by G. Benson
Cathy nodded to herself. “Oh. I thought Sally stayed at home with them.”
“She did.” Anna wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Yet you aren’t working today?”
“I start at twelve.” Why was she explaining herself to this woman?
“So why on earth would Toby not be here?”
Anna was starting to get a little bit irritated. She stood straighter, levelling her shoulders, careful to watch her tone. “There was an emergency at the hospital, and I had to stay late last night.”
Suddenly, Anna desperately hoped that Lane wouldn’t come down the stairs in those stupidly tiny, sexy shorts.
Cathy’s expression didn’t alter, but her eyebrows raised slightly at Anna’s words. “I see.”
Her mouth opened to make excuses, to say it was a rare occurrence, the first time; she closed it though. She didn’t have to explain herself to this woman. Instead she said, “You’re welcome to see the kids, Cathy. Maybe a call beforehand would be best, however?” Trying not to sound confrontational, Anna kept her voice light.
Cathy nodded, holding out the bag for Anna to take. “I brought over some toys for them. Would you mind giving them to the kids?” Her face was so blank, Anna didn’t know what to think. She took the bag.
“Of course. I’m happy to. They’ll be very excited.”
Cathy nodded once, opening her mouth to say something. The sound of footsteps distracted her, and she looked behind Anna to see who was coming down the stairs.
Anna closed her eyes briefly and took in a deep breath. Of course.
When Anna opened her eyes again, the look on Cathy’s eyes had hardened and a small polite smile had appeared on her lips.
Anna looked over her shoulder, suddenly incredibly grateful her back was away from Cathy, scratches hidden. She was careful to not turn to her side.
Lane was walking down the stairs, those shorts looking tinier than ever on her amazing legs, shirt in slight disarray.
Anna was just thankful it covered the bite mark she knew was on her shoulder, though Lane was sporting very distinct bed hair. Anna was fairly certain she herself looked like she had just rolled out of bed after a night of sex and little sleep. This was not going well.
Lane caught her eye, giving her a curious look before her gaze reached Cathy. Lane smiled widely, friendly as always. At the bottom of the stairs, she hovered, obviously unsure if she should walk forward. She settled for leaning against the banister, self-consciously tugging at the shorts, smile still wide.
“Uh, hi,” she said to Cathy.
Anna finally turned her head back to look at Cathy, trying not to roll her eyes at the woman’s hardened look.
Light blue eyes looked from Anna to Lane and back again. “Hello.” Her voice was cool.
Anna wanted her gone. This was uncomfortable, and, from what Anna knew of the woman, she could tell she was currently having her entire lifestyle judged.
“Cathy, this is Lane. Lane,” she looked over her shoulder again, widening her eyes slightly at Lane before neutralising her expression, “this is Sally’s mum, Cathy.”
Lane’s smile, to her credit, didn’t falter. “Pleasure to meet you, Cathy.”
Anna looked back to Cathy, who nodded again. “I’m sure.” She turned to Anna, eyes hardening properly. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”
That look almost made Anna step backwards—she wanted to be as far away from that as she could.
“I always wondered about you.”
Anna dug her fingers harder into the door knob. She had, before this, been incredibly lucky and had never had true bigotry directed at her. Which was a good thing—she was not enjoying it.
“I think it might be best for you to leave, Cathy.”
She could almost feel Lane’s hesitation behind her, as if unsure if she should move up to stand beside Anna or stay put. Anna was relieved when she stayed put.
Cathy’s lips had paled slightly. “I agree. Please, give those gifts to my grandchildren.”
Anna nodded. “Of course.” Her heart was racing in her ears.
At the bottom of the steps, Cathy stopped, turning to face Anna again. With the light hitting her face, Anna could see the red sheen in her hair that had been inherited by Sally and Ella, could almost see Sally in her features. The sight knotted her stomach.
“Anna, you should really think about what’s best for those two children.”
Anna’s nails bit into the door handle harder. “That’s all I do, Cathy.”
The answer was quick. “I’ve not seen much that says that.”
Cathy took her in for a minute, eyes squinting in the bright light, before turning on her heel and walking down the front walk.
Anna let out a long breath, lips pursing as she blew the air out. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm her racing heart, then closed the door behind her and looked at Lane, who was staring at her.
“How dare she?” Lane’s voice burst out and Anna almost jumped. “Aren’t you livid, Anna? How dare she come to your house and have a go at you like that.”
In other circumstances, Anna would have smiled.
“And she was so smarmy! Smiling all cold while glaring at us both like we were a pair of hussies.”
Anna finally spoke. “Well, that was all just spectacular timing, wasn’t it?”
Lane paused and cracked a smile. “It was.”
“I mean, of course the zealously religious grandmother of the kids I’ve taken on shows up when I’ve left the kids with my mother to stay at work into the wee hours of the morning and then have loud lesbian sex in the house her daughter lived in.”
Even as she laughed, Lane asked, “How are you calm?”
“I’m not. At all.” She really wasn’t. “But that was nothing compared to stories Sally told me.” Anna stepped forward, hand gripping Lane’s and pulling her forward against her. “I’m not okay with being judged like that, but that’s just who she is. She would’ve found out I’m gay eventually.”
“Yeah, but—” Anna cut her off with a kiss. When she broke it, Lane was smiling. “Is it weird that I’m totally okay with being shut up like that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Pushing Lane backwards, Anna looked at her coyly. “We have a couple of hours before I have to drag my tired ass to work. Bench?” She gave Lane a charming grin.
“Then food. That was the deal.”
“I can get on board with that.”
Lane grabbed her by the hips as they walked through the kitchen doorway, spinning Anna so her back hit the bench when they stumbled to it.
Lane leant back, appraising Anna with her eyes. “Okay, shorts off.”
Complying wasn’t a difficult concept.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Someone’s happy.”
Anna tried to wipe the smile off her face that had been a permanent resident since arriving to the hospital. It was three p.m. and she’d only been at work a few hours, but she was practically dead on her feet as the last few days caught up to her. It didn’t stop the grin, however. Anna handed cash to the coffee attendant and turned to look at Kym, who stood behind her, amused, hands in her lab coat pocket.
“Anna, go back to smiling, now you look like you’ve sucked on a lemon but you secretly enjoyed it.”
Quickly, Anna relaxed her face. “Can we add a skinny latte to that order?” she asked the attendant, handing over more cash.
It wasn’t until they were standing to the side, waiting for their orders, that Kym went back to staring at her. Anna simply stared back.
“You had sex.”
At Kym’s words, Anna whipped her head around, thankful to find that no one was in earshot.
When she looked back to Kym, the woman looked gleeful. “Well, that answered that.”
Opening her mouth, to argue, Anna shut it with a shrug.
“About time you two got there. Worth the wait?”
“Definitely.”
“You’re not going to give me details, are you?”
Anna shook her head, cheeks hurting from trying to smother her happiness.
“Not one? Help a widow out.”
“Are you seriously playing the widow card?”
“Without shame, too.”
Anna narrowed her eyes. “What do you want to know?”
“Was it as good as you’d think it would be, considering doing something simple like holding a door open for her led to you oozing sex?”
“We aren’t that bad!”
“Oh, it was that bad.”
Finally caving, Anna grinned. “Yes, it was that amazing.”
“The widow card won’t get me any more information than that, will it?”
“Nope.”
“You look disgustingly happy.”
“I shouldn’t, I only slept three hours.”
“Ha! Detail. I win.”
Anna laughed as she accepted their coffees, handing one over to Kym.
They turned and started heading towards their offices. Kym bumped her hip playfully against Anna’s. “I’m glad you showed up. I’ve never seen Lane so happy.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Now rather smug, Anna sipped her coffee. “Did you go home last night at all?” Together, they leant against the back of the elevator wall.
“Got caught up. I was Psych liaison with the families. I got a little sleep in an on-call room.”
As gently as she could, Anna said, “Maybe you should move, Kym.”
“Not yet.”
Looking at the elevator buttons, Anna nodded. “Okay.”
It was suddenly silent, and Anna could tell Kym needed a topic change and was coming up blank. So, she said the thing that first popped into her head. “Wanna come for a sleepover?”
“What?”
“Come for a sleepover. Again.”
“Well, the last one wasn’t intentional.”
“Yeah, but you and Ella asleep on the couch was cute as hell.”
“That kid is cute as hell. You putting it on Facebook was not cute in any way.” Kym led the way out of the elevators as the doors opened.
“It got seventy-one likes. Don’t change the subject—come.”
“Of course I’ll come. When?”
“What about tomorrow night? Saturday night is a big night in kid world.”
“How so?”
“Well, Ella doesn’t really have a bed time. Exciting stuff.”
Kym laughed. “Count me in. Will Lane come? Oh! Girl night!”
Anna had been thinking of attempting to move a little slow, not see Lane too much, focus on the kids. But then Kym’s eyes lit up like they just did, and she didn’t think she could say no. “What about Tobes?”
“He’s under six, he doesn’t count. And he sleeps early.”
“Fair call. I’ll ask Lane.”
“As if she’d say no.”
Anna rolled her eyes, following Kym down the hallway.
“So I get to see Nurse Lane and Kym tonight?”
A laugh huffed out of Anna as she chopped a carrot. “Yup.”
“And I get to see Nurse Lane on Monday to take off my cast?”
Anna laughed again, adding the carrot to the plate with the crackers, cheese and dip she was compiling. “You definitely do.”
“Awesome!” Ella spun on her heel and dashed out, careening upstairs and yelling about getting into her pyjamas.
Shaking her head, Anna looked down at her feet, where Toby was currently pulling at her laces. “Hungry, little man?”
Toby looked up at her, neck craning and blue eyes huge, grinning as he tried to shove her shoelace into his mouth.
Anna bent down and pulled it out, lifting him up and onto her hip. His little hand grasped at her tank top. “Want some pasta?”
He widened his eyes at her. “Pata?”
She widened her eyes back at him. “Pasta! Hey, that’s a new word. Too clever for your own good, you are.” She walked him around the bench and plopped him into his high chair, putting a carrot stick down to keep him occupied while she reheated pasta from a previous evening.
Betrayed, Toby looked down at it, brow furrowed. “Pata?”
“It’s coming, Tobes.”
He eyed Anna for a minute as if to make sure she was telling the truth, watching her walk to the fridge and pull out the bowl. Finally, he smiled, picking up the carrot stick and only hitting himself in the cheek once before getting it into his mouth.
As she waited for the microwave to ding, Anna tried—and failed—not to overthink her situation. Lane was coming over, but she’d left the sleepover part out when telling her, just mentioning girls’ night with the three of them and Ella—and Toby. Anna would have loved nothing more than for Lane to stay over, but the idea also filled her with dread. She didn’t think they should be doing sleepovers yet. They were new, and Anna had her heart set on not confusing the kids. Kym staying and sleeping on the couch was one thing. But Lane staying, in her bed? A completely different thing.
The microwave’s beeping pulled her out of her reverie. Anna pulled out the just-warm pasta—a dish even she couldn’t mess up—gave it a quick stir and put it in front of Toby. She sat in the chair next to him and watched him attempt to feed himself. Eventually she took over, since his efforts generally led to food on the floor, in his hair and on his lap. Anna had found peas in Toby’s ears more times than was probably normal.
The first spoon was just making it in when she heard Ella thundering down the stairs again, pyjama clad and practically bouncing. She climbed up on a chair opposite Anna.
“I got my pjs on and I brought some stuff to make Nurse Lane and Kym a card and do you think we can have ice cream after pizza tonight—wait, what DVD can we watch? Can we watch two?”
Anna blinked at Toby, who was looking at her with an equally bemused expression. Both of them turned to look at Ella. Toby’s mouth still hung open as he leant forward for the spoon blindly, staring at Ella like he’d never met her before. Anna put the spoon in his mouth and tried to figure out how to respond to Ella’s overly excited speech.
“Uh—wow. Slow down, Ella Bella. We can try for two DVDs, though we may sit in here for the start of the first one, okay?”
Ella looked absolutely devastated and almost dropped her pencil. “What? Why?”
Anna felt a little terrible. “We might have a glass of wine and talk about work.”
Ella screwed her nose up. “Ew. Work.”
“Exactly. Work.” Anna laughed, spooning more food into Toby’s mouth. “But, I promise we won’t be too long, and then we’ll all come snuggle on the couch with you, okay? You can eat your pizza in there in front of the TV, and we’ll have ours here, then we’ll all hang out.”
Happy with this, Ella nodded, wriggling in her chair. “I can really eat dinner in front of the TV?”
Anna winked at her. “This once.”
The kid was going to burst with the excitement of it all.
Ella went about colouring in, while Toby happily finished up his dinner. When he got to the stage of clamping his mouth shut and shaking his head adamantly, Anna wiped his face and put him on the ground to go and reign unholy terror, just as the doorbell rang.
“They’re here!” Ella almost fell in the attempt to get out of her chair, then bolted off to the front door.
“Ella!”
“Check who it is first, I know!”
Sighing as she followed, Anna heard excited words and the door swung open to show Kym and Lane, Kym clutching a bottle of wine and Lane holding pizza.
“Hi!” Ella
squealed.
Both Lane and Kym grinned down at the over-excited girl, Kym stepping forward to have arms wrapped around her waist.
“Ella! Ready to share the couch again?”
Ella looked up at Kym, absolutely delighted she was there. “Silly, I have a bed.”
Kym’s mouth dropped open in fake shock, looking up to Anna. “Did I just get rejected by a six-year-old?”
Lane poked her in the back gently with the two pizza boxes she was holding. “Afraid so, Kym.”
Ella shook her head. “No! I’ll share the couch with you. Can we make pancakes in the morning again?”
“We sure can.”
Ella then threw herself on Lane, her attention at once completely refocused. “Nurse Lane!”
Kym made her way to Anna, kissed her cheek, and handed over bottles. “I come bearing wine.”
“Thank you.”
“Nurse Lane, you’re taking my cast off before school on Monday.”
“Am I? I’ll have to check with my personal assistant that I can make it and I’m not all booked out.”
Ella’s face fell. “You might not be there?”
“Kidding, Ella, it’s written in my diary! Of course I’ll be there.”
Ella followed Kym into the kitchen, pulling Lane after her. Lane was dragged past Anna, grinning all the while, and Anna just wanted to kiss her; she looked so delicious. They settled for staring at each other and mumbling a completely enamoured “hey” back and forth, Lane’s arm brushing Anna’s front as she went by.
Eventually, they managed to settle Ella down with some slices of pizza and a DVD while the three women ate their own dinners with glasses of wine and Anna’s cheese plate in the kitchen.
Toby sat happily on Anna’s lap, starting to look sleepy, leaning back heavily against her as he chewed on a cracker.
“So, I went back to group therapy yesterday.” Kym looked nervous at the admission.
Lane unsuccessfully tried to hide her surprise. “Yeah? How did that go?”
Kym shrugged, eyeing her food. Anna wondered when she should be worried about the amount of time Kym spent staring at food and not eating it.
“Fine. I even stayed the whole time.”