by Radclyffe
The coffee urn was warm and the coffee smelled new when she poured herself a cup. Flann and Harper, who she hadn’t expected, were already ensconced at their usual table in the back corner, Flann in scrubs and Harper in her typical button-down-collar shirt and khaki pants. Glenn dropped into the free chair at the table and nodded to her friends. “What’s up?”
Harper nodded a greeting and shot Flann a questioning look. “You called us here, so it’s your show. Is there some kind of problem?”
Flann looked uncharacteristically uneasy for an instant, and Glenn finally pegged her expression—not uneasy, shy. Huh. That couldn’t be right. Even in the midst of a FUBAR, Flann Rivers was never anything except exuberantly confident. So what could be worse than an effed-up beyond all repair situation? Harper studied her sister with the same slightly curious expression as Glenn.
“Well, the thing is,” Flann said, “I wanted to tell the two of you together that Abby and I are going to get married.” She glanced at Harper. “A few weeks after you and Presley, so, you know, it doesn’t steal your thunder.”
Harper laughed. “Jeez, you think that’s going to matter to us? Congratulations, but what took you so long?”
Flann grinned a little sheepishly. “I wanted to go for it this weekend, but Abby says no.”
“She’s right—but not because of us,” Harper said. “Your wedding should be an event all on its own, not a hurry-up thing, with all the bells and whistles. And don’t let her convince you small is fine. Once in a lifetime, Flann—give her a day to remember.”
“Right. Got it. Big and splashy.”
Harper laughed. “There you go. Perfect.”
“That’s great, Flann,” Glenn said, not at all surprised that her good friend wanted to formalize her relationship with Abby. Flann had always been a player, but she’d never fallen before. And when she did, like everything else in her life, she went all the way. “Anything you need, let me know.”
Flann cleared her throat. “Well, actually, that’s why I wanted to tell the two of you together.”
Harper’s brows drew down and she studied Flann intently. “What’s bugging you?”
Flann took a breath. “I want Glenn to stand up with me, and I thought—”
“Hey,” Glenn said quickly, “I’m totally honored, but you know, Harp’s your sister and—”
“No, Glenn,” Harper cut in, “I think you’re exactly the right person. I love you, Flann, and you know damn well I’ll always be there, but Glenn…she’s really the only one who can actually put up with you on a daily basis.”
Flann barked a laugh, and Glenn smothered a smile.
“She’s earned it,” Harper said.
“Here’s the deal.” Flann ran a hand through her hair, her gaze cutting from Harper to Glenn. “There’s a lot of things I’ve done in the last few years I don’t think I could’ve done without Glenn, but Harp has shown me the road for most of my life.”
Glenn glanced at Harper. On the day her last tour had ended, she’d sworn she’d go lone wolf, that she’d never let anyone close enough to lose a piece of herself if anything happened to them. She didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s well-being again, in any way. But in the three years she’d spent by Flann’s side, working together, struggling together, sometimes losing together, she’d broken her own promise to herself. Flann was her best friend, and whatever she needed, whenever she needed it, Glenn would be there for her. “Whatever you want, I’m good with it.”
“Totally,” Harper said.
Flann blew out a breath. “So you two will both stand up with me?”
“For sure.” Harper grinned at Glenn. “We’re good, right?”
“Absolutely,” Glenn said.
“Thanks,” Flann said. “That was harder than waiting for Abby to say yes.”
“Which took, what, all of a second?” Harper teased.
“About that, yeah,” Flann said with her usual cocky flair.
“Does Blake know yet?” Harper asked.
“No, Abby and I are gonna tell him after I tell Mom and Dad.”
“Once Margie knows,” Harper said, “he’ll know. You know the two of them share everything, so you probably need to make it simultaneous.”
“Right.” Flann shook her head, smiling wryly. “I sort of wonder what’s going on with those two, but I don’t actually know how to ask.”
“Does it matter?” Harper asked.
“Only because I don’t want to see either one of them get hurt.”
“You can’t protect them from falling in or out of love,” Harper said. “Most everybody gets their heart broken at that age. Hell, I did regularly.”
Glenn hadn’t, but she’d never had a girlfriend in high school, or after that, either. She’d had hookups. She had natural urges, after all, and being in the kind of stressful day-to-day environment where life was pretty much on an hour-to-hour basis, the need to connect just to feel you had a little bit of a grip on life was even more urgent. But since she’d been back, there hadn’t been anyone.
“It’s never easy,” Flann agreed, “but I know Blake is already taking flak about being trans and Margie along with him. I just want to make sure no matter what, they’re okay.”
“We’ll all look out for them,” Glenn said quietly.
“Yeah,” Harper said, “but we have to let them tell us what they want us to know, if and when there’s anything to tell.”
Flann rubbed her face. “This parenting business is really tough. And I got one half-grown-up already.”
“Hey,” Harper said, “why don’t you and Abby do the announcement thing on Sunday at family dinner. Then we’ll all be there.” She glanced at Glenn. “And you too, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Perfect.” Harper dusted her hands. “That way everybody gets it at once, problem solved.”
Flann nodded. “Sounds good to me. Abby can decide if we should tell Blake first.”
“I suppose we better head to the staff meeting,” Harper said, grinning. “Presley will not be happy if I’m late.”
Glenn stood, wondering if she’d be in time to grab a seat with Mari.
*
The staff meeting was the first Mari had ever attended, since she’d had no reason to think much about the actual running of a hospital during her training. This one surprised her. The meeting started exactly on time, for one thing. She’d been watching for Glenn and saw her slip in just a few seconds before half past seven with Flannery Rivers and another woman who looked very much like Flannery except for her opposite coloring. She must be the other Dr. Rivers—Harper. When Glenn and Flann took seats, Harper went on to the front of the room and joined an elegant-looking blonde in a bottle-green suit at the narrow podium. Mari didn’t need anyone to tell her this was Presley Worth. She exuded authority simply by the way she scanned the room with a combination of command and camaraderie.
The CEO was as impressive as everyone had made her out to be. Presley quickly and concisely brought everyone up to date with the various plans for expansion of the physical hospital as well as the new ER residency and other training programs under way. A ripple of excitement moved through the audience, and something else that Mari recognized after a while…hope. She’d known that everyone had lived under the threat of the hospital closing for quite some time, but she hadn’t appreciated how important the hospital was to so many people in the community. Not just because a significant percentage worked there, but because the institution represented a huge piece of the history of the town. Even though there had to be newcomers like Mari, she bet the majority of those crowding into the dome-ceilinged, wood-paneled auditorium had been born there, or their parents had been.
Strangely, she didn’t feel like an outsider. She hadn’t expected to feel so comfortable in such a small-town environment after growing up in one of the biggest cities in the world, but she did. Just by virtue of being part of the hospital, she had become part of the community. By the time the meeti
ng was over, she felt even more a part of her new world. The homesickness and sadness drifted a little more into the background with each passing day.
As she made her way outside an hour later, she heard her name and turned to see Glenn coming after her with quick, sure strides. Mari waited, a swift surge of anticipation coursing through her.
“Hi,” Glenn said. “Walking home?”
“Yes.”
“Mind company?”
“Of course not,” Mari said quickly, “although you don’t need to feel you have to. It’s perfectly safe.” She laughed. “Not even a hint of rain.”
“I know, but I’ve been cooped up all day and I’d like to stretch my legs, unless you want to be alone.” Glenn shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and, for the first time ever, appeared less than absolutely confident.
“No, I don’t,” Mari said quietly. “I’d love the company.”
“What did you think of the meeting?” Glenn asked as they started down the winding hillside. Cars streamed past them, the staff heading home after the meeting.
“It certainly sounds like it’s a busy time around here,” Mari said. “An exciting one too.”
“A lot of change all at once. Somehow, Presley has convinced everyone that she can work miracles, and I think she probably can.”
“I’m convinced, and I’ve only heard her speak once,” Mari said. “I could feel the sense of purpose everyone had, as if everyone counted. She made everyone feel essential.”
“Everyone is,” Glenn said. “Speaking of essential, are you sure you’re not up for trying a little friendly softb—”
“Trust me. Very sure.” Mari laughed. “But I will come cheer as promised.”
“Good enough. We can head over after work tomorrow—maybe grab something to eat first if you want.”
Mari hesitated. She’d never actually had a date with a woman, and she didn’t think Glenn was actually asking her out, but her voice disappeared on a swell of excitement all the same. She swallowed quickly. “Sure. Sounds great.”
By the time they neared the end of the road, darkness had fallen and only the occasional headlight slashed across their path. When they turned onto Main Street, Glenn asked, “How did things go today? Any problems?”
“No, at least not in the ER.” Mari hadn’t had time to really assimilate everything Carrie had told her, but throughout the afternoon their conversation kept coming back to her along with the disquieting knowledge that she didn’t really know her family after all.
“Something wrong?” Glenn asked quietly.
“No, not really.” Mari sighed. “Well, yes, sort of. I’m not really sure yet. The strangest thing happened today—maybe you already know about it. Carrie came by to talk to me.”
“Carrie?” Glenn frowned. “No, why would I know what she had to say?”
“Oh, I thought maybe you and Carrie…” Mari suddenly felt foolish. “Sorry, never mind.”
“Carrie and me? Oh.” Glenn didn’t laugh or seem put out, just contemplative. “No…we’re friends, but not that way. If that’s what you meant.”
“Oh Lord, I am sorry,” Mari said in a rush. “It’s certainly none of my business one way or the other.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal. Anyhow, what happened?”
“It seems that Carrie and I are related. We’re cousins.”
Glenn stopped walking. “What? How is that possible—and you didn’t know?”
“That’s exactly the way I feel.” Mari threw up her hands. “It seems my mother and Carrie’s mother are sisters, and they’ve been carrying on a secret relationship all these years—keeping each other updated about their families, about us kids and who knows what else—while my mother has pretended that she doesn’t have any family.”
“Why?”
Mari sighed, partly embarrassed and partly angry. “Apparently because my father doesn’t approve of Carrie’s parents and convinced my mother to sever ties with them. Or pretend she had.”
“Wow. That’s hard.”
“If it’s true, and I don’t have any reason to think it isn’t, it’s more than that.” Mari’s chest throbbed with suppressed outrage. “It’s selfish and cruel to deprive my mother of her family, to deprive all of us of our family.”
“Are you going to ask your mother?”
“I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to bring it up. We’re not really communicating at all since I told them about myself.” She tightened her shoulders as if that would make the psychic blow less painful. “They didn’t even call me before I left to move here even though I left messages. I sent them all my new contact information and haven’t heard anything—not even an email.”
“I’m really sorry.” Glenn’s hand briefly swept down the center of her back and then was gone, a fleeting comforting touch.
“I keep telling myself it doesn’t matter, and truthfully, every day it hurts a little bit less, but then something like this comes up and I wonder how much of my life has been a lie.”
“Not on your account, and you’re doing everything you can to make it truth,” Glenn said quietly.
“You know, I’m beginning to really understand how hurtful and destructive secrets can be.”
Glenn couldn’t disagree, even though she knew they both had their secrets.
Chapter Fourteen
Glenn walked Mari home, said good night, and took her time walking back through town. Mari and Carrie, cousins. Nothing much surprised her anymore, but once in a while, it was nice for life to hand out a good surprise instead of one that seemed random and cruel. Now Mari would have someone, family, nearby, especially seeing as how the rest of her family had let her down. Carrie wouldn’t let her be alone. Slowing at the entrance to the road up to the hospital, flanked with its stone arches and cast-iron lampposts, Glenn gave a fleeting thought to hiking back up to see what was going on in the ER, but decided to head home instead. She had a game the following night, and she was strangely relaxed. Not keyed up and agitated the way she often was at the end of the day. She smiled to herself. Walking Mari home seemed to be good therapy.
When she woke the next morning at five thirty, having slept for six solid hours, she was surprised again. She lingered in bed for a few minutes, listening to the town wake up through her open window. A distant rumble of an engine, birds singing somewhere in the fields out beyond the parking lot, the quiet tick of the refrigerator in her small kitchen just outside her bedroom door. She stretched, ran a hand absently down the center of her body, felt the quick pulse between her thighs. She let her fingers linger, trailing lower, and the answering tingle made her hips press down into the bed. She closed her eyes, savoring the first blush of morning and the slow rise of pleasure. She pressed lightly, eased a finger on either side of her slowly hardening clit, focused on the tension coiling low in her belly. Her mind drifted on the slowly building waves—stroke, circle, press—and fragments of images flickered beneath her closed lids. Long-fingered hands, teasing, tugging; a warm mouth on her belly, the moist tip of a tongue teasing lower, closer. She kicked aside the sheet, too warm now, a light sweat breaking out down the center of her chest. Her hips lifted, the muscles in her forearm tightened, her wrist brushed rhythmically across her taut abdomen. Her breath caught somewhere between her chest and her throat. She groaned softly, waiting for the warmth of a mouth to close over her, to pull her in, push her over. She glanced down, seeing in her mind’s eye the dark eyes and playful smile, felt the midnight strands of hair slide through her fingers. Watching, mesmerized by need, she guided the full red lips down to her clit.
“Fuck,” she gasped, jerking half upright as she exploded into her hand. “Fuck.” She fell back against the pillows, trembling, unable to remember the last time she’d come so quickly or so hard. Absolutely certain she’d never had a fantasy quite like that one, so unquestionably focused on a woman she knew. Still throbbing, still lightly stroking, she couldn’t even pretend she hadn’t been thinking about Mari.
/> *
An hour later Glenn pulled into the staff lot just as Carrie was getting out of her car. Carrie waited for her as Glenn locked up and jogged over.
“Hey,” Carrie said. “What’s new and exciting in your life?”
Glenn was very glad Carrie wasn’t a mind reader at that moment, because she flashed back to what she’d been thinking about the last hour. Damn if she still wasn’t a little turned on. “Not a thing. Business as usual. You?”
“I’m so busy I don’t even feel like I’m busy. It still feels like July first to me and the month is half over.”
Glenn laughed. “I think your boss works on a different calendar than the rest of the world.”
“You got that right.”
“Mari happened to mention the two of you are related,” Glenn said as they followed the winding stone path from the lot to the back entrance.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Carrie grinned. “I’m pretty psyched about getting to know her better. Say, did you invite her to the game tonight?”
“Yeah, we’re going to grab something to eat first.”