Munch Time 1

by Amanda Fleming

  "There was a huge scene at dinner – I heard it from Mary. Judy's daughter, remember? She called me in a panic in the middle of the night. Judy and Eleanor's sister got into a huge thing, there were people yelling every which way. Eventually, it got bad enough that Eleanor's whole family stormed out – half of them have already caught flights home, and the rest hang up as soon as I mention Judy's name. Apparently, Judy was all in a huff, half crying over Eleanor and half wanting to rip the sister's head off. Then she collapsed. Mary and Sarah got her to the hospital, but Judy's in intensive care and doesn't have any other family in town."

  I'm pretty sure my expression was blank. "And this involves me how?"

  "I know, Jess, I know. I called everybody I could think of to call. Nobody's around. Mary's falling apart, and Sarah's stuck at the hospital trying to sort things out with the doctors. I'd tried to reach Judy's people at the firm, but no one's answering, and I don't have their home numbers."

  I closed my eyes for a second. "I've got them, I can reach somebody."

  "Good, that'll help. That's not the biggest problem, though."

  "What is?"

  "The ICU's a sealed ward. Judy and Eleanor filed one of those things with their doctor for visitation, but it's mostly Eleanor's relatives, and they don't want to talk to me."

  I frowned. "So?"

  "Sarah got in since she's a direct relative, but no one else can go in, and Judy won't talk to her – or anybody else, including the doctors. Sarah's getting freaked – from what Mary's said, Judy has completely shut down emotionally, and she's refusing everybody's help, so the doctors can't do anything – Sarah had to practically strap her down to keep her in the hospital."

  "Okay...so?"

  "Jess, you're the only other person on the list who's still in town and didn't hang up on me."

  "I'm what?"

  "They had one list for both of them, and Eleanor must have put you down."

  I thought for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell Jill could possibly think I was going to... "No."

  "Jess..."

  "No, Jill. I am not going down there to talk Judy through some kind of hysterical episode."

  "Look, Sarah's doing her best, but Judy's refusing to talk to her. You were closest to Eleanor – you knew her, and you knew the two of them better than anybody does – anybody who's not hanging up on me, anyway. If anyone can get through to Judy, maybe something Eleanor once told you..."

  "That's crazy."

  "I don't know what else to try, Jess. Mary's a wreck, here, and there's no way the hospital will just let co-workers in. I've got no one else to try."

  I sighed irritably. "Jill, Judy's not my problem anymore."

  "Jessica..." Jill's voice got quiet. "Eleanor would have depended on you."

  I went still. "That's a cheap shot, Jill."

  "I know."

  I closed my eyes, rubbing my already aching forehead. "You owe me."

  "Oh, god, thanks, Jess. I do owe you."

  "Huge. I'll be there as soon as I can." I hung up, turning to Kat, who tossed me my car keys. Her expression said that she had heard enough to know what was happening.

  I barely remember the drive to the hospital, and found my way up to the intensive care unit. Jill was in a waiting room with another woman, who was in the midst of what I can only term hysterical weeping.

  "Jessica," Jill said when I walked in, with Mary sobbing into her shoulder. She looked helpless, and I fought down an odd urge to laugh out loud.

  "I'm here, I'm here," I said sourly. "Where is she?"

  "She's using the bathroom," a new voice said from close behind me, and I turned around to look directly into a pair of large blue eyes. The eyes were framed by light blonde locks that fell around a delicate, narrow face. She wore a faded blue button-up shirt and a denim skirt – the sort of clothes you throw on when you leave a hotel room in a hurry.

  "I'm guessing you're Sarah," I held out my hand.

  "I know you're Jessica," she greeted me, shaking my hand firmly. "I've heard a lot about you."

  "You have?" I asked in surprise, with a sinking feeling that I might have wasted my time coming all the way down here. "Uh oh."

  She smiled a smile that said she would have laughed if her mother weren't in the hospital. "No, don't worry, mostly from Ellie. We talked almost every day."

  "Really." My voice was fairly ungracious, I suppose – I wondered why Eleanor had never bothered to mention her to me.

  "You meant a lot to her – I saw you at the service yesterday, but Mom didn't want anyone to talk to you."

  I felt my forehead wrinkling. "You're not lobbying very well for me to go in there."

  She smiled that smile again. "I'll bet." She looked past me at Jill. "How's she doing?"

  I turned as well. Mary was still sobbing. Jill glanced at her, then back up at us. The helpless confusion on her face was priceless. I would have laughed, if it weren't...whatever.

  "All right, fine, fine, fine," I growled. "Let's just get this over with."

  ***

  My hands slid across her ribs, exploring smooth, creamy skin, feeling the shudders in her stomach. I found the tiny stud in her navel, and moaned as she sucked my tongue when I touched it.

  She gasped, pulling her mouth free and leaning her head back as my hands slid up, finding the edges of a simple bra. I nuzzled her throat, rubbing my cheek against her skin as I traced little circles all over her torso with my fingertips. She clutched the wall, her legs still pinned open and up by mine.

  I panted into her neck as I tried to squeeze my hands behind her to undo the bra clasp, but her back was wedged too tightly against the wall.

  I couldn't wait, though. My hands tried to tug her shirt up as I licked her collarbone. Her whimpers were exciting me again to the point where I nearly ripped her shirt open.

  Then my concentration snapped as I felt her hands slide up the back of my thighs and under the hem of my dress to cup my bare buttocks. She squeezed, massaged with hands that held a noticeable tremble, and then she pulled me up against her. We both moaned loudly as our pelvises ground together, and I would bet that both of us had the exact same thought – were it not for her skirt having fallen back down, my pussy would have just touched hers.

  I leaned up to kiss her again, my hands on her arms as she held me against her, our bodies pressed close, and as I let my arms slide up around her neck, our kiss deepened and slowed.

  The tiny closet was now very hot thanks to us, and our heated bodies were pressed so close together that the raw lust seemed for some reason to melt a bit, turning from a raging current to a slow, liquid heat like running molasses.

  I released her hair with one hand to work it back down between our hips. It was time.

  ***

  A pair of very bleary red eyes looked at me in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

  "Good to see you too, Judy," I said dryly, closing the door. Sarah seemed surprised as I closed her out of the room as well, but I guess something in my expression told her that she didn't need to worry. She really didn't, either – if I were just going to kill her, I would have done it before now.

  "Who let you in here?"

  "Eleanor put me on the approved visitors list for both of you – don't ask me why."

  Judy glared at me, walking a bit unsteadily back to her hospital bed. "Why did you come?"

  "Jill called me."

  "What does she have to do with this?"

  "Mary called her – Jill drove her back to her hotel, so I guess her number is the only one Mary had."

  Judy snorted. "Fine. You're here. Congratulations, you got to see me fall apart. Now get out."

  "Oh, shut up," I said wearily. "I'm here because Eleanor would have wanted someone to take care of you – and since you were clever enough to alienate her entire family..."

  "I don't need to be judged by you, you smart-ass little –"

  "Judy." My voice was flat. "I'm here. You're in the hospital. You need to stay h
ere. Sarah says that the doctors think you had a heart attack."

  "It wasn't a heart attack," she said scornfully, pulling the sheet over herself. "It was a fainting spell."

  "What is this, merry old Windsor? You dropped like a rock at a restaurant right after burying Ellie. What did you think you fainted from, fear of seeing her ghost?"

  "Don't talk to me about Eleanor," she snarled, but I cut her off again.

  "Shut up, Judy!" I stalked over, slamming my hand flat down onto her pillow and leaning over her threateningly. She actually flinched from me, going white. "Now you listen to me, you bitter old bitch," I said. "Eleanor is barely in the ground, and she would kill you herself if she saw you acting like this with me – not to mention your own goddamn children!"

  She opened her mouth, outrage flaring in her eyes again, but I didn't give her a chance. "Quiet! I've never liked you, and you've never liked me. Tough shit. Now, Eleanor expects you to do the only fucking thing left that means anything – take care of your kids, and take care of hers." My voice became cuttingly sarcastic. "Remember Eleanor's kids? The ones you apparently shouted out of their own mother's funeral?"

  She flinched again, giving out a little sob, but I didn't let up. I was being grossly unfair, but I knew Eleanor would have been rougher with her. She was a sweet woman, but she had no patience for self-pity. You moved on, or she kicked your ass. I figured that if Eleanor had been successful with it for fifteen years, it would work for me. That, or give her another heart attack. "Now," I went on, "you're going to let the damn doctors look at you – and if you leave this hospital before your doctor releases you, I swear on Eleanor's grave that I'll kill you myself." I leaned forward, locking my eyes with hers. "Got that?"

  Judy swallowed, looking at me as if she had never seen me before. I told you I had a reputation – I don't think Judy ever considered that it might be well-earned.

  "Got that?" My voice got louder.

  She nodded dumbly.

  I stepped back, nodding. "Good. Oh, and Mary's scared shitless – you might want to try acting like a mother for her – god knows you never did with me." I turned my back on her, opening the door – and stared into a round pink ear.

  Sarah jumped back from where her head had obviously been pressed against the door, turning bright red.

  I just looked at her, and this time it was a real effort not to laugh. I looked past her at a white-coated older man standing nearby, with his eyebrows raised. I wondered just how loud I'd been talking in there. Looking around, quite a few people were watching. For some reason, that absurdly pleased me.

  "Doctor," I said pleasantly, "I think your patient is ready for you."

  He just nodded calmly and stepped forward, and I moved aside to let him into Judy's room. I heard them start talking.

  "Excuse me," I said to Sarah, and walked back to the waiting area, where Jill looked up.

  I almost said, "Okay, I killed her," but Mary was still there – I don't think she'd have taken that well. Instead, I settled for, "Okay, the doctor's in with her now."

  Mary jumped up, too upset to be grateful, and hurried to join her sister in her mother's room.

  Jill just looked at me, raising her eyebrows. I must have looked freaking scary, given the way everyone was staring at me. That was okay by me – anger was the easiest way to deal with all this.

  "I better keep an eye on Mary..." Jill said. "Could you hang out here for a minute, in case we...um..."

  "Yeah, sure," I sighed in a bored tone, plopping into a chair and grabbing a random magazine from a table next to me. Jill headed up the hall toward Judy's room.

  I sat there for what felt like hours, but was probably only ten or twenty minutes, blankly staring at the magazine in my lap. Don't ask me what I was thinking during those minutes – I have no memory of it whatsoever.

  Eventually, though, I realized someone was watching me. I looked up irritably, ready to scare off some nosy little kid or something – and a familiar pair of large blue eyes were watching from a chair nearby.

  "Getting married soon?" She asked politely.

  I blinked, started to ask what she was talking about, and realized I was holding a bridal magazine. I damn near recoiled from the thing, and tossed it back on the side table. I tried to think up a clever remark that wouldn't offend most people, but finally confessed. "I wasn't even looking at it."

  "I didn't think so." Sarah sighed. "I didn't get a chance to thank you."

  I shrugged. "For what?"

  Sarah smiled. "I think that was exactly what she needed. Eleanor would have strung her up." I noticed she had the faintest hint of an English accent.

  "I figured that," I shrugged again, uncomfortably.

  "Plus, you were a little angry."

  "Maybe a little," I allowed.

  "The whole floor heard you."

  I considered that. "Then I suppose I'm grateful not to be under arrest for threatening to kill her."

  Sarah snorted. "A nurse told me they've heard worse threats designed to keep people here. She said one guy threatened to kill the family dog if his wife didn't let them draw some blood for a test."

  I burst out laughing. "And here I thought I was a badass."

  She laughed a little too. "I guess not. Eleanor...she really did talk about you a lot, you know. I almost wonder if she was prouder of you than her own kids."

  I squirmed a bit, feeling even more uncomfortable. "I wouldn't know; she wasn't the type to say things like that to your face."

  "No, she wasn't." Sarah ran a hand through her hair. "You know, even though she was practically married to my mom, she never felt like a mother to me? She was always a friend, giving advice, guidance, or just listening."

  I just nodded.

  Sarah nodded too. "I wondered if I'd get the chance to meet you. It's almost like I know you, even though we just met." Her eyes looked away, then came back to mine.

  I didn't know what to say to that, and something in her eyes hit an odd chord somewhere deep inside me. I looked away, and the conversation trailed off.

  Moments later, more voices came down the hall, and Jill re-entered the waiting area with Mary. They were talking about what the doctor had said.

  Sarah talked to them for a moment while I sat there, and I found my eyes resting on her, though I wasn't sure why. Suddenly, I realized that those bright blue eyes were looking back at me, and I jumped again.

  She just looked at me, and I thought about what she had said. She'd wondered if she'd get to meet me. Eleanor had told her about me. She felt like she knew me.

  I found myself watching those blue eyes, and they just watched me right back. I have no memory of the thoughts going through my head at that point, but as Jill and Mary bustled away, saying something about going to find some food after having sat in the waiting room all night, Sarah's eyes flickered. They twitched to one side, and then back to me. Then it happened again.

  I glanced in the direction her eyes seemed to be indicating. In the corner of the waiting room, a small door said "Maintenance".

  I looked sharply back at those brilliant blue eyes, my mind racing. They just stared straight in at me.

  ***

  "Oh, god," she shuddered as two fingers worked their way back inside her, where I felt they belonged. I slid them deep, feeling her arch up onto her toes while she pulled in a breath with a strangled gasp. I gripped her thigh and raised her leg back up to brace against the wall, helping give me leverage to thrust into her.

  I buried my face in her neck and hair. "This is crazy," I whispered.

  "Don't," she gasped, grabbing my shoulders for support. "Don't stop."

  "Sarah, wait," I shuddered, my fingers still stirring inside her.

  "No, Jessica, please..." She pulled my head up and kissed me. I had no idea why she was so desperate, so eager – but as I saw those beautiful eyes again, heard her voice, tasted her lips...

  "I hate your mom." It just burst out of me. Then I stared at her. To this day, I have no idea why I
said that just then. Maybe I just thought she needed to know.

  She stared back at me. Then she shivered. "God, so do I." Then she kissed me again, deep and hungry. Her hips thrust onto my hand. Her skirt was bunched around her waist, the stiff denim staying up on its own. Her firm thighs slid around mine, so silky and hot, and she pulled me into her, my fingers forced deep. Her wetness, clutching at my fingers, her mouth, panting against mine, her stomach against my arm, with the stud in her navel scratching my skin, her body, so firm and small like mine...and I was lost.

  My fingers started pumping again, guided by my hips thrusting into her, and she started moaning in rhythm with me, her legs tightening. Little squeaking gasps began escaping her with every thrust of my fingers, and I could feel her wetness trickling down my wrist. I had to see her. I had to watch.

  I disengaged my tongue from hers and leaned back, never slowing my thrusts, and used the hand that was also bracing my weight against the wall to push that short blonde hair back from her eyes. They were wide, glazed – but they weren't rolling or looking up or down or away. Sarah just stared straight back at me, her body starting to spasm, her pussy rippling like hot slick honey around my fingers, her hips jerking against mine.

  "Jes...Jessica ahhhAHHHHHH!" She stiffened, her hands curling into claws in my coat and the shoulders beneath, and her scream was very loud in the tiny room. It never occurred to me that someone outside the little room might hear us. I don't think I would have stopped even if I knew someone was right outside the door.