"Got anything stronger?" she asked, and Jordan could see that her whole body was shaking.
"I’ll go to the liquor store for you. It’s right on the corner. What do you want?"
"A bottle of tequila … and a lime," she said immediately.
With wide eyes, Jordan nodded and started for the door, saying, "Jamie’s right over there. I’ll be right back."
Mia trudged over to her friend and plopped down next to her. "I’m an orphan," she said, leaning heavily against her.
"What? What happened, Mia?"
"My mother decided that she doesn’t want me to be with Jordy, so she used the only tool she has – she cut me off financially. The money I have in my wallet is all I’ve got."
"She what?"
"You heard me. By the time I’d left Hillsborough, she’d cancelled my charge cards. If the bank had been open, I wouldn’t have been able to take any money out of my checking account."
"Oh, Mia, I’m so sorry. That must have hurt you so badly."
"It did, it really did, James. I thought they loved me," she sobbed, burying her head into Jamie’s neck. "I thought they loved me enough to want me to be happy."
They were still sitting on the floor, Jamie rocking and soothing Mia, when Jordan returned, the tall blonde breathless from her run to the mini-mart. She pulled a plastic cup from out of the bag, then poured a generous portion of tequila into it and used the pizza knife to cut a wedge of lime. "Here, honey," she said, handing her the glass.
Mia drained the cup with one gulp, then bit into the lime, grimacing as she did so. "More," she said, extending the cup to her partner.
Without comment, Jordan complied, watching Mia carefully. After the smaller woman had bit into the lime, she placed the cup on the table, then gave Jamie a kiss on the cheek. "We need to find a quiet place to talk."
Jordan took her partner’s hand and said, "Come on, let’s sit in that quiet corner. No one will bother us."
"Okay." She let Jordan pull her to her feet, already feeling the alcohol starting to hit her. "See you later, James. We’re gonna go get drunk."
"Go ahead," Jamie said, "Rory’s out of town. You can have our room."
"Thanks, bud. We’ll just have to see if Jordan can carry me that far."
Part 22
Taking the pizza box with her, Jamie started to search through the apartment, finally finding her partner in the most unlikely of places – a bedroom. Ryan was sitting on the bed, with her arm around another woman, speaking softly and soothingly to her. The pair was facing the door, and when Jamie poked her head in, Ryan dropped her arm and gave her a stunned, nervous smile. "Hi! Uhm … I was uhm … kinda looking for you."
"Did you think I was under the bed?" Jamie asked, her voice in its usual, conversational tone.
Ryan’s smile grew even tighter, and she jumped off the bed. "Uhm … Mandy, this is my partner, Jamie. Jamie, this is my friend, Mandy."
"Pleased to meet you," Jamie said, extending her hand.
Mandy shook it, then got up in an ungainly fashion. As she did, Jamie noted that she was pregnant. The blonde must have been staring at the woman’s belly, for Mandy patted it and said, "6 months. Seems longer."
Jamie stared at the woman as she walked away, then turned to her partner and raised an eyebrow. "You’d better not have had anything to do with that, Ryan O’Flaherty."
"Am I in trouble?" Ryan asked, swallowing audibly.
"That depends on if you’re the father of that baby," Jamie said, giving her partner’s hair an affectionate ruffle.
"Close the door and come over here, honey," Ryan said.
"Are you holding court in here? I haven’t seen you in a while." Jamie closed the door and walked back over to the bed, holding the pizza box open for her lover.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Ryan murmured as she grabbed a piece of pizza and took a big bite. After swallowing, she said, "No, I’m not holding court. Mandy grabbed me a few minutes after I saw Sara and Ally, and we’ve been talking ever since. She’s having some problems, and she thought I might be able to help."
"Do tell," Jamie said, leaning over to take a bite off Ryan’s slice.
"Well, the details aren’t important, but the person she was relying on to be her Lamaze coach backed out on her. She thought I might be able to step in."
Rolling her eyes, Jamie gave her a resigned sigh, and asked, "When do you start?"
"Not for a while," Ryan said, stifling a smile. "Not until you’re pregnant."
"What?" Jamie gave her a puzzled look and asked, "You turned down a friend who asked you for a favor? You?"
"Yep. Me," Ryan said, nodding. "I thought about it while she was telling me what had happened, and I decided that helping a woman give birth is too intimate a thing to do with someone other than you. I want the first newborn I ever hold to be ours," she said, putting her pizza down and giving Jamie a tender hug. "It’s too precious an experience to share with Mandy."
"Oh, Ryan, that’s so sweet," Jamie sighed, giving her partner a kiss. Smoothing the hair back off her face, Jamie gave her a concerned look and asked, "Was it hard to say no?"
"Yeah, it was," Ryan said. "I don’t have a lot of practice in refusing favors. But Mandy’s got some issues that I can’t afford to get involved in. I don’t think I’d be able to walk away after the baby was born – I think I’d feel like I had to keep an eye on her – and I can’t afford to share my time like that." She gave Jamie another kiss, this one longer and filled with emotion. "I have to concentrate on you."
"Thank you," Jamie said softly, lying down on the bed and tugging Ryan down with her. "I know it must have been hard to turn down someone in need, but I would have been very jealous if you’d said yes." She kissed Ryan tenderly, and added, "But I can certainly understand why she asked you. You’d be a wonderful birth coach."
"We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?" Ryan asked, kissing the tip of Jamie’s nose.
The door opened, and a pair of women stood in the doorway, one of them peering into the darkness and saying, "Is that you, Rock?"
"Sure is."
"You gonna be long?"
"All my life," Ryan said, kissing Jamie softly. "But you can have the room."
On the way through the apartment, they stopped repeatedly, with Ryan kissing each of her friends on the mouth, then dutifully introducing Jamie. "Uhm … you don’t mind the kissing thing, do you, honey?" Ryan asked when they had a moment alone.
"Have you always kissed these people when you see them?"
"Yeah. Sure. Always."
"Then why should you stop because you’re in love? I think it would be odd and a little awkward to try to avoid a kiss – it’s like I own your lips or something."
"Well, ya do," Ryan said, wrinkling up her nose.
"Okay, then I give your lips permission to kiss any of your old friends. But don’t go out of your way to kiss people if it hasn’t already been established, ‘kay?"
"It’s a deal." They stood in the living room, just a few yards from Sara and Ally, who were talking – rather than kissing. "I guess we have to go say hello, huh?"
"You don’t have to do anything, honey. We can go down to the second floor if you want to."
"No, no, that’s not necessary." She was looking around nervously, and spotted someone who caught her attention. "I have to go say hello to Marcus, an old workout buddy from the gym. I haven’t seen him in over a year. Wanna come?"
Jamie looked over at a rather short man, who obviously spent all of his time working out. He was wearing a tank top and shorts, and his ample muscles were revealed upon every bit of exposed skin. He also had rather intricate tribal tattoos on his biceps, and down the backs of his arms, ending in cuffs at his wrists. "Mmm … I think I’ll go talk to Sara and Ally. Marcus looks like too much of a gym rat for me."
"You might be surprised," Ryan said in a singsong fashion.
"I’ll come get you if I start missing you," Jamie decided. "Go talk about pumping iron
with your buff friend."
"Okay. Love you." Ryan kissed her, lingering a bit, then running the tip of her tongue all over the outline of Jamie’s lips, making the blonde giggle and rub her mouth against Ryan’s shirt. "Just want to make sure everyone knows you’re taken," she murmured, adding one more serious kiss to be certain.
"Brat!" Jamie swatted her on the butt and sent her on her way, chuckling to herself when she approached Sara and Ally. "Hey, guys, what’s going on?"
"Not much," Ally said. "Did you ever find Ryan?"
"Yeah, but she got waylaid again. She knows so many people!"
"She does," Ally agreed. "And I bet every one of them wants to ask her about the carjacking."
Jamie blinked at her, then shook her head. "That didn’t even dawn on me! Damn, I must be getting better when that’s not the first thing I think of when we run into someone we know."
"Are you both getting better, Jamie?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, we are. It’s gonna take a long while to be completely over it, but it doesn’t interfere in our daily lives much anymore. It still pops up every once in a while, of course – usually when you least expect it."
Jordan sat against the wall, with Mia sitting between her spread legs and leaning against her chest. "I can’t imagine how hurt you must be," the blonde said, bending repeatedly to kiss the crown of her lover’s head.
"That’s it exactly," Mia said. "I’m not angry anymore – I’m deeply, deeply hurt. You know," she said thoughtfully, "it isn’t even the fact that they don’t approve. What hurts is that they’d made up their minds last night. They were fucking with me today. That feels like such a betrayal."
"I know it does," Jordan soothed. "I’d feel the same way."
"It’s like they knew I’d be pissed, and they wanted to have a nice day – so they acted like they were interested in you, and how I feel about you, and how we came to love each other. But they didn’t give a crap," she said bitterly. "They just wanted to get through the day in peace. That sucks so bad!" She took another swig off her bottle of tequila, no longer bothering to use a cup or bite the lime.
"They probably didn’t want to hurt you. Maybe they wanted to work up to it, but it took ‘em all day. I think they really do love you, honey."
"Maybe they do, Jordy, but they have to learn to love me as an adult. I’m not their little girl any more – they can’t tell me who I’m allowed to play with."
"Give ‘em time, baby, they’ll probably come around."
"They’ll have plenty of time," the curly haired woman said. "They can reconsider while I’m in Colorado."
"Uhm … when are you coming to Colorado?" Jordan asked, completely puzzled.
"Tomorrow. I’m going with you."
"Mia! Are you serious? What about school?" Jordan’s face was lit up with excitement, her expression alone reassuring Mia in ways that words never could.
"What’s the rush? You and I can finish at the same time. It’s not a big deal."
"Oh, but, honey," Jordan said, "you’ve only got two more months of class. Don’t you want to graduate with your friends?"
"Sure, I want to graduate and be done with it all, but I want to be with you a hundred times more than I want to graduate. I can’t wait any more, Jordy. And now that my parents know, there’s no reason to be apart any longer. We’ll both finish our last semester at some point – then I’ll graduate with my best girl."
"Damn," Jordan said, wrapping her arms tightly around her. "Is it really that easy? Can you just decide to quit school and come to Colorado with me?"
"Yes, it’s that easy. The hard part is trying to figure out how I’ll support myself. I told my parents I’d drive my car uninsured, but I’d never do that. So, I’ll have to have the money for the car and food and a little entertainment. And I want to make sure I’m home when you’re home – so I have to get a day job. How will your roommates feel about having me around?"
"Huh?" Jordan shook her head. "Damn, I’ve got so many thoughts racing through my brain, I can hardly concentrate."
"I asked about your roommates," Mia repeated. "Will they mind having me move in?"
"Doesn’t matter if they do or not, ‘cause we won’t be there long. I want to be alone with you, Mia, not have three other women hanging around all of the time. We’ll get our own place."
"Jordy! How will we afford that? You said that apartments are very expensive."
"They are, but our relationship is worth too much to fool around with, Mia. Living in a dorm-like setting isn’t right for us."
"Oh, Jordan, I feel like I’m forcing you to do things you’re not ready to do. Are you sure you want me to come?"
"Turn around and look at me," Jordan said. Mia shifted around so that she was facing her lover, and she gazed into her clear, blue eyes. "I love you with all of my heart," she said. "And I want you as close to me as I can get you – 24 hours a day. I want to wake up holding you, I want to kiss your sweet lips when I get home at night, and I want to go to sleep cuddled up so close to you that you’ll feel like you’re covered with a Jordan blanket. Nothing on this earth would make me happier than to have you live with me – in our own apartment."
"But how will we pay for it?" Mia asked.
"I’ve got money," Jordan said. "I’ve been forcing myself to live on the stipend I get from USA Volleyball, and putting every dime of my modeling income into savings. But having you with me is worth more than having money in the bank. We can easily live for at least two years on my savings, and I’m only too happy to spend it."
"But, Jordan, that’s your money for graduate school! You can’t spend that!"
"Yes, I can," she said, her eyes blazing with determination. "I’m not merely looking out for myself anymore, Mia. My decisions have to include what’s best for you and for us. This is what’s best for us right now. Graduate school will take care of itself when the time comes. We need a place of our own, we need to keep your car insured; and we need to get health insurance for you. I’m not going to worry about what will happen if you break a leg skiing."
"You sound like my dad," Mia said, chuckling softly.
"That’s because I love you, and I want to protect you," Jordan said, bending to kiss her partner. "You’re the most wonderful part of my life, Mia."
"I love you, too, Jordy," she sighed. "Two hours ago I was as depressed as I’ve ever been, and now I feel like everything will be all right." Hugging her partner fiercely, she asked, "How do you work that kind of magic?"
"Love," Jordan whispered. "The secret is love."
Jamie went into the kitchen to fish out a beer, but when she took a look at how deep the ice water was, she thought better of it and started to leave the room. "Hey, good looking," Ryan said, filling the doorway by grabbing the top molding and stretching.
"Hi. I was gonna get a beer, but I don’t want to get frostbite."
"Let me assist," Ryan said, pushing off from the door and making for the tub. She looked inside, shook her head and muttered, "Heathens." Looking around the kitchen, she spied a large, aluminum pot and started to bail the icy water from the container, not stopping until she reached ice and beer. Sticking her long arm into the tall tub, she extracted two of their beers and handed one to her partner with a flourish.
"My hero," Jamie said, batting her eyes.
"Hey, gotta make sure I get my date at least half drunk if I wanna get lucky," Ryan teased.
"I think I’d better stick close to you for the rest of the night," Jamie said, smiling up at her. "I didn’t mind letting you hang with Marcus, but he’s practically the only guy here. You’ve probably had your way with everybody else at the party. I don’t want to find you in the bedroom again."
"Fooled you. Had my way with Marcus, too," Ryan said, adding a randy wink. She started to leave the kitchen, but found that a hand reaching out to grab her waistband slowed her progress.
"Hold on there, stud. You’d better be joking."
Ryan turned to find a very stern look on her partner�
�s face. "Uhm … yeah, I’m joking," she said.
Jamie slapped her soundly on the rump, muttering, "I can never tell whether you’re joking or not."
"Well, I’m only partially joking," Ryan admitted. "I didn’t have my way with him, but we did make out at a party once. I didn’t want to go any further, though, so we stopped at that."
"What? You made out with a guy?"
Giving her a curious look, Ryan asked, "Why does that bother you?"
Rolling her eyes in frustration, Jamie said, "Because, you’ve specifically told me that you’ve never been attracted to a guy, you’ve never fooled around with a guy, and that you’ve never even been on a date with a guy. Now, which is it, Ryan?"
"Wow," Ryan said, her brow furrowed, "you’re really upset about this, aren’t you."
Looking embarrassed, Jamie nodded. "Yeah, I am."
"Let’s go for a little walk," Ryan said. "I don’t want to discuss this in here."
They went outside, and strolled up and down in front of the building, taking sips of their beers to cool off from the overheated apartment. "I’ve never lied to you about my sexual history, Jamie. I’d never do that. But, I am puzzled about why it doesn’t seem to bother you that I’ve had sex with at least 10 women here, but you’re pissed off to think that I kissed Marcus."
Scowling, Jamie took another pull on her beer and tried to explain herself. "This sounds stupid, but something about you kissing a guy is kinda … gross."
"Gross? You’ve kissed your fair share of guys. Was that gross?"
"No, it’s not that guys are gross – but your kissing one is."
"I need a little more to go on," Ryan said, scratching her head, "’cause that makes no sense."
"Look," Jamie said, "it’s like this. Expressing your sexuality with women is natural for you. That’s who you are. But the thought of you making out with a guy at a party seems – perverted. It’s like you did it because you needed someone to kiss, and he was the closest one around. There’s something about it that doesn’t sound like you, Ryan, and that’s what bothers me. I have an image of you as this super-lesbian; and to hear you say that it’s ‘any port in a storm’ seems kinda sick. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I’m really bothered by it." She crossed her arms over her stomach, and said, "This is the first thing I’ve ever heard of you doing that bothers me. It seems … immoral."
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