’s Bakery was open and flourishing. The line was out the door. Amy considered it. Should she wait? The decision was made for her when Susan texted, “Come to Brookside as soon as you can.”
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