by Annette Mori
Joy was pulling her luggage behind her and scrunched up her face. “Okay, now that we’ve disposed of that unpleasantness, can we please check into our rooms? I’m about done dragging around my suitcase.”
“I’m not sure we can check in this early. That’s what you get for packing so much. I always pack light, just in case I have to lug my pack around for a while. I got used to that when I traveled around Europe. I learned how to roll my clothes, leaving plenty of room in my backpack for gifts and trinkets. Do you need me to drag your luggage around until we can check in, princess?” Rachel teased.
“Nope, I don’t need you to carry my books, unless it means something. Like maybe we’ll start going steady with all the side benefits. Of course I will expect sex, if that’s the case,” Joy quipped.
Rachel shook her head and chuckled.
“We were able to check in early, so I’m sure you can as well. Oh shit, my luggage is back in the room. It’s not even been ten minutes and already I’m going to have to face Lara again.” Sophia teared up. “Damn, I can’t do it. I feel like buying new everything and leaving my case exactly where it is, but then I’ll have to give up my favorite shirt. Fuck it.” Sophia slapped her hand against her mouth. “I can’t believe I’m conversing like an ignorant sailor. I promise I am college educated, but those cuss words keep sneaking out of my mouth.”
“You can swear all you want. We won’t think any less of you. Will we, Joy?”
“Hell, no. Cuss away, girlfriend. It’s about time you let your hair down a little,” Joy assured her. “I have no problem storming the fort and liberating your luggage. Just give me ten minutes and I’ll have your bags for you.”
Joy glanced back in Lara’s direction. “Don’t turn around, but Lara is still in the parlor on her cell phone. You two just head out into the sunshine and wait for me. Okay?”
Sophia hugged her friend. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you and Rachel to help me through this little Greek tragedy.”
Sophia had forgotten her sunglasses and as they made their way outside on their way to the Inner Harbor, she squinted in the sunshine. The bright light felt like an omen to her. After two days in hell, she looked up and welcomed the warm sun on her face.
Rachel pulled her pack off her back and placed it next to one of the outside benches near the rose garden. She led Sophia to the bench and motioned for her to sit. When Sophia sat down, Rachel pulled her close and let Sophia rest her head on her shoulder.
“How are you doing? Really?” Rachel asked.
The tenderness that accompanied her question caused Sophia to shed more tears. She felt more care and concern from this near stranger than she had ever felt with her wife of almost ten years. Sophia marveled at the combination of strength and gentleness that exuded from every one of Rachel’s pores.
“How is it possible that you are doing so well and I’m falling apart every other minute? I can’t seem to get my emotions under control.”
“Anger is fueling me at this particular moment,” Rachel replied. “Plus, I’ve always felt the need to make things right. Middle child syndrome, I suppose. I have a hard time not playing the peacemaker or protector, whichever the situation calls for. At this point, that’s what is monopolizing my attention. I don’t have time to feel sadness. Not many people have seen me cry. You should feel honored, you are one of the few that was privileged enough to have a ring side seat at my mini breakdown when we were at the park.”
“Well, maybe when I’m done emoting all over you, I can give you the support you need to come out the other side of this fucked up tunnel,” Sophia offered.
“I might take you up on that, but only when I’m sure you’ve made it to the other side and can help lead me to the promised land.” Rachel brushed her hand through Sophia’s hair and caressed her back as Sophia continued to lay her head on Rachel’s shoulder.
Sophia relaxed against Rachel. She guessed that they both needed to spend a few moments with their own thoughts without speaking. The silence was like a salve and Sophia appreciated how she could just sit without talking.
†
When a half an hour had passed, Sophia began to worry that Lara was somehow starting to weave another web of lies that would put her at an advantage.
Finally, she heard the distinctive clip clop of Joy’s heels and turned around to see her grinning best friend.
“I checked us in and deposited my bag and yours. Mighty mouse can lug around her back pack since she’s such an accomplished traveler.” Joy bowed in front of Rachel.
“No problems?” Rachel asked.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, but Lara is no match for me. Let’s just say we came to an understanding and she won’t be looking to me as an ally.”
“Mighty mouse, huh?” Rachel laughed.
“Before I forget, I meant to tell you that I am so fucking proud of you, hon,” Joy exclaimed. “I saw you waver for a second and then the powerful, independent Sophia I know came out to play. I couldn’t have done it better. When you threatened to have her ass thrown in jail, I wanted to bump fists like those silly boys do all the time.”
“You do know this isn’t over for Lara?” Rachel asked.
“Hey, don’t rain on my parade. It’s a sunny day. I have a second wind thanks to you, Rachel. I’ll be ready to deal with Lara when she crawls out from under whatever rock she slithers until she’s ready to make her move. Don’t worry, by then I’m sure I will have enough inner strength on my own to deal with her in the same fashion as today,” Sophia assured them.
“Just so you know, I had the lawyers specify how she is allowed to get her shit from your place in New York and the house here in Seattle. She is supposed to make those arrangements through the attorneys and she has the next three weeks to accomplish that. During that time, we will be vacationing together and having ourselves a grand old time, compliments of her generous funding. In case she doesn’t sign right away, I liberated some of her funds and established individual accounts in our names,” Rachel explained.
Sophia looked at Rachel with renewed appreciation. In her eyes, Rachel was a pillar of strength when she felt lacking. Rachel talked a good game, but she suspected that Rachel had her own emotions to deal with. She was grateful that for now while she was still a little shaky, Rachel appeared to stuff those feelings deep inside in order to take charge and attend to all the little details.
“Thank you for thinking of absolutely everything. I was going to crawl back to New York with my tail between my legs and stay at a hotel until Lara cleared out the penthouse, but you know I deserve this vacation and screw it, I’m taking it,” Sophia declared.
“That’s the spirit. Let the debauchery begin,” Joy exclaimed.
“Well, I’m not sure I thought of everything. I’m sure Lara is pondering her next move right now. It’s what makes her such a great chess player. She always has several contingencies that I’m sure I haven’t thought about, but thanks for your faith in me. I agree with Joy, let the debauchery begin. Let’s see what kind of trouble three single, hot, women can get into. Have you noticed how delightfully gorgeous these Canadian women are? They have that wholesome natural beauty thing going for them. I say we check out all the artists performing on Inner Harbor, then order some mojito’s at Milestones. They make some of the best mixed drinks in Victoria, or so I’ve heard,” Rachel suggested.
Sophia watched as the corners of Rachel’s lips lifted. Her brilliant smile caused Sophia to surmise that the sunshine was no match for how dazzling Rachel looked when her genuine smile came through.
Sophia couldn’t help thinking that it was no wonder Lara fell for Rachel. She would be an easy person to fall in love with. Her lighthearted spirit and adventurous style was probably something that many women would gravitate to. Combine that with her stunning looks and her genuine down to earth aura, she could almost understand how she was irresistible to Lara. Maybe if she’d met her first, she might have been the one who started an affair. Sophia s
hook her head to toss the thought away. Who was she kidding? Sophia was not the type to ever stray from a committed relationship. She would move heaven and earth to work things out before she would ever cheat on her wife or girlfriend. She never had and she never would.
Sophia wondered why she wasn’t prepared to do everything possible to fix her marriage. Some things were just too broken to mend. It would never be the same and she knew it. She also knew that even if she was able to temporarily repair the relationship through counseling, it was only a matter of time before it would break again. No, she was better off not trying, even though it went against everything she fundamentally believed in. You didn’t just walk away from a marriage that you vowed for better or worse, but that was exactly what she was planning to do. She stopped in her tracks as this realization hit her.
Rachel turned around and looked at Sophia. A quizzical expression formed in her eyes and mouth.
Joy frowned. “Oh, no, you don’t. I know you and you think that you should try to work this out with Lara because after all you did make a vow to her. Nope, she broke that contract when she broke the law and married Rachel. Lara is a felony bigamist. Don’t you dare think that you owe it to her to stick with her no matter what. There is a limit to reasonable loyalty. I won’t let you go back to her. Back me up here, Rachel.”
Rachel looked at Sophia with such sadness in her eyes—it broke Sophia’s heart. “I can’t tell you what to do and I won’t judge, but I really wish you wouldn’t consider that a viable option. I don’t know you all that well, but what I do know is that you are better than that. She doesn’t deserve someone like you and she sure as hell does not deserve your forgiveness,” Rachel implored.
“Sorry, it was just a temporary moment of weakness. I guess I let some empathy slip through as I realized how hard it would be to resist falling in love with you,” Sophia confessed.
Rachel’s eyes went wide and Sophia turned bright red as she realized what she just confessed to.
“I can tell you without reservation that if I was married to you, there is not one single person on this planet, including Angelia Jolie—who I think is totally smoking—that would turn my head enough to risk losing you,” Rachel responded.
Sophia was taken aback at the raw honesty she saw in Rachel’s eyes. She realized at that very moment that she wanted Rachel in her life. Rachel could be a good friend, a lifelong friend like Joy. She needed more people like Rachel in her life.
Sophia linked arms with Joy and Rachel and they started walking to the Inner Harbor.
†
Victoria’s Inner Harbor was a menagerie of street performers, local artists, boats, seagulls, and tourists from across the world. The moon shaped walkway stretched around the harbor, giving a home to the eclectic people camping alongside the greenery, flowers, and vivid blue backdrop from the water splashing against the docks.
Rachel had a warm feeling as she felt Sophia’s arm link with her own. As they strolled along the Inner Harbor, she noticed a large crowd encircling two street performers. She tugged Sophia along when she saw the fire torches tossed above the crowd.
“Now this looks interesting and dangerous,” Rachel shouted over the oohs and aahs from the swarm of people enraptured by the performance.
“Who wants to help me out here? I need a brave assistant,” one of the artists called out.
Rachel nudged Sophia through the crowd and pointed at her head when they were close enough for the performers to notice.
“Well, hello, pretty lady. We like our assistants to be beautiful. It attracts more attention. Come on over here. We won’t bite and we’ll try not to set you on fire, mostly because you’re already hot enough.”
Rachel laughed when she noticed Sophia looking around to see who they were talking to. She whispered in Sophia’s ear. “They’re talking to you, silly.”
Sophia shook her head, “Uh uh, I think I’ve been burned enough lately, don’t you?”
Rachel noticed the smirk on Sophia’s face and was glad she could joke about her recent heartbreak.
Joy stepped forward. “Well, hell, if little Ms. Wussy Pants won’t step up, I will. Whatcha need, boys?”
“See that big bucket of torches?”
“You mean the unlit ones? That doesn’t seem too exciting for you to juggle. Where’d the fire go?” Joy asked.
“So you like to play with fire, do you?” the young man with shaggy blond hair asked. He wiggled his eyebrows. “My kind of woman.”
“Barking up the wrong tree, Shaggy, but I do like to play with fire, you’re just not quite my type.”
“Too young for you?” he asked.
“Nope. Too male for me,” Joy answered. “But if you have a sister?”
“Beautiful lesbians—just my luck. Oh well, you can still play with my fire.” The blond man took a lighter out of his board shorts and tossed it to Joy. “All you gotta do it light those torches and keep handing them to me until the bucket is empty.”
“I can handle that,” Joy answered.
Rachel grabbed Sophia’s hand and pulled her forward. “This I gotta see.” When Sophia made no move to release her hand, Rachel continued to hold it as they enjoyed a front row view of the show.
Joy looked at Rachel and Sophia, and her grin was positively wicked. She winked. As she proceeded to light the torches and hand them to the blond performer, an artful game of juggling began. Rachel suspected that Joy was trying her darndest to light the torches quickly in an attempt to make it more challenging and interesting for the audience, but the performers were far too skilled for her to trip them up.
The artists started singing. “Love is a burning thing, it makes a fiery ring....”
Rachel burst out laughing. “Oh, that is freaking hilarious, Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.”
Sophia began singing along. “Bound by wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire.”
Rachel looked at Sophia with renewed interest. She noted Sophia’s sultry singing voice and thought she would follow that voice anywhere. “Damn, girl, you can sing.”
The performers waved her on between catching their burning torches. As they turned, performing their increasingly intricate tosses into the air, around their backs, and under their legs, they continued to sing Ring of Fire.
The audience began clapping and cheering. Johnny Cash’s song never sounded so good with the blend of voices.
Sophia stopped singing and giggled. “Gosh, that feels good. It’s how I paid for college,” she explained.
The street performers juggled the twenty torches for another couple of minutes and then one by one extinguished each torch.
Joy playfully pulled the young man’s hat off his head and began working the crowd to get them to toss their money into the hat.
Rachel retrieved a hundred dollar bill and tossed it into the collection. Sophia pulled a wad of bills from her purse and added to the bounty. Joy gave the hat loaded with bills back to the young man and handed him a twenty.
“What are you doing for, say, the next three or four months?” the young performer asked. “We could use a third person who can actually sing. It gives our act a little more oompf.”
Sophia waved him away. “I’m on vacation. Good luck, boys.”
“Have a nice day, Shaggy and friend.” Joy waved, too, as they walked away.
“Well, that was fun. We should go find a karaoke bar. This woman’s got game. I just discovered her hidden talent. Anything else up that beautiful sleeve of yours?” Rachel asked.
Rachel took Sophia’s hand again and led her to the rows of artists showing their handmade wares.
“Ooh, these miniature watercolors are incredible,” Sophia exclaimed. “I want something to remember this afternoon. It’s been the bright spot of my day and I want to focus on the positive. How much?” she asked.
“Twenty-five,” the vendor answered.
Sophia smiled broadly. “I’ll take it. The fish are so colorful. I love it.”
Rachel marveled at th
e childlike wonder in Sophia’s eyes and it was one more thing that endeared her to Sophia.
There was no sense in denying that she was attracted to Sophia, but to act on that would be the very worst thing possible. Friends. They needed to stay friends—nothing more. They could share their common experience. Maybe form a support group for victims of lesbian bigamists. Rachel wondered if such a thing existed and couldn’t help finding humor at the absurdity of such thoughts.
She would enjoy spending time with her new friends, but Sophia was strictly off-limits. Frankly, at this point, every woman was strictly off-limits. She desperately needed a break from love and sex. No good would come from either one until she had time to get a handle on her anger.
Joy shook Rachel from her musings. “Okay, now that we’ve tasted the requisite Inner Harbor festivities—I say it’s time for some alcohol therapy. Mojitos, bellinis, margaritas, pick your poison, because they have them all at Milestones. At least that’s what I heard from a scrumptious Canadian woman that I ran across while I was checking us in. I think the food there is decent as well. We can have an early dinner.”
“Do they have an outside patio? The day is too nice to spend locked inside a restaurant. I’d like to spent a few more minutes just relaxing and looking out at the water, if it’s okay. A room packed with merry tourists might be a bit too much for me just yet. Can we ease into it, please?” Sophia pleaded.
“I wouldn’t mind a few minutes of peace myself, but not here where all the crowds are gathered. I’m sure if we walk along the water we can find something a little less occupied,” Rachel suggested.