by Jae
“I meant what I said earlier,” Denny continued. “No expectations. Tell them whatever feels right for now, okay?”
Having Denny be so understanding and not pressuring her should have felt like a relief. Instead, frustration clawed at her gut, not with Denny, but with herself. Her family was liberal and open-minded. This shouldn’t be such a struggle—and yet it was.
“Now tell me everything about your parents and your siblings,” Denny said before Eliza could think of an answer. “Hobbies, quirks, political affiliation, favorite ice cream flavors—I need to know everything. Just because they might think I’m only a friend doesn’t mean I can’t try to charm their socks off.”
Part of Eliza’s tension fled from her as she smiled fondly. “You don’t need to know a thing about them to do that. Just be yourself.”
“Yeah?”
Something in Denny’s voice gave Eliza pause. “Did you think I wanted you to put on an act around my family and pretend you’re straight, femme, super confident, or something else you’re not?”
Denny’s lack of an answer spoke volumes.
“God, Denny, no. This isn’t about you. It’s about me. So please don’t show up on Sunday in a frilly, pink dress or something, okay?”
Denny burst out laughing. “I can honestly say that thought didn’t cross my mind.”
“Good. Because I like you exactly the way you are. I just need some time to figure out what that means for me.”
“Take all the time you need,” Denny said. “Now tell me about your family.”
“Only if you then tell me all about yours.”
“Deal.”
Eliza sat up, propped the pillow behind her back, and prepared herself for a long conversation.
Chapter 22
On Friday afternoon of the following week, Eliza finished work early, borrowed Heather’s car again, and drove to her sister’s house in Happy Valley to pick up her nieces.
Ryan and Nichole’s kids were sick with a stomach flu, but Britt’s ten-year-old twins had enthusiastically declared their interest in joining their craft lesson.
Instead of her sister, it was their mom who opened the door.
“Hey, Mom.” Eliza gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “What are you doing here? Britt isn’t sick too, is she?”
“Oh, no, she’s fine.” Her mother pulled her across the doorstep. “Nala had her kittens, and I was in the neighborhood picking up some stuff at the Grocery Port, so I thought I’d drop by and see them.”
Her mother shopped at the Grocery Port? Maybe she had even gone to the one where Denny worked. Denny might have rung up her items or directed her to the milk at some point! It felt as if the universe was giving her a nudge. Should she tell her mother about Denny?
“How are you, sweetie?” Her mother wrapped one arm around her while she led her into the house. “I’ve barely seen you all month. Are your bosses keeping you busy?”
“No, it’s not that,” Eliza answered. “I mean, we’re working our, um, behinds off to develop a bird-friendly Christmas tree and make enough of them in time for the holiday season, but Austen is really good at sending everyone home on time.”
“That’s good. What’s keeping you from visiting, then?”
Okay, the universe was giving her more than a little nudge. This felt more like a kick. Maybe she should get it over with and tell her mother, who had always been her biggest ally in the family. She searched for the right words and discarded one option after another. Finally, she decided to be as direct as possible and just say it—like ripping off the Band-Aid instead of dragging it out and making it more painful than necessary. “Uh, remember Denny? The woman I was texting with after I had the bike accident?”
Crow’s feet fanned out around her mother’s eyes as she grinned. “The one I thought you were dating?”
Eliza tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Um, actually, I—”
“Aunt Eliza!” Her niece Piper rushed toward them.
Damn. Her chance to talk to her mother alone was gone. Maybe the universe didn’t want her mom to find out about Denny just yet after all.
“Nala had her kittens! Come look at them.” Piper tugged on her hand. “We’re keeping the black and the red one, but you can have one of the calicos.”
Britt stepped out of the living room with Polly in tow. “Nope! We’re not keeping two; your dad and I told you that. You get to pick one, and that’s it.”
Identical scowls settled on the twins’ faces.
“The black one,” Piper said.
“The red one,” Polly declared at the same time.
Eliza laughed and patted Britt’s shoulder. “I predict you’ll keep both.”
Britt grimaced. “Thanks for the support, sis.”
“Hey, I’m taking the girls off your hands for the rest of the day. How’s that for support?”
“Right. I knew you were my favorite sister for a reason.”
“That’s what she told Aunt Andy too when she took us out for ice cream last weekend,” Piper stage-whispered.
Piper and Polly dragged her into the living room to look at the tiny balls of fluff.
Britt and their mom followed, and they all stood around the cat bed in the corner, where four kittens snuggled up to their mother. Their eyes were still closed and their ears folded against their heads, making them resemble little teddy bears. Their high-pitched meows made Eliza smile.
I wonder if Denny likes cats.
Her mother leaned her chin on Eliza’s shoulder so she could watch the kittens too. “They’re so cute when they’re this little. Just like human babies. I almost wish they could stay like this forever.”
“Hey, watch it, Mom,” Britt said. “I’m still cute as heck.”
Their mother chuckled. “No comment.” She tapped Eliza’s shoulder. “So, what was it that you wanted to tell me about your friend?”
Eliza’s palms went damp. Should she still tell her? But that meant Britt and the girls would hear their conversation, and that seemed a little overwhelming. Okay, a lot overwhelming.
“Um, she and her family will be at the parade on Sunday too, so I thought we could all meet up and go together.”
“Of course, honey. The more, the merrier.”
That seemed to be the end of it for her mother. She had no idea Denny was more than a friend, so for her, there was nothing else to discuss.
Damn. This was so much harder than she had thought it would be.
Eliza held back a sigh. “All right, monsters.” She waved at Polly and Piper to follow her. “We should go. Denny and her niece are waiting for us.”
The three girls hung on Eliza’s every word as she explained and demonstrated how to shape the polymer clay to create their journal covers.
From her place next to her at the table, Denny watched just as intently—not so much because of the dragonfly journal she intended to make but because she couldn’t look away from Eliza.
She wore a pair of faded jeans that had been washed so many times they probably felt as soft as velvet and were now molded to the contours of her slim hips and toned legs. Her chestnut hair was swept up into a short ponytail, exposing her beautiful cheekbones and elegant neck.
God, that neck. A stray tendril had escaped the ponytail and curled around her throat. Denny imagined brushing it aside and pressing a soft kiss to Eliza’s skin.
Eliza kneaded and rolled the clay, then smoothed it into place on the sheet she’d prepared earlier. She attached hind legs to the purple dragon she was making and formed spikes along its spine.
“Wow,” one of the twins whispered.
“Yeah, wow,” Denny repeated without looking away from Eliza’s hands. She tried hard not to imagine those fingers stroking, kneading, and smoothing over something other than polymer clay.
When Eliza turned toward Denny, their knees brushed beneath the table.
A jolt traveled up Denny’s leg.
“…shaper?”
Denny jerked her gaze
away from Eliza’s hands and directed it to her face. “Um, sorry, what?”
A grin broke the look of concentration on Eliza’s face.
Was she aware of what her mere presence and the light touch of her knee were doing to Denny?
“Could you hand me the rubber shaper, please?” Eliza repeated.
“Oh, sure.” Denny glanced at the assortment of tools spread out on her side of the table. “Which one is it? This one?”
At her first question, Eliza had reached out, and when Denny tried to pick up the tool she guessed to be the rubber shaper, her fingers closed over soft skin instead of cold metal.
Neither of them let go.
They froze with their thighs touching and Eliza’s upper chest pressed into Denny’s shoulder. Eliza had twisted and stretched past her to reach the tool, so now their faces were only inches apart.
Their gazes met and held, then Eliza’s dipped to Denny’s lips.
Denny stifled a moan. God, you can’t look at me like this. Not with the kids in the room. The need to kiss her was almost like a physical ache.
The air between them seemed to flicker, shimmering like the summer haze over hot asphalt.
“Aunt Eliza!” One of the twins tapped the table as if she had tried—and failed—to get her aunt’s attention for some time. “Mine looks like a sausage with claws! Help!”
The temperature in the room appeared to drop back to normal levels as Eliza turned to face her niece.
Denny sank against the back of her chair and tried to hide that she was breathing much too fast.
“Which twin is she again?” Bella whispered next to her. “Piper or Polly?”
Grateful for the distraction, Denny turned her attention to Eliza’s nieces. She scratched her neck, which still felt too warm. “I have no idea,” she whispered back. To her, the two girls looked identical, right down to the freckles on their noses. How could Eliza tell them apart? She knew Bella wouldn’t speak up, so she said, “Okay, you two. Give me a tip. How do I tell you apart?”
The twin who had created the sausage with claws glanced up from her clay. “That’s easy.” She grinned. “I’m the prettier, smarter one.”
Her sister snorted. “Ha! You wish!”
Eliza set the lump of clay aside to poke twin number one. It was fun to see her interact with her nieces. “Piper’s the smart-ass. Polly’s the quiet one.”
“And how do I tell them apart when they’re both quiet?” Denny asked.
Eliza and her nieces looked at each other, then gave identical shrugs. “After a while, it’ll be obvious.”
Denny gave her a doubtful look, but she hoped she would be in Eliza’s life for a long, long time, so she would have plenty of opportunities to learn to tell them apart.
“Yours is turning out really good.” Polly pointed at Bella’s cover depicting a polymer clay budgie.
Bella ducked her head as a deep blush colored her cheeks, but she couldn’t hide her pleased smile. “Thanks.”
Eliza had shown her how to cut feathers from a sheet of polymer clay and sculpt the quill and individual barbs with a sharp-tipped tool, and Denny was proud of how focused her niece was as she worked on her bird.
“I’m trying to make it look like Kiwi, my budgie, but it might look more like Kiwi, the fruit.”
Polly laughed but shook her head. “No, it looks like a budgie. Of course, I haven’t seen Kiwi, so I can’t say if it looks like him…or her…or not.”
“Want to see him?” Bella asked.
Apparently, the newness of having a pet still hadn’t worn off.
Within seconds, the two preteens abandoned their craft projects and rushed upstairs.
Piper scoffed as if she were too mature to get excited over a budgie—but then hurried after them. “Hey, wait! I want to see him too!”
For the first time since Eliza and the twins had arrived, Denny found herself alone with her. Still sitting at the table, they turned toward each other, and their knees brushed again.
There was so much Denny wanted to say, but as she looked into Eliza’s dark brown eyes, words escaped her. “Hi.”
Eliza smiled. “Hi.” She reached up to swipe her hair behind one ear, then seemed to realize it was tied back in a ponytail and let her hand drop onto the table.
God, she’s so cute. It was a relief to see she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t quite sure how to act and what to do. Well, she knew what she wanted to do, but she was still careful not to push Eliza into anything she wasn’t ready for. She reached for Eliza’s hand and ran her thumb over her knuckles. Mmm. For someone who worked with her hands, Eliza had incredibly soft skin. She caressed Eliza’s index finger.
A noticeable shiver went through Eliza.
They both glanced at their entwined hands, their gazes following the path of Denny’s finger, then into each other’s eyes.
“Denny…” Eliza’s voice was a low, hoarse whisper. She licked her lips.
Oh Jesus. Without letting go of her hand, Denny leaned forward. Her knee bumped against the edge of Eliza’s chair, but as their lips found each other, she stopped caring.
Eliza hummed into the kiss. She slid forward, her knee coming to rest between Denny’s, pressed against the edge of Denny’s chair. Her sculpting tool clattered onto the table as she brought up her free hand. As they continued to kiss, she slid her fingertips over Denny’s jaw and then to the back of her head.
Tingles rushed down Denny’s body, and she couldn’t help moaning. It took all her rapidly dwindling willpower to not deepen the kiss, slip her hand beneath Eliza’s T-shirt to feel her skin, and forget the world around her. “The girls,” she whispered against Eliza’s lips.
“Mm-hmm. I know.” Eliza gently nipped Denny’s bottom lip. “We should stop…”
“Yeah.”
But neither tore her mouth away until rapid footsteps on the stairs announced the girls’ return.
Denny’s cheeks flamed along with the rest of her body as she broke the kiss, grabbed the first tool within reach, and pretended to focus on shaping the wings of her dragonfly. She avoided looking at Eliza, knowing she would flush an even brighter shade of red if she met her gaze or glanced at her lips.
Bella dropped onto her chair with a huff and tugged on Denny’s T-shirt. “Piper and Polly have an iPhone, and they’re only ten!”
“We’re almost eleven, and it’s our mom’s old phone,” one twin said while her sister added, “And we have to share.”
“Still,” Bella grumbled. “All the kids in school have one too. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”
Denny groaned. “Can we discuss this later, Bella?” When I’m not in a post-kiss haze.
“Fine.” Bella grabbed her tool, then paused and regarded Denny’s cover. “Your dragonfly looks weird. Like a pair of lips.”
Denny stared at her project. Shit. She was right. The dragonfly’s wings had somehow morphed into a sensuous mouth. She peered at Eliza out of the corner of her eye and whispered, “Oops.”
Eliza’s gaze dipped from the dragonfly to Denny’s lips. The corner of her mouth twitched as if she was trying not to burst into laughter. “Well, you should have seen the first dragonfly I made. It looked like an ice cream cone with wings.”
Denny jumped up. “Ice cream! Good idea.” She could use something to cool herself down if she wanted to make it through this craft lesson with Eliza sitting so close.
Denny would have bought her niece an entire flock of budgies if it meant she could get another moment alone with Eliza, but it wasn’t meant to be. With all three girls right next to them, kissing her goodbye wasn’t in the cards.
She wrapped her arms around Eliza in a friendly hug, but when she pressed close and that wonderful mix of her light perfume and her own scent teased Denny’s nose, the embrace tightened. God, she could have stayed like this forever. Denny barely resisted the urge to bury her nose against Eliza’s neck.
Finally, Eliza let go and stepped back with the same obvious reluctance Denny fe
lt. She walked backward to the car, her gaze still on Denny, and made the sign for I’ll call you.
Denny nodded and watched her climb behind the wheel.
“Bye, Polly.” Bella waved at the twin closest to her.
Huh. What do you know? Denny gave her a quick look. Apparently, Bella had learned to tell them apart.
They both waved as Eliza competently navigated out of the driveway. Once the car had disappeared down the street, they went back inside.
Bella trailed her fingertips over the budgie on her journal. “You know,” she said without glancing at Denny, “you could have kissed her goodbye. I wouldn’t have minded. It’s not like I haven’t seen people kiss before.”
“Uh, thanks, but…” Denny stared at her own journal. She would never be able to look at a dragonfly again without thinking about kissing Eliza. “It’s complicated.”
Bella rolled her eyes in that way only someone her age could. “That’s what you and Mom always say when you think I’m too young to understand something. I’m eleven, Aunt Denny.” She straightened to her full four-foot eight. “I’m not a little kid.”
“I know.” Denny pulled out two chairs and gestured for Bella to sit next to her. “It’s not that I don’t think you’ll understand it here.” She touched Bella’s temple. “But it might be hard to grasp here.” She tapped her chest. “I know my heart struggles with it.”
Bella studied her with the same keen focus she had directed at her craft project earlier. “Oh. Polly and Piper don’t know Eliza’s your girlfriend, do they?”
Denny stared at her. One second, Bella was complaining about them not getting her an iPhone, and the next, she sounded so perceptive and mature that it blew her mind. “No, they don’t.” Before Bella could say anything, she lifted her hand. She didn’t want her niece to judge Eliza in any way. “It’s not that she’s ashamed of me or our relationship. It’s just that this…us…being in a relationship with a woman is new for her. She hasn’t told her family yet.”
Bella’s eyes grew wide. “They won’t kick her out once she tells them, will they?”