by Giselle Fox
Jericho was silent again.
“For the sake of time - since I don’t like to waste it these days - I’ll just say yes, Councilor Duke. After that kiss, I will gladly walk up those stairs with you.”
Jericho reached for her phone. “What time does Max go down?”
“About seven,” Taylor said without blinking.
“That’s in two and a half hours.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I have a spare room with a queen-sized mattress. I could put it on the floor so he doesn’t roll off.”
“He sleeps through the night, usually,” Taylor said with a grin.
They were silent again.
“Okay then,” Jericho exhaled. A smile spread across her face.
Taylor smiled too. “That leaves us a little while longer to enjoy this beautiful day,” she said and lifted her face to the sun. She enjoyed flirting with Jericho. The way she knew she was being looked at that very moment thrilled her. She’d enjoyed her kiss, even more than she was expecting. She stroked her son’s hair and felt calm now that all that was out of the way.
“There’s a nice patch of thornless blackberries in the back. Maybe Max would like to take a little walk.”
“He would love that,” Taylor said and they all stood up.
CHAPTER TEN
They walked side by side at Max’s pace while Digger followed behind.
“It must be so nice to have this much space all to yourself,” Taylor said. It felt so big and grand. She imagined Jericho and her sisters playing there as children. She wondered what it must have felt like to grow up on top of the hill instead of at the bottom.
“I love it. That’s why I never left, I guess.”
“Your sisters come home much?”
“Not much. Charlie does every few months since we’re quite close.”
“I always wondered what it would be like to have a sister.”
Jericho laughed. “I always wondered what it would be like to be an only child. No one can press your buttons like a sister can.”
Taylor smiled. “I suppose I feel like that about my mama. She had me young enough, she’s almost like a sister and a mother rolled into one. Especially now.”
“You two have stuck together,” Jericho said eying her.
“No choice but to.” Taylor bent and helped Max to his feet.
“There’s always a choice. If you stay together it means something special.”
“I guess you’re right. I couldn’t imagine life without her.” Taylor bit her tongue. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Jericho said. “I miss my mother. I wish I could’ve helped her. She was young and made some bad choices.”
Taylor looked at Jericho and nodded. “Some of us do ... before we know better.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean ...”
Taylor chuckled. “Looks like you and me could dance around this stuff all night. It’s okay, really.”
They reached the blackberry bushes and Taylor let Max go. “Let me take off that shirt before you dig in, little man,” she said and pulled his shirt over his head.
Jericho smiled down at him. “He’s a beautiful little boy.”
“Thank you.”
“He looks like you.”
Taylor shook her head. “Thank heaven for that.”
Jericho watched Taylor a moment before speaking again. “This husband of yours -”
“Let’s not talk about him,” Taylor said quickly. “He doesn’t belong here right now.”
Jericho pursed her lips. “Okay. We won’t talk about him.”
Taylor walked ahead to the row of bushes and picked a few berries. “These are just right,” she said. “Here,” she walked back to where Jericho was standing and raised one to her lips. Jericho smiled before she opened her mouth enough to let Taylor place one between her teeth.
“Perfect,” Jericho said softly as she chewed the berry.
Taylor watched her lips before she looked up into her eyes again. “Another,” she said. She took a step closer and raised another berry to Jericho’s mouth. Jericho clasped her finger this time.
Taylor watched her teeth and lips slide over her digit as they pulled the berry from her grasp. “That was nice,” Taylor said.
“What part?”
“All of it,” she said, “but especially the way your tongue felt.”
Taylor placed a berry between her own lips and stepped close enough for their bodies to touch.
Jericho wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “Is that for me?”
Taylor nodded and closed her eyes against the sun. Then the light was blocked out and she felt the warmth of Jericho’s face in front of hers. She felt the soft grazes of Jericho’s lips as they pressed and rolled against the berry, and the brush of her tongue as it slipped between her lips. Her kiss exploded with warm sweet berry juice. Taylor moaned at the flavor and slid her hands around Jericho’s back. For an instant, it felt as if she’d been transported into a different life, while her son played without a care in the world and the sun shone down on all of them.
The moment lingered as the fruit dissolved. Then there were other flavors: warm slippery skin, breath, and sex. Her hands gripped Jericho’s body through her thin muslin shirt, felt her muscles and her curves. The bra strap, how strange it felt and so familiar, the curve of her hips, her smooth chin. Everything soft and sensuous and every bit as carnal. Taylor felt possessed by it as it enfolded her and pulled her in, so deep and strong, so blissfully warm. It was like kissing summer itself and every sweet crush she’d ever had. Everything that had happened, every bad choice she’d made, was momentarily erased.
Taylor felt a different cadence in her chest, one of hope and possibility. She couldn’t remember feeling that way for such a long time. When she pulled back and looked into Jericho’s soft eyes and her wet ruby lips, she wanted to dive in all over again.
Max squealed happily. She turned and saw his elated face dripping with blackberry juice that ran down to his navel. Jericho laughed and then Max giggled.
Taylor made no move to pull away since contact was so delicious. The late afternoon sun, the smell of Jericho’s skin and the lingering taste of her mouth all mingled with a dreamlike state that Taylor wanted to dwell in for as long as possible. Jericho’s hand gripped her back and played with the edge of her dress where it met her bare skin. Taylor felt like a piece of ripe fruit just waiting to be peeled.
She looked up into her eyes again and then let them fall. Their bodies were tight. Taylor was suddenly aware of just how tight and how devoid of friction that tightness was. The naked lengths of their skin were so close. Even still, her thin cotton dress felt too thick.
“Two hours, maybe a little more,” Jericho said softly.
The countdown was on, but the games had already begun. Taylor wondered how they would manage the time before Max fell asleep. She considered calling her mother until she remembered her long walk up the hill and all the knowing looks of the neighbors. “Shit,” she said softly.
They both laughed.
“How about a cold shower?” Jericho said suddenly.
Taylor followed her eyes to the side of the house where the hose and sprinkler were hung. “You really think getting wet is going to help us?”
“Probably not,” Jericho said as she pulled away. “But the little man needs a bath before dinner.”
She walked to the hose and threw the sprinkler out in the middle of the sunny grass. When the water sputtered and started to flow into tall arcs, Max whirled around and beelined straight for the center.
“Now it’s your turn,” Jericho said and came for her. She had the devil in her eye.
“What are you doing?” Taylor laughed and held out her hands. “No! Wait!”
Jericho lifted her over her shoulder and ran back toward the sprinkler. Max squealed with delight as his warm body hit the sprinkler too.
“Oh my God! Ahhhh!” Taylor screamed. She couldn’t stop laughing as
Jericho ran them back and forth through the streams, once, twice and then a third time. Then she was deposited on the ground.
“You!” Taylor said as she flung cool water from her hands.
Jericho stepped close again. Taylor tried her best not to focus on her see-through shirt, at the taut nipples that pressed through the fabric, and at the delicious outline of her powerful arms as the sheer wet cotton clung to them. Taylor gripped onto her arms and felt their strength. “I can’t believe you just carried me like that.”
“Did you like it?” Jericho breathed as she swept her dripping hair from her eyes.
Taylor didn’t know what she felt much beyond burning desire. “Yeah, I liked it,” she whispered.
Jericho’s eyes dropped. Taylor felt them on her breasts and when she looked down, she could see clear as day what Jericho saw. The wet cotton of her dress didn’t leave much to the imagination. Jericho bit her lip. Taylor felt that bite somewhere inside her clothing.
“You were right, the sprinkler didn’t help,” Jericho said. She kissed Taylor again, only this time, Taylor felt as if the kiss alone might tear the wet clothes from her body. She felt the intensity. She could hear it below the hum of cicadas, like a rumble in the earth. She gripped Jericho tight, she dug her fingers into her back, she dragged her hands up her ribcage. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop if she let them slide any further.
“I have to slow down,” she breathed.
“I know,” Jericho said.
Taylor placed her hands on her shoulders and pushed her back gently. “Go … go start the grill.”
Their bodies separated. Jericho blinked a few times and looked around. “Okay. That’s a good idea.”
“I need more wine,” Taylor said as she took a few steps across the grass to calm herself. “Wait, maybe I don’t.” She was hit with the giggles as she watched Jericho try desperately to concentrate on making dinner, first as she fumbled with the lid of the grill and then when she almost dropped the pan of marinade into the flame. Jericho laughed with her across the expanse of the lawn. Max wandered like a happy little prince in the sun and played with Digger. Taylor turned off the hose and wound it up again.
“Leave it, you’re going to get dirty,” Jericho called.
“I’m already dirty,” Taylor said back. She looked down at her wet dress and at the bits of grass that were stuck to her feet and ankles. She twisted her hair up behind her head and tipped her face to the sun. Excitement bubbled inside her.
When the food was on the grill, Jericho pulled their chairs into the sun. They sat side by side and watched Max play with a soccer ball. Jericho clasped Taylor’s hand and kissed it.
“Thank you for taking the chance and coming up here today.”
Taylor looked at her and smiled. “Thank you for inviting me.”
Jericho swiveled her chair again and picked up Taylor’s foot. She pulled it onto her lap.
Taylor settled back in her chair with her glass of wine in one hand and tucked the skirt of her dress between her legs. She watched Jericho’s eyes follow her movements as she dug into the flesh of her foot with her thumbs. “Mmm, your hands are wonderful,” Taylor moaned.
Jericho grinned at her wickedly.
“You look like the cat that just ate the canary,” Taylor laughed.
“Are you the canary?”
“I wish,” Taylor whispered. She bent her leg and slid her toes up the inside of Jericho’s thigh before settling back into her massage again.
“Tell me …” Jericho said.
“Tell you what?”
“Have you been with a woman before?”
Taylor smiled. “I was wondering whether you were going to ask me that.”
“I’m just curious since you seem very comfortable with ... this.” Jericho glanced down at Taylor’s toes.
“I have,” Taylor said. “I don’t really know what to call it since it wasn’t that serious. Friends with benefits, I guess.”
“Really?”
“She was nice. I knew she was a lesbian when we started spending time together. She talked about it like it was no different from any other way of being and I liked her for that. Then I got sort of … curious. She was so ...” Taylor searched a moment for the right word. “She was her own person.”
Jericho chuckled.
“I got a little infatuated. But then the year ended and I went back home. I had a boyfriend and that all just sort of took over again.”
Jericho nodded. “What happened to her?”
“She moved. We stayed in touch for awhile but then she met someone. Were you worried that I might be a little naive?”
“Not at all,” Jericho said. “You seem anything but naive.”
“I like the way you’re touching me right now.”
“I’m trying to keep it family friendly,” Jericho grinned. She smiled over at Max. “Having him here is nice, though. I wouldn’t change that part.”
They watched each other for a long moment. Jericho stroked Taylor’s calf with the tips of her fingers.
“You’re making me feel all shivery,” Taylor said. She tipped her head back again and let her body and soul be warmed by the sun and Jericho’s hands. “What are you thinking about?” she asked without opening her eyes.
“Hmm,” Jericho chuckled softly. “There are a few things going through my head.”
“Tell me,” Taylor whispered.
“I was just watching the little pulse in your neck. I was imagining you sitting on my lap instead of in that chair. That was nice.”
Taylor opened her eyes. “Since you asked about me, tell me about you.”
“I prefer women. Always have.”
“We’re pretty incredible.”
“Yes, we are.”
Taylor watched Max toddle over with his ball. “You want to play, baby?”
“Ba, ba,” Max said happily and tried to toss the ball ahead. Taylor pulled her foot from Jericho’s hands and sat up. “That was nice, thank you.”
Taylor kicked the ball gently to Max and soon they began a game of chase and keep away with Digger. Taylor looked back at Jericho. She was watching from her chair and smiling.
“I bet you did a lot of this out here when you were growing up,” Taylor said.
“I did, for sure.” Jericho stood up and joined them in the center of the lawn.
“You want to play? You can be on my team.” Taylor flipped the ball to her.
Jericho caught it on her foot and then lifted it up to her knees and volleyed it back and forth.
“Okay, someone played soccer,” Taylor laughed.
“All through college,” Jericho said as she flipped it up to her head. She headed it a few times and then let it drop back on the ground. She kicked it gently to Max who was toddling toward her in excitement.
“Did you see that, baby? That’s how it’s supposed to be done,” Taylor said to him. Max rolled onto the ball with his body. “Mo, mo,” he said and pushed it back to Jericho.
“I think you have a fan,” Taylor said.
Jericho flipped it up again and bounced it back and forth between her knees. Then she held it out to Max. “Here, Max. Like this.” She knelt on the ground and guided his foot until it contacted the ball. “That’s it. Try it again.”
Taylor watched as Jericho taught her son how to kick a ball. He was totally enamored. “Tractors, bunnies, blackberries, and now soccer - he just might run away from home.”
Jericho was kicking the ball gently to Max and helping him line it up and kick it back to her. “Pass it to Jay,” she said to him.
“Is that your nickname?”
Jericho nodded. “Jericho is a mouthful for a kid. My sisters called me Jay when we were growing up. My grandmother still does. I don’t think she ever approved of Jericho. She thinks it’s a boy’s name.”
“Jay is nice.”
“Jay Jay,” Max said and kicked the ball again.
Jericho passed it back to Max again. “Good job, kick it back to me
now.”
Max rolled it to his mother and sat down on the grass.
“Give me one second, buddy. I should check the grill.” Jericho jumped up and ran back under the canopy. Taylor watched her happily flip the skewered meat and vegetables until she looked satisfied.
“Only a few minutes now,” she called. “Should we eat picnic style or do you want to set up at the table?”
Taylor looked around. Either seemed perfect to her. The canopy was so beautiful, but sitting on the grass felt comfortable. “Let’s have a picnic,” she said.
“Great! I love picnics.” Jericho pulled a blanket from a wooden chest on the porch and spread it out on the grass in the shade. She looked around, assessing her placement. “Here okay?”
“It’s perfect,” Taylor said.
Jericho gave her a smile. “Alright, dinner time.”
Taylor led Max over to the blanket. As soon as he saw the plate of food, he made a run straight for it. “I should warn you, he eats almost as much as a full-grown man.”
Jericho pulled a skewer of chicken and beef from the heap and pulled it off with a fork onto his plate. “He can eat as much as he likes.”
“He’ll sleep well,” Taylor said and grinned at Jericho.
Jericho looked back at her and smiled too.
“I, on the other hand, am going to try to control myself,” Taylor said. “This dinner looks incredible but I want to stay awake.” Max had already dug into his first piece of meat and was clutching a second in his little fist. “Let me cut that piece up a little smaller for you, baby,” Taylor said.
“One thing I love about grilled meat and vegetables is that it tastes just as good the next day.”
Taylor sat back on her knees and tipped forward. “Thank you, for inviting us up here.” She slid her hand up Jericho’s arm and held on.
“You’re welcome,” Jericho said. Her eyes dropped to Taylor’s lips.
“You want to kiss me?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Jericho said as she moved closer. She wrapped her hand around Taylor’s neck and pulled her close.
Taylor’s senses were filled again. With summer and food. With the deep flavors of the marinade and hints of wine. With the joy of having her son play and eat happily between them. Taylor closed her eyes and let it all swirl around her. She brought her hand up to Jericho’s lips and felt them with the tips of her fingers as they kissed. She felt the muscles in her jaw open and flex as their kiss deepened. She felt as if she was basking in the center of a lily that had tipped its head to the sun.