Break in the Storm (WeHo Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  When Xandy would start to feel overwhelmed, somehow Quinn would know and she would step up behind her, touching her. Sometimes Xandy would turn and rest her head against Quinn’s chest, other times Quinn would slide her arms around Xandy’s waist, holding her from behind. Xandy would lean back letting the feeling of Quinn’s presence hold her steady.

  They’d gotten the results from the shows; an amazing $60 million had been raised so far, and money was still coming in. Xandy knew she’d done a lot of good with the concert. She attributed it all to BJ Sparks and his support. Xandy’s pre-release album sales were also amassing a great deal of interest. Good things had come out of the concert and the trip to Kansas, not the least of which was Xandy finally reuniting with the rest of her family.

  That evening Xandy and Quinn arranged for Erin to stay with the kids up in the room. They took Sarah to dinner in the hotel restaurant. After they ordered, Xandy reached over touching her aunt’s hand.

  “You know that Quinn and I are scheduled to go back to LA tomorrow.”

  Sarah nodded, she’d already been thinking about what she was going to do with herself and the kids now that they no longer had a place to live.

  “I wanted to talk to you about that. I found a shelter…” she began, hoping she could convince Xandy and Quinn to give them a ride to the shelter that was a couple of counties over from Witchita.

  “That may not be necessary,” Quinn said, grinning.

  “What? Why?” Sarah asked, not understanding.

  “Well, we’d like you guys to come back to LA with us,” Xandy said, biting her lip. “At least for the time being.”

  “We can’t do that…” Sarah said, shaking her head.

  “Why?” Quinn asked.

  Sarah hesitated. “Well, I mean, I don’t have money for plane tickets, for one thing,” she said, feeling embarrassed.

  “We’re flying on BJ’s private jet, no tickets required,” Xandy said smiling.

  Sarah looked shocked by that answer, but then shook her head. “Xandy, it’s really sweet of you to offer, but there’s four of us, that’s just too much…”

  “She has a five bedroom house,” Quinn told Sarah with a smile.

  “But…” Sarah said, looking lost.

  “Please let me do this for you,” Xandy asked, taking her aunt’s hand. “There was nothing I could do for my family, but bury them,” she said with tears in her eyes. “This time I can do something, please let me.”

  Sarah looked back at her niece, then over at Quinn who nodded to her, affirming that she’d be helping Xandy put her ghosts to rest by accepting her offer. Finally she nodded.

  “It would be really nice to see Los Angeles, and where you two live,” she said smiling.

  The next morning the six of them were on a plane flying back to Los Angeles.

  Chapter 11

  Bobby stood waiting in anticipation, he was dancing in place he was so excited. As Quinn clicked the automatic garage door opener, he squealed with delight. When he caught sight of the midnight-blue Mach 1 and the black Dodge Charger, he gasped in sheer ecstasy. He clapped his hands and ran into the garage. Quinn stood back glancing at Xandy and Erin who were both smiling widely. Sarah watched from the porch, holding Elly who had no true interests in cars.

  “Quinn!” Bobby called from the garage, prompting Quinn to follow him in.

  She and Bobby spent the next hour talking about the cars, and going through the differences between the cars. Quinn even popped the hoods and showed him different aspects of the engines. And then it was time for a ride, but not before Bobby spied the Harley also parked in the garage.

  “You have a motorcycle too!” Bobby cried overwhelmed, but loving every second.

  “Yep,” Quinn said, nodding.

  “Can we ride that too?” he asked, his eyes wide.

  Quinn looked back toward the open garage, where Sarah had joined Erin and Xandy. Elly sat on the ground playing with dolls. She canted her head at Sarah, her way of saying, it’s up to you.

  “Helmets?” Sarah asked.

  “Always,” Quinn said nodding.

  Sarah nodded, trusting Quinn with her son. It amazed her constantly that someone she’d been prepared to completely hate had turned out to be the most incredibly nice person. There were a number of times during the last week in Los Angeles that Sarah had seen where the appeal of Quinn was for Xandy. Quinn was very gallant, unbelievably gentle and an extremely attentive partner to Xandy. Whenever Xandy needed something, Quinn was there; if she needed to reach something in the kitchen, or to pick up a box, or if something needed fixing, Quinn took care of it. When Xandy cut her finger slicing vegetables for dinner, Quinn took care of cleaning it and putting on a band-aid. It wasn’t that Xandy couldn’t do things for herself, but that Quinn seemed to take pleasure in doing things for Xandy.

  When Xandy had been home for her family’s funeral, she’d brought Tommy with her. There hadn’t been anything redeeming about Tommy that Sarah had seen. When Xandy had needed support the most, Tommy seemed more interested in his phone; he was on it constantly during the week before the funeral and even at the funeral itself. Sarah had sensed that Tommy’s support didn’t occur in private either.

  In Quinn’s case, she’d seen someone who was completely dedicated to her partner, and it spoke volumes to Sarah, changing her heart a little more every day. The fact that Quinn actually seemed to be becoming the father figure that Bobby sorely missed warmed her heart even further. The kids’ father had never been what she would consider an exemplary male role model, but at least they’d had someone. Quinn actually seemed much more patient than his father had been, and more willing to explain things to Bobby.

  “Well, you’ll need to pick which one we take a ride in first,” Quinn said to Bobby, causing a quandary in the little boy.

  “Um…” Bobby stammered, looking from one car to the next then back at the bike, indecision clear on his face. “But we get to ride in them all today?”

  Quinn looked back at him for a long moment, knowing that if she gave him too much rope he’d take more. She knew she needed to set some boundaries for the boy.

  “One today,” she said, holding up her hand to forestall the protest instantly on Bobby’s lips, “but we’ll do the other two sometime this week, okay?”

  Bobby looked like he really wanted to protest, but he’d already sensed that Quinn was no-nonsense about things. When she said it, she meant it. Nothing he said would change her mind, and protesting could even get the invitation taken away. He really wanted to sit in one of these cars and ride around, so he couldn’t take the chance of throwing a fit.

  Finally he pointed to the Mach 1 Mustang.

  Quinn smiled. “Okay,” she said nodding her head, “hop in. Any other takers?” she asked the girls.

  “I’ll go!” Erin said, holding up her hand excitedly.

  Xandy smiled at Quinn, knowing that her young cousin wanted to be wherever Quinn was these days. They’d quickly formed a close bond after their chat, and Erin felt really comfortable around Quinn, safe in fact.

  “Sarah?” Quinn queried with a grin.

  Sarah laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll stay behind and look after Elly.”

  “Had your chance,” Quinn said, winking at her.

  Reaching into her jeans, Quinn pulled out the keys to the Mustang, jingling them at Bobby. “You want to start her up?”

  “Yeah!” he yelled, excited beyond belief.

  Quinn motioned him around to the driver’s side. She showed him how to put the key into the ignition and push in the clutch. “Now you have to hold it in,” she told him, “then turn that key.”

  The car chugged, but didn’t start. Quinn bent down, checking where Bobby’s foot was on the clutch, she made an adjustment to the seat so he was closer.

  “Okay, try it again, keep that clutch in,” she told Bobby.

  The boy pushed down as hard as he could on the clutch and reached to turn the key. When the car turned over he le
t out a “whoop!” He also took his foot off the clutch and the car bucked as it stalled. Because he was too close to the steering wheel, his face was on a direct path with it. Fortunately, Quinn was faster and put her hand out to stop him from colliding with the wheel. Bobby paled, and stiffened, glancing up at Quinn in near terror.

  “It’s okay,” Quinn said, smiling at him, “it happens to me sometimes. Let’s try this,” she said, moving to reach around him. “Put your hand here.” She put her hand on the stick shift, and Bobby did what she told him to. “Okay, now see how you can’t move this right now?” she said, using her hand to help him wiggle the stick shift around.

  “Yeah,” Bobby said, nodding.

  “Okay, that’s because it’s in gear,” Quinn told him, “and when it’s in gear and you’re stopped, you have to have the clutch in,” she told him, pointing to his foot that still touched the clutch pedal. “Otherwise it does what it did just now. So, let’s take it out of gear before starting it this time.”

  “How do I do that?” Bobby asked, his face the picture of rapt curiosity.

  “You hold on to the stick,” Quinn said, touching her hand to his again, “and you push that clutch in, all the way down… right, just like that. Now you shift it out of gear,” she used her hand to guide his smaller one, taking the car out of gear. “You see how it can wiggle back and forth freely now?” Bobby nodded. “That means it’s in neutral. Now let’s try starting her up again.”

  Bobby repeated the starting process without being told what to do, which caused Quinn to grin proudly, and the car started with a roar once again. This time it didn’t stall, and Bobby threw his arms around Quinn hugging her.

  Xandy and Sarah exchanged a look, both women smiling. Erin, who’d been standing on the passenger side, smiled too. It made her happy to see her little brother so happy. She knew it had everything to do with the time Quinn was taking with him. Their father had never bothered. Erin knew that she wanted to be like Quinn, she admired everything about the woman and felt like she was definitely someone to emulate.

  Later, on the drive, Erin sat in the backseat so Bobby could right shotgun with Quinn. Erin noticed the easy way Quinn handled the car even at exhilarating speeds, and she noticed how her fingers drummed on the steering wheel to whatever rock song was on. She also saw, at one point that Quinn kept looking in her review mirror and checking the side mirrors. They’d been on the freeway, and Quinn took an exit near some factory building. Again she checked her rearview mirror, and Erin could see that she was suddenly tense.

  “Everything okay?” Erin asked.

  Quinn didn’t answer for a moment. She turned a corner, glancing at Erin as she did. The look on Quinn’s face was narrowed, and Erin knew something was wrong but she figured that Quinn didn’t want to worry Bobby.

  Quinn looked at Bobby, smiling. “Okay, now, I need you to hold on, okay?” she said, glancing back at Erin. “Both of you.”

  When both kids had secured a hold, Quinn put her foot down on the pedal and the car shot forward with a surprising amount of speed. Bobby let out a yell of excitement, and Erin found herself smiling, but she was also watching Quinn in the rearview mirror and she could see that Quinn was concentrating on her driving. They came to a corner, sliding slightly as Quinn slowed and then gunned the engine into the curve. She did this for a few minutes, always watching the area ahead to ensure safety. When she slowed again, she was checking her mirrors, and finally seemed satisfied.

  Back at the house, Bobby hopped out of the car running to tell his mother about the experience. Erin moved to lean her arms on the seat right behind Quinn.

  “What was that about?” Erin asked.

  Quinn glanced back at the younger woman, her look assessing, then she shrugged. “Just wanted to check something.”

  Erin nodded, knowing Quinn wasn’t telling her the whole story, but she also knew that Quinn wasn’t one to over dramatize things, so she left it alone.

  That evening, Quinn said she was headed to the gym after dinner, and Erin asked if she could go. Quinn agreed. After dinner the two walked to the car, Quinn chose to take the Charger this time. In the car the song The Vengeful One came on, Erin listened to it for a while and on the chorus recognized it.

  “Isn’t that the song you got famous for?” she asked, grinning.

  “Oh yeah,” Quinn said, rolling her eyes, “my fifteen minutes of fame.”

  “Seems like it’s lasted a lot longer than fifteen minutes…” Erin said.

  Quinn made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, but grinned. “Much to my dismay,” she replied with a wintery smile.

  Erin grinned “You’re not really into fame, are you?”

  “Definitely not,” Quinn said.

  Erin nodded. They were both quiet for a few minutes, then Erin looked over at Quinn again.

  “Can I ask you a question?” she said.

  “Sure.”

  Erin hesitated for a few moments, but then blurted out her question. “So you’re like butch right?”

  Quinn grinned, inclining her head. “Yes, I would be considered quite butch.”

  “And that’s because of the no makeup, tattoos, short hair thing?”

  Quinn laughed, this was not the first time she’d had questions like this. She shook her head.

  “It’s not about makeup and tattoos, or hair for that matter,” she told Erin. “It’s more about what you do, how you act. I’ve seen the most girlie looking woman be a serious bad ass before.”

  “So what does being butch mean?” Erin asked.

  Quinn thought about it for a long moment. She knew that Erin was searching for her identity in the gay community and she was looking to her to help, she didn’t want to give the girl bad information.

  “I guess it’s about taking on some more masculine roles than most women do,” she said. “Girls that are butch tend to be better with stuff like working on machinery, cars, bikes, trucks, stuff like that. Butch girls tend to work in areas where men are usually dominant.”

  “But it’s not like you want to be a guy, right?” Erin asked, her tone confident on that.

  “Exactly,” Quinn said, “contrary to what a lot of men would like to think, we butch women don’t really wish we had a penis, or wish we were really guys. Some women do wish for that, but that isn’t what defines them as butch. There are tomboys all over the world that aren’t gay; it’s just that some of us that are tomboys are gay.”

  Erin nodded.

  “But,” Quinn added, holding up her hand, “don’t take that to mean that a woman that wears makeup can’t be butch, it’s about how they act; are they stronger personalities, do they take charge, are they in the middle of the shit when they need to be?”

  Erin looked confused. “So a woman can be butch and femme at the same time?”

  “Yeah,” Quinn said, “I know a couple of women just like that. They ride motorcycles, they’ll throw down with the biggest and baddest of them all, and they put their lipstick on using the chrome on their Harley.”

  “So there’s not just one definition of butch or femme.”

  “Nope, people are all different, and all women are different. You have to figure out what works for you, what feels right and true to who you are and go with that.”

  “I want to be like you,” Erin said.

  Quinn glanced over at the girl, thinking she had to be joking, but Erin looked quite serious.

  “Why?” Quinn asked perplexed.

  “Because you’re friggin’ awesome!” Erin said.

  “Awww,” Quinn stammered.

  Erin shook her head grinning. “My mom’s right you don’t even know how people see you, do you?”

  Quinn glanced out her side window, having no idea how to address that question.

  Erin chuckled. “And you don’t like to talk about yourself too much either.”

  Quinn looked over at the girl, her look indicating Erin was right about that.

  “Okay, so can I ask you a question abou
t sex? Or is that too personal?” Erin asked.

  Quinn hesitated, grinning as she realized that being a parent had to be the hardest job on the planet.

  “Ask,” Quinn said then.

  “Do you always initiate sex?” Erin asked with no hesitation.

  Quinn started coughing as she laughed out loud. “Wow, you don’t candy coat your questions do you?”

  “Should I have?” Erin asked, looking like she was unsure.

  “No, no,” Quinn said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, “it just caught me off guard. And no, I don’t always initiate sex.” Quinn said. “Are you asking that as a butch woman I always initiate it? I mean, I assume you don’t mean me personally.”

  Erin’s lips twitched at the question, but then she said, “Well, yeah, I mean, do butch lesbians tend to initiate sex?”

  Quinn caught the look on Erin’s face, but didn’t comment on it. “Well, no, not always, because there are femme women who are just as aggressive about sex as any man could be. So no, it’s never safe to assume that because someone’s butch that they’re always going to initiate sex.”

  “Does my cousin initiate sex with you?” Erin asked.

  “Now, that’s personal,” Quinn said, her look mild, but her tone serious.

  “Okay, I’m sorry,” Erin said, looking contrite.

  “It’s alright, but that’s another thing a true butch doesn’t do; she doesn’t kiss and tell,” Quinn said with a wink.

  Erin grinned, nodding her head.

  “So you and Xandy are the real deal, right?” Erin asked a few minutes later.

  “How do you mean?” Quinn asked.

  “Like you’re going to be in her life for a really long time, right?” Erin asked.

  “That’s the plan, yeah,” Quinn said, grinning, “but you never know.”

  Erin drew in a deep breath, biting her lip.

  “Why?” Quinn asked.