The Presence

by Charlene Neil

  “And what might that be?”

  “How can you leave your child alone with a person like that?”

  “Like what? What are you talking about?” Kayleigh asked, suddenly afraid. She was expecting him to tell her some wild story like Rebecca was a serial killer or into drugs.

  “You left your child alone with that gay woman. Aren’t you scared she might influence your child?”

  Kayleigh stared at him in shock. “What do you mean by gay woman? She’s not gay.” She waved her hand in the air. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with gay women. My best friends are all gay, but that isn’t the point. I know for a fact that Rebecca is not gay.”

  “It’s a small town, sweetie. People talk. Your so-called friend, Rebecca, is a lesbo. She digs chicks.” He laughed out loud. “She’s a carpet muncher. I can’t believe you didn’t know that?”

  “First of all, I’m not your sweetie. Second, you’re talking shit. Utter bullshit. Third, it has abso-fuckin-lutely nothing to do with you.”

  “Hey, we could have a threesome.” He was still laughing at Kayleigh’s shocked expression.

  “Take me home. Now.” She pushed her chair back from the table and stood. She eyed her glass of water, seriously thinking of chucking it in his face.

  “Hey, I was just joking about the threesome.”

  “I said take me home, Kenneth.”

  “All right, all right. Hang on, I’m coming. I’m coming,” he mumbled as he got up and paid the bill.

  When his car stopped in front of her house, Kayleigh looked at him. “Thank you for dinner, but don’t ever ask me out again.” She slammed the passenger door before stomping to her front door.

  She scanned her watch. It was only nine o’clock. The date might very well have been the shortest date in the history of all time.

  Rebecca opened it before Kayleigh had a chance to.

  “Hi. Early enough for you?” She brushed straight past Rebecca and into the kitchen.

  Rebecca looked at her watch. “I’m sorry for being so rude earlier,” she said following Kayleigh to the kitchen. “Can I make you some tea? Or shall I open a bottle of wine? Or how about a beer?”

  “A beer, please.” Kayleigh turned around once they reached the kitchen. Even though she was mad at Rebecca, she was glad to be home, finally.

  She wanted to know if Rebecca had lied to her. Didn’t she trust her enough? Was it even true? After taking a deep breath she spoke. “How’s Sarah?”

  “She’s fine. She told me that Carrey doesn’t scare her. Carrey is a four-year-old girl who used to live here.” Rebecca cleared her throat, took two beers from the fridge. “There’s more than one thing we need to discuss,” she added nervously.

  “Really? Like what?” She took the beer from Rebecca.

  “In the bathroom, I swear I wasn’t alone.”

  Kayleigh opened her beer and downed a huge gulp as she wondered if the evening could get any worse. “Shit. What happened?”

  “I went to the toilet, and I heard a voice. It sounded like a man, whispering something. I’m not sure what he said, but it sounded something like get out. I know it sounds like something from a really bad movie, but I swear it’s the truth.” Rebecca looked horrified while she spoke.

  “Seriously? Oh, my God.” Kayleigh started shaking. “You’re not hurt in any way, are you?” Her earlier anger was forgotten for the time being as she touched Rebecca’s arm.

  “Traumatized is more like it. Whatever is lurking in these walls is not very friendly.”

  “I’m sorry, Rebecca. I’m so sorry for dragging you here.”

  “I ran out with my pants around my ankles.” Rebecca laughed, but Kayleigh could tell she was shaken up.

  Kayleigh tried to join in the laughter. “Wish I’d been here to see it.”

  “I’m glad you weren’t, and thank God, Sarah didn’t see me either.” Rebecca blushed.

  “Was there anything else?”

  “No, that was all that happened. Strange as hell. There I’m sitting with my pants around my ankles, minding my own business, then this cold rush of air settles over me and a deep voice starts whispering. God, all the hair on the back of my neck stood up straight. Mohawk style.” She motioned toward the bathroom. “Just follow the urine drops from the toilet seat all the way to the patio. That’s the path I ran with my pants around my ankles.”

  This time, Kayleigh didn’t even try to laugh. She was too afraid to see any humor in the situation. “Let’s go and sit outside. I’ve had one hell of an evening, and I want to tell you about it.”

  “Yeah. Why are you home so early? What did he do? Are you okay? You look frazzled.”

  Kayleigh didn’t answer. Instead, she led the way to the patio. She sat down and shifted her chair so she could see the view.

  Rebecca moved a chair next to Kayleigh’s and turned it so she could face her. She sat down. “Something wrong?” She placed her hand on Kayleigh’s shoulder and started to massage it gently.

  The movement sent shivers down Kayleigh’s spine and she felt herself warm between her legs like that other night they went ghost hunting. God, what was happening to her?

  The air was warm and Kayleigh suddenly felt nervous at asking the question. She turned her face to Rebecca and stared straight into her blue eyes. “What was the name of your ex?”

  Rebecca’s eyes went wide with shock. Her hand that was massaging Kayleigh’s shoulder stopped moving. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Please just tell me, I want the truth.”

  Rebecca swallowed hard and answered. “Maria.” As the word echoed from her lips, her hand dropped from Kayleigh’s shoulder. She placed her hand in her lap like a child caught doing something terribly naughty. She avoided Kayleigh’s eyes and turned her chair toward the view. “Did your boyfriend tell you?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend, but that’s not the point. Why would you hide something so important away from me? I thought I was your friend. Don’t you trust me?”

  Rebecca stared down at her feet. “I didn’t want to scare you away. I liked you and I needed a friend. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to betray you.” She raised her head and met Kayleigh’s eyes. “I’ll leave if you want me to.”

  Rebecca moved to get up, but Kayleigh put her hand on Rebecca’s knee to keep her from rising.

  “You lied to me. On that first night we met, you told me you weren’t gay. Why? Do you think I’m that shallow?” Hot tears filled her eyes. For Kayleigh, lying was one way of ruining a friendship.

  “That wasn’t exactly what I said. I never said I wasn’t gay. I realize that I was wrong omitting the truth, that it’s the same as lying. I’m so sorry, Kay. Please forgive me, I’m such an idiot.”

  “Please leave.” Kayleigh sniffed, as she rested her forehead in her hands. “Please… just… go.”

  “Is this because I’m gay?” Rebecca asked, her voice rising. “Lindsay and Judy are also gay—for your information.”

  “I actually wouldn’t have cared whether you were gay or straight. I trusted you, and you misled me. Friends don’t do that.”

  Rebecca put her half-empty beer on the table, rose slowly to her feet, and left without another word.

  Chapter 11

  Rebecca spent the next two weeks running on empty. She took hours to fall asleep, and then when she finally got to sleep, she struggled to get up in the mornings. She’d spoken to Lindsay and Judy, and they’d confirmed that Kayleigh was very angry with her and didn’t want to speak to her. At the store, she tried to catch Kayleigh’s eye whenever she passed by, but Kayleigh looked the other way and ignored her. Rebecca finally decided to give up and to let their friendship go. Maybe this was what she needed to do in order to get over this impossible one-sided love affair.

  †

  Three weeks had passed since Kayleigh asked Rebecca to leave her alone. Work and Sarah kept her busy, but her mind always went back to Rebecca. Despite Rebecca lying to her, she missed her friend. On several occasions, sh
e’d seen Rebecca try to catch her attention, but she’d refused to budge.

  On Friday, she swung by school to pick up Sarah and they were on their way home when Kayleigh’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled off the road and checked the caller ID before answering.

  “Hello, Bag.”

  “This name-calling has got to stop,” Lindsay said with a laugh. “I’ve just ordered a huge platter of sushi, and we need help eating it. Come over for dinner, please.”

  “How can I deny my friend the help she needs? I’ll be there at six.”

  “Great. See you then.”

  Kayleigh exhaled loudly when she ended the call. This was just what she needed. She looked over at Sarah. “How does dinner at Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Judy’s sound?”

  “Sounds like fun, Mom.”

  †

  It was just after six when Rebecca pulled into the driveway and noticed the Jeep. What on earth were Judy and Lindsay up to now? They promised her there would be no one else at dinner. Part of her was hesitant about seeing Kayleigh, because her final words had really hurt her, but the other part ached to see her. It was the latter part that moved her feet to walk up the driveway. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her breathing was shallow.

  Oh, Kayleigh, please love me back.

  She swallowed the lump in her throat just as she reached the door.

  †

  Kayleigh looked up when she saw someone standing in the doorway. Rebecca. Her heart ached at the sight of her, but it didn’t keep her from standing to leave. “That’s my cue to go,” she mumbled. “Sarah! Come on, honey. We’re leaving.” She called Sarah in from outside where she was playing.

  “Kayleigh, you’re going to sit down and listen,” Lindsay said in a firm voice. “Sarah, honey, your mom was just joking, stay where you are.”

  Kayleigh dropped back in her seat and exaggerated a sigh. Lindsay was right. They needed to talk this through. She missed Rebecca too much to let the lie or omission bother her anymore. Rebecca’s forlorn and vulnerable expression as she stood standing in the doorway had such a visceral effect on Kayleigh that she could hardly breathe.

  Judy pulled Rebecca by her hand and shoved her down onto the other settee. “The two of you are being very childish. You’re going to talk this out like adults, and after that, we’ll have dinner. All four of us. Five.” She looked over at Sarah through the huge glass doors, still playing outside, unaware of Rebecca’s arrival.

  Kayleigh watched as Judy and Lindsay walked toward the kitchen. Sarah came in from outside, her eyes beaming when she saw Rebecca. Before she could take off for the living room, Lindsay spotted Sarah.

  “Sarah, come into the kitchen and see what I have,” Lindsay said.

  “Hi, Aunt Rebecca,” Sarah called out as she ran toward the kitchen.

  “Hi, Sarah.” Rebecca finally met Kayleigh’s eyes. “Are you still mad at me?”

  “I don’t know.” Kayleigh swallowed back unwelcome tears.

  “I miss you, Kay,” Rebecca said in a soft voice. “I’m so sorry for not being honest with you. Please, can we try this again?”

  “You were my friend. It didn’t matter whether you liked men or women. I just don’t understand why you lied to me.”

  Rebecca swallowed. “At the time, I didn’t know you, and when you open with a line like ‘I’m straight’, I wasn’t sure what to think. I know I shouldn’t have let you think I was straight, but I didn’t lie to you, I wouldn’t do that. If you can give me another chance, I promise I’ll never be anything but completely honest and up front with you. I really do miss you.”

  Kayleigh silently cursed the tears that spilled over and trickled down her cheeks. She wiped them away, stood, and walked to Rebecca, who also stood and wrapped her arms around Kayleigh. Kayleigh sniffed as she held onto her. “God, I miss you too, Rebecca. So much.”

  “That’s much better,” Lindsay and Judy said in unison as they walked in with the huge sushi platter. Sarah trailed close behind, and quickly joined her mom and Rebecca in a group hug.

  “I missed you, Aunt Rebecca,” Sarah said.

  “Missed you too, honey.” Rebecca bent down and hugged Sarah as Kayleigh pulled away from them.

  “Now we can all have dinner and enjoy our evening together,” Judy added.

  †

  Later, Rebecca followed Kayleigh home. After Kayleigh had tucked Sarah in, they sat next to one another on the patio swing as they each sipped a beer.

  “I’m so glad we have this thing sorted between us. I hardly survived these three weeks without you.” Kayleigh sighed feeling more relaxed than she had in…well…three weeks.

  “Please don’t ever chase me away like that again.”

  Before Kayleigh could speak, Rebecca held up a hand. “I do understand how wrong I was, but I thought I was going to die not seeing you.”

  They were quiet for a long moment until Kayleigh broke the silence. “I’m curious. What’s it like…being gay, I mean?”

  “I’m normal, just like you. I’ve tried being with a man, but I just ended up being unhappy. There’s just no chemistry for me there.” Rebecca took a sip of her beer and looked into Kayleigh’s eyes. “I never felt anything for men. I thought I was unable to love. Then I fell in love with a woman, and my life changed. Look at it this way…who would know better what to do with a woman’s body than a woman?” She waggled her eyebrows.

  Kayleigh laughed. “Well, if you put it that way.…”

  “But it’s not just about the sex. I could never feel for any man the way I feel about women.”

  “Tell me about Maria.”

  “We met at a party. She was there with a guy. We had too much to drink, and we ended up having a threesome.”

  Rebecca must have noticed Kayleigh’s shocked expression. “Those were the days I was still experimenting. I was young—twenty years old.” She sighed. “It was awful. Anyway, four years later, I saw her again at another party, we hit it off, and things just happened. Before long, we moved in together and ten years later, I found her in our bed with the guy we had a threesome with the first time we met. She thought I would be okay with her having sex with him, seeing as we had that three-way before,” Rebecca said with a sarcastic tone. “Long story short, I was definitely not okay with it and she ran away with him.”

  “That’s some seriously sick shit. What a bitch.” Kayleigh placed a hand on Rebecca’s arm.

  Rebecca turned to face Kayleigh. “You don’t know this, but I was a senior manager at a recording studio in Cape Town then. I spent six months chasing after Maria. It was when I got fired that I finally caught a wake-up. Promised myself I would never chase after a woman again. Sold my mansion and moved to Sedgefield.”

  Kayleigh was shocked. “Mansion?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you lose everything?”

  “Most of it. But I did manage to invest some money when I sold my house, and I did manage to buy my current house for cash.”

  “My best friend is loaded.” Kayleigh laughed.

  “I didn’t lie about that. I never once said I was poor.” Rebecca defended herself.

  “My best friend is loaded.” Kayleigh said again, shaking her head in amusement.

  “Gold digger.” Rebecca teased. “I don’t have enough money to keep me afloat for the rest of my life, which is why I need my store to generate at least some income. Music is my life. Buying my music store was the best decision I ever made.”

  “In Sedgefield? The one-traffic-light town where the tortoises set the pace.”

  “Hey. Watch it. My store is doing quite well, I’ll have you know.”

  “Yes. It is. You should be very proud of yourself,” Kayleigh said.

  “I am. Thank you again for the sign.” She leaned back into the cushions of the patio swing. “Tell me your story? Sarah’s father. What happened there?”

  “The same as yours, actually. Married a few years and caught him in bed with his secretary.” Kayleigh rolled her eyes. “
Such a cliché. Only it wasn’t our bed. I received an anonymous phone call, telling me which hotel they were at. He was supposed to be travelling out of town on business. He was right there, two blocks from my practice. Fucking another woman. I left my job and our friends, just took my child and my Jeep. Left him with everything. In the end, he got what he deserved, though. He’s married to her now, and she’s the laziest leech I’ve ever seen. Doesn’t do a thing. I understand she’s pregnant now. But he seems happy. I guess that’s what we all strive for. Looking back, I can’t say I ever loved him. There was never that spark that everyone carries on about, you know?”

  Oh shit. Do I have those kind of feelings for Rebecca? she thought, pausing.

  “But he was my husband and we were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together,” she concluded.

  “Sounds exhausting. Spending your whole life with someone you aren’t in love with.”

  “I’m glad it happened. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have Sarah and my practice in the best part of the country.”

  “Where the tortoises set the pace?” Rebecca imitated her and they both laughed. “Same here, actually. If Maria didn’t do what she did, I wouldn’t be here.” Rebecca turned back to Kayleigh. “Then I wouldn’t have met you.”

  Both went silent for a while. Kayleigh broke the silence. “Tell me about your parents. Do you have a family?” Her mind went crazy with thoughts of her feelings for Rebecca. She calmed her breathing and tried to listen to Rebecca.

  “Sore subject. My parents had six children, five boys and then me. Funny how they tried until they finally had a girl, but then I was practically forgotten. My dad died when I was very little. Hardly remember him at all, and I guess my mom struggled to cope with us all.” Rebecca lowered her head and picked at the label of her bottle. “She committed suicide when I was in high school.”

  Kayleigh touched her hand until Rebecca quit fidgeting with the label. “Oh, Rebecca. I’m so sorry.”

  Rebecca raised her head and offered sad eyes.