by Jae
It turned out showering together did not save time—quite the opposite. Eliza’s hair was still damp when they finally wove their way around the stalls and people at Saturday Market, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Heather tapped her watch. “It’s not eleven yet, but I’ll let it slide because I don’t want to burst your postcoital bubble.”
Leanne from the booth next to theirs glanced from Eliza to Denny, who took on the color of a chili pepper.
“Um, why don’t I go get us some tea and coffee?” After a wave to Heather and a quick kiss to Eliza’s cheek, Denny hurried off.
Leanne stared after her, then directed a questioning look at them.
“It turns out that my friend here is interested in feminine charms after all, just not in mine.” Heather pressed her hand to her chest in a dramatic gesture.
Eliza turned from where she’d watched Denny walk away to send Heather a glare. But since she still felt as if she was floating on puffy, pink clouds, it didn’t pack much heat. “And my friend over there is interested in waffles, but she’s making embarrassing comments, so I’m not sure she deserves any.”
“Waffles! Gimme, gimme!” Heather waggled her fingers and nearly snatched the Tupperware container from Eliza. How she managed to wolf down the first one in seconds without choking or getting powdered sugar on herself was a mystery to Eliza. Finally, she slowed down and studied Eliza. “Seriously, how are you doing with…all this?” She pointed in the direction Denny had gone.
Eliza peered at Leanne, who was thankfully distracted by a customer wanting to buy one of her suncatchers. She slid behind the table where she could talk to Heather without anyone overhearing. “I’m good. More than good. I’m happy.”
Heather nodded. “You look happy. So…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Your sleepover… I don’t really need any details, but…was it what you expected? Was it right for you?”
Instead of focusing on Heather, Eliza’s gaze searched the booth where Denny stood in line. “I’ve never experienced anything so right in my life,” she whispered back. “It was so…everything.”
“Everything, hmm?” Heather’s teasing grin transformed into a soft smile. She wrapped one arm around Eliza. “I’m so happy for you. I know you were a bit worried you might find yourself not all that drawn to, um, her feminine charms once the clothes came off.”
“Trust me; that was not a problem.” Her stomach tightened at the mere thought of getting naked with Denny and touching her bare skin. “I figured out it’s not that I’m attracted to her despite her being a woman. Her being a woman is a big part of what draws me to her.”
Heather leaned closer. “So that means you’re bi?”
Eliza shrugged. “If I had to pick a label, that might come close. But frankly, I don’t care. And thankfully, Denny doesn’t either. I love that about her.” She looked at Denny again, who was now on her way back to their booth. Even in the crowd, she found her immediately.
Denny seemed to sense her gaze and beamed at her.
“I told her that this morning, you know? That I love her. And she said she loves me too.” Eliza barely resisted the impulse to jump up and down like a giddy teenager.
“Well, duh.” Heather laughed. “I could have told you that. She was totally smitten with you, even back when she went on a date with me. I mean, how else would she have been able to resist me?”
Eliza stole a piece of waffle from the container since her breakfast had consisted of more kisses than food. “I have no idea. You’re irresistible.”
“And that’s why I’m counting on seducing a bridesmaid at your wedding.”
Of course, Denny reached the stall at just that moment. The paper cups of coffee and tea in her hands tilted dangerously to one side. “Um, wedding?”
Her deer-in-the-headlights expression made Eliza laugh. “Don’t worry. It’s an old joke between Heather and me. I’m not dragging you down the aisle anytime soon.”
“Damn,” Heather said. “There go my bridesmaid plans.”
Denny handed her one of the paper cups. “Don’t give up so fast. Who knows? Maybe one day…”
Eliza froze with her hand halfway to the cup of tea. Denny was thinking that far ahead already?
The deer-in-the-headlights look returned as did the chili-pepper color of Denny’s cheeks. “Um, forget I just said that. It’s way too soon to think about that.”
It was. Still, the thought didn’t scare Eliza or make her feel overwhelmed. “What if I don’t want to forget what you just said?”
The noise of the crowd around them seemed to dim as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
Denny cleared her throat. “You don’t?”
“I don’t.” Eliza closed her fingers around the cup and Denny’s hand. “I mean, we’re talking about maybe one day, not going to the courthouse next week, right?”
“Right.”
Heather raised her paper cup. “I’m giving it a year, tops, before you two are tying the knot.”
“Heather?” Eliza said without looking away from Denny’s eyes. “Shut up and eat your waffles.”
With her hand cupped around her mouth, Heather leaned over to Leanne, who had finished up with her customer, and stage-whispered, “Notice how they didn’t say I was wrong.”
“Eat your waffles, Heather,” Denny and Eliza said in unison.
Epilogue
Nine months later
Denny lowered the needle of her sewing machine into the denim, then put the pressure foot down. In her mind’s eye, she already saw the finished product—the way it would cling to Eliza’s slim hips, make her legs look even longer, and put a smile on her face because it had real pockets.
Before she could sew a single stitch, Salem walked past the dining room table for the fifteenth time in the last hour and went to the fridge. Like the previous fourteen times, she peeked in, then closed the door without taking anything out.
Denny pulled her foot off the pedal. “What’s up with you?”
Salem turned. The expression on her face was the same one she’d worn when Denny had caught her eating the cheesecake their mother had left on the counter to cool twenty years ago. “Nothing.” She walked over and pointed at the half-finished jeans. “I thought you were done with the orders for today.”
“Two new ones came in, but these are for Eliza.” Denny caressed the fabric with her fingertips.
“Another pair? How many pants does one woman need?”
“As many as she wants,” Denny said. “Besides, it’s been forever since I made her a new pair. I haven’t had the time since I gave notice at the Grocery Port so I could focus on Real Pockets.”
Salem gave a noncommittal nod and paced back to the fridge.
Denny watched her. The last time she had seen her so restless and so picky about food had been… “Oh my God!”
Salem whirled around. “What happened? You didn’t stick yourself with the needle, did you?”
“No.” Denny jumped up and joined her in the kitchen. She gripped both of her sister’s hands. “Salem, are you by any chance, um, pregnant?”
“What?” Salem withdrew her hands. “No! Why on earth would you think that?”
“Because you’ve checked the fridge like a million times, but nothing seemed to appeal to you, and the last time I saw you so restless was when you were trying to work up the courage to tell me you were pregnant.”
Salem gave her a tone-it-down wave. “Shh. Stop saying that word. I’m not…you know what, and if Bella hears you say that, she’ll get on my case again, like when she was five and wanted a little sister.”
“So you’re not…you know?”
“No.”
Denny grinned at her. “Too bad. You make great kids.”
Salem pierced her with a stern look, but the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smile. “I do. Well, with your help. But I think Bella is it for me.”
“If it’s not that, what has you as nervous as a rabbit in a kennel full
of hound dogs?”
Salem peered at her fingernails, then turned her hands over to study the pads of her fingers too.
A big lump lodged in Denny’s throat. So there was something Salem didn’t know how to tell her. “You’re not sick, are you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Okay, then spit it out before I have a heart attack.”
Salem grabbed her hand and pulled her to the couch.
Uh-oh. If she needed to sit to digest the news, it couldn’t be good. Denny’s knee bounced up and down. How she wished Eliza could be there to soothe her and tell her everything would be fine.
Salem covered Denny’s knee with her hand, stilling it. “Well, it’s been a year since Matt and I first started going out…”
“I know. It’s not like I could have missed the giant bouquet of flowers he gave you for your anniversary.”
Salem elbowed her in the ribs. “Hey, you’re one to talk! The bouquet you gave Eliza last week made mine look tiny!”
Okay, maybe she had gone a bit overboard, but it had been the anniversary of the accidental text message that had brought Eliza into her life, so that day would forever be a reason to celebrate. “Back to the topic at hand. Matt and you.”
“Things between us have been going really well, and he’s great with Bella too, so…” Salem tightened her grip on Denny’s knee and peeked up at her. “We’re talking about moving in together.”
Denny sank against the back of the couch, needing the support. “Oh.” A burning sensation spread from her stomach to her chest. She struggled to get herself together. She could fall apart later, when she went over to Eliza’s, but for now, she had to support her sister. “That’s wonderful.” It was—at least for Salem. But the thought of what it would mean for her made her nauseated.
Salem’s eyes shone with happiness, yet at the same time, they swam with tears. “Part of me doesn’t want to go,” she whispered.
“Don’t be silly.” Denny nudged her roughly, holding back her own emotions. “Matt is a great guy.”
“I know. He’s the best, and I want to live with him, but it doesn’t feel right to leave you behind.” The tears clinging to the corners of Salem’s eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks. “When Mom and Dad kicked me out… I don’t know what would have happened to Bella and me if not for you. You’ve been our rock throughout all these years, and I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did for us.”
Denny swallowed down her own rising tears. “You don’t need to repay anything.” Her voice was husky. “We’re family.”
“I know. And we will always be. I hope you know that.” Salem reached for Denny’s hand and pulled it onto her lap. “Even when we’re living in separate places, I want you to be part of our lives.”
“I will be; don’t worry. You won’t get rid of me that easily.” Denny needed all her self-control not to grip her sister’s hand too tightly. She knew it was time to let go. “I’ll be at your new house so often that you’ll want to change the locks to keep me out.”
Salem snorted. “As if you could tear yourself away from Eliza long enough to hang out with us all the time.”
“I’ll bring her, of course.”
“Sounds good to me.” Salem dug into her jeans for a tissue but came up empty.
Denny reached into her own pocket and handed her a clean one. “You’re wearing Real Pockets jeans, and you’re still not carrying tissues?”
“I know, I know.” Salem blew her nose. “What kind of mom am I?”
“A great one. You and Bella will do just fine.”
Salem dropped her tissue and threw herself into Denny’s arms. “Thank you. Not for the tissue. For everything,” she whispered against her shoulder. “I’ll miss you like hell.”
“Me too.” Denny pressed her lips together, afraid she’d burst into tears if she said more. “You just had to pick my PMS week to tell me, didn’t you?”
“Oops, sorry.” Salem chuckled shakily.
After another minute or two, Denny pulled back. “So, when will you be moving?”
“We were thinking at the end of the month, actually.”
That soon? Denny fought not to let her feelings show.
“Matt is nearly finished fixing up the house his grandma left him,” Salem added. “You need to come see it soon. It turned out beautifully. And the best thing about it: it’s only a few blocks from here. Bella won’t even have to switch schools.”
Denny blew out a breath. That had been one of her concerns. Like Denny, her niece wasn’t the best at handling change. “Oh, that’s great.”
“Yeah. For you too. You can hop over any time.”
“Assuming I stay here.” Denny indicated the townhouse. “Not sure I can afford the rent on my own, even now that sales at Real Pockets are picking up.”
Salem nibbled her bottom lip and regarded her with a hopeful look. “Any chance Eliza might want to move in with you?”
Denny carved a pattern into the denim covering her knee with her fingernail. Getting to wake up with Eliza every day, share every morning and every evening with her would be a dream come true. But it wasn’t just up to her, and so far, Eliza hadn’t indicated she wanted to move in together. “I don’t want to pressure her. Her independence is important to her, especially since she had to fight so hard for it with her family.”
“For Christ’s sake, Denny! Just ask her!”
“Hmm. Maybe I will.” However, she doubted she would work up the courage to do so anytime soon. She wrapped one arm around Salem and pulled her against her side. “So, who was the brave one who asked the other to move in? You or Matt?”
Salem laughed. “Me, of course! Sometimes, I think you and Matt could be related. He’s been hinting for months. Letting me and Bella pick out the tiles and the countertops for his new house and painting one of the rooms in Bella’s favorite color. But every time I thought he would finally ask, he chickened out.”
“Poor guy.”
“Poor guy?” Salem echoed. “Poor me! If I had waited for him to get up the nerve to ask, I’d be a grandmother by then!”
“Nerves aside, I think he’s a great fit for you.”
“I think so too,” Salem said softly.
“But there’s one big drawback.”
Salem furrowed her brow. “Drawback? What do you mean?”
Denny fought to keep a straight face. “If you marry him, you’ll be Mrs. Kowalczyk.”
Salem’s hair brushed Denny’s shoulder as she firmly shook her head. “Nope. He’d be Mr. Jacobs. And we’re not getting married. At least not yet.”
A smile tugged on Denny’s lips. That was what she and Eliza had said last year, yet every day that went by made her more certain that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.
“Have you told Bella?” Denny asked after a while.
Salem snorted. “You think she could keep something like that from you for even a second? I was hoping you’d help me tell her.”
Denny stood and pulled Salem up with her. “All right. Let’s go tell her.”
“Now?”
“No time like the present.”
Salem pointed both of her index fingers at her. “Keep that attitude for when you head over to Eliza’s later. There’s a townhouse with her name on it.”
Denny held her breath as Bella seemed to digest the news.
“So what do you think?” Salem asked softly.
Bella tugged on the covers of her bed. “Would we move into the new house with him?”
“Yeah. You know the big room you picked the color for?” Salem waited for Bella to confirm with a nod. “That would be yours.”
Excitement flashed in Bella’s eyes, but she didn’t smile or say anything for a while.
When Salem opened her mouth, Denny shook her head, knowing Bella needed time to think it through and come to her own conclusion.
“I could keep going to my school, right?” Bella sounded young and vulnerable, not like the tough, mature nearl
y twelve-year-old she pretended to be most of the time.
“Yes, of course.”
“If we’re getting new furniture, can I have a loft bed? You know, one with a desk underneath.”
“Sure, honey,” Salem said. “If that’s what you want, we’ll get you one.”
Bella seemed to think about it for a few seconds longer. “I guess it would be okay, then. We could all…” She paused, and her face fell. Slowly, she looked up at Denny, who stood behind Salem at the foot of the bed. “You’re not coming, are you?”
“No, kiddo, I’m not.” Denny struggled to keep her voice from breaking. Don’t cry. Don’t fucking cry!
Bella stared at her with a shocked expression, as if she couldn’t imagine living in a house where Denny wasn’t.
Quickly, Denny added, “But the new house is so close that you could spit and hit me. I promise we’ll still see each other all the time. You can come over whenever you want. I’ll leave your room exactly the way it is right now, and you’ll always have a place here too.” Assuming she somehow managed to pay the rent for the townhouse by herself…or convinced Eliza to move in with her.
Bella considered it for a moment. “Having two rooms is kind of cool. But it’s still weird. Like when Kaylee’s parents got divorced.”
Denny chuckled and hoped it didn’t sound like sobbing.
“I get why you’d think that, but I hope you know we’re not moving out because your aunt and I had a fight or because we love each other—or you—any less,” Salem said. From her place on the edge of the bed, she looked over her shoulder at Denny, then back at Bella. “You both know that, right?”
Denny nodded along with Bella. Of course she knew that. Hearing it soothed the raw feelings churning in her stomach anyway.
“Okay,” Bella said after a while. “We can move…but only if you teach Matt to make blueberry pancakes, Aunt Denny. Mom sleeps forever on Sundays. If I wait for her to get up, I’ll starve.”
Salem laughed, but her voice sounded choked.
“I can do that,” Denny said, half laughing and half sniffling. “Or, even better, you could sleep over on Saturdays, and we’ll make pancakes together.”