Unexpected Sparks

by Gina Dartt

  Kate frowned, her brows drawing down. “I don’t care what people think.”

  “Bullshit.” Kate flinched and Susan lifted her head. “Kate, I’m not trying to be homophobic here, but you’re going to shake up the town’s perception of you, and we both know people in this town really don’t like being shaken up. Have you thought about your business?”

  Anger rose dully inside Kate, without direction or a target. It made her defensive. “I’ve been carrying gay and lesbian books in the store for over a year. No one protested except Abigail Jenkins, who objects to everything new that happens without her personal approval anyway. Believe it or not, Truro is being dragged into the twentieth century, even if it’s already the twenty-first. I bet you didn’t even know that there’s a gay community in this town.”

  “Of course I did,” Susan said. “They hold dances and potlucks over at the Lyon’s Club. But I didn’t know you were going to join their committee.”

  Kate, who hadn’t a clue about the potlucks or the dances, opened her mouth and then paused. “I’m not talking about that,” she said. There’s a committee? She took a breath. “Nikki and I escalated our relationship only recently. We haven’t had a chance to…explore all the repercussions of it yet.”

  “Okay, fine.” Susan leaned back against the cushions. “So her name is Nikki. Do I know her?”

  “I don’t know. Her last name is Harris. She grew up in Old Barns.”

  Susan gaped at her. “Nicole Harris? Little Nikki Harris? Holy Mother of God, Kate, she’s still in high school!”

  “She most certainly is not,” Kate protested, her face feeling hot. “She’s twenty-six.”

  “You’re forty—old enough to be her mother!”

  “I am not. Well, all right, technically, I suppose I am, but she’s very mature, Susan, and highly intelligent. The talks we’ve shared about books and current events have been the most stimulating and provocative I’ve ever experienced.”

  “Are you sure she’s not after your money?”

  “What money? The bookstore barely makes enough to cover the overhead and pay for the heat and lights.”

  “The bookstore doesn’t make that much,” Susan said, “but you personally, Kate, are worth more than most people in this town, even if the larger percentage of it is tied up in your trust funds. Between what your grandfather left you, what your parents left you, and the legacy from your Uncle Abner—”

  “All right,” Kate said, holding up a hand to slow her down. “Nikki doesn’t know about that. To her, I’m just the owner of Novel Companions, trying to make ends meet. She probably doesn’t even know I’m the granddaughter of Irene Taylor.”

  “Has she been up here?” Susan waved a hand to indicate the apartment. “It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out you’re financially solvent from the way you furnished the place or the car you drive. I know you like to live frugally, Kate, but quality shows.”

  “She’s not after my money!” Kate barked, leaning forward in her chair. She glared at Susan and then relaxed, acknowledging that things had become a bit heated and recognizing the need to cool down a bit. She forced herself to control her annoyance as she accepted that her friend was only trying to look out for her.

  “All right.” Susan eased her body language. “I’m not trying to bad-mouth Nikki, Kate, honestly. If you care about her, then she’s obviously someone pretty special. You certainly wouldn’t waste your time on just anyone. I’m simply trying to look at it from all angles. You have to admit, this is sort of coming out of the blue.”

  “It was a surprise to me, too. But it feels right, Susan. For the first time in my life, it really feels right.”

  Susan sighed. “It must,” she said, in an almost envious tone. “I’ve never seen you like this. You’re positively glowing.”

  “I am?”

  “You are. So last night was...all right?”

  Kate hesitated but was unable to keep the smile from spreading over her face. “Last night was incredible. So were this morning and this afternoon.”

  Susan leaned back in her seat and sipped her coffee. “I think I’m jealous. Do women really know what other women like best?”

  “You just want the lurid details.” Kate eyed her friend. “I’m not about to give them to you.”

  “At least tell me if it was better than being with David.”

  “Oh, Susan, there’s no comparison,” Kate said before she could stop herself. She forced herself to be fair. “That’s not David’s fault. He was always…very gentle, very giving. And he always did his absolute best by me when it came to sex. If I wasn’t able to respond in the way another woman might have, well, in hindsight, that was my doing, not his.”

  She crossed her legs, feeling a bit of a twinge at their juncture as she abruptly remembered what it had been like with Nikki, the surge of desire catching her by surprise. “Don’t get me wrong, Susan. It wasn’t horrible being with him. I think I even managed...well, an orgasm now and again. With Nikki...” She stared into nothing, almost able to taste her on her lips, remembering the intensity of their joining, the heights of ecstasy Nikki had inspired in her, the sheer heat that threatened to incinerate her alive—

  “Kate!”

  Kate jumped. “What?”

  “You just zoned out on me. Nikki must really know her stuff.”

  Kate felt the temperature of her entire body rise. “It’s not the sex, it’s the love. If I’d felt about David what I feel for her, we’d still be married.”

  Susan laughed and shook her head. “This is unbelievable. I came up here expecting to get all the dirt on Sam and how he died, and instead I discover my best friend has made a complete change in lifestyle.”

  Kate felt exasperated as she glanced at Susan. “I hate that term. It makes it sound as if I changed careers or something. I haven’t changed my lifestyle at all. I’ll be living exactly the way I always have. I’ll just be able to share it with someone for a change. I’m still the same person.”

  “Oh, who are you trying to kid?” Susan scoffed. “You’re not the same at all. You’re all lit up like a Christmas tree, you’re more animated, your voice is louder, and every so often you sort of mentally wander off and develop a stupid grin on your face. The sun’s a bit brighter, food tastes much better, even if you’ll forget to eat half the time, and frankly, after a while, you’ll be so damned insufferable that the rest of us poor people not freshly in love will just want to slap you silly!”

  Kate laughed, and Susan waggled her finger at her. “See what I mean? You laugh at absolutely nothing.” She took another swallow of coffee. “So when am I going to meet this wonder woman?”

  “She’s coming over for dinner tomorrow night.” Kate hesitated, and Susan started to chuckle.

  “It was supposed to be a romantic dinner, wasn’t it? Are you really sure you want me around? I can stay in a hotel.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Kate said, though a certain part of her felt a pang of regret for the change in plans. “I know she’ll enjoy meeting you. After all, you’re my best friend, and I want her to be a part of my life.” She paused deliberately. “But after dinner, maybe you could go stay with your folks?”

  Susan threw a pillow at her, and Kate laughed again. She really did feel giddy and agreed she truly wasn’t the same person. Susan was also right about how life tasted so much sweeter now, how the world around her seemed to glow with a luminescent appeal. On the way over from Nikki’s apartment, she had been captivated more than once by the incredible view of streetlights glinting off the fresh layer of snow, the deep dark blue of the sky punctuated with bright pinpoints of stars, the sheer joy of being alive and in love.

  Susan was right, she thought happily as she finished her coffee. She was insufferable.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nikki entered the Mayflower Diner on feet that almost defied gravity, not even seeing her friends as she strolled happily toward the table in the corner. She felt someone reach out and grab her by the arm as
she passed their booth. As she turned, she spotted Kim and her lover, Lynn, and smiled beatifically. “Hi,” she said. “How are you doing?”

  They both stared at her. “Where the hell were you Saturday night?” Kim asked. “I tried calling about ten times. You don’t usually forget about us like that.”

  Nikki belatedly remembered that Kim had invited her over for a gathering to commiserate her lack of love interest and general dissatisfaction with life. “Oh, God, I’m sorry,” she said as she sat down in the booth next to Lynn. “I…uh, I unplugged my phone Saturday night. I didn’t remember to plug it back in until last night.”

  “Why would you unplug your phone?” Lynn asked. Darker, older, and quieter than Kim, she was also quicker to spot things that were unusual and tended to get quickly to the heart of the matter. She also had a way of commenting on things that left others in stitches…once they had the chance to realize what exactly she had said.

  “I was...with someone.”

  Both stared at her again, and she started to squirm.

  “Get out,” Kim said, a grin spreading across her face. She glanced around, then leaned closer. “You don’t mean...”

  Nikki felt cornered and smug at the same time. “Kate and I...spent the day together. One thing sort of led to another—”

  “Oh, God, not again.” Lynn groaned.

  Nikki wasn’t surprised that Lynn already knew all about her romantic interest in Kate. Kim would have told her almost as soon as she had found out. “It’s not like that. She loves me. She’s already said she does.”

  “That in itself is a little quick, don’t you think?” asked Lynn. “Sometimes saying it too often and too early is as suspicious as not saying it at all.”

  “Well, I’m glad to know you’re happy for me.”

  “It’s not that,” Kim said. “It’s just that...hell, this happened fast. Only a few days ago you were telling me that she was straight. Can you blame us for getting a sense of déjà vu?”

  “Sometimes it just works that way. After all, I knew Anne for two years before anything happened, and that didn’t make things go any smoother in the end. Kate and I...” Her gaze became distant. “We just click, you know?”

  Kim and Lynn looked at each other.

  “She’s got it bad,” Kim said.

  “It’s going to be unbearable,” Lynn agreed.

  “We’re just going to have to put up with it for the time being.”

  Nikki was more annoyed. “Will you guys stop.”

  Kim shook her head. “Well, it’s obvious that we can’t talk to you right now. You’re fully into that stupid stage new lovers go through. Let’s give this a month or so, then we’ll be able to talk sensibly.” She lifted her brows. “I suppose we can also expect you to disappear for the next little while.”

  “Disappear?”

  “Just like you did Saturday night,” Kim said, flipping her fingers in the air. “Oh, you’ll probably call us now and again, but I think you’ll be blowing us off for the foreseeable future while you hang out with Kate and her sort.”

  “What do you mean, ‘her sort’?”

  “You know, the upper crust in town,” Lynn said. “All those mucky-mucks on the town council, all the members of the golf club, the curling club—”

  “Or is she just going to keep you in the closet?” Kim tilted her head. “I know. She’ll probably give you a new job. You can be her new part-time help at the store.”

  “All right,” Nikki said, putting enough of an edge in her voice to let them know the teasing had crossed the line. “That’s enough.”

  “Okay, we’re sorry,” Lynn said. “Is she going to visit this side?”

  “Of course,” Nikki said promptly, aware that Anne hadn’t been interested in participating in the group’s events and expecting much better of her new love. “She’ll be part of our community.”

  Kim smirked. “I wouldn’t count on that. I can just picture Mrs. Shannon at our next dance, particularly when the guys start groping each other. She’d probably call the vice squad.”

  Nikki frowned. “She’s not like that,” she said, starting to become angry.

  Kim must have sensed she had gone too far, because she put her hands up immediately. “Maybe not. Fine, Nikki, bring her around, but don’t be surprised if she begs off. Just because she’s with a woman doesn’t mean that she’s prepared to embrace ‘the lifestyle.’”

  Nikki rolled her eyes. “We don’t have a ‘lifestyle.’ We have dances at the fire hall, barbeques in the park, pizza and videos, exactly like straights. We’re so excruciatingly middle class we’d bore the hell out of the society pages.”

  “Yes, but we don’t want them to know that,” Lynn said. “They want to think that our events require pentagrams painted on the floor and that we throw orgies in the church pews. Who are we to disappoint them?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re nasty?”

  “Frequently.” Kim smiled fondly as she glanced at Lynn. “Fortunately, I love her anyway.”

  “Someone has to.” Lynn glanced at Nikki. “So you and she did the deed?”

  Nikki finally nodded. “Yes.”

  “And?” Kim prodded.

  “It was great.” Nikki hugged herself as she stared off into space. “Everything I could have imagined and then some.”

  “Remember when it was like that for us, Kim?” Lynn sighed wistfully.

  Kim frowned. “You mean it isn’t anymore?”

  “Who the hell have you been sleeping with?”

  Nikki shook her head in exasperation at her friends who could take the romance out of a sunset and glanced toward the counter, hoping Addy would drop by to take her order.

  Addy must have been waiting for a break in the intense conversation, because as soon as Nikki looked her way, she moseyed over, bearing her pad. “You decide?”

  “Soup of the day. Tuna on whole wheat. A glass of milk.”

  Kim nodded approvingly. “Good. Healthy. Got to keep up your strength now.”

  Nikki shot her a dirty look, but Lynn and Kim were busy with each other.

  “You got this, Kim?”

  “Sure.”

  Nikki moved out of the way as Lynn slid out of the booth, her lunch finished, saying that she had to get back to her office.

  As Lynn left the diner, Nikki asked Kim, “Are you off today?”

  “I have the evening shift.” Kim dug into a large hot fudge sundae. Her friends found it a constant aggravation that Kim could eat just about anything and never gain an ounce. Of course, it undoubtedly helped that she led three classes of aerobics a day. “So what are your plans for the rest of the week?”

  “Well, tonight Kate and I are having dinner at her place.”

  “Ah, a romantic dinner.”

  “Originally.” Nikki made a face. “Kate called last night. Apparently, an old friend of hers came up from the city to go to Sam’s funeral tomorrow and is staying with her. So I guess it’s more a meet-my-best-friend sort of dinner.”

  “Best behavior, babe. At least it’s not a meet-the-parents type dinner.”

  “Kate’s parents are dead, so I won’t have to go through that. It’s too bad I couldn’t take Kate home to meet Mom and Dad, though. I think they’d like her a lot...if she were my friend rather than my lover.”

  “They’d flip, Nik.” Kim licked the whipped cream off her spoon.

  “Yeah.” Nikki felt a twinge again, sadness at a reality that she doubted would ever change.

  “Not because she’s a woman. Because she’s twice your age. They’d think she’s cradle robbing.”

  “She’s not twice my age. She’s only...” She did the math; twenty-six from forty left... “Okay, so she’s fourteen years older than me. Big deal.”

  “It could be. I’m not trying to bring you down, Nik. I’m just saying that for some people, it could be a problem.”

  “Age doesn’t matter.”

  As Addy deposited Nikki’s soup and sandwich, Kim exchang
ed a glance with the waitress before she reached over and nudged Nikki. “So, anything new on the murder?”

  Nikki tried her soup and found it delicious, as always. “You wouldn’t believe what happened Saturday.” Between bites, she filled Kim in on all the events two days earlier.

  “You think Rushton did it?”

  “I do. It just bothers me how cool she was, though. I think she had a chance to hide the more incriminating stuff before we went back.”

  “Maybe you and Kate should take another look through the house.”

  “Maybe we should,” Nikki said, forgetting that they had agreed to let it rest. “Meanwhile, do you think Lynn could track down some things for me?”

  “I’ll ask her.” Kim picked up her coat. “Give her a call tomorrow night. I have to go. See you later.”

  “Bye,” Nikki said and, alone, she finished her meal, thinking over what she had learned about Katherine Rushton and Sam Madison, frequently interspersing this information with random thoughts of her new love and the memories of the night they had spent together. She had never felt so in tune with another person, so peaceful on so many levels, and the new sensations made her realize how frantic and uncertain her feelings about Anne had been. She and Kate were just so comfortable, and when they made love for the first time, it was as if they had been making love with each other forever, unafraid to tell each other what they liked and didn’t, communicating openly without fear of rejection or hurt.

  She realized she had finished her soup when her spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl, and she grinned at herself, knowing she had to get these mental jaunts into the ether under control. She’d have to get out there and start rattling the bushes for a job again, check out the listings at the unemployment office, and see what else was going on around town. She was determined to find something better for herself in Truro. No way was she going to move back to the city now.

  Glancing up as Addy approached, bearing a piece of chocolate cream pie, she was dismayed when the waitress put it in front of her. “I didn’t order this.” She was embarrassed because she knew she couldn’t afford it. She could barely afford the soup and sandwich.