by Radclyffe
“I had to make a stop at the mall, that’s why we’re a little late.”
“No problem.” Carol squirmed, biting her bottom lip.
“And, um…” Lily’s smile turned from saccharine to genuine. “Thanks for lending me the book. I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can.”
“Take your time. I hope you like it.”
“Oh, I know I will!” Lily cleared her throat and rolled her eyes. “God, I sound like a cheerleader.” Carol nodded; she could absolutely picture that. “Sorry, I’m just…” She shook her head. “Well, since I’m here…here.” Lily stuck her hand into the house, holding out an unsealed business envelope. The check.
“Thanks.” Carol took it and held it down at her side like it had a large red D-minus scratched across it. Getting handed her child support and alimony from Lily just felt wrong, somehow. “Well, enjoy the book.”
Lily’s smile withered just a little. “I will. Thanks again. Bye.” Carol watched her jog back to her car before closing the door and looking at the envelope. It was already stamped and addressed in Dan’s handwriting, but it had obviously been reopened. And it was thicker than usual.
“Extra! Must be something for the kids,” Carol sighed as she ripped open the envelope, which held the check and another, wallet-sized envelope—a gift card from the local megabookstore chain. “What’s this?”
“Are you and Lily, like, friends now?” Glen asked absent-mindedly as he strolled into the room.
“Do you have a book report coming up or something?” Glen shrugged and nodded toward the gift card. “Did you read the note inside?”
“No.” She flipped open the holder to the neatly written note. Reading is Fundamental. It didn’t look at all like Dan’s chicken scratch. “Did your father give you this?”
“Please. When have you ever seen Dad in a bookstore?” Heading for the kitchen, the boy laughed and shouted over his shoulder, “I told her to write Library books suck instead, but she wouldn’t go for it!”
“No way.” Carol’s eyes went wide when she saw the amount of the card—three hundred dollars—the exact amount of all the previous “gifts” from her ex-husband. “Oh, my god,” Carol whispered to herself, “it was her all along.”
Carol could always count on her friend Angela for cheering up, retail therapy, and Dan-bashing. In the past she reveled in her friend’s creative abuses of her ex-husband, but lately she couldn’t bother to hate him with as much ferocity. She was just about to explain as much when Angela stopped them in the middle of the mall food court.
“What?”
“Look at what’s coming this way.” Carol followed Angela’s line of vision. Lily was walking toward them wearing cutoffs and an old tee, yet still looking every bit the drop-dead gorgeous home wrecker.
“Hi, Carol.” Lily’s smile was cautiously friendly. She extended her hand to Angela, who just smirked at it. “I’m Lily.”
“Oh, I know who—”
“This is Lily—Dan’s wife—the kids’ stepmother,” Carol stammered. “This is my friend Angela.” She gave her friend a pleading look, hoping to god that she wouldn’t make a scene. “Doing some shopping, Lily?”
“Oh, you know. Just walking around.” Lily finally took back her hand.
“Yeeeaaah. Well, Angela, are you about ready to—”
“How is Dan?” Angela asked with mock interest. “Still into those gigantic monster SUVs?”
Carol cleared her throat, but Lily laughed it off. “Afraid so. I think they’re awful, too.”
Angela rolled her eyes. “Really.”
“Yeah, but he loves his toys.”
“Apparently.”
Carol clawed at her friend’s sleeve. “Angie?”
“So, Lily, what do you drive, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Lily pulled her hair behind her ears. “I have a Jag.”
“Of course you—”
“But most days I drive my Prius.”
Angela folded her arms across her chest. “Well, aren’t you the green one? You’ve got your secondhand husband and your hybrid car—there’s no stopping you, is there?”
Carol nearly choked on her own tongue. “You know what, we should—”
“No, I was just…nice to…yeah.” Lily forced a tense smile and quickly walked away. Carol could barely look Angela in the eye.
“I can’t believe you were so nice to her!”
“Let’s just go,” Carol mumbled to her feet. She couldn’t believe a lot of things lately.
It was dusk, and Carol wondered what the setting sun’s rays would look like reflected on the pool—or anything in it. She didn’t bother ringing the bell, just went directly to the backyard.
When she got there, Lily was staring at the sky, arms over her head, hands resting on her neck. She was a vision.
“Lily?”
“We weren’t expecting you until later. I’m afraid I’m the only one here.”
“Good,” Carol admitted, her mouth dry. “I came to see you.”
“Hm.” Lily finally looked at her husband’s first wife. “Why?”
“I wanted to apologize for Angela. In the mall? She can be… blunt.”
“She was just being honest.” Her shoulders fell, and she suddenly looked very vulnerable in her silk caftan. “She has every right to hate me, just like you do.”
“I don’t hate you.” It was bizarre realizing that she actually did not hate this woman. She really intensely did not hate her. It was a scary thought…a little exciting, too. “Not that I don’t have reason to! I mean, you did…well…”
“Ruin your marriage.” Carol wondered if great white sharks were capable of expressing remorse. “Dan cheated on you with me…and then he married me.” Lily looked down at the ring on her finger. “So you hate me.”
Carol opened the gate and slipped inside the yard. “Can you blame me? Not that I want Dan back. I’m over him, completely.” They both seemed to breathe a little easier. It never occurred to Carol that Lily might be nervous about that. “But, yes. What you did wasn’t…a nice thing to do to someone.”
“You’re right. I used to…I still do…sort of…feel bad about that.” All Carol could think was Wow. “But I don’t know how to, or if I even should…say I’m…um…sorry.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
Lily sank down into a wicker loveseat and stared off into space until Carol sat down beside her. “I’ve always wanted to say this to you, but I wasn’t sure how. And we’ve never really had the chance to talk before, and…you’re so nice.” Carol smiled. “No, I mean it. You’ve never been rude to me or anything. I couldn’t blame you if you resented me.” Lily reached out tentatively, like she was afraid of burning her hand, before gently grasping Carol’s wrist. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, Carol. You didn’t deserve that. It makes me sad to think that your life changed drastically because of me.”
Carol watched Lily’s fingers rubbing her skin, which suddenly felt hot. “You feel sorry for me.”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“That explains the extra money. I thought it was from Dan. I didn’t know it was guilt money to ease your conscience.”
“I guess I deserve that. I’m sorry.” Lily started to pull her hand away, but Carol reflexively grabbed and held it tight before she lost the chance.
Lily looked away, across the huge yard into the trees shielding them from the world. “Maybe it was guilt money, but I didn’t intend it that way. I know what your settlement was, and it should have been more. Dan can be, well, frugal.” Hearing Carol giggling, Lily turned back and smiled shyly. “I guess you already knew that!”
“Yeah.” Lily turned her hand so their palms touched, fingers entwined. It felt very strange, intimate, and delicious. “Thanks. The extra money definitely helped.”
Lily looked up at Carol with huge eyes. “You want to go swimming with me?”
“I don’t have anything to wear,” Carol answered, though she’d already ma
de up her mind.
“That’s okay.” Lily stood, still holding Carol’s hand. “No one’s watching but me.”
The robe Lily gave her barely covered her naked ass. Carol tried to hold it closed as she walked out of the house and accepted a wineglass from Lily.
“This robe is too small for me.”
“You’ll only have it on a minute,” Lily answered as she led Carol to the heated pool.
“It’s been ages since I’ve been swimming,” Carol murmured, nervously.
“What about skinny-dipping?”
“N-never.”
Lily took Carol’s glass from her. “Then it’s time you start.”
“Yes.” After a deep breath, Carol shook the small white robe off and walked down the steps into the pool. Even with eyes closed she could tell Lily was watching her. She dove under to hide her smile, then surfaced to float on her back.
It was quiet for a while. Carol swam and floated lazily, enjoying the warm water on her face and chest, and the way it lapped between her legs. It felt like heaven, both in spite of and because of the eyes following her. After a while she called out, “Aren’t you coming in?”
“Just admiring the view.” When Carol suddenly looked up, Lily was blushingly finishing her glass of wine. Carol waded into waist-deep water.
“I think that was my glass.”
Putting both glasses down, Lily licked her lips and murmured, “I guess I have a history of wanting things that belong to you.”
Carol’s skin went to gooseflesh. “Is that so?” Lily pulled off the caftan, tossed it aside and walked naked into the pool, inches from where Carol was shivering in the warm water.
“That’s so.” Before Carol could speak, Lily grabbed her hands and sputtered, “I’m sorry for everything, Carol. I hope you can forgive me one day. I just…want to be a good person.”
“You are a good person.”
“So are you.” It must have been the water that brought them together. Carol didn’t notice either of them moving forward, but somehow they ended up in each other’s arms, hugging close, breathing on necks and in wet hair, their breasts pressing closer with each breath. Carol could feel both their hearts racing.
“You’re making it very hard to hate you, Lily.”
“Good.” Pulling away to look Carol in the eye, Lily placed both hands on Carol’s face, smoothing the hair back behind Carol’s ears. “You make it real easy to like you.” She traced Carol’s cheekbones, her nose, and then her open mouth. “Like you a lot.”
“Oh.” It was the strangest thing that had ever happened to Carol, being naked in the arms of the woman who, she used to think, ruined her life. Part of her wanted to thank Dan—if he hadn’t been such a bastard, she’d never have been here, about to kiss the most beautiful shark in the ocean.
It was brief at first, just a small press of lips, until Lily asked, “Is this okay?” and Carol answered with a deeper kiss.
Just as she felt her knees start to wobble, Carol pulled back and whispered, “I like you, too. In case you were wondering.” Lily made a high pitched squeak in her throat and dove back in for more.
The swimming pool was calm, and empty. Upstairs, Carol kicked a tangled silk sheet off the bed and watched breathlessly as Lily licked a mixture of sweat and other secretions from the inside of her thigh. “Taking the day off from work was the best idea we’ve had in months.”
“Definitely.” Lily kissed a line from thigh to mons to navel before looking up with hopeful eyes. “Carol?”
“Honey.”
“I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t the ultimate revenge against a cheating ex-husband be to steal away the woman he cheated with in the first place…and then move in with her?” she added quickly.
Carol’s brow wrinkled. “This isn’t about revenge. It’s about us…right?”
“You didn’t answer the question, baby.”
“Are you serious?”
“Look, if you don’t want to, just say so.”
“Lily.” Carol’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “You would leave Dan for me?”
“Yes, I would.”
Carol’s heart began to race, faster than it did earlier, when they’d torn each other’s clothes to shreds to get inside each other. “But…your house.”
“Do you really think that matters to me?”
After months of spending nearly all their free time together, publicly as new friends, privately as lovers, Carol thought she knew almost everything about this woman. She smiled and pulled Lily up into a kiss. “Okay. Come home with me. To stay.”
Lily smiled and laid her head on Carol’s chest. They stroked each other’s bodies quietly for a while before she cleared her throat and stated, “By the way…this is my house. I bought it before I married Dan. I had a really lucrative dot-com in the nineties and got out before the bubble burst. Then I invested wisely and…well, I’m not filthy rich, but…I’m kind of well off. All on my own.”
Carol shook her head. It was nothing but wonderful surprises with Lily from the start. “Figures. So why didn’t you ever tell me? Were you worried I’d only want you for your money?”
“Money’s important,” Lily sighed. “Money makes people do stupid things. Like marry the wrong person.”
Carol hesitated. “So what now?”
“It’s up to you. Just know that…I can help take care of you and the kids. That’s not something you’d ever have to worry about again.”
Carol could feel her throat start to tighten; she needed to get everything out before she couldn’t talk. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you were kind to me when you didn’t have to be. Because you accepted my friendship when you didn’t have to. And…because I’m in love with you.”
Carol waited to say it back until she was back in the pool, watching Lily make graceful breaches for no one’s eyes but hers. It was the place where they first kissed, made love, met, and Carol blurted the three words out like she’d explode if she didn’t. Lily kissed her and floated back into the deep end, smiling proudly like she knew the truth all along.
QUEENS UP
Andrea Dale
It was my daddy who taught me to play poker.
He was a good father as fathers go, I suppose, especially considering my mother died when I was four and he had his hands full raising me. He was also a very good teacher, and I was hustling the ranch hands before some of them realized the ragged moppet who dogged their heels was not, in fact, of the male persuasion. Took them a right long while, too, considering how I’d been so modest about peeing in front of ’em.
I tended toward wearing men’s clothes even as I grew older, because it was much easier roping cattle in breeches than a skirt, and skirts were just nuisances anyway, not to mention stockings and petticoats, and besides, there was no one around to properly lace me into a corset.
Even my childhood playmate Margaret Compton didn’t know when we were children. Which is why when we grew older things grew a mite complicated, because I had a crush on her.
In the end, though, it worked out fine, because sweet Margaret Compton wasn’t about to go getting any crushes on men, either, and when she found out my secret, well, we then had a delicious secret to share, just between us two.
But I was talking about my daddy.
For all he was a good man at heart, the problem was simple. There was one other thing that he was good at, and that was drinking. So, for all his good teaching of the cards, my father wasn’t a very good poker player at all.
Which is how he came to lose our family’s ranch to one Mister Samuel Owens.
By the time this happened, I’d been running the ranch for years, not that anyone outside knew that. Wasn’t proper for a woman to be making such decisions—what did a pretty thing know about cattle and budgets and weather patterns and ordering men around? So my daddy was the figurehead, the one who went to the bank and the auctions (on mornings after I’d hidden his bottles so his head would be clear). Me, I balanced th
e books and wrote up orders for supplies and, yes, bossed the men around, but by that time they knew I was capable and cared enough about the ranch to keep our secret safe.
God took pity on me the next morning when Samuel came out to the ranch to take a good, long look at his new ownings (not that I knew the reason for his visit as yet).
I wasn’t riding out on the back forty or forking hay off a wagon that day. Instead, I was inside catching up on some business correspondence for my daddy to sign when he woke up from last night’s binge, and Margaret had time to run in and let me know company was approaching.
I’d have to play hostess while someone roused Daddy and stuck his head under the pump to shock some soberness into him.
Margaret was more versed in the intricacies of women’s clothing than I, so she rushed about gathering skirts and boots with tiny buttons and whatever else I’d need to shoehorn myself into.
At that point in our relationship, we had to keep things pretty quiet, so Margaret slept in the servants’ quarters and our trysts were rare, stolen moments. Her own daddy had died coming up on two years ago, and I’d promised him that I’d take care of Margaret as if she were one of my own. And she was my own—she had my heart, and I hers. By outside appearances, she was our maid and cook, and when the occasional hand took a fancy to courting her, she smiled and gently eased his attentions aside.
My point being, when I looked up from shucking my shirt and trousers, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the look in her eyes.
Hunger. Need. Lust.
The same sensations flared through me, ignited a fire in my belly—and below.
Aware of my own foolishness, I still couldn’t help but step toward her, take her face in my hands, and kiss her.
Every time I kissed her was heaven, but it had been far too long since we’d been able to be together, and so the sweet heat of her mouth was a desperate homecoming. I wanted to devour her, be devoured by her. Her tongue danced with mine, and all I could think of was how that tongue felt in the hollow of my shoulder, on the hard peak of my breast, at the juncture between my thighs.