Burning Desire

by Rachel Maldonado

  “What!? I thought I took those out of the basket. Give me those.” Suzanne tried to take the underwear away from Candi, but it was too late. Candi turned her back to Suzanne with a firm grip on the underpants. She opened them to see that they had a picture of Wonder Woman. Candi giggled. “Here. You can have them back. I just wanted to see them.”

  Suzanne grabbed them and shoved them in the bottom of her laundry basket. “You asked me if I had Batman or Superman. You never asked me if they were Wonder Woman.”

  Candi grinned as she resumed folding her laundry. “I like that your laundry is a mix of masculine and feminine clothing.”

  Suzanne began pulling out all of her underwear from her pile of clean clothes and shoving them in the bottom of her laundry basket. “You do? Why's that?”

  “Because it means you're versatile,” responded Candi. She turned to see what Suzanne was doing and caught her shoving a handful of underwear under a pile of folded laundry. She began to laugh. “For Heaven's sake. You don't have to hide all your underwear! I'm not going to run away with it or stow it away in my laundry.”

  “What? I wasn't doing anything,” said Suzanne. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she hadn't been paying much attention to Candi. “What were you saying about being versatile.”

  “Never mind,” said Candi, shaking her head. “It's a conversation for another time.”

  As soon as the two young ladies were done with their laundry, they headed back to Suzanne's apartment. Candi prepared a salad for lunch while Suzanne began dusting and removing all of Patrice's photos that Candi had knocked over. She put them in a white plastic garbage bag. She then took out a small upright vacuum cleaner from the nearby closet and vacuumed the living room and small dining room space. Candi grinned as she watched Suzanne push the vacuum around the sofa and love seat and around the dining room table. She thought that they were good for one another.

  “All done,” said Suzanne as she turned off the vacuum. It sounded like a miniature jet engine slowly coming to a halt as it made its final roar, then it was silent. She smiled at Candi who was cutting tomatoes and cucumbers and serving them into two bowls of lettuce.

  Candi smiled back. “Lunch is ready.”

  “Great. I'm hungry again. Just a second,” replied Suzanne as she pushed the vacuum on its wheels back into the hall closet. She returned to the kitchen to wash her hands.

  “Big step today, huh?” questioned Candi.

  Suzanne sat down at the counter bar stool rather than the kitchen table. “What do you mean?”

  Candi placed Suzanne's salad and fork in front of Suzanne. “You tossed out all of your photo frames.”

  Suzanne picked up her fork and stabbed a slice of tomato. “Oh, that. Yeah. I figured it was time. I kept the heart-shaped silver frame though. It was a gift. I just threw out the picture that was inside.”

  “For what it's worth, I'm proud of you.” Candi sat on the bar stool beside Suzanne. “It didn't have anything to do with me, did it?”

  “What? Me? Removing the pictures?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No. I don't know. Maybe.” Suzanne chomped on her tomato, then took a bite of a slice of cucumber. When she realized she didn't have anything to drink, she hopped off her bar stool to serve two glasses of ice water. She sat back down and placed the glasses of water in front of them before continuing her thought. “I think you made me realize that there are other women out there. I need to stop hoping that Patrice will want to settle down. I have to find someone that is on the same page as me. Not only is Patrice on a different page, but I get the feeling that she's in an entirely different book, and I can't put up with it anymore.”

  “Maybe you were both on the same page once, but you both just grew apart over time. It happens.”

  “That's true. Anyway, I don't want to talk about her anymore. Tell me about what you're making tonight. It will be an official dinner date. I'm looking forward to it.”

  Candi giggled. “You are? Are you going to come calling with flowers and chocolates?”

  Suzanne shook her head and laughed. “No, is that a requirement for a dinner date with you? Because I don't think showing up with flowers works when the woman you're taking out on a date already lives in the same apartment.”

  Candi winked at Suzanne. “Anything can work if you want it to work.”

  “I used to think so. I'm not so sure anymore. Not relationship wise anyway.”

  Candi grimaced. “She was one bad experience. Don't let her ruin your thoughts about love and relationships.”

  Suzanne changed the subject. “I'd really like to spend some more time talking to you, but I got very little sleep last night. I'm going to take a nap, but please wake me when it's near dinner time, so I can get ready for our date.”

  Candy smiled. “Will do. Happy napping.”

  “Thanks,” replied Suzanne before she retreated to the bedroom to put the clean sheets on the bed and lie down.

  Chapter Four

  When Candi woke Suzanne for dinner time, she was dressed in a gorgeous black dress that was open in the back and was drawn up toward the front and tied behind her neck.

  Suzanne sat up and wiped her eyes. “Am I dreaming?” she asked curiously. “You look amazing.”

  “Thanks. I thought you'd like it. I love the way it twirls up when I spin around. Watch.” Candi spun around in a circle careful not to trip over her black high heel shoes.

  Suzanne looked down at Candi's feet. “Your shoes look a little too big,” she remarked.

  “That's because your ex has Sasquatch feet,” replied Candi.

  “Say what? I thought that outfit looked familiar! Geezus, I hope Patrice doesn't show up for her things tonight. She didn't come by, did she?”

  Candi shook her head. “No, unless she came by when I was at the store.”

  Suzanne raised her eyebrows. “Store? What did you go to the store for?”

  “It's a surprise. You'll see.”

  “Let me get dressed for supper, and I'll be right out.”

  “Great. I'll go serve.” Candi walked out of the bedroom and back toward the kitchen.

  Meanwhile, Suzanne jumped out of bed and searched through her closet for something nice to wear. She brushed her teeth again and splashed water on her face before styling her hair and adding a touch of make up. She reemerged from the bedroom at last and walked toward the dining room table where Candi was already seated. Two long tapered candles were lit in the center of the table. The flames cast dancing shadows all around the dining area.

  Candi's jaw dropped as soon as she took one look at Suzanne. She was speechless.

  Suzanne grinned. “Well? How do I look?”

  “Um...uh...” was all Candi could mutter. Suzanne was standing before her wearing a finely pressed black tuxedo with a matching cumber bun and silky black bow tie. It appeared to be form fitted to her hourglass figure, making sure to hug tightly around her hips and breasts. The icing on the cake was the three inch black heels that completed her outfit.

  “You look like a million bucks,” said Candi at last. She made a conscious effort to close her mouth so as not to stare with her mouth agape.

  Suzanne laughed. “Are you sure? I don't look like nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine?”

  “Huh?” asked Candi perplexed.

  “Never mind. I was trying to make a joke about the one digit not making a difference.”

  “Oh. I get it.” Candi grinned. She motioned to the chair beside her. “Have a seat.”

  “Very nice. Candles, wine, fresh baby carrots. Looks like you met Mrs. Wong from the market down the street.”

  Candi chuckled. “How did you know that?”

  “Because she's the only one that has a store nearby that has both fresh vegetables, liquor, and those small good luck cats with the one paw facing up. You didn't buy one of those did you?” asked Suzanne looking around.

  Candi laughed. “No, I didn't, but she did offer to
sell me one.”

  Suzanne giggled. “Of course. Because no matter how many times I walk in there, she always asks me if I'm ready to buy one.”

  As the two women dined on baked chicken, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, and wine, Suzanne couldn't help but stare at how beautiful Candi looked. She was lost in thought as to how radiant she was. She wondered what it would be like to kiss her. She was almost glowing. She certainly wore the dress better than Patrice ever did.

  Candi caught her staring and smirked as she cut her baby carrots with a knife and fork. “So why so quiet? Tell me about your outfit. I love it.”

  “I wore this to the opera once. It's been sitting in my closet ever since.” Suzanne took a small portion of her chicken and placed some mashed potatoes on it before eating it.

  “I bet you stopped traffic in that outfit,” said Candi grinning. She took another few bites of her carrots.

  Suzanne took another bite of chicken with mashed potatoes, then made sure to swallow and take a sip of wine before speaking. “I wouldn't know. I've never been one to have wandering eyes. I never noticed if other women were checking me out or not. To tell you the truth, it really didn't matter. This chicken is tasty, by the way. It just melts in my mouth. And the spices! They're so delicious.”

  Candi swirled her wine around in her wine glass. “Thank you. It was my Grandma Lila's recipe. I make it for Ms. Landers at least once a week because she loves it so much.”

  Suzanne began cutting her carrots. “We should really go back to the apartment complex to check on her and to look for Toonces. Maybe one of your neighbors has been looking after her.”

  Candi took her last bite of food. “If you don't mind taking me there tomorrow, that would be great.”

  Suzanne grinned as she ate the last few remaining carrots on her plate. “I don't mind. I'd like to meet Ms. Landers to find out what you like so much about her.”

  “I have a surprise for you. It's not much, but I thought you'd appreciate the sentiment.”

  “You didn't have to get me anything. The pleasure of your company is more than enough.”

  “Oh, okay. If you don't want it...” Candi grinned playfully.

  “I want it. What is it?” asked Suzanne excitedly.

  “Close your eyes.”

  Suzanne smiled and did as she was told. “Are you going to kiss me?”

  “No. That's not it.”

  “Well, why not?” asked Suzanne grinning.

  “Don't freak out. I'm going to dim the living room lights completely. The candles are staying on though.”

  “Okay. Go ahead.”

  A second later, the song At Last by Ella Fitzgerald began to fill the room. Candi took Suzanne's hand and led her to the living room. “Follow me,” she whispered.

  “I see you found my CD collection.”

  Candi led Suzanne to the center of the living room in between the sofa and love seat. She wrapped her arms around Suzanne. “Open your eyes.”

  Suzanne opened her eyes and smiled brightly. “I love this song.”

  “Look up,” said Candi softly.

  When Suzanne looked up at the ceiling she was taken aback by all of the glow in the dark stars that Candi had carefully placed there. “It's gorgeous. I can't believe you did that for me.”

  “Dance with me,” whispered Candi.

  Suzanne held Candi in her arms and together they swayed to and fro to the music.

  Suzanne whispered in Candi's ear. “This is probably the best first date I've ever had.”

  “Me, too,” said Candi.

  “I'd like to take this opportunity, Miss Beacon, to ask you out on a second date.”

  “A second date, huh? I guess I made the cut?”

  Suzanne laughed. “I didn't realize we were using sports analogies. In that case, you more than made the cut. You're playing first string.”

  Candi smirked. “When is this second date occurring?”

  “Tomorrow night. We can meet Ms. Landers and look for Toonces in the morning, but I'll make you dinner and take you out in the evening.”

  Candi grinned. “I thought you didn't cook.”

  “I don't. It will be my first attempt. Consider yourself special,” replied Suzanne beaming a wide smile.

  “Oh, I do. I already feel special just being in your arms. This is a really long song by the way.” Candi snuggled her head to rest against Suzanne's chest.

  Suzanne giggled. “It's actually a really short song. It's replayed several times already.”

  “Oh. I must have accidentally hit repeat.” Candi was embarrassed and a bit flustered.

  “It's okay. This was nice. It really was. I had a very nice evening. Dinner and dancing is always nice. But tomorrow will be even better.”

  “Will you walk me home?” asked Candi with a grin.

  Suzanne smiled. “I guess I don't have far to walk.”

  “Indulge me,” said Candi. “You can walk me to my room.”

  Suzanne held out her arm like a gentleman for Candi to take hold of. Candi wrapped her right arm in Suzanne's and together they walked in an infinity pattern, first around the couch in a circle, then around the love seat. Had there been any onlookers, it would have appeared that they had walked in a giant number eight formation. Finally, Suzanne led Candi down the hall to the bedroom door.

  “I had an enchanting evening, Miss Beacon. Same time tomorrow for dinner? I will come calling again.” Suzanne extended her hand for a hand shake and when Candi lifted her hand to her, Suzanne placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

  Candi's face turned red as she blushed. “What's a matter Miss Mitchell? Don't you kiss on a first date?”

  “I would never dream of overstepping my boundaries with a lady,” said Suzanne politely. “Have a good evening, ma'am. I'll clean the kitchen since you made dinner and then retire for the evening.”

  “Goodnight, Suzanne,” whispered Candi as she shut the bedroom door. She couldn't help but smile as her heart was pounding in her chest with excitement.

  Chapter Five

  The following morning it was Suzanne who was awake bright and early. She showered, went out to buy bread and butter, and stopped at The Grind, the new trendy coffeehouse in town, to pick up a large caramel frappuccino. She was eating a piece of buttered toast, sipping on her frappe, and watching online videos on her laptop when Candi decided she wanted to sneak up behind her while she sat on the love seat.

  “Watching cooking videos, I see,” said Candi abruptly, catching Suzanne off guard. She was wearing a white terry-cloth robe with the initial P on the breast. She hovered over Suzanne's shoulder from behind the couch.

  Startled, Suzanne reached forward to shut her laptop. “You weren't supposed to see that.”

  Candi walked around where Suzanne was seated to sit beside her. Candi's hair was still sopping wet and hanging loosely in curls. “You don't have to be shy. Whatcha making?”

  “It's a surprise. And you're dripping all over my leather couch.” Suzanne turned her attention from the couch back to Candi. “Your hair wasn't curly yesterday.”

  Candi giggled. “My hair's curly everyday. I brush it out until it straightens, but it curls back up overnight and when I shower. I hate it.”

  “Why? It's so beautiful.”

  Candi frowned, then playfully added, “I don't normally look beautiful?”

  Suzanne grinned. “I didn't say that.” She reached over to a plastic shopping bag and pulled out a bag of dry cat food and some cat toys. “Check it out. I got cat bait.” She grinned at her own comment before digging into the bottom of the bag. “I even bought cat treats. See,” she said waving a small bag of fish shaped treats. The bag had a cartoon image of a cat licking his lips and holding a fishing pole with a giant fish hanging on the end of the line.

  “I guess you're ready to go find Toonces, huh?” asked Candi. “Let me go get dressed.”

  Once Candi was dressed and ready to go, Suzanne drove to a nearby McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast sandwich
es, hash browns, and more coffee.

  “Don't you want to eat inside?” inquired Candi as they pulled into the drive-thru.

  Suzanne shook her head. “Not today. I thought it would be nice to park and eat in the car, just the two of us.”

  “Aw, you trying to keep me to yourself? How sweet,” remarked Candi playfully.

  Suzanne grinned. “Yes and no. I just thought it would be a bit more personal and quaint if we ate in the truck. Plus, I want to get to the apartment complex early before some of the residents start leaving for work. We can ask around to see if any of them have seen Toonces.”

  “Good thinking,” remarked Candi. She shifted in her seat and leaned against the door so she could face Suzanne.

  Suzanne retrieved her order from the pick up window, then turned the corner to park at nearby Summer's Grove Park. There were already early morning joggers and people walking their dogs. She rolled down the windows, then turned off the ignition. She breathed in deeply taking in the fresh morning air, then exhaled slowly. “Isn't it a beautiful day?”

  “Yes, it is. I love mornings. I'm definitely a morning person.”

  Suzanne dug through her paper McDonald's bag and handed Suzanne her egg and sausage muffin and hash brown. She then took the straws out of the bag and removed them from their paper wrapper and shoved them in their plastic iced coffee cups. “I'd have to say I'm a morning person, too. This is normally where I jog when I have free time. There's a separate trail for bicycles, so it's great for us joggers and speed walkers. We have the track all to ourselves.” She unwrapped her sandwich and took a big bite.

  Candi was sipping on her coffee and hadn't yet begun to eat.

  “What's a matter? Aren't you hungry?” questioned Suzanne.

  “For now I just want some coffee. I'll eat it later. I promise.”

  As soon as Suzanne finished eating, she drove to the apartment complex and arrived just as many of the residents were departing for work. Both women exited the truck and began asking people if they'd seen Candi's fluffy long-haired gray tabby, Toonces. Most people said they had not, but Candi recognized Mr. Peters, a nice old man that lived on the third floor in the apartment beneath hers, he was quick to talk to her.