by Lisa Bilbrey
“Honestly?” she asked, and Elle nodded. “No. Not because us being together is wrong, but they have this impossible idea about morals and ethics. Helina more than James, but he won’t make a stand against her, I’m afraid.”
Of course Elle knew Sadie was right, but she hated lying to her mother. Why couldn’t Helina just be like other moms, the ones that were proud of who their children were regardless whether or not they agreed with their lifestyles or not?
“I don’t know, Elle,” Sadie continued, taking the exit for the airport. “Sometimes I think it would be better if we just told both our parents about our relationship, and let them go if they can’t accept us, but at the same time, I don’t want to lose them.”
“Me, either,” she replied, looking at her lover. “You know I love you, don’t you? I mean, I know we’ve never defined our relationship, or thought of ourselves as more than just friends who eat each other’s pussies, but I do love you. You’re the one person in my life that I know will never leave me.”
Sadie gasped. “Of course I do! Elle, baby, I love you, too. You’re … Well, you’re everything to me. You’re my girl, my lover. But you’re wrong about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not the only person who will never leave you.” Sadie smiled. “Derek and Callum won’t, either. Those goofy men love us.”
“I know they do,” Elle whispered.
Ten minutes later, Sadie and Elle were waiting for her parents next to the baggage carousel. With every passing moment, Elle felt her heart race faster, and she had taken to pacing once again. It had been eight months since she’d seen her parents face to face, not since Christmas, and she’d done everything she could to stay out of their way. Of course, with Nick proposing to Ivy, it hadn’t been too hard. Helina had thrown herself into the wedding plans immediately, and they’d barely managed to clear away the rest of the gifts before she had pulled out a large, leather bound notebook filled with ideas she’d already been collecting for Ivy’s wedding. Elle doubted Helina had such a notebook for her.
After several minutes, a large crowd of people came rushing through the doors to the terminals, and Elle searched through the magnitude of faces for her parents, finding them in the back of the crowd.
James Reid was a tall man with raven hair that had a slight wave to it and large brown eyes that were hidden behind a pair of thick, black-framed glasses. Unlike a lot of men his age, James worked hard to keep in shape. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be seen running along the highway at five in the morning, even in the bitter cold. He once told Elle that keeping one’s body fit was just as important as keeping one’s mind sharp. James was the English teacher at the local high school and had even attempted his hand at writing a few times. Though he claimed it would never be more than a hobby, Elle knew he’d always wished he could have gotten published, and she often wondered if his fear of putting himself out there in regards to his writing was why he hadn’t been able to accept her art. Had he been afraid of her failing so he never encouraged her to even try?
Compared to the man walking beside her, Helina Reid was tiny, but in reality, she was average height for a woman at five-foot, five-inches. Like Elle and Ivy, Helina had silky brown hair, but unlike them, she had dark, chocolate-brown eyes that appeared black most of the time. Though she was in her early fifties, Helina appeared older. Maybe it was the constant scowl on her face or the fact that she rarely wore make-up. Helina had never worked a day in her life. She came from old, family money. Her grandfather had invested in oil and natural gas and made quite the name for himself. When he passed, his royalties passed on to her parents, and then onto her after their death when Elle was five.
“Ugh, can you believe this fiasco?” Helina whined as she and James came up to Elle and Sadie. “First our flight was delayed in Dallas, and then, we were late arriving here. I’m sure Ivy’s worried to death!”
Elle didn’t reply, knowing it was pointless for her to point out that when flying, there was no such thing as a guaranteed arrival time. Not to mention the fact that her mother hadn’t even greeted her before expressing her concern about Ivy.
“Look at you,” Helina said, bringing her hand up to Elle’s face. “You look tired. Have you been having trouble sleeping again? You know how your insomnia gets, especially when you’re stressed. Lord knows you’ve got to be stressed with trying to keep that business of yours afloat.”
“No, Mom,” she grumbled, tugging her face away from her mother’s touch. “Just been working a lot.”
“Hmm.” Helina shifted her attention to Sadie and smiled. “Your parents send their love, and asked me to remind you that the phone works both ways. Your momma hasn’t heard from you in almost a week. That’s just too long, young lady.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Reid,” Sadie said, her voice tight. “How kind of you to pass along their message. I’ll give her a call tonight.”
“They worry about you,” she scolded before turning back to Elle. “And for good reason. You girls are too skinny. Don’t you eat? Is money tight? Is that why you don’t eat? I guess we’ll have to make a trip to the market so we can buy y’all some food.”
“Of course we eat, Mother, and we don’t need you to buy us anything,” Elle bit out. “Like I said, we’ve been busy.”
“How is your new project coming along?” James asked, breaking into the conversation before her mother could scold them some more.
“It’s good.” Elle smiled. “Everything’s coming together quite nice. I was thinking that maybe tomorrow, Sadie and I could take you out and show you where the development will be built.”
“Oh, no, we’re going to be far too busy,” Helina bristled. “We’re here for Ivy, Elle. Honestly, how selfish of you to just assume that she doesn’t need help.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Elle insisted, but before she could say anything else, the conveyor belt started rotating and her mother brushed past her and started searching for their luggage. Of course, James just gave Elle a look and followed his wife.
Sadie placed a reassuring hand on Elle’s shoulder, communicating in her own way that she was there for her. Her mother’s behavior wasn’t anything new to her. She’d never expressed any interest in her art work, so why should her career be any different? Elle took a deep breath and smiled at Sadie, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good to let her mother get her riled up.
“What do your bags look like?” Elle asked.
“Red. There’s a purple nametag on the handle, though,” Helina told her, and when she lifted an eyebrow, her mother smiled. “Mary Ruth Benson advised us to put a brightly colored nametag on it so we wouldn’t lose our luggage like we did when we came out for your graduation. I’m still not convinced that delivery boy didn’t riffle through my clothes. Who knows what kind of perverts work for the airlines?”
Elle nodded, once again choosing not to fight with her mother in the middle of the airport. Helina had been convinced that the airline had lost her luggage on purpose, and wouldn’t listen to reason, no matter how ridiculous she sounded.
“There they are,” Sadie pointed out, gesturing to the pair of red suitcases rolling toward them.
Elle made a move to grab them, but James nudged her with his shoulder and pulled them off first.
“Ugh, look at them!” Helina exclaimed, waving a hand in the air. “They look like they’ve been thrown in the dirt and ran over. I’m tempted to write an angry letter, not that it would do any good. People are just lazy these days.”
“I’m sure nothing’s broken,” James said, placing his hand on his wife’s back and giving her a look.
“I hope not,” she muttered, huffing. “Well, let’s go. I’m sure traffic is going to be horrible. It always is here in California. You know, I saw a report on the news last week about the toxins that are being polluted into the air because the increased traffic here. This state is ruining the environment!”
As Helina continued to vent about how Californian�
��s were destroying the atmosphere, Elle and Sadie led them toward the car, loaded their suitcase in the truck, and climbed inside. Since James was too tall to sit in the backseat, Elle gave him the front, which meant she had to sit in the back with her mother, who continued to complain as Sadie started toward their hotel. Shifting her eyes up to the mirror, Elle caught Sadie’s attention and the women shared a single thought: they needed Derek and Callum now more than ever.
Thirteen
At half past six, Elle, Sadie, Helina, and James climbed back into the car and headed toward the pier to meet Derek and Callum for dinner. Elle hadn’t told her parents that they would be there. She knew she was being ridiculous, but a part of her wanted to keep her lovers to herself for just a little bit longer. Besides, Helina hadn’t given her a chance to tell her anything that was going on in her life. The moment they got to their hotel — a posh five-star luxury hotel that probably cost them more for one night than she and Sadie paid for their apartment every month — Helina was on the phone with Ivy, dissecting every detail of the wedding and what still needed to be done. Before she knew what was happening, Helina had insisted that Ivy and Nick join them for dinner, stating that they ‘hadn’t a moment to lose.’
Gold Rush turned out to be one of those classic burger joints that looked like it belonged back in the fifties, and not on the pier in San Francisco. A couple dozen, red vinyl booths were spread throughout the restaurant, and another ten black-top tables added to the décor. The walls were stark white, but the subtle array of historical pictures from the gold-mining days provided a warm welcome. There were also antique pans, axes, ropes, saws, and sieves encased in glass cases and displayed on the walls.
“Well, isn’t this place … charming,” Helina said when they walked inside.
“Mother,” Elle sighed, shaking her head.
“What?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
However, before Elle could say anything, the doors behind them opened and in walked Ivy and Nick. Helina turned to them, squealing before she threw her arms around Ivy and gave her a huge hug. Once again, Elle pushed back the hurt that came with the differences in the way her mother treated her daughters. Nick gave Elle a look that was clear to say she shouldn’t let it bother her, but how could she not? Helina had yet to hug her.
To an outsider, Nick Fisher looked like the All-American boy. He had near-perfectly styled brown hair, soft mocha-brown eyes, and a welcoming smile. At just over six-foot, he was slender, but not lanky, and he was wearing a pair of crisp khakis, a royal-blue dress shirt, and a pair of leather loafers.
Of course, what most people didn’t know about Nick Fisher was that his back, the majority of his chest, and both arms were covered in an array of colorful tattoos. He was also the lead guitarist in a local rock band that was gaining popularity, and he cursed worse than Elle, which said a lot because she was not afraid to drop the f-bomb if the situation called for it.
No, nobody but Nick’s closest friends knew that side of him because much like Elle and Sadie, he had to hide who he was from his family, too. Well, not all of them. His mother accepted him, but from the way Nick tells it, his uncle — her brother — was a rather hard man to please. Since Nick’s father died when he was just a baby and his uncle stepped in to help raise the boy, his mother had begged him to keep that part of his personality away from his uncle. While Nick hated every moment of it, he did as his mother asked and even worked in his uncle’s company as an accountant.
Elle had never met Nick’s uncle, and if she had it her way, she never would. She could imagine what he would think about her sleeping with Sadie, Derek, and Callum, and to be honest, she had enough negativity in her life without adding someone as judgmental as he sounded.
“Oh, you look so beautiful, Ivy!” Helina gushed, cupping her face and smiling. “You cut your hair. It’s cute!”
“Thanks. Thought it was time I went with something a little more modern,” Ivy said, laughing.
“You’ve always worn your hair so long, but it’s a nice look on you. Compliments the shape of your face.” Helina turned to Nick while Ivy and James hugged, and he called her his, ‘Beautiful Ivy.’ Elle hid the hurt once more, because her father never called her beautiful, either. “It’s nice to see you, Nick. Hope all is well with your mother.”
“She’s great, Helina,” Nick replied, and Elle almost snorted. Her mother had made a big show after he proposed about how he could call her by her first name since he was family. Sadie had never been allowed to call her Helina, and she’d been around much longer than him. “She can’t wait to meet you, though. All she talks about are the recipes you email her.”
“Oh, well, I thought she might like those. With you moving into Ivy’s apartment after the honeymoon, she’s going to have to learn to cook for one. Lord knows it took me awhile to get the hang of it after my girls left me.”
Once again, Elle somehow managed to keep from snorting. Nick and Ivy had been living together for the last year and a half. Plus, she made it sound like she and Ivy had run away from home like petulant little girls, instead of going to college and daring to make something of themselves.
Helina turned to Elle. “Are we going to stand here all night or get a table?”
She clenched her jaw tight before she turned and led everyone toward the back corner, selecting a table that would easily seat eight, once Derek and Callum arrived. They had just sat down when the door to Gold Rush opened again and Elle looked over to see Derek and Callum standing in the entryway.
Much like Nick, they were dressed to impress, both of them wearing dark slacks and button-up shirts: white for Derek and a rich, green for Callum. However, Callum’s hair looked like Derek had spent the last ten minutes gripping it and Derek’s cheeks were flushed, a look that Elle knew he often had after he’d had an orgasm.
They scanned the room, their eyes locking on her and Sadie as Elle stood up and started walking toward them. Meeting her halfway across the room, she struggled not to wrap her arms around both of them and beg them to take her away.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Elle whispered before they could say anything. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to find Sadie standing there, looking almost as nervous as she felt. “She’s already been on my ass about my job, the fact that I’m not fat, and how selfish I am. You can leave now, save yourself from the torture of having to sit through a family dinner. We won’t hold it against you, will we, Sadie?”
“Fuck no,” she muttered, sparing a look back at everyone. “Hell, I’m one snide comment away from saying to hell with it and telling them everything just so we can leave.”
“As tempting as that is,” Callum started, smiling as he placed his hands on Elle’s hips and pulling her toward him. Her breath caught in her chest as he lowered his head toward her until his lips were just millimeters away from hers. “The answer is no. We’re in this together, baby. You, me, Derek, and Sadie, and that will not change. Understand?”
“Yes.” The word barely left the tip of her tongue before she felt his lips on hers. Moaning, Elle melted into his embrace, and for a brief moment, she could forget that there was anyone else around them.
At least until she heard her mother’s voice shrieking, “Elle Margaret Reid, you are in public! Have some decency!”
Breaking the most incredible kiss of her life, Elle shifted her eyes over her shoulder at Helina. Her mother had stood up, was leaning against the table with her hands pressed flat, and she had an irritated expression on her face. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting him to be here.”
“Clearly,” she hissed, shifting her eyes to Callum and back to her. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Elle rolled her eyes and slipped her hand into Callum’s as she led him, Sadie, and Derek to the table. She’d put it off for as long as possible and now it was time to face the music.
“Callum, Derek, I’d like for you to meet my mother and father, Helina and James Reid. You’ve already met Ivy. That’s
her fiancé Nick Fisher. Everyone, this is my boyfriend Callum Davis and Sadie’s boyfriend Derek Flores.”
When Ivy raised an eyebrow at the way she introduced them, Elle gave her a look that was clear: Helina was not to be told that she was seeing all three of them. With a simple nod, Ivy agreed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Callum said, offering James his hand. “Mr. Reid.”
Standing up, Elle’s father gripped his hand tight, squaring his shoulders. “Callum, was it?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied with a smile.
“Hmm,” James hummed before releasing his hand and turning to Derek and then to Elle. “We didn’t realize you were joining us for dinner. Somebody didn’t tell us.”
“I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to make it,” she lied, knowing that she’d have to explain herself to Derek and Callum later, or maybe not seeing as Callum placed his hand on the small of her back. Perhaps, he could see now why she was so resistant to allow her parents anywhere around them. “Can we sit?”
“Of course,” Helina said, her tone short and choppy. She slid back into her seat, glaring at Elle as she, Callum, Sadie, and Derek took the four empty chairs. Just as Helina opened her mouth to speak, loud, boisterous laughter drew their attention to the front counter, and when they looked over, Elle saw Thomas standing there with a smirk on his face.
Thomas walked over to their table as Callum and Derek stood up. “Dudes, why didn’t you tell me you were coming in? Or that you were bringing these beautiful women that are dumb enough to be dating you, and not fawning all over me?”
Elle’s heart was racing. She hadn’t seen Thomas since the night of the party at his and Leigh’s house, though she knew Callum and Derek had explained why she’d freaked out, minus all the gory details. All they’d told Thomas and Leigh was that Elle had gotten scared due to an abusive ex. The problem was nobody but Sadie, Derek, and Callum knew about Leo, not even Ivy.
“I tried to call this afternoon, but Leigh said you were out picking up supplies and that you’d let your cell die again,” Callum told him, shaking his hand and giving him one of those awkward, one-arm hugs. “Besides, I’m not sure I want to expose Elle or Sadie to you, Thomas. You’re kind of a lunatic.”