“Have you been talking to her a lot?”
“Not really. Just when something comes up. Why?”
“Just wondering. No reason.”
“That’ll be the day. You’re always plotting something.”
“Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf.”
“Yeah,” Toni said suspiciously. “That’s likely.”
***
Toni went by The Sandpiper on Saturday morning. It was early, just after seven, and Barbara, the inn babysitter, was getting ready to leave. Toni spotted her coming out the back door and smiled to herself when it looked as though Noel was going to grab onto her skirt to stop her from leaving. “Run for it, Barbara!” Toni called out.
Noel looked up and met Toni’s eyes. Pleadingly, she said, “Don’t let her get away.”
In her soft British accent, Barbara said, “You’ll be fine, dear. It’s just like making breakfast for your own family.”
“I’ve never made breakfast for my own family, and I don’t want to start now.”
Imploringly, Barbara looked at Toni. “You’ve got to give this girl a pep talk. I made batter for pancakes last night, and we’ve already put two dozen scones in the oven this morning. She doesn’t have a thing to worry about.”
“I’ve got some time until I have to get to work,” Toni said. “You’d better run while you can, Barbara.”
“If you let her leave, you’ve got to stay,” Noel insisted.
Toni laughed, completely content. She couldn’t have picked her timing better. “I can give you a hand today and tomorrow; then you’re on your own.”
Noel reached out and tugged at Toni’s denim shirt. “I’m gonna handcuff you to the stove. You’re the one that got me into this.”
Toni held up her hands, still smiling indulgently. “Guilty as charged.” She followed along behind Noel, trying to catch a look at her ass through shorts that Toni considered far too baggy.
***
By 11 a.m. everyone had eaten and a few guests were sitting in the parlor lingering over coffee. The two young gay men that Toni had arranged for were upstairs cleaning the rooms, and Noel was busy drying and putting away the dishes as quickly as Toni handed them to her.
“Yes, I do know where everything goes, but if I put it all away you’ll never learn,” Toni said.
“Do you think I didn’t think of that?” Noel leaned against the counter and laughed. “You probably think I’m the ditsiest woman you’ve ever met.”
“Not at all. When I first met you, I thought you were rigid and overly serious. Seeing your panicked side has rounded you out.”
“Great. Now I seem like I’m bipolar.”
“No, you seem like a perfectly normal person who’s doing something she’s not used to. But I guarantee you’ll get into the flow.” Toni snuck a look at her watch and her eyes nearly bugged out. “I’ve gotta get going. I’m just starting a big job.” She put her hand on Noel’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Call me if you need anything.”
She started for the door with Noel saying, “You’ve been a real lifesaver. I have to think of some way to thank you.”
“Oh, you’ll think of something,” Toni said, showing her teeth. “I’ve got a few ideas if you can’t think of any,” she added quietly once she was sure Noel couldn’t hear her.
***
Toni called Noel the following Friday. “Do you have any interest in getting away from your new digs for a few hours?”
“If you’ve found me a buyer, I’ll give you half the proceeds. No, I’ll give you three-quarters.” She laughed, but the sound was weary. “Who am I kidding? You can have it all. I just want to go home.”
“Someone needs an attitude adjustment. I’ll be there at six o’clock. Do you drink alcohol?”
“All I can get my hands on,” Noel said, feeling a little perkier.
***
Toni showed up a little early, but Noel was waiting for her. As soon as Toni opened the back door, Noel grabbed her purse from the counter and pointed in the direction from which Toni had just come. “Out. Out.”
As they walked along the side yard, Toni asked, “Is it really that bad?”
“I should be a stoic, but I’m not in the mood. I despise it.” Noel’s smile showed she was teasing, at least a little bit.
They reached Toni’s truck and Noel stood back and appraised it. “This is the coolest truck I’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks,” Toni said opening the passenger door. “It was my dad’s.”
As Noel tried to judge how best to get into the high-riding truck gracefully, she gave Toni a concerned look. “Is your dad…?”
“What? Dead? Oh, no. He just found another piece of junk to rehabilitate. May I?”
She’d placed her hands on Noel’s waist and when Noel felt the hands compress against her and easily boost her into the cab, she nearly swooned. She was slowly changing her mind about Toni’s persistence, now beginning to find it rather appealing. As for her looks, well, she was exactly the type of woman that she’d been attracted to her entire adult life.
Toni continued to talk and Noel had to mentally slap herself to focus. “I usually buy his projects from him. Drives my mother nuts because he could sell them for a lot more, but I think he hates to have them get too far away.”
Toni walked around to her side and got in. Noel asked, “What year is this?”
“Things must be bad if you don’t even know what year it is.” She grinned unrepentantly at Noel’s playful glower. “It’s a ’55 Chevy.”
“Boy, I wish my dad was interested in cars. The only thing he ever wants to talk about is the stock market and planning for my retirement.”
“I lucked out in the dad department. We watch baseball together and compete for who has the best tools.”
Noel ran her hands over the slick dash and shifted her weight in the dove grey bucket seat. “Is any of this original?”
Toni sat for a moment, letting her dark eyes scan the interior. “Nothing much.” She patted the seat next to her thigh. “These are from a Mazda 929. I guess you could say the dash is original, but it’s been repainted.”
“Did you help with the renovation?”
“Yeah, sure. My dad’s much more of a mechanic than I am, but I’m not bad. My biggest contribution was the bed.” She twitched her head towards the rear of the truck and waited for Noel to turn around. “I made the oak stringers and fitted the stainless steel too.”
“That’s fantastic! It looks like a brand new truck, but they don’t make trucks this beautiful anymore. Now they’re all sheet metal and plastic.” Noel turned around and settled into her seat, putting on her seatbelt. “I love the color, too.”
“Viper red,” Toni said, her voice sounding a little sexy. “My dad’s choice. I would have gone with sea mist green.”
“This must attract a lot of attention.”
With a sly smile, Toni nodded. Her voice had deepened into a purr. “Sure does.”
She turned the engine over and they sat in silence for a moment, the big-block V-8 rumbling underneath them. It felt like a massive vibrator rumbling under her butt. Noel would have made a saucy remark to someone she knew better, but Toni was so overtly flirting with her that she found herself uncharacteristically shy. “Where are we headed?”
“Let’s go to Jersey. Whenever Rehoboth drives me nuts, I go out of state.”
“Jersey it is.”
***
To Noel’s surprise, they didn’t drive the whole way. Toni guided her truck to a parking lot by the ferry in Lewes, and they got out. Noel looked around at the assembled crowd. “I’d heard there was a ferry, but I’ve never taken it.”
“I take it almost every time I go to New Jersey. It costs more money than driving the whole way, but it’s a nice way to get out on the ocean for a while.”
The ferry service was well run and they were able to get on right on time. After making sure Noel didn’t mind the possibility of sea spray, Toni led the way to the bow of the boa
t.
The sun was low in the sky and very bright. Noel turned her back so she didn’t have to squint, but Toni didn’t seem to mind. She faced the ocean as though she were born to it, her chin held high as the breeze blew her hair back. Noel marveled at how incredibly straight and thick Toni’s hair was. With the sun reflecting off it she saw shades of gold, red, and amber mixed in among the chocolate brown. Toni wore it very simply and Noel had noticed how easily it fell forward when Toni’s head was tilted down. But today it blew straight back off her face showing the strength of her jaw and the planes of her face.
Toni was, without question, attractive. She was what many would call androgynous, but Noel preferred to think of her look as handsome. She couldn’t imagine her wearing makeup or lipstick, but not because Toni was masculine. She wasn’t. But those types of feminine frills wouldn’t have fit her personality or her image.
She didn’t look as though she cultivated a butch personality, but on the butch/femme scale she was decidedly on the butch side. Noel decided she very much liked where Toni fit on that continuum. No one would mistake Toni for a man, but she was just androgynous enough for Noel’s tastes.
One thing Noel was learning to appreciate about Toni was her sense of style. Her cowboy look was clearly a winter thing. In summer she dressed like an old-money preppy, even though Noel was fairly sure Toni didn’t come from money. She just effortlessly pulled off that polo-shirt-and-khaki-shorts number so endemic on the eastern seaboard.
Tonight Toni wore a white polo shirt that was tucked into madras-plaid walking shorts. Her brown leather belt matched her Top-Siders, worn preppy style with no socks. Her hands were in her pockets, as Noel had noticed they often were. She stood tall, as always, looking cool and proud, a combination that Noel was sure most of the lesbians in Rehoboth had a hard time resisting. She was fully aware that she was becoming one of their number and found herself not even trying to resist the lure.
***
Cape May, New Jersey, was small and compact, and they didn’t have to walk very far to find the restaurant Toni had selected. She didn’t seem to be on a first name basis with anyone at the restaurant, but it was clear she had been there before.
When they were shown to their table she said, “The bartender here makes a great Manhattan. Are you up for one?”
“I’m up for two.” Noel watched compliantly as Toni ordered their drinks and asked for a couple of appetizers to go with them.
As soon as the server departed, Toni focused every bit of her attention onto Noel. “Now that we’re settled, I want you to answer me seriously. How is it going?”
Noel wasn’t in a rush to answer. She could see that Toni was genuinely concerned, and she wanted to be honest but not over blow it. “It’s not all that bad,” she admitted. “I could see that most people wouldn’t think it was a bad job at all. Sadly, I’m not most people.”
Their server brought their drinks, and they touched the rims of their rocks glasses together. “Can you be a little more specific?” Toni asked, shivering when she took a drink.
Noel took a drink, too, then blinked her eyes repeatedly. “Now, that’s a drink.” She took in and let out a heavy sigh. “I think the problem is that I spend most of my year under a microscope. My students, their parents, my principal, the Board of Education, the federal government. Everyone has an opinion about the best way to teach eight-year-olds. During the summer I usually travel and go out of my way to be as independent as possible. Doing this makes me feel like I went from the frying pan into the fire. It’s like I’m still at work, and I really need my vacations to recharge.”
Her expression was full of empathy when Toni said, “I can understand that. I can’t stand to be told what to do, so I wouldn’t be able to do your job. I guess I just have a different view of the guests at The Sandpiper. They seem more like house-guests to me, and I enjoy having house-guests.” She took another sip of her drink, her eyes still fixed on Noel. “I’m sorry this isn’t working out. I guess I thought you’d get into it once you were here.”
“Not so far, but it has only been a week. I guess I have to give it a fair try.”
Smiling, Toni picked up her glass and clinked Noel’s. “To fair tries.”
***
They were whipping through their appetizers when Noel said, “I’ve been feeling kind of uncomfortable talking to you about The Sandpiper. I mean, I know you’d like to buy it, and here I am bitching about how much I’d like to sell it. Am I being a jerk?”
“No, you’re not,” Toni said, her expression serious. “My dream of owning it was more emotional than practical. It makes sense that you wouldn’t want to carry a huge second mortgage for me. You don’t know that I’m the most honest person you’ll ever meet.” Now her teasing smile was back, and Noel found herself unable to avoid mimicking her.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” she insisted. “But my brother says a second mortgage isn’t a great deal. It’s subordinate to the first, and if the property goes into default, it can be hard to collect. Not that you’d default for no good reason,” she rushed to say once she saw the look on Toni’s face. “But all sorts of bad things can happen. The town could be destroyed by a hurricane or the inn could burn to the ground…”
“You like to see the bright side, huh?”
“You know what I mean,” Noel said, fervently hoping Toni did.
“I do. I’ve been talking to some other people in town, and they all think you’d be nuts to hold a second mortgage.” She smiled, and her shiny, white teeth showed. “Now that you’re here, I’m not as focused on buying The Sandpiper. My guess is that you’re gonna wind up loving it, and my goal is to have it taken care of.”
“I hope you reach your goal. I do. I just don’t want to be the one you’re counting on.”
***
After dinner they walked around Cape May looking at the stores selling all sorts of touristy trinkets. The town was decidedly upscale, and most of the shops had things that one would actually not mind having in the house. Noel spent a few minutes looking at nautical-themed Christmas ornaments, mentioning that she collected ornaments whenever she went on vacation. Toni was leaning against a wall, patiently watching Noel shop when a couple came in and asked the proprietor where the best ice cream was. When Noel heard it was only two doors down, her eyes lit up and she said, “I’m starving. I have to get some.”
Toni smiled and said, “You can’t possibly be starved. You ate everything but the plates.”
“I’m a growing girl. I need my ice cream. Don’t you want to have any?”
“I was just trying to figure out how to unbutton my pants and loosen my belt a notch without anybody noticing. If I eat any more, I’m gonna have to buy a larger size just to get home.”
Noel teasingly patted Toni’s flat belly. “Then I’ll have two scoops to make up for yours.”
“Go get in line. One of my nieces has a birthday coming up. I think I’m gonna get her one of these wooden puzzles. I’ll be right over, okay?”
“Sure. You don’t have to rush. I think everyone in town is waiting for ice cream.”
“It won’t take me long. I shop fast.”
***
They sat on the dock and let the ferry leave without them. It was a perfectly lovely evening, and Toni was not in a hurry to get back to Rehoboth. She leaned up against a piling and wrapped her long arms around a knee, looking relaxed and very comfortable.
Noel didn’t seem to need to converse, lifting her stock a few more points, and they spent quite a while just listening to the sounds of boats banging against their fenders, lines squeaking under tension, and water lapping at their hulls. The silence was not only comfortable, it was oddly relaxing for both of them. Toni was a little vexed when people started to line up for the next departure, but she tried to ignore their chatter and just enjoy the peace. She was considering suggesting they skip the next ferry and waste another hour, but Noel got up and brushed off her shorts as the boat tugged up to the do
ck. She held a hand out to Toni and helped her to her feet. “We’d better get back. I’ve got to get up very early.”
“I can sleep in on the weekend, but I rarely do. I guess I’m just a morning person.”
They got onto the ferry and again went to the bow. The temperature had dropped, and the sun had set long ago, so the ride was much cooler. Toni offered to go below but Noel said, “If you can manage to block the wind for me, I can stay outside. You do prefer to be outside, don’t you?”
“Much. I’d almost always rather be outdoors than in. But I don’t want you to be cold.”
Noel put her hands on Toni’s hips and maneuvered her so she blocked as much wind as possible. She just had to duck a little when Toni’s hair blew into her face, tickling it. “This is good. I’m not crowding you, am I?”
They were standing about six inches apart, facing one another. If Toni leaned forward just a little she could smell Noel’s alluring, citrusy scent. Her hair, which Toni thought was possibly the most interesting color she’d ever seen, was blowing in the wind, fluttering in every direction. Noel kept trying to rein it in, but she didn’t have anything to tie around it, and hanks of it kept escaping her clutch. It would whip across her face, obscuring her pale eyes, then fly away just as quickly letting Toni get a glimpse of them in the moonlight.
She made a gallant effort to try not to sound like she was flirting when she said, “You’re perfect right where you are.”
***
They didn’t speak much on the ferry ride back, but Noel enjoyed letting Toni shelter her. There was something captivating about a woman who liked to brave the elements, but was considerate of your need to stay warm. And Toni’s muscular body wasn’t a bad shield. Noel spent a few minutes imagining how those muscles would feel wrapped around her…perhaps while having raucous sex. She was fairly sure they and every other part of Toni would feel just fine.
Susan X. Meagher - The Legacy Page 4