Welcome to Longborn

by MK McGowan

  Darcy woke up again a few hours later. The bed felt empty. And cold. She shivered and pulled the blankets over her head. She heard the ancient pipes creaking, and she cocked her head to hear any further clues to Elizabeth’s whereabouts. When she heard the shower running, she popped her head out from underneath the covers. Mmmmm, wet blonde. Time to get up, she thought as parts of her came to sudden attention. She grabbed her robe and made a dash for the bathroom. She dropped her robe and pulled back the shower curtain. “Why didn’t you wake me up, babe?” she said. Darcy didn’t know who was more surprised, her or the strange woman whose shower she interrupted.

  Darcy jerked the curtain closed. “Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” she said. She was mortified and yanked her robe back on.

  The woman in the shower pulled back the curtain part way and stuck her head out. She was grinning from ear to ear. “Hi, you must be Darcy. At least I hope you’re Darcy. She doesn’t have anyone else in there does she?” she said with a laugh. “I’m Michelle, by the way.”

  “Of course you are, and this is your shower, and I have made a complete fool of myself,” Darcy said. She kept backing toward the door.

  Michelle kept grinning. “Not to worry. You’re not the first of Elizabeth’s conquests to make a mistake,” she said “Although, I must admit, no one else has tried to join me in the shower.”

  Darcy groaned in embarrassment. “I’ll be leaving now. Enjoy your shower.” Darcy shut the door firmly behind her and scurried back to the bedroom. She dressed in a hurry and practically ran toward the kitchen in search of her missing lover.

  Elizabeth was filling the coffeepot when Darcy came through the kitchen door. “Morning, Darcy,” she said. “Guess who’s home?”

  “Michelle. Michelle is home,” Darcy said firmly. She still bore traces of a blush. “We introduced ourselves.”

  Elizabeth was puzzled, but she didn’t follow up on it. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “Yes, please. And make it strong.”

  ***

  Once Michelle was out of the shower, the three women decided to go out for brunch. Elizabeth said she wanted Darcy and Michelle to get to know each other.

  “We almost got to know each other too well,” Michelle said. She explained their introduction, and all three women had a good laugh. After brunch, Michelle said she needed to get to bed. She’d finally gotten out of England, but she’d been up for almost 24 hours. She was about to crash hard. “You two are welcome to come back to the apartment.”

  “I don’t know, Michelle, Darcy’s a bit of a screamer,” Elizabeth teased.

  Darcy blushed, but Michelle laughed. “Believe me. You won’t disturb me. I don’t think anything will keep me awake much longer,” she said with a wink at Darcy.

  Darcy gently declined. “Actually, there’s somewhere I’d like to take Elizabeth. If you’re up for it, that is,” she said checking in with Elizabeth.

  “I’m up for anything,” Elizabeth said.

  ***

  Darcy took Elizabeth to her apartment. It was a dirty warehouse space when she bought it 12 years ago. She’d spent the intervening years working on it, and the remodel was finally complete. Now it was a spacious and spare modern loft. Not that Elizabeth had time to notice. A quick kiss in the lobby led to a lingering kiss in the elevator. That led to a mad dash down the hall. They fell through the door in a fierce embrace. The only reason they made it to the bed at all was because the tile in the entryway was cold on their suddenly bare skin. Before she could complain about her goose bumps, Elizabeth was sprawled across Darcy’s very comfortable bed.

  Thirty minutes later, she was desperately trying to catch her breath. “When you said you had something to show me, I thought you were talking about Fisherman’s Wharf or maybe the Golden Gate Bridge,” Elizabeth said, panting as she flopped to her back. “I had no idea you meant your apartment.” She chuckled. “And actually, I haven’t even seen much of it,” she said with a wry smile. She looked up. “Although, I do like your ceiling.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll show you the kitchen and the bathroom all in good time,” Darcy said. She leaned over and ran her lips along Elizabeth’s collarbone. Then she pulled away and sat up in bed.

  “As for the wharf, we could still do that, if you’d like” she said. “It’s been years since I’ve been.” She ran her hand slowly up Elizabeth’s stomach. She could feel Elizabeth’s muscles contracting. “We could go get some seafood, look at the sea lions,” she said thoughtfully. She skimmed her palm upward. She heard a sharp intake of breath when her hand came in contact with Elizabeth’s breast. Darcy smiled. She absolutely loved that sound.

  Elizabeth stilled Darcy’s hand. She gave it a sharp tug, pulling Darcy off balance. Darcy landed on top of Elizabeth with an “ooof.” Elizabeth rolled over and pinned Darcy to the bed. She sat up, straddling Darcy. “Or, we could order in, and you could show me more of your apartment,” she said. “I believe you mentioned showing me your kitchen?”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Darcy was the first one awake the next morning. Elizabeth was still dead to the world. Darcy wasn’t surprised. She’d certainly done her best to tire her out. And vice versa, she thought with a smug smile. She heard her stomach growl. They’d never gotten around to ordering dinner. Her smile faded when she remembered that she didn’t have any food in the house. Worse, she didn’t have any coffee. Shit! That’s no way to get her to hang around this weekend.

  Darcy climbed out of bed slowly, careful not to wake Elizabeth. She went into her closet and put on her running clothes and shoes. She had no intention of going running. Hell, I can barely walk, she thought as her smile returned. She was going down to the local bakery. It was only two blocks away. She figured she could make it there and back before Elizabeth woke up. She didn’t stop to examine why it was so important to her to not disappoint her overnight guest. She wasn’t quite ready to face the implications.

  Darcy picked out an assortment of pastries and a pound of coffee. She also grabbed the local papers. A leisurely morning in bed sounded like the perfect thing. She paid for her purchases and headed out into the sunshine. It was a beautiful morning.

  Darcy rode the elevator up to her apartment. She usually took the stairs, but she was in a hurry. She opened the door quietly. The apartment was still, and Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she won’t find out what a pathetic hostess I am. Darcy started the coffee brewing, walked to the windows that lined the entire side of the room, and opened the curtains. She’d bought the place for the view. You could see the bay in the distance, and it was sparkling like diamonds in the morning light. Darcy decided that despite the sun, it was chilly in the apartment, so she turned on the gas fireplace.

  Darcy heard the coffee maker ding and headed back toward the kitchen. She spotted her cell phone on the counter and remembered Charlotte’s comment the previous day. Who’s working this weekend? It’s Thanksgiving, damn it.

  Darcy poured herself a cup of coffee, picked up her phone, and walked back over to the window.

  “You have thirteen new messages,” the annoying automated voice announced.

  Darcy hit the buttons to play the messages on speakerphone. She turned to watch the morning as she listened to the artificial voice spit out the time and date before playing the first message. It was simply Carolyn’s voice saying “Call me.”

  The next message was also from Carolyn. “This is Carolyn. Call me.” Like I wouldn’t recognize her voice. There were many more messages like the first two. Darcy could tell from the timbre of Carolyn’s voice that her boss was growing more impatient with each message. In the twelfth message, her voice was haughty and aggrieved. “This is Carolyn DeVries, the woman who pays your ridiculously high salary. I’m assuming you’re dead in a ditch right now, otherwise you would have called. If you aren’t dead and are merely in an alcohol-induced stupor, call me as soon as you get this.”

  The final message was again Carolyn. She sounded excited but resi
gned to leaving another message. “Carolyn again. Apparently, you’re not picking up your phone this weekend, but I want you to come in ready to work on Monday, so I’ll tell you the good news now. Elizabeth has agreed to a deal. I don’t know what you did, what all you had to do or kiss, but you must have been good. Hell, you must have been fabulous,” she said sounding quite impressed. The message continued, “There’s a ticket to Texas as well as a big, fat bonus waiting for you on Monday. Good work.”

  Well that solves the ‘When can I see you again?’ dilemma. And I didn’t even have to do anything. She chuckled and turned around to set her phone down on the coffee table.

  Elizabeth was standing right behind her. She was wearing one of Darcy’s shirts.

  From the livid look on Elizabeth’s face, Darcy knew that Elizabeth had been there long enough to hear Carolyn’s last message.

  “Now, hold on. It’s not what you think, Elizabeth,” Darcy said urgently.

  Elizabeth looked dubious. “Oh, really? It sounds pretty clear to me.”

  Darcy started to move toward Elizabeth. “Listen, you don’t understand.” She held up her hands, hoping to placate Elizabeth or at least buy enough time to explain.

  “No, I think I understand perfectly,” Elizabeth said with a snarl before turning around and storming into the bedroom. Darcy followed, hot on her heels, but the door shut right in her face.

  “Shit!” This is bad. Very bad. Darcy knocked on the door. “Elizabeth, let’s talk about this,” she said in her most pleading tone. The door opened quickly and relief washed through Darcy until she saw that Elizabeth was completely dressed.

  Elizabeth pushed passed Darcy. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about. We’ve had fun, and the sex was great. But sex is just sex.” She looked at Darcy disparagingly. “Except, apparently, when it’s business,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain. “And now it’s time to get on with our lives. I’m going back to Texas, and you, my dear, can go straight to hell,” Elizabeth said with deceptive calm. She stormed out of the apartment and furiously slammed the door on the way out.

  “Well, fuck!”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Elizabeth tossed their bags inside the trunk of Charlotte’s car. This vacation turned out to be nothing like she expected, and, unlike Jane, she was glad to be going home.

  “Hey, baby,” Jane said. “I missed you.” She leaned over and kissed Charlotte.

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Charlotte had been gone for only two hours. Elizabeth told herself not to be too judgmental. Love makes a sap out of everyone. I’m better off without it.

  Jane finally pulled away from Charlotte and buckled her seat belt. Charlotte eased into traffic and headed for the airport.

  “Where’s Darcy?” Charlotte asked.

  Jane shot Charlotte a warning look.

  Elizabeth said, “She was in her apartment when I left her.” She tried not to let her anger show. She was not successful.

  Charlotte glanced questioningly at Jane, who shook her head to say “not now.”

  The trip to the airport was quiet and tense. They arrived at the airport with barely enough time for Charlotte and Jane to say goodbye. Elizabeth unloaded the luggage while her friends said their farewells.

  Elizabeth knew that Jane had fallen hard. And by all appearances, it looked like Charlotte was in the same boat.

  Elizabeth was surprised that Jane waited until they were securely seated on the plane to start her interrogation. Trapped in the window seat, Elizabeth couldn’t escape.

  “What happened between you and Darcy?” Jane demanded.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Elizabeth said stubbornly. She felt stupid, bruised, and mad at the world. The worst part was that she had genuinely started to like Darcy. Had it only been sex, she could have overlooked the woman’s blind ambition. But when you throw emotions into the mix, things turn ugly.

  “Elizabeth, do you remember when Wanda dumped me?” Jane asked.

  “How could I forget? You were miserable for a year.”

  “I didn’t want to talk about it, but you made me, remember?” Jane prodded.

  “I remember you called me an interfering bitch with a God complex when I tried,” Elizabeth said. It was that spark of temper that showed Elizabeth that Jane would be all right. Not soon, maybe, but she knew that eventually Jane would recover.

  “Well, you were interfering, but you made me feel better for it. Now it’s my turn.”

  “The difference, dear Jane, is that I don’t like to talk about my feelings,” Elizabeth said dismissively.

  “So don’t talk about how you feel. You’re obviously miserable. Tell me what happened,” Jane prodded.

  Elizabeth knew she would eventually tell Jane the whole sordid story. Jane was sweet but tenacious. She wore you down with concern and finished you off with consideration. Elizabeth shuddered. She didn’t stand a chance.

  “Okay, if I tell you what happened, will you leave me alone for the rest of the flight?”

  Jane nodded, her brown eyes wide with encouragement.

  Elizabeth decided to go with the short version. “It’s over.”

  Jane sighed in exasperation. “I know that, Elizabeth. An idiot would know that. What I want to know is why? You two seemed very…” she paused looking for exactly the right descriptor and finally settled on “hot for each other.” It wasn’t eloquent, but it was accurate.

  “Oh, the sex was great. Damn near perfect, in fact. It was the reason for the sex,” Elizabeth said.

  “There was a reason? Beyond the obvious attraction, I mean?” Jane asked with a blush.

  “Oh yeah, there was a reason.” Elizabeth proceeded to relate what she’d overheard.

  By the time Elizabeth was done with her rendition, Jane’s face was ashen. “I don’t believe that,” she said firmly. “Darcy wouldn’t do that, would she?”

  “She would, she could, and she did,” Elizabeth said venomously. She couldn’t believe she’d wasted her time on such a person.

  “There must be some sort of mistake or misunderstanding,” Jane said with certainty. “We simply have to find out what.”

  Elizabeth looked at her disapprovingly. “‘We’ don’t ‘have to’ do anything. It’s over, and I never have to see her again. Lesson learned. Case closed.” Elizabeth closed her eyes to signal the end of the discussion.

  “What about the development?” Jane asked, not about to be deterred.

  “What about it?”

  “Are you still going through with it?”

  Elizabeth opened her eyes. “Sure. I’d already decided to do it before Ms. I’mtoosexyforscruples got involved.”

  “So you’d already decided before you slept together? Darcy’s actions didn’t influence your decision?”

  “She was good, but no one is that good, honey,” Elizabeth said with a trace of her usual humor.

  “If she didn’t influence your decision, then what’s the problem?” Jane asked.

  “She didn’t know I’d already decided.” Elizabeth couldn’t believe that Jane could be so dense.

  “Maybe she didn’t care one way or the other,” Jane threw out. “Maybe she actually likes you.”

  “Right,” Elizabeth said sarcastically. “She blows me off at home and then happens to fall victim to my charms after being ordered to do so by her boss? Of course it was because she likes me. Happens every day.”

  Jane could hear the disappointment hidden in the cynicism. “I think you’re selling yourself short, Elizabeth. And maybe Darcy, too.”

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m bored with this,” she said harshly. “Tell me about your weekend with Charlotte.”

  Jane let the subject drop, for now, and switched to a happier topic.

  “Charlotte’s willing to relocate to Texas. She said she’d work at the resort if it gets built or find a job in Dallas if it doesn’t.”

  Elizabeth was stunned by the offer. Not many people would willingly
trade San Francisco for Longborn, Texas. “Well, if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. I’m happy for you, Jane. No one deserves to be happy more than you. Except maybe me,” she said with a teasing glint in her eye. “So, have you rented the U-Haul yet?”

  “Whoa. We’re going to take it slow. She’s coming down to meet Mom and Dad in two weeks. Then we’ll see,” Jane said. “I don’t want to move too fast this time. I don’t want to make another mistake.”

  “I don’t think Charlotte is at all like Wanda, Jane. She seems …” Elizabeth searched for the right word. “She seems genuine. Wanda, for all her lovely charms, was a snake. And I think on some level, we all knew it from the beginning. But Charlotte seems like the real deal.”

  Jane’s smile was contagious, and Elizabeth found herself smiling back automatically as she settled into her seat for a nap. It was a long way back to Texas.

  Part Three – Deep in the Heart of Texas

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Elizabeth strolled into Bud Bennett’s office two days later. Jackie, as usual, was sitting sentinel.

  “I actually have an appointment today, Jackie,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

  “I know,” Jackie responded flatly. “You can go right in.”