by Cara Malone
Melody let out a loud moan that resounded through the room and threw her thigh across Jessie’s body. Melody could feel her tightening and pulsing around her hand, her thighs clenching and her body reacting to every stroke of her fingers, and she been waiting for this moment for so long that she knew it wouldn’t take much to bring her over the edge. They came together, a knot of flesh and sweat and desire undulating on the floor.
They lay together for a while afterward, catching their breath and enjoying the coolness of the floor against their backs. Jessie threw her arm over Melody’s waist, pulling her close, and when Melody turned her head she could see the two of them intertwined in the mirror. She liked what she saw and she thought she’d never mind being in the studio again if she could replace all of those bad New York memories with this one.
“I just thought of something,” Melody said after a while, kissing Jessie’s forehead.
“What?” Jessie asked, tracing her finger over Melody’s stomach and then swiping a sweat-drenched tendril of her dark hair away from her face.
“There’s a class here in forty-five minutes,” Melody said with a laugh.
“Oh shit,” Jessie said.
She practically jumped off of the floor, reaching for Melody’s hand and pulling her to her feet. Jessie scrambled to gather her clothes and stepped back into her jeans, but then Melody grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into another lingering kiss.
“It’s okay,” Melody said as they separated again. “We’ve got time.”
“It’s not that,” Jessie said with a laugh. “I just realized I was supposed to go work a shift at the grocery store after I dropped Ellie off.”
“Shit,” Melody agreed, tossing her shirt over to her. “You better go.”
Jessie took a few quick strides for the door, pulling on her shirt as she went, and then she turned around and dashed back across the floor to Melody, nearly sliding into her over the waxed hardwood. She asked, “How about three o’clock this afternoon for our date?”
“That’s a little early for dinner, don’t you think?” Melody asked.
“It is,” Jessie said, “but that’s when I finish my shift and I don’t want to wait a moment longer than I have to. We’ll go to dinner, and then if I’m lucky we’ll do this again, except maybe with a bed next time.”
“It’s a date,” Melody said, smiling.
Jessie gave Melody a quick peck on the lips, and then she dashed out of the room, leaving Melody to clean up the room and get ready for her receptionist shift to start. She picked her sweater up off the floor, then paused for a second to look at the scar on her arm. It was already beginning to fade. She smiled, put on the sweater, and then waltzed across the studio floor with a big grin on her face.
THE END
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A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thanks for reading Falling Gracefully – I hope you enjoyed it!
If you did, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads – they make a big difference in the success of a new book, and reviews help more readers find new LGBT authors like me.
Thanks again for reading, and I hope to hear from you soon!
With love,
Cara
MORE BOOKS BY CARA MALONE
Find all of my books on my website, http://www.caramalonebooks.com/
SNEAK PEEK: Fixer Upper
When Hannah inherits her Aunt Nora’s house unexpectedly, she finds herself completely unprepared to deal with the renovations it needs. Nora’s neighbor Avery has the knowledge and patience to help her tackle the project, but before long Hannah realizes that the house isn’t the only fixer upper in her life.
Read the first chapter of Fixer Upper (coming in July 2017):
***
Avery Blake realized too late that her pickup truck wasn’t the best-equipped vehicle to transport little old Nora Grayson. First of all, the cab was about two feet higher than Nora could even lift her own leg at the age of eighty-four. Avery had to take her by the arm to steady her and then more or less heft her into the seat, noting the papery quality of Nora’s skin and wondering absently if she could hurt her with this motion.
Secondly, there was no good way to secure Nora’s oxygen tank and keep it from flying all over the bench seat, so Avery had to keep one hand on the steering wheel and one on the portable oxygen. This was made all the harder by the fact that Avery hadn’t thought to clear out the tools that were always banging around in the foot wells – she really should have planned this outing better, but who plans for a funeral?
She was just thinking that she really should have forked over the cash to have Nora transported in some kind of medical van when they pulled into the driveway of Nora’s old house. The trip from the nursing home back to Nora’s place – right across the street from Avery’s – had been mercifully short, but the journey to the funeral home would be a longer one and Avery wasn’t looking forward to juggling the oxygen tank and her octogenarian neighbor – along with her meds and the packrat purse she’d brought along with her – thirty miles down the road.
“We’re home,” she said to Nora as she threw the truck into park and got out. She walked around to help Nora down, glancing at the house as she went.
It was an old Victorian house with peeling yellow clapboard and lots of ornate details that had been succumbing to dry rot in the years that the house stood empty. Avery spent a lot of time on her porch in the summers, and therefore a lot of time watching the gradual decay of the house. She wasn’t sure she wanted to bring Nora here and let her see what had become of it, but Nora insisted. She wanted to find something of Minnie’s to remember her by, and Avery knew Nora’s good-for-nothing kids wouldn’t be bothered to bring her here. They weren’t even going to the funeral.
Avery helped Nora down out of the truck cab, leaving the oxygen tank momentarily behind and letting Nora lean heavily on her arm as they made the short walk from the truck to the house.
“It’s not very pretty anymore, is it?” Nora asked, sounding a little winded as they reached the top of the three creaky steps onto the porch. “Just like me, old and decrepit.”
“Stop,” Avery scolded, patting Nora on the back of her hand. “It just needs a little love.”
The foyer was dark and Avery could see the dust stirring in the air as they walked in and disturbed it from the floor. It was hard to believe that Nora had only been gone two years – the house felt ancient and forgotten, and even the sheets that had been draped over all the furniture had a thick layer of dust on them.
“Do you know what you’re looking for?” Avery asked.
There were a lot of dusty sheets in the living room alone – Nora lived in this house for almost fifty years, first with her husband and then with Minnie, and that was a lot of years to fill a house with the kinds of knickknacks and tchotchkes that she figured Nora would be looking for. The funeral was in two hours, and Avery was starting to wonder if they had enough time for this detour after all.
“I think there’s something in our bedroom,” Nora said, and her voice was so frail that Avery had no idea how she could possibly make it up the stairs, let alone through the next few hours. Minnie had been everything to her and they spent the last fifteen years inseparable until Nora’s kids split them up. Nora made a move for the stairs and Avery took her elbow.
“If you tell me what it is I can go up and get it,” she offered.
“Thank you, dear,” Nora said, “but I’m afraid I’ll only know it when I see it.”
“Let me help you up the stairs, then,” Avery said, walking beside her as they took them one riser at a time.
It was like climbing Mount Everest and Avery thought that it might be easier to carry Nora on the way back down. She couldn’t weigh more than ninety pounds dripping wet. When
they finally reached the landing, Nora gestured for Avery to wait for her in the hall.
“Do you want me to hold your bag?” Avery asked, reaching for the purse slung over Nora’s shoulder that she hadn’t stopped clutching since Avery picked her up from the nursing home.
“No,” Nora said quickly, “It’s not a burden.”
“Okay,” Avery said, watching Nora shuffle down the hall to a closed door near the window. “Holler if you need me.”
Nora disappeared into her bedroom, the door swinging almost shut behind her, and Avery stood around in the hall. There was an antique oak credenza opposite from the bannister, covered in a thick layer of dust just like everything else, and a mirror that was starting to lose its silver hanging above it.
To kill the time, Avery walked over to it and blew a cloud of dust off the glass, stepping out of the way while it settled. Then she inspected her short, dark blonde hair, normally untamed and falling across her forehead, to make sure it was still neatly slicked back. She straightened the tie around her neck and brushed away the wrinkles that had set into her jacket and pants on the ride over.
***
Nora went into her bedroom, putting out her hand to the dresser by the door for support. Walking through the house and seeing everything covered in sheets had been hard enough, but the bed was something different entirely. She walked over to Minnie’s side and ran her hand over the blanket, smoothing the wrinkles out.
Minnie always made the bed as soon as they got out of it in the mornings, and turned it down meticulously each night. It even used to irritate Nora the way she tucked the sheets so tightly under the mattress. Nora preferred to give her feet a little more freedom to roam in the night… but what she wouldn’t give to feel the tightness of the sheets around her toes now.
A plume of dust rose into the air as she tidied the bed, reminding her that it had been two full years since she last slept in it, and three since she shared it with Minnie.
Nora turned away from the bed before the tears had a chance to come to her eyes. She went back over to the dresser by the door. It was covered in a sheet like most everything else and the top of it was lumpy since whoever closed up the house hadn’t taken the time to pack away the knickknacks before covering the furniture. Nora carefully lifted the front of the sheet, more dust flying, and revealed a nicely organized collection of figurines on top of the dresser.
Most of them belonged to Minnie. She started collecting the little ceramic women during the war, while she and Nora were raising their families and their husbands were fighting in the war. They’d been an occasional splurge to balance the pressures of working and homemaking and child rearing.
A few of them belonged to Nora, though. Minnie had gifted them to her at a time when symbolic gestures were all they could share, and they continued to mean a lot to Nora. She wanted to bring them with her to the nursing home, but she couldn’t bear to separate them from the rest of the collection.
Now, she picked up a figurine in a full-length pink dress and a bonnet decorated with gold foil accents – a Clarissa – and wrapped it carefully in a kerchief she brought with her. This was the very first figurine Minnie ever gave her, and it always held a special place in Nora’s heart. She tucked it into the bottom of her purse, and then with a glance toward the bedroom door, she pulled a small leather journal out of her bag. She tucked it into the top drawer of the dresser, beneath a pile of neatly folded slacks where she hoped no one would bother to look.
Then Nora opened the bedroom door and announced to Avery, “Okay, dear, I’m ready. I appreciate your patience with an old woman.”
***
The funeral was small, primarily populated by Minnie’s children and grandchildren. They all thanked Nora for coming out to pay her respects to an old friend, and Avery watched her face carefully for a reaction.
She didn’t think she could stand it if she lost someone as close as Minnie had been to Nora and no one even acknowledged her grief, but Nora seemed to take it in stride. They’d hidden their relationship for so many years, Avery figured she was just used to playing the role of the best friend. It was more than Avery would have been able to do.
Nora held it together like a real trooper through the entire church service, watching solemnly as the casket was wheeled down the aisle toward the altar and dabbing delicately at the corner of her eyes while the priest spoke. Avery was standing by with tissues and the oxygen tank and a supportive hand if need be, but Nora turned out to be a lot stronger than she looked.
She didn’t really break down until they lowered poor Minnie into the ground.
The cemetery was wet with last night’s rain and Nora clung to Avery’s arm as they walked to the grave site. She thought it was just that the terrain was rough going and Nora’s modest one-inch heels were sinking into the earth with every step, and it wasn’t until the priest said his final prayer over the casket that she realized Nora was clinging to her because she might crumble to the ground otherwise.
A small yelp, something like a wounded animal would make, came from Nora’s lips while everyone else crossed themselves and muttered an amen, and then Avery felt Nora’s weight pulling on her arm as her legs went to jelly.
She dropped the oxygen tank to the wet grass and held onto Nora, keeping her on her feet and pulling her into her chest for support as she sobbed. Most everyone headed back to their cars after the casket was lowered, a few of them looking at Nora with a mixture of pity and confusion, and Avery felt the urge to lash out at them rising up in her throat.
Who the hell were they to stare at her grief?
Move it along, asshole, she wanted to growl when their eyes lingered on Nora, and Avery held her tighter to keep her from the realization that she’d become a spectacle for them.
When they got back to the truck, Avery practically carrying Nora across the grounds, she carefully looped the oxygen cannula over Nora’s ears and brought it to her nose. Avery gave her a few minutes to settle down before starting the trek back to the nursing home, and the way Nora’s face was twisted into a physical manifestation of the pain of losing Minnie really ate at Avery.
In a million years, she couldn’t be as strong as Nora had been in her life, or as tenacious as she’d been in her love for Minnie. And she certainly couldn’t face a moment like Nora went through today. If this was the heartache people signed up for when they fell in love, she didn’t want any part of it.
***
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