by K. Aten
“I clearly turned the temperature down last night when you made the suggestion and never set it back to normal before we went to bed.” Jamie shrugged and gave her a wry grin. “Someone distracted me.” She went downstairs after making sure Kelsey was all set with everything.
By the time Kelsey found her way downstairs, Jamie had already started coffee, put ready-made biscuits in the oven, and was in the process of making chili cheese omelets. Burke sat on the couch in a tank top and jeans, watching a chick flick. She looked from the buff guy to the TV screen, then back again. It was anomalous but she shrugged and walked over to see what Jamie was cooking. When she got a good look in the pan, she clamped a hand over her mouth and backed away slow. “What the hell is that?”
Jamie glanced over her shoulder. “It’s a chili cheese omelet!”
“It looks like vomit.”
A blonde eyebrow went up. “Vomit omelet?”
Kelsey moved her hand down to her stomach instead and shook her head back and forth. “No, James. Just no. I think I’ll just have toast.”
“Hey?” Kelsey looked up at the softness in Jamie’s voice. The cook had cut a bit of the first omelet and held out the fork for Kelsey to try. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”
The reluctant woman shook her head and stepped forward again. Then she gently grabbed Jamie’s wrist and guided the fork into her mouth. The first thing to hit her taste buds was ooey-gooey melted cheese, the second was the savory flavor of the chili. Kelsey swallowed and licked her lips, then nodded in appreciation. “Okay, you were right. I want one.”
Jamie grinned in triumph. “Told you so.” She held out the fork. “You can have the first one and the biscuits should be done any second.” Just as predicted the timer went off about ten seconds later and she pulled the pan out of the oven. She sprinkled a liberal helping of cheese on the second pan of eggs, spooned on the chili, and added some chopped cilantro, then folded it up. Rather than take her plate over to the table to eat, Kelsey stood nearby watching her work. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I can wait for you guys.”
Jamie nodded. “All right, how about you set the table then and maybe get something to drink?”
She nodded and Jamie watched her walk over to the dining room table with her plate and snickered. Kelsey called out behind her. “Friends don’t check out their friends’ asses, James!”
Jamie cracked up laughing. “They do if there is toilet paper hanging out.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Except there is no toilet paper!”
“Uh, actually, there is.”
“Oh goddammit!” Kelsey had twisted around and noticed the couple squares of toilet paper stuck in the waistband of her boxers. She stalked off to the downstairs bathroom, flipping Jamie the bird as she went.
Breakfast was pretty quiet with all three people nursing hangovers. After the first few minutes of silence Burke casually started conversation. “So, I heard you guys giggling when you got upstairs last night, but surprisingly little after that. Did you sleep well?”
“Like a baby!”
“Like a rock!”
Both Jamie and Kelsey answered at the same time, then they looked at each other and blushed. “I see.” It took a lot of effort but Burke stifled his urge to laugh. He turned to Kelsey. “So, any plans today, Kels?”
She finished chewing her bite of food and sighed. “Hmm, it’s Sunday so I have to put my quarters that I won to good use and get my laundry done.”
Jamie grinned. “I’m going to lounge around in my boxers all day, eat leftovers, and binge watch the first ridiculously cheesy sci-fi series I can find.”
Kelsey narrowed her eyes at her friend. “You suck!”
“And swirl. I’m a perfectionist.”
Burke started choking on his orange juice as Kelsey flushed a dark pink. Jamie’s teasing words had prompted a flashback of the night before. She was reminded of just how fast and hard she came apart at the blonde’s touch. “Cute. You’re an ass, James. Plain and simple.”
“You could always stay and keep me company. Burke’s going home after breakfast and I’m going to be all alone.” She pouted.
Kelsey’s look went from teasing to sad. “No, I have to get home.” When she saw Jamie’s face fall she tried to lighten the mood again. “The laundry isn’t going to do itself. And the last time the cats tried it they shrunk all my scrubs.”
Jamie gave her a hopeful smile. “Maybe next time?” She could see that Kelsey was trying to pull away and it wasn’t a good feeling. For the first time she was getting a sense of what she herself had put others through time and time again.
“Sure thing!” The words sounded a little false to both women’s ears. Burke was blatantly ignoring that part of the conversation.
Once breakfast was finished the three of them made short work of the remaining cleanup. Furniture was put back into the storage closet and Kelsey found herself at the front door saying goodbye. She hugged Burke then turned to Jamie. The blonde held on longer than she wanted, yet still not long enough. Kelsey pulled back and tried to focus on something other than her memories. She shouldered her backpack and picked up the cake pop carrier, then turned to Burke. “All right buddy, drive safe on your way back home.”
He smiled at her. “Will do, Kels.”
She turned to Jamie. “And I’m sure I’ll chat with you tomorrow morning, hmm?”
Jamie nodded. “Count on it. Bye, Kelsey.” Then Kelsey was gone.
As soon as the door closed, Burke turned to his best friend. “Dude, you slept together, didn’t you?
Jamie nodded. “Yeah.”
“Do you regret it?”
Her gaze jerked back into focus as she looked away from the door and toward her good friend. “No! Not even a little bit. She’s all I think about and—” She looked down and finished her sentence. “I think I’m in a little over my head with her, and falling fast.”
He could see how out of her element Jamie was and he truly felt for his friend. She had been operating in a bubble for much too long and the sensations of love and deeper emotion had become foreign to her. It was no wonder she had fallen so hard. She had starved herself for years. “Does she regret it?”
Jamie looked up again and she was as close to tears as he’d ever seen her. “I think she does.”
He cocked his head at her. “But you don’t know for sure?” Jamie shook her head. “Are you going to ask her?”
“Nope.”
Chapter Fifteen
MONDAY MORNING WAS a strange one for Jamie. It wasn’t that her routine was different so much as she just felt different. She was in an especially contemplative place on her drive and it was one of those days that all the music just seemed to match her mood. She sang along like normal but she felt as though it had more meaning. It’s what made “Sick Muse” by Metric so perfect. The lyrics drove little thorns of feeling into her heart. She had logged into the Driv app and sent a message to Kelsey first thing but her friend had yet to respond. Her stomach hurt with worry from it. They texted like normal the day before and even chatted a little online before Jamie went to bed. But she was worried that Kelsey may be having trouble dealing with what happened on Saturday night. She was halfway through her drive when the app chimed and Kelsey’s voice came through.
“Good morning, nerd!”
Jamie smiled in her car and switched back to the center lane as the cramping lessened in her stomach. The happiness in her voice was evident as she down-swiped the rainbow car icon to respond. “Good morning! Are you running late again, even after I got you to download the awesome alarm app?”
“No, I was on the phone with my papa.”
The blonde had gotten to know Kelsey quite well over the months, including her vocal inflections and tone since much of their conversation was not face-to-face. She could tell that Kelsey was pretty rattled simply by the way her voice sounded over the phone. Puzzled, Jamie questioned the call. “Isn’t it pretty early in Texas for a phone conv
ersation?”
Driving along in her little silver car, Kelsey was definitely rattled. “Yeah, but he was letting me know that my abuela was admitted into the hospital late last night. She’s had some health problems the last few years and, I don’t know, I guess they’re just catching up with her.” Kelsey was sick with worry. She loved her abuela very much and had formed a special bond with her grandmother when the old woman had come to live with them for a few years when Kelsey was growing up. That was actually the reason her parents had moved back to Texas, so her abuela could live with them. “She’s in critical condition right now and if it doesn’t look like she’s going to get any better I’ll have to see if Dr. Davies will give me a few days off to fly down there.”
“I’m really sorry, Kelsey. If there is anything at all I can do, just let me know. Okay?”
Kelsey smiled at the other woman’s words. Despite the weirdness of Sunday morning she was secure in the knowledge that their friendship was solid. Jamie was there for her, just as she would be there for Jamie. “Thanks, James, I really appreciate it. I may need you to take care of my cats if I have to fly out.”
“Anything. You can count on me.”
As she maneuvered her little silver car into the ridiculously cramped employee lot behind the dentist office, she felt a prick of tears come to her eyes at Jamie’s words. “I know I can and it means the world to me. Okay, I’m at work now so I should probably go in and you know, do my job or something.”
A few seconds went by and the app chimed again. “Call me if you need anything or just want to talk, okay?”
“I will, and thanks.” Kelsey smiled, feeling just a little bit better as she walked into work.
“HEY ROB, LET’S say hypothetically that I wanted to take two to five days off with short notice. Would that be possible?”
Jamie’s boss looked up from his desk to stare at her in the doorway. “You’ve got the vacation time since you’ve only used two days out of your three weeks this year. Are you planning a vacation?” He waved her in to take a seat, then got up to shut his door. “What’s up, Jamie?”
She sat down and rested her elbows on her knees. “I’m not taking a vacation or anything, but a friend of mine has a sick grandma in Texas and I was going to offer to go with her. I know its last minute, and I’m really sorry.”
Rob brought up the attendance calendar on his computer. “Looks like no one else is off for at least another two weeks. And we’ve got someone covering Dave the Di—er, Dave’s line now, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get yours covered. Just let me know what you decide.”
She grinned when her boss almost used Dave’s nickname. “All right, I will. And thanks again.” A few hours after lunch Jamie’s phone vibrated on her charger. She picked it up and frowned at the message.
My mama called and said I should probably come down and say my goodbyes.
Jamie didn’t even hesitate. Rather than text she just called her back. When Kelsey answered, her voice was subdued. “Hey.”
“Hey, Kels. Are you okay?”
Kelsey was sitting in the back office, eyes wet with tears. She wasn’t all right but she didn’t want to start crying again so she tried to shrug it off. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, I can tell. What do you need me to do?”
Kelsey smiled. She was surprised by Jamie’s intuition. “You’re right, I’m not now but I will be. I just need to get down there and say goodbye, you know? Do you think you could take care of my cats for me?”
“No, but I bet Jenn would.” Kelsey’s stomach dropped a little at Jamie’s words. Had she misjudged the blonde, thinking their friendship was more than it really was? She wondered if Jamie was pulling away from her now that they’d slept together. She was shocked into silence for about twenty seconds then Jamie spoke again. “I suggested Jenn because she has her own cat, so she knows the ins and outs of their care. And I—I thought you might like someone to go with you.”
Not for the first time, Kelsey was amazed at how sweet her friend was. “James, I can’t ask you to do that.”
Jamie’s voice was determined as it came through Kelsey’s phone. “You’re not asking me, I’m offering. And I would never offer if it was something I couldn’t or didn’t want to do.”
“But your job—”
Jamie interrupted her. “I have more vacation time than I can ever use since I rarely travel. And I’ve already cleared it with my boss. So if you want company on your trip, you’ve got it.”
She tried to protest one more time, convinced that Jamie was simply offering out of guilt. “But I’m going to see my family that you don’t even know or care about, and you’ll probably be bored.”
“Kels, I may not know your family but you’re my best friend and I care about you. You shouldn’t have to go through this by yourself. I would like to be there for you.”
Kelsey didn’t know what to say. “I, um, thank you. It’s just a lot to take in you know? And I’m worried. I still have to find tickets and pack for probably a week.”
Jamie gave a single spin around in her chair and quickly reassured her. “Let me take care of the tickets. I can book them through our work system and just pay with my credit card. Then you can pay me back whenever. Where should I fly us to? And do you want to fly out tonight, or first thing in the morning?” She nervously waited for Kelsey to respond. She hadn’t actually agreed to let Jamie come along but Jamie knew she had to go. There was something pulling her, telling her that Kelsey was going to need a friend. Every second of silence on the other end of the phone seemed to linger in the air like a heavy cloud.
“If you think that would be easiest, then sure. See if you can get two tickets to San Antonio first thing in the morning. I’m going to text Jenn after we hang up and I’ll probably have to drop the key off to her on my way home from work.”
Jamie made a face. “Actually, tonight is Jenn’s late night at the clinic, so she won’t be home until after 7:00. I have a suggestion though.”
“What’s that?”
“Why don’t you just stay with me tonight so I don’t have to leave earlier to pick you up in the morning? Your apartment is in the opposite direction from the airport. That way you can leave your car in a secure covered parking spot while we’re gone. Just go home and pack after work and drop your keys off to Jenn on your way over. I’ll even put fresh sheets on the futon for you.”
If there was one thing she got from both her mama and papa, it was stubbornness. Kelsey had a hard time accepting help. She had an even harder time leaning on someone emotionally, and Jamie was offering both. Could she do it? Kelsey frowned as she thought about going alone, about the likelihood that she was going to Texas to say goodbye to her grandmother. She could do it alone, but she really didn’t want to. Jamie just had a way about her that simply made Kelsey feel safe. “Okay. I’ll be over around eight.” Now she had to get through the rest of the day.
“WAIT, JAMIE IS going with you?” Jenn had immediately agreed to check on Kelsey’s cats each day while she was gone. She was surprised by Kelsey’s answer when she asked why Jamie wasn’t asked to do it.
Kelsey looked at her curiously. “Yes, why? What’s the big deal?”
Jenn shook her head. “Other than her sister, Maya, Jamie isn’t close to any of her family so she tends to avoid other people’s families as well. And she never travels anywhere.” She paused at the look on Kelsey’s face. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, she’s as good a friend as you could ask for, but she just never really gets involved in other people's personal lives. She’s always been pretty hands off, maybe because her own family has made her so leery. It’s just uncharacteristic, that’s all.”
Kelsey sighed and thought about how much she should tell Jenn. She knew from Jamie herself that the two women had spent a few months sleeping together until Jenn started to fall for her, then Jamie cut it off. Jenn had also told her about it when she came over for ice cream and girl talk the night of the surprise birthday party. J
enn said she had moved on but Kelsey was afraid she’d be hurt to know what happened on Saturday night. Jenn narrowed her eyes across the kitchen table. “What is it? Your face looks like you have something to say, so just say it. You know I’m not going to judge you.”
There was no reason not to speak candidly with her friend. Jenn’s son Malcolm was at his dad’s house where he spent every Monday and Thursday night. It was just easiest when Jenn and her ex got a divorce. They had fifty-fifty custody and those were Jenn’s two late nights at the clinic. Kelsey decided to just say it. “We slept together.”
Anger washed across the black woman’s face. “Seriously?” At first Kelsey thought Jenn was mad because she still had feelings for the blonde, at least until she spoke again. “I thought she was trying to change her goddamn ways!”
Kelsey raised an eyebrow at her friend’s uncharacteristic swearing. “It wasn’t exactly intended by either of us! And I sort of started it. I mean, we both agreed that it was a mistake the next morning.” Kelsey was frustrated and still didn’t know how to deal with that added complication in her friendship with Jamie.
Jenn cocked her head, perhaps sensing something that Kelsey was leaving unsaid. “What did she say after? I suppose she was all sweet but reserved the next day.”
Kelsey looked at her in surprise. “Um, no. She actually cuddled with me the next morning until I had to pee. Then she made me and Burke breakfast and invited me to hang out afterward.”
“She did?” Jenn was truly shocked because that was not the Jamie she knew. Perhaps she had changed. “And did you?”
“No. I felt weird and a little awkward. I told her I had to do my laundry and I really did, so I left.” Kelsey rubbed her hand across her forehead, looking for all the world like she had a headache coming on. “Truthfully, I don’t know what to think now. The next morning I told her that I could understand if it was just one of those things and that she was one of my best friends. I told her that our friendship was the most important thing to me and she agreed. I mean, it seemed resolved at the time.”