Abby bent over to smell the pie and thought she might have died and gone to heaven.
“Syd, this smells delicious. Is this for tonight? Please, please say this is for tonight.”
Syd bent close to Abby and inhaled with her eyes closed, and the sexiest moan Abby had ever heard came from Syd, making Abby’s knees go weak. Syd opened her eyes and turned her head. Just another inch and she would be close enough for Abby to kiss.
“I hope you like it,” Syd murmured.
Abby’s mouth that was just watering was now bone dry. All the moisture that had been in her mouth had escaped to a destination much lower as the wetness pooled in her panties. Abby slowly blinked and broke the spell. Damn it! Syd pulled back and untied the strings to Virginia’s apron. Abby had bought that apron for Virginia for her birthday a few years ago, including some baking sheets, muffin tins, and cake pans. Virginia thanked Abby by baking her chocolate chip cookies on her new baking sheets while wearing her new apron. How could Abby be fueled with need and desire one second, then crushed by sadness the next? Her eyes welled with tears at the memory and she turned away from Syd. She clapped her hands together trying to give herself just a few more seconds to recover from that memory.
“So, what do you need me to help with?”
“I was hoping you could help me go through the boxes in the garage and help me identify anything that would have value—sentimental or monetary. And if you see anything you want to keep, I want you to have it. I know how much she meant to you so it would only be right.”
Abby felt her throat tighten again. She hadn’t expected that offer to come from Syd. She wasn’t sure what Syd had planned to do with Virginia’s things, but Abby appreciated her willingness to accept how close Abby was to Virginia. She tried hard to imagine if the roles were reversed, but she just couldn’t. Her grandparents took her in after her parents died, and they always encouraged, supported, and loved her.
Abby missed her parents every minute of every day, but she was grateful she was raised by such loving grandparents. Her heart ached for Syd that she didn’t have the same relationship with Virginia and Harold. Abby didn’t have much of a relationship with Harold because he always seemed to keep to himself, but after he passed away, she and her gran spent more time with Virginia. She supposed it was to keep Virginia from being so lonely, but the more time they spent together, the closer they became until Abby began to think of Virginia as another grandmother.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Absolutely. You probably knew her better than anyone, except maybe your grandmother. You deserve to have some of her things.”
“Thank you. I can’t tell you what that means to me. I have an idea. Let’s go through the boxes together instead of individually. I think we’ll get through them faster. We’ll make piles for things to donate, things to keep, and things to throw away.” Abby took a box off the top of one of the shelving units that lined the two side walls of the garage.
By the time they took a break for a quick lunch, they had gone through about a quarter of the boxes. A few of them contained papers that Syd would go through, but most had contained some of Harold’s clothes that they put in the donation pile. They spoke easily about what it was like for Abby to grow up on a farm. Other than missing her parents, Abby loved farm life. She enjoyed being outside and working with her hands, feeling the sun shine down and warm her as she helped her grandmother in the garden. The smells of the dirt as they turned the earth, the freshly mowed grass, she loved everything about it. When she was older and stronger, she would help her grandfather chop wood, burn leaves, and build things in the garage. She could almost smell the leaves burning in the chilly fall air and the faint smell of gasoline and exhaust in the steamy heat of the garage in the middle of summer.
They resumed going through more boxes after they ate. By the time they had gone through all the boxes from one side of the wall, it was late afternoon.
“I think this is a good place to stop for today. Gran said dinner would be at six, and I need to get home to clean up.”
Syd looked down at her own hands and clothes, and she couldn’t believe how dirty she’d gotten. They’d had the garage door open while they’d been working, but it had still been extremely warm. It wasn’t the humid heat she was used to in Chicago, but it was still hot, and she had sent up a silent prayer that it was still early spring. The smell of motor oil, concrete, and cardboard took over as the temperature rose. Now she felt grimy and she smelled bad. She was a little embarrassed to have Abby see her this way, although living on a farm, Abby was probably used to getting dirty.
Syd stood and stretched her arms over her head to try to loosen up her stiff body, and she let out a deep groan of relief. When she opened her eyes, she caught Abby staring at her midsection where her shirt lifted up over her lower abdomen. Syd’s pulse raced when Abby looked up and her eyes had darkened. Syd recognized Abby’s look of arousal, and she took a step forward with every intention of taking Abby in her arms and kissing her senseless. Abby’s eyes widened, like she had come out of a trance, and she cleared her throat, stopping Syd in her tracks.
“Um, I’ll see you at six. Just turn left on the road and we’re the next house on the left side of the street.” Abby’s shoulder brushed Syd’s as she hurried by and left. Something obviously spooked Abby, but Syd had no idea what it was. Was it possible Syd was getting the wrong signals from Abby and that she wasn’t a lesbian? No, the way she was looking at her ass in the kitchen was a dead giveaway, as was the blush of her skin when Syd caught her looking at her just then. Or did she have an issue with Syd’s skin color? It wouldn’t be the first time Syd experienced racism, but up until then, Abby had been friendly with her and never hinted that Syd’s race was an issue.
Syd had half a mind to call Abby and tell her she’d changed her mind about dinner, but that wouldn’t be fair to her grandmother. Syd sighed as she closed the garage door before going inside to get cleaned up. She was being way too judgmental toward a woman who had just spent the day helping her clean out half the garage and who had done nothing but help her since the second she arrived. Obviously, there was something that kept Abby from being swept away by the kiss Syd so desperately wanted to give her. She’d wait it out and see how Abby reacted to her at dinner later, and maybe she’d get a chance to talk to her about it before the night was over.
Chapter Seven
Abby ran the half mile home hoping to simmer down the arousal she still felt. When Syd’s shirt hem rose and exposed her light brown skin and smooth abdomen, Abby wanted nothing more than to caress the skin to see if it was as soft as it looked. But when she saw the smirk on Syd’s mouth, she knew she’d been caught. Again. Then the step Syd took toward her betrayed her intention and Abby freaked out. Why? Was she embarrassed for getting caught leering at Syd, or was she embarrassed about what she would’ve done had Syd come any closer? If she had let Syd kiss her, they’d still be in that garage working up a different kind of sweat, and they would have probably missed dinner. God. She was going to see her in less than two hours. How was she going to explain herself?
Abby was out of breath by the time she reached her front door, and she knew the run was only part of the reason. She called out to her gran that she was home and she was going to take a shower. She took the stairs two at a time in hopes of avoiding her gran for now. She debated whether her shower should be cold or hot, and she settled for warm.
Abby considered what she was going to wear to dinner more than she should have, but then again this was an opportunity to show Syd she owned more than Carhartt overalls and baggy T-shirts. She didn’t know why it mattered what Syd thought of her, but it did. She probably thought Abby was just some poor, uneducated farm girl, but that was far from the truth. Abby thought somehow that if she dressed in nice clothes, wore her hair down instead of in her messy ponytail, and maybe wore a little cologne, it would maybe change Syd’s perception of her. She chose a royal blue button-down blouse that would
enhance her blue eyes, slate gray slacks, and black loafers. She had worn this outfit before when she had done a reading at a big chain bookstore, and she had noticed more than a few admiring glances from some of the women in the audience.
When she felt she looked and smelled as good as she could, she found her gran in the kitchen putting the final preparations on dinner. Abby recognized the smells of her favorite dinner—pot roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, and cooked carrots. This meal is what her gran cooked whenever Abby was feeling down and needed comfort food.
Abby placed a kiss on her grandmother’s cheek. “It smells fantastic, Gran. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, dear. It’s almost ready.” She looked Abby up and down, and Abby slid her hands down her thighs nervously.
“Well, don’t you look lovely. Is there a special occasion I’m unaware of?” her grandmother teased her.
“No, Gran. I just felt like dressing up since we’re having company.”
Abby recognized the look her gran was giving her. Abby secretly called it the “bullshit face.” It was the same look she gave Abby anytime she gave a lame explanation, but she was too kind to call her on any of it.
“Did you and Sydney get a lot done today?”
“Quite a lot, actually. You know the shelving units Virginia has—had—against the garage walls? We went through half and made a big donation pile.”
“That’s wonderful, dear. I never could understand how she could keep all of that stuff neatly organized in her garage. I kept telling her she needed to get rid of it, but she insisted she needed it all.”
“We found a lot of Harold’s clothes that Syd will donate and some papers she needs to go through, but that’s pretty much it so far.”
The knock on the door interrupted their discussion, and Abby again ran her hands down her thighs. She stared in the direction of the door, unable to take a step forward.
“Abby, dear, you look nice. Now go answer the door.”
Abby’s heart thudded with each step she took. She needed to apologize to Syd for her behavior earlier, but when she opened the door and saw Syd standing there looking even more striking in a simple pair of blue jeans and a polo shirt than Abby could’ve even thought possible, everything she wanted to say flew from her mind. Even if she could’ve remembered, Syd looked closed off and unreceptive to what Abby would say.
“Abigail, are you going to just stand there or are you going to let her in?”
Abby mentally shook her head and stood aside. “Right. Sorry. Please, come in, Syd. This is my grandmother, Bernice Price.”
Syd extended her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Price. Thank you for the beef stew you sent over the day I arrived. It was very thoughtful of you.”
“You’re very welcome, Sydney. Oh, you baked a pie. It looks delicious.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Syd said as she handed it over.
“Let me just put this in the kitchen and we can go into the living room to talk. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”
Abby led Syd to the living room and was a little disappointed that Syd chose to sit in a wingback chair rather than on the couch, not giving Abby an opportunity to sit next to her. She felt the wanting to be near Syd, even if it might be three feet away on the other end of the sofa. Abby’s grandmother walked in and sat next to her.
“Tell me how things are going, Sydney. What do you think of Virginia’s property?”
“It’s amazing, Mrs. Price. I didn’t know what to expect when her attorney called me, but the house is beautiful and the land is, well, huge.” Syd laughed.
“Did you know about your grandmother?”
“Yes, well, not really. I never really met her, and truthfully, I forgot about her and my grandfather until the attorney called me. My mother filled in some of the blanks, but I’m hoping I can find some answers while I go through her things.”
“What kind of answers are you looking for, dear? Maybe I can help.”
Syd took a deep breath and clasped her hands together. Abby had an inexplicable urge to go stand next to Syd and hold her hand or place her hand on her shoulder, but she remained still.
“I want to know how they could disown their own daughter because of who she fell in love with. I want to know what made my grandmother hire a private investigator to find me and spy on me. I want to know why, when she found me, why didn’t she reach out to me.”
Abby’s heart broke at what Syd had said. She had no idea that had happened, and she had a hard time believing Virginia could ever do that. It certainly wasn’t consistent behavior for the woman she had known. No wonder she never met Syd or her parents, or why they never came to visit.
“Do you know why, Mrs. Price?”
“No, Sydney, I don’t know. I asked her about it, but she wouldn’t tell me the whole story. She said she was too ashamed and that it never should have happened. I’m sorry I can’t answer your questions.” Her grandmother stood. “Dinner is just about ready. Abigail, take Sydney into the dining room, please, then help me with the food.”
Abby approached her and placed her hand on Syd’s forearm. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“It’s okay. How could you know?”
“I…”
“Come on. We don’t want to keep your grandmother waiting.”
Abby understood Syd didn’t want to talk about it, at least not yet, and she led her to the dining room. There was so much she wanted to say, to ask, but now was not the time. “Have a seat and we’ll be right back.” Abby and her grandmother returned with the food and a bottle of wine, and took their places at the table.
“Everything looks delicious, Mrs. Price. Thank you again for inviting me.”
“It’s my pleasure, Sydney. And please, call me Bernice. It’s my understanding you’re from Chicago. Have you lived there long?”
“Yes, ma’am. Born and raised. This is so different from Chicago. It’s so quiet here and, well, spacious. I live and used to work in downtown so being here has been quite an experience.”
“I could see how that would be. I’ve never been to Chicago myself, but from pictures, movies, and television shows, it looks quite crowded and busy.”
“Yes, ma’am, but I love it. There are so many great restaurants and museums. So much to see and do. I could do without the freezing winters, but it’s the price you pay to live there.”
Abby sat quietly, intent on letting her gran ask the questions. She was having difficulty pulling her gaze away from Syd’s full lips as she answered, lips that she had the opportunity to kiss just mere hours ago, but she’d squandered it. It wasn’t that Abby wasn’t attracted to Syd, because she most certainly was. And it’s not like she hadn’t had flings before, because she most certainly had. But Syd was going to leave in less than two weeks to go back to Chicago. What was the point in starting something she wouldn’t get to finish? And she knew that a time or two with Syd would be like a drug that she would get hooked on and would look to constantly satisfy that craving. Abby had all but resigned herself to the fact that unless she moved to a big city, she would most likely spend the rest of her life alone and be subject to the occasional dalliance when she traveled. Charville wasn’t exactly a hotbed for lesbians. Abby refocused to the present and realized that nobody was talking and Syd and her gran were staring at her.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?”
Her grandmother looked at Abby quizzically. “I asked if you were feeling all right. You haven’t touched anything on your plate.”
“I’m okay, Gran. Sorry.” Abby cut a piece of meat covered with gravy and closed her eyes when the deliciousness of her gran’s pot roast hit her tongue. “It’s wonderful.” Abby started paying more attention to her dinner while continuing to listen to their conversation.
“Do you go to museums a lot, Sydney?” her grandmother asked.
“Occasionally. I work for a youth center, and we sometimes take them on fieldtrips to museums or other similar activities to expose t
hem to the arts. We’ve been to some concerts and musicals. The kids really seem to enjoy it, and it gives me joy to be able to do that for them.”
“It’s so important to do the things that we love or have always wanted to do. We don’t know how much time we have in this life.”
Abby noticed the melancholy on her gran’s face with that last statement. She knew firsthand that life was too short. Some people had the privilege of living long, fulfilling lives. Others left too soon. Once her grandmother was gone, Abby would have no one special left in her life. She cleared her throat and stood to clear the table. The thought of losing her gran was too much to bear so soon after losing Virginia. It wasn’t anything she wanted to think about, especially in the presence of Syd. “I’ll put a pot of coffee on to have with dessert and clean the kitchen.”
* * *
Syd noticed the sad look on Abby’s face as she cleared the table and her gaze followed Abby into the kitchen. “I think I’ll help Abby with the dishes if you don’t mind, ma’am.”
Bernice nodded and Syd came up behind Abby and heard her sniff. When Syd arrived earlier she was still feeling irked with the way Abby left, but she forgot her ill feelings when Abby reached up and looked like she was wiping away a tear.
“Abby,” Syd said quietly, not wanting to startle her. Abby turned and Syd saw the fresh tracks of tears on her cheeks.
A Call Away Page 6