Managed by Chance

by Amy DeMeritt

  “Fine. Thanks for cooking.”

  Mel prodded at the noodles again, then twirled them into the fragrant sauce and around her fork. With great trepidation, she put the bite in her mouth. But as the sauce hit her tongue, she dropped her fork and put her face in her hands.

  “Did you burn yourself or…?”

  Mel looked up at Layla with a pout, and after swallowing, she grudgingly admitted, “It’s amazing.” Layla smiled really big and Blake released a snort as she cut through a meatball. “But seriously, is the meatball real?”

  “Yes, Melrose. It’s local organic grass-fed beef. It’s good stuff.”

  While dabbing at the corners of her mouth, Katie complemented, “It’s delicious. Thanks for inviting me.” While twirling sauced zucchini noodles around her fork, she asked, “Do you have to work this weekend? Maybe I can return the favor and cook at my place.”

  Blake nodded as she chewed a bite of food, then washed it down with a drink of wine. “We can do that, but this weekend won’t be good. I’m working a day shift at the restaurant on Friday, then I only have a couple of hours before I have to be at the club till 2am. Then I’m back in the restaurant Saturday at noon till nine. As of right now, I have off on Sunday. But if anyone calls out, I’ll have to go in. Then I work a ten-hour shift on Monday.”

  “That sounds like an exhausting schedule.”

  “I’m going to take care of her.” Layla scratched her nails through Blake’s short black hair, then gripped the back of her neck and massaged her shoulder. “I’m going to make you a good dinner Friday night before you have to go the club.”

  Blake smiled as she leaned over and gave Layla a kiss with a sucking nip of her bottom lip. “Love you, babe.”

  “I know.” Blake laughed and tugged Layla back into another brief kiss. As she pulled away, Layla said, “I love you too.”

  After giving her a wink and a grin, Blake looked down at her plate to get another bite of food, but before eating it, she looked between Mel and Katie, and asked, “You two coming to the club Friday night?”

  “A night of dancing would be nice, if Mel is up for it.”

  “If I’m up for it?” Mel released a groaning laugh and rubbed her face. “Oh, hell, this server swap is going to be exhausting. If you promise you’ll dance dirty with me, I’ll be up for it, even if you make me work around the clock for the rest of the week.”

  “Deal.”

  Mel’s face split into a huge smile, making Blake release a quiet snicker and Katie blushed with a cute bashful laugh.

  As Katie looked around the table, her belly warmed and her shoulders lightened, as if the stress of work was vanishing. She felt like she belonged at that table. She felt welcome and cared for. She loved Mel and she was growing fond of Layla and Blake, even though she had spent much less time with them. But she wanted that to change. She knew it would be difficult with Blake’s schedule and their need to do overtime for the next two months, but she wanted all of them to hang out as a group more.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Mel patted the bed beside her in her sleep, looking for Katie, but even with fully extending her arm, she couldn’t locate her in the bed. She opened her heavy eyes, and as a deep yawn split her face in half, she sat up and looked around Katie’s dark bedroom. She was alone. She looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand, and as her blurry eyes read the red digital time of 5:15am, she yawned again, as if her body was physically manifesting its annoyance of being woken up so early on a Saturday morning.

  She leaned over the side of the bed looking for the tee shirt and shorts that Katie had stripped her of the night before, but they were missing too. A bit unsteady on her feet and yawning again, Mel climbed out of bed and stumbled across the bedroom. She peeked in the master bathroom, but Katie wasn’t in there, so she opened the bedroom door. As she peered down the stairs, she could see amber light warmly pouring from the living room.

  Without a stitch of clothing on, Mel walked down the stairs and found Katie sitting on the brown leather sofa with her laptop on her lap and a large mug of coffee steaming on the side table beside her. Startled by the movement in her side vision, Katie’s eyes snapped up from her computer, and her face spread into a wide smile.

  “Good morning, naked.”

  Mel covered yet another yawn, then asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Sorry, I woke up to use the bathroom, then couldn’t get back to sleep. Did I wake you up?”

  Katie pulled the folded throw blanket off of the back of the couch and offered it to Mel, so she walked over to join her on the couch. After wrapping herself in the blanket, she sat next to Katie and rested her head on her shoulder. But as soon as she saw Katie was working, she groaned and fell into Katie’s lap, burying her face in her groin, making Katie laugh and pull her face up.

  “I can’t believe you left me alone in bed to do work.”

  Mel pouted as she tried to fall to the other side of the couch, but Katie wrapped her arms around her and kissed her forehead.

  “I was wide awake. I was trying to let you sleep.”

  “How long have you been down here working?”

  “A little over an hour.”

  “What did you do with my pajamas? I couldn’t find them?”

  “I folded them and put them on the foot of the bed after I got dressed.”

  Mel sighed as she laid her head on Katie’s shoulder again. “I didn’t see them. Is this really how we’re spending our Saturday morning?”

  “No, I’ll put it away. Just let me finish looking at a couple of emails I didn’t get to yesterday.”

  Sprite, who was curled up on Katie’s other side, stood up, stretched with a big yawn showing off her sharp fangs for a moment, then walked onto Katie’s lap and laid down in the center where her thighs met with her head over top of the keyboard.

  Mel released a small laugh as she reached out to pet her. “I think Sprite is cutting you off. No more emails for you. It’s snuggle time.”

  “Okay, I’ll put it away and we’ll all snuggle.”

  Katie eased Sprite off of the computer, making her meow and harmlessly nip at her hand. She rubbed Sprite’s head and tummy, and she rolled to snuggle against Katie’s stomach. After setting the computer down on the coffee table, she nudged Mel’s hip.

  “Move down so we can lay with you.”

  Wearing a sleepy smile and a blanket that was falling off of her, Mel shuffled across the cool leather to lay propped up in the corner of the couch, then lifted her arm so Katie could lay on her chest. As Katie got settled, Sprite meowed and batted at her leg and hip. She giggled and held a hand out to her. She bent her head into Katie’s palm, then walked up to lay on Mel’s stomach. Katie smiled as she looked between Sprite and Mel.

  “Is this what you had in mind for snuggling?”

  Mel tightened her arm around Katie and lightly petted Sprite’s head. “This is perfect.” Mel’s lips quirked in a sleepy grin, and she cooed, “Purr-fect.”

  Katie gave her a soft kiss on the lips, then laid down on her chest. Only five minutes ago, she was wired – she was wide awake and couldn’t rest. But after only a few minutes of laying with Mel and Sprite, her eyes weren’t springing open and she actually felt relaxed and sleepy again. It wasn’t too long after laying down that she and Mel fell asleep, and they slept for three hours before a neighbor honking their car horn woke them up.

  With a deep inhale, Katie rubbed her nose up the side of Mel’s neck, kissed her jaw, then tugged on her earlobe with her teeth. Mel released a sleepy moan as she turned towards Katie, and Katie released her earlobe and kissed her lips.

  “I was sleeping so good.”

  Mel smiled and kissed her lips again. “Good. You had me worried I lost my snuggle magic.”

  “Your snuggles are still magical.” She rubbed Mel’s chest and up the side of her neck to caress her cheek. “As soon as I woke up to use the bathroom, my mind started racing with everything we still need to do for this server swap. Th
en I was thinking about everything you told me you need to do for the party preparations and I got worried work would get in the way of the party or you wouldn’t have enough time to make it as great as previous years. I didn’t get much accomplished before you woke up and came down here, but I guess it was enough that I could get back to sleep.”

  “Honestly, I was freaking out a bit last week. But I think we’ve accomplished more in just two weeks than we did in a month when we did this four years ago. The schedule we came up with and the way we divided the tasks is working out really well. I’m not worried. Well, I’ll probably be freaking out the last couple of weeks, and I know that’s only a few weeks away, but I’m feeling really good about things right now.”

  “I’m proud of the progress the team has made thus far. I guess seeing that again this morning also helped me relax so I could go back to sleep with you.” She sighed as she sat up. “Is there anything I can help you do for the party after we have breakfast? Do we need to go to the liquor store or anything?”

  “Blake has better connections for getting the alcohol pretty cheap, so she’s going to take care of that. We basically just need to buy other drinks and food and some miscellaneous stuff. I’ll have to call Layla to see what she wants us to do. She might want to come with us.”

  Katie smiled while she watched Mel and Sprite loving on each other. Spite had walked up Mel’s chest and began rubbing her face on her neck and chin the instant Katie had sat up. Mel was petting and scratching her and giving her kisses on the top of her head.

  “I like Layla, so that’s fine if she wants to come with us.” She bent down to kiss Mel and Sprite. “I like how well you two get along.”

  “Kids and animals usually love me. I’ve only met a couple of dogs who didn’t. But they were trained to not like anyone but the hand that fed them, so I don’t count them.”

  Katie laid back down along Mel’s side, propped up on an elbow so she could see her face. “Can you change diapers?”

  Mel laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I can change diapers. Why, did you have an accident I haven’t smelled yet?”

  “Oh, gross!” Katie laughed hard and lightly slapped Mel’s bare stomach. “No! Brat.”

  Mel just smiled like a goober, then puckered her lips so Katie kissed her.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the moment with a joke. I’ve never looked after a baby for more than like seven or eight hours at a time, but I think I did pretty damn good when I have. Oh, and I even know the trick of laying the fresh diaper over the baby boy while you clean his tushy and wrap up the soiled diaper so he doesn’t pee in your face.”

  Katie laughed again as she gave Mel another kiss on the lips. “That’s a good trick. My sister’s husband didn’t know that trick and got pee right in his mouth one time.”

  “Nice.” Mel chuckled. “Did he freak out?”

  “He threw up into the fresh diaper and my sister had to finish changing the baby.”

  Mel’s entire body rocked with deep laughter. A flutter erupted in Katie’s belly and something sharply tugged in the vicinity of her uterus.

  “Mel?” Still smiling and petting Sprite, Mel looked into her eyes and waited. Katie inhaled deeply through her nose as her heartrate increased. She bent down and pulled Mel into a long, slow kiss. As she pulled away, she softly said, “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Is that really what you were going to say though? You look like you have more on your mind.”

  “I have much on my mind.” Katie broke eye contact to watch her fingers trace up and down Mel’s stomach. She didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, so Mel asked, “Can you tell me the one thought that has you so nervous right now?”

  Katie smiled as she looked up to meet Mel’s kind, hazel eyes. “Children.”

  “We’ve already kind of had this talk. You know I want kids. Is that the issue?”

  “No.” Katie looked down again. “I want kids too.” She sighed as she stilled her hand and laid it flat on Mel’s stomach. “We’re nine years apart.”

  Uncertain, Mel dragged out the question, “And, you’re worried our kids would have a problem with that?”

  “No.” Katie sighed again as she looked up into Mel’s eyes. “I’m thirty-five. You’re twenty-six.”

  She slid her hand down over Mel’s lower stomach, and Mel’s face relaxed in understanding. Because of their age difference, Mel would have at least double the amount of fertile years left to try to get pregnant than Katie would.

  “Okay, so, I have a million and one questions. But I guess I should answer your cryptic question first.” Katie’s lips twitched in an uncertain smile as she waited for Mel to take a deep breath through her nose. “Yes, I would be open to being the one to carry. Some people might think it would look strange since I’m a butch, but I’m still a woman and I’m cool with that. I mean, I’m not like suffering from penis envy or any of those stupid things some people think about butches. But do you want to carry at all? Like, what if we both had one?” She quickly added, “Not at the same time. Shit, that would be horrible.”

  With tears in her eyes, Katie darted forward and pulled Mel into a kiss. While their tongues and lips twisted and melded together, Katie scrapped her fingers up into Mel’s short hair and rubbed the side of her neck and cheek. As she pressed in closer, Sprite shrieked and leapt off of Mel and onto the floor. Katie quickly took her place, rolling onto Mel, and Mel wrapped her arms around her. After a couple of minutes, Katie pulled away lightly panting for air.

  “I love you, Mel. And I think you would be a beautiful pregnant woman, short hair, suits, and all.” Mel smiled as her cheeks blushed. “I want to try to carry at least one baby before I go through menopause.” She lightly bit her bottom lip for a moment, then tentatively asked, “I’m not scaring you with these questions, right? I don’t want you to feel rushed and you take off or…”

  “No, Katie.” She moved to sit up, so Katie quickly got off of her and helped her sit upright and pulled the blanket up to cover her naked body for her. Mel took her hands and kissed them, and with her voice full of conviction, she said, “I’m in love with you and these thoughts have already been swimming around in my own head for weeks. I’m not like your ex. Commitment doesn’t scare me. When I love someone, I’m completely loyal and devoted and I do what I can to build a great life with that person. You can’t scare me off by giving me the same in return. You’re just going to make me love you even more.”

  “What would scare you off?” Mel quirked an eyebrow, and Katie released a small laugh, and amended, “I’m not asking so I can get rid of you. I want to make sure I don’t screw this up. Like, do you have any pet peeves that would be deal breakers?”

  “Well, I would define a pet peeve as a mild annoyance. And if you love a person, a mild annoyance shouldn’t be a deal breaker. I think deal breakers would be things like constant disrespect and dishonesty. Oh, and cheating, for sure. I know I wouldn’t be able to get over that. My girlfriend before Justine cheated on me and I couldn’t move on from it, so that’s what ended things.”

  “What are some of your pet peeves?”

  “I hate a dirty bathroom.”

  “Agreed. What else?”

  Mel puckered her lips to the side in thought for a moment. “Leaving takeout in the fridge for more than two or three days, especially if it’s something really stinky.”

  Katie released a small laugh and nodded. “That’s a good one. But I have been guilty of that a few times. I had some leftover curry that got pushed to the back of the fridge and it took cleaning out the entire fridge to figure out why it smelled so bad for a week.”

  “You waited a week? Oh, my god.” Mel dramatically fell against the back of the couch, making Katie laugh. “Okay, what’s some of your pet peeves?”

  “Not rinsing milk out of a glass or bowl.”

  “Yes! Oh, my god, a million times, yes! Like, seriously, if you don’t have time to wash it, just rinse it. Milk is the worst to clean off of somet
hing once it dries. What’s the deal with that?”

  “I don’t know, but I hate it. You think you got it cleaned, then you make a nice tall glass of ice water and it gets all cloudy with little white flakes floating around.”

  “Ugh, gross. Just stop. I don’t… I can’t…” Mel made a dramatic gagging face, then shook her whole body with her face scrunched up, making Katie laugh. “Okay, what else?”

  Katie grinned as she turned with her legs pulled up to face Mel better, and answered, “Toothpaste, spit, and hair in the bathroom sink.”

  Mel made another gagging face, said, “No, hell no,” then they both laughed. “That’s disgusting. Layla and I hate that so much. Justine was really bad about all of that.”

  “Okay, I have one you might think is weird.” Katie paused for a moment, then explained, “Taking dishes out of the house that aren’t meant for traveling with.”

  Mel quirked an eyebrow, and asked, “What do you mean? Like eating on the porch or…?”

  “No, that’s totally fine. I mean, if I make you breakfast, but you’re running late and you just take the mug of coffee and plate of eggs and pancakes to eat in the car on your way to work.”

  “How the hell would someone even do that? Wait, this is a real pet peeve, so someone you know actually does this.”

  “Knew – past tense. It was my ex. It would drive me crazy. And she never brought the dishes back in when she got home. We’d be missing things and I’d have to go dig them out of her messy car. I can’t tell you the number of mugs, bowls, and plates that ended up broken because of her doing that.”

  “Okay, you’re right, that was a weird one, but not because it’s a pet peeve – it’s weird that someone would even do that. You don’t ever have to worry about me doing that.” She rubbed her stomach, and added, “But since you mentioned it, I wouldn’t mind doing something about breakfast soon. You can keep telling me all of your pet peeves though.”

  “Breakfast sounds good.” She stood up and pulled Mel up from the couch, making the blanket slip off of her body. “Come on, naked, let’s put some clothes on you so we can eat out on the deck.”