“Remember what?”
“You didn’t notice?”
“Notice what, Keira? Speak.”
“The day you two met: you guys were at my place, helping me plan that wedding when I needed the staff and the ones I hired flaked on me.”
“Yes, that I remember.”
“And Emma got you, Hillary, Joanna, Mason, and crew to help.”
“Yes… So?”
“You two were sitting next to each other on the couch and wouldn’t stop talking.”
Greene smiled at the memory and replied, “That part, I remember.”
“Make, she would stare at you.” Keira laughed. “You grabbed a donut off the table, and she just looked at you with this smile and also kind of this look of confusion on her face; I watched her shake her head. It’s pretty funny now.”
“How is that funny?”
“She was into you and tried to shake herself out of it because, well, probably for a lot of reasons. You were a woman. She was straight. She’d just met you. It probably didn’t help that I made a comment about you not hitting on the clients.” Keira paused and offered an apologetic smile. “I didn’t say anything because I thought you two would figure it out, or that maybe you’d talked about it already and it was a no-go. I didn’t want to pry. But once it was pretty obvious that the two of you wanted it, I was happy for you guys, because it works, Greene. You two work.”
“We do,” Greene agreed. “We should get going though. She’s going to start freaking out soon if I don’t tell her everything’s okay.”
“Let’s go then.”
“Also, you’re buying dinner for Jo and I. And you know what? You’re buying for Hill, too. We all deserve it.”
“No problem.” Keira laughed as they met up with the other three women.
CHAPTER 25
After a night at Macon’s apartment, where they’d fallen asleep almost instantly from the exhaustion, Joanna woke on Sunday morning feeling mostly refreshed but still unprepared to spend a full day at a wedding photo shoot. She’d left Macon in bed after kissing her goodbye to return to her own apartment to pick up her equipment and get dressed. Macon was lagging behind, but she promised she’d force herself into the shower and join her as her assistant for the final day of her all too brief vacation. By the time Joanna had gathered everything she’d need for the shoot and had finished her second cup of coffee, Macon had arrived and let herself in.
“Hey. You ready?” Macon greeted after closing the door behind her and moving toward Joanna in the kitchen.
“I made you coffee,” she replied and pointed to the other mug she’d already filled and sat on the counter.
“You’re the best girlfriend.” Macon kissed her and placed a hand on the small of her back. “I almost stopped on the way over, but I was thinking we could grab breakfast burritos at Eduardo’s before we hit the road.” She grinned an adorably wide grin, indicating that she’d very much like to stop for breakfast burritos on their way to the wedding.
“I take it that’s something you’d like to do?” Joanna smiled back.
“Yes, it is.” Macon turned Joanna around in her arms to pull her in for what was likely supposed to be a sweet kiss but, within a few seconds, had turned into something more.
“We can grab burritos, or we can do something else. We have some time, but not enough time to do more than one thing,” Joanna suggested.
“You’re saying we can either have morning sex or I can grab breakfast?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Joanna wrapped her arms around Macon’s neck to pull her in, revealing what she’d prefer her girlfriend to choose.
“I can just eat a big lunch.” Macon leaned in and captured Joanna’s lips again, before pressing the woman back against the kitchen counter and placing her own thigh between Joanna’s.
“Yeah?”
“Well, if you’re offering…” Macon pecked at Joanna’s neck before returning to her lips.
“Joanna, we’re here! Oh!”
“Mom?” Joanna quickly pushed back at Macon as her mother stood in her living room. “What are you doing here? Dad?” she asked of her father, who had entered the apartment.
“What’s going on here?” her mother asked as she glared at the woman Joanna had just been making out with.
“What are you doing here?” Joanna avoided the question to repeat her own as she folded her arms over her chest.
“I should go.” Macon stuffed her hands into the pocket of her jeans.
“Who are you, and why were you kissing my daughter?” Her mother turned to look at Joanna.
“Mom, this is Macon Greene,” Joanna introduced while trying to slow the beat of her anxious heart and dim the deep shade of crimson on her cheeks. “You’ve heard me talk about Macon.”
“You’ve never mentioned this...” The older woman pointed between the two of them.
“It’s new.”
“New? Kissing a woman?” Her father was clearly confused as he ran his hand through his light brown hair. “I would have remembered that.”
“Why are you guys here?” she repeated, motioning for Macon to move to the sofa and sit with an open palm, but Macon stood still.
“We told you we were coming today,” her mom insisted.
“No, you didn’t. I would have remembered that.” She used her father’s words. “I’m working today.”
“Did I get the wrong Sunday?” her father asked himself. “I thought you said come in today because you were working next Sunday.”
“No, Dad.”
“I asked you to check with her,” his wife scolded. “I’d say we drove in for nothing, but that’s obviously not entirely true.” She glared once again at a silent Macon, who appeared to have lost her tongue.
“Mom, I was going to tell you guys.” Joanna motioned again with an open hand; this time for her parents to sit.
“When exactly?” They moved to the sofa.
“I didn’t have it planned out or anything. Like I said, this is new.” She glanced at Macon and tossed her a concerned smile. Macon didn’t return it. “Macon and I have been friends for a while. Then, we both discovered we have feelings for one another. And now, we’re dating,” she explained.
“You’re dating a woman?” Her mother remained standing while her father sat and then stood back up immediately after realizing his wife hadn’t sat down next to him. “Are you gay, Joanna?”
Joanna gulped at that question, because the truth was that she didn’t know what loving Macon made her. She’d thought about it a lot while Macon was away, but she’d never felt settled with any of the labels she tried on. She wasn’t gay; she knew that. She’d spoken the words, “I’m gay” into her bathroom mirror about a hundred times, and it never resonated with her. She’d shake her head and try it out again. She’d wondered if this is what gay people did in reverse when they were trying to figure themselves out. Did they utter, “I’m straight” into a mirror to see if it felt right or if they could force it to feel right? She’d settled on “bisexual” because that seemed the closest label, but she wasn’t even sure if that was accurate. She’d always loved men and had considered herself heterosexual for her entire life; never thinking of another woman in the way she’d thought of Macon. But once she met Macon, and they started spending time together, there was a definite shift in her thinking. Now, there was a definite shift in her actions and what turned her on. Macon’s touch sustained her; that was how good it felt to be with her. At no time in her life had she experienced the need of another in this way. Her desire for Macon was palpable even immediately after Macon’s mouth or fingers brought her to orgasm; she needed her again. And while each intimate encounter was completely fulfilling, there was also an insatiable quality to their lovemaking that she’d also never experienced with a man.
“No, I’m not gay,” she replied after a long moment of silence.
Macon turned to her and gave her an expression that Joanna couldn’t read, which was strange beca
use she could usually read her girlfriend’s reactions pretty well.
“So, you’re what, then?” her father questioned.
“I don’t know,” she admitted with a shoulder shrug. “I don’t know that I’ll ever know.”
“Ever?” Macon’s voice was shaky, but it was loud enough for Joanna to hear and turn to see that her response had caused confusion in her girlfriend.
“I don’t really have time for this conversation right now; I have to get to a shoot. I’m running late now as it is. Can we just talk about it later?” She looked at her parents.
“We can meet up for lunch, or maybe we can talk to Macon while–” her mother suggested.
“Uh, no you can’t,” Joanna interrupted. “She’s coming with me today.”
“We can do dinner,” her father said.
“Do you want–” she started in Macon’s direction.
“Just the three of us,” her mother interrupted. “Family dinner.”
“Probably best,” her father agreed.
“We should talk alone,” her mother reiterated with a glance at Macon and then back to Joanna. “We need to figure out how to explain this. Is this serious? Is this an experiment or a phase?”
“I don’t think we should tell anyone until we know it’s long-term; no sense in getting all worked up over it if it’s just a phase,” her father said before Joanna had a chance to respond to her mother’s comment.
“What about the girls at the club? When Brittany Weaver dated a woman, her mother told the whole club she was gay. It was a huge scandal because Brittany had been dating Colleen Parker’s son. The Weavers stopped coming to the club for months until Brittany ended that relationship and then married a man. She has two kids now. She went through all that for nothing.”
“Mom, I–”
“Dinner tonight,” her father interjected. “We’ll meet at the steakhouse we went to last time. What was it called?”
“Alexandria,” Joanna answered with all the confidence she’d had in her, drained from just listening to her parents do the back and forth that had been so common during her childhood and throughout her adulthood.
“Yes, that place makes a great old-fashioned,” he proclaimed. “We’ll pick you up here. You’ll need to change first.” He pointed at the jeans and a V-neck shirt she’d put on for the shoot.
“Wear that black and white dress your aunt got you last year,” her mother instructed.
“I’ll make a reservation for seven, so be ready by six-thirty.” He motioned to Joanna.
Joanna wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. Macon wasn’t saying a word. Joanna appeared to be out of them as well. Instead, she lowered her head in silent acknowledgement of her father’s order. As her parents made their way to her front door, pulled it open, and began to exit, she felt herself melt in shame.
“We’ll be back at six-thirty. I assume the photography will be done by then,” her mother uttered in obvious disappointment in Joanna’s career.
“I thought the reception went until ten tonight,” Macon spoke up.
“It does,” Joanna said. “I’ll be done by six-thirty, though,” she added for her parents. “I’ll take the shots at the beginning of the reception, and then I’m done.”
“You said you’d–” Macon began.
“We’ll see you later, Joanna. Reservation for three.” The woman glared first at Joanna and then at Macon. Her eyes returned to Macon for an instant before they turned away entirely. “We have a lot to talk about, apparently.”
Her parents closed the door loudly behind them. Joanna stood completely still. She wasn’t sure if she was in actual shock, but it felt like her life had just been tossed into the air and all its elements had landed back on the ground, but completely out of order.
“Um, Jo? You want to tell me what just happened?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“There’s a lot you don’t know, apparently,” Macon said with obvious frustration.
“What’s that mean?” Joanna tossed back.
“It means you just stood there, Jo. They treated you like crap: ordering you around, just dismissing me, and you took it. You just took it.” Her voice was slightly louder than Joanna had anticipated. “What the hell was that? I’ve never seen you shrink like that.”
“You’ve never seen me with my parents,” she revealed.
“You’re a grown woman in her thirties.”
“I know that, Macon. Thanks for reminding me, though. Can we just go? I’m going to be late.” She reached for the camera bag on the floor by the coffee table.
“Your parents walk in on us making out, ignore me, assign you to a dinner with the two of them during your work day, and you just want to forget about it?” She reached for Joanna’s forearm. “Jo, talk to me.”
“Macon, I will talk to you. But I need to do it on the way to my client, who has a wedding going on today and is expecting her professional photographer to arrive on time. I need to focus on that right now so that I don’t lose clients because I fucked this up. After that, I will figure out how to react to the fact that my parents just caught me making out with my first girlfriend, and then proceeded to treat me like a teenager they just caught making out in the back seat of the car right in front of my girlfriend. Is that okay with you?” She hadn’t meant that last part to come out as loudly, but it had. The moment it had, she recognized that she was in her first fight with Macon. “I’m sorry,” she added immediately and took Macon’s hand, turning the woman to face her as she did. “I’m sorry, Make.”
“It’s fine. Whatever.”
“No, don’t do that. Don’t shut down on me.”
“What am I supposed to do? You asked to focus on work. Do that. We’ll figure the rest out later.”
“You’re upset.”
“Yes, I am,” Macon said. “Can I come to dinner with you guys? I’ll make the reservation for four instead.”
“Make, that’s probably a bad idea. My parents haven’t been exactly welcoming of the guys I’ve dated, and they’re definitely not going to welcome a woman I’m dating. They’re old-school and uptight; I don’t want to put you through that.”
“So, how does this work? We date, but I don’t belong in that part of your life?”
“Babe, I don’t belong in that part of my life.” She paused and squeezed Macon’s hand. “My parents tolerate me as is. I’m the black sheep of the family, and I have been since long before I met you.”
“But I don’t help?”
“Make, come on.”
“No, you come on, Jo. I defended you to my idiot parents. We went through this already. Why can’t you do the same for me?” she asked and let go of Joanna’s hand. “I think I should go. I don’t feel like being your assistant today.” She took a few steps back.
“Macon, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect my parents to walk in on us. The last time I talked to them, I told them I was busy and that I’d call when I could to figure out when I’d visit them.”
“What did you expect? Were you ever going to tell them about me? About us?” Macon ran her hand through her black hair, and her bright green eyes bore into Joanna’s. “I need to cool off, and you need to get to work. Let’s just talk later.”
“Fine.” Joanna had no energy left to argue. “I’ll call you later, then.” She grabbed at the things she needed for the shoot. “I guess, have a good day,” she said and then stood up straight again. “You have a key; lock up when you go.”
CHAPTER 26
“She just left you there?” Keira asked.
“In her apartment, yeah,” Greene answered. “Her parents basically ignored me, and then Jo just shut down. She turned into someone I didn’t even recognize. It was like she wasn’t my girlfriend; she was their kid, and had to face her punishment.”
“We’re all weird around our parents when we’re adults. It’s like they still have control over us. Remember when mine tried to convince me to move back home when the business started to fa
il? I had just started dating Emma. I knew she was the one, and I still considered listening to them because they’re my parents.”
“But she let them,” Greene said mostly to herself.
“She let them what?”
“She let them ignore me and be rude to me. I would never let my parents do that to her. In fact, I shut them down in Boston when they tried. I guess, I expected her to do the same.”
Greene had made her way over to Keira and Emma’s place after Jo left for the wedding. She’d wandered around the city for over an hour, not sure where exactly to go. Since she didn’t want to go home to the empty apartment she’d only just shared with Joanna, knowing she’d find several of Joanna’s things strewn around to only remind her of their fight, she’d texted Keira and asked if she could come over. Keira had replied almost instantly that Emma was picking up some friends from the airport, so she had a couple of hours before they all got back.
“I’m sorry, Make.”
“They’re having dinner tonight without me, and I’m worried, Keira,” she admitted.
“About what?”
“That they might try to convince her to leave me, and she’ll listen.” Greene shrugged and fell back against the comfortable sofa, giving over to the emotions of possibly losing the woman she loved.
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“How do you know? She was straight until she and I got together. She all but admitted today that she doesn’t know what she is and might never know.”
“You mean if she’s gay or bi?” Keira asked. “Some people never know, Greene. And some are perfectly comfortable not defining themselves.”
“I know that. I don’t care what she is, Keira. I love her. She can be any color of the rainbow as long as she’s mine. It was just the way she said it; there was this uncertainty.”
“I thought you worked out this crap before, Make. You two have slept together. From what I gathered, it was numerous times, and those times were all very good. She seems to enjoy the physical part of being with a woman as much if not more than the other parts. Why are you still worried about this?”
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