"Jadyn, honey? Are you home?" Lacey pushed the front door open and pocketed the key she'd used to unlock the apartment door. Far from being a U-Haul lesbian, Jadyn Anderson had only recently, after 4 months of exclusive dating given her girlfriend, Lacey Franklin, a key to her apartment.
Lacey dropped her briefcase in the hallway and hung up her overcoat in the closet. She could smell something spicy in the air and went to investigate the kitchen. What seemed to be a chicken curry rice dish bubbled away happily on the front burner and Lacey's eyes sparked with pleasure. She knew that Jadyn wasn't overly fond of curry and she melted a little inside at the thought that Jadyn had made it for her because she liked it.
"Jadyn!" she called as she wandered through the living room towards the hallway to the bedroom. Passing by the patio doors leading to the balcony, she spotted her girlfriend of a little more than 5 months. Crying. Wrapped in the arms of another woman.
Lacey felt her stomach drop. She didn't recognize the other woman, but it didn't appear to be just a friendly hug. Their bodies were melded too closely together for that. This was a full body hug, shoulders to thighs. Lacey's mind clicked on.
It was no one she remembered meeting from the last 5 months, ergo it wasn't someone who was a constant presence in Jadyn's life. An ex-girlfriend? Could be. It could be that, right now, Jadyn was realizing what a horrible mistake she made in being with her. The last 5 months were just a stop-gap until this… woman… crawled back to her in tears pledging undying love and promising that she'd never do it again. Whatever "it" was. And the chicken curry was a nice way to say goodbye. "If I make her favourite thing then maybe she won't freak out."
Well! She certainly wasn't going to freak out. And she wouldn't cry. She would quietly pick up her bag, put on her coat and walk out without a word. Yeah! That's it! Let her stew! Let her feel guilty for breaking my heart. Not that she'd feel guilty for long. Because she'd have fabulous sex waiting for her as soon as Lacey hit the door. That… harlot… would be waiting with open arms to comfort Jadyn. HER Jadyn.
Maybe she should put up a fight. Raise a stink. Remind Jadyn how good things were between them. So, the sex had fallen off a little lately. They were both working a lot of hours. But maybe she hadn't spent enough time on their relationship as she should have. Dammit! It was the sex. That… skirt… probably knew all kinds of tips and tricks and "ways to please your woman." And she probably had no job so she could spend all day catering to whatever Jadyn needed and had lovely home-cooked meals and greeted her at the door with a drink dressed in nothing but saran wrap.
Lacey sniffed. Well, fine. If that's the way Jadyn wanted it, then maybe she should send her sister over. Cassie was the perfect housewife with the 2.5 children and the immaculate house. She'd be a perfect political wife if Jadyn ever wanted to enter politics. Which she'd never said she had, but still….
Lacey suddenly started swatting at a huge bug vibrating against her hip until she realized it was her cell phone. Quickly she grabbed it, checking the caller ID before flipping it open.
"Hi Mom."
"Hello sweetheart," Rebecca Franklin greeted her middle daughter.
"What's up?"
"What's wrong?"
Lacey started, stunned once again at her mother's ability to pick up on the tiniest of changes in her mood.
"Nothing's wrong, Mom," Lacey lied. She walked back to the kitchen and gave her good-bye curried chicken a desultory stir.
"Oh, alright then." Rebecca let Lacey's white lie go for the moment. "Where are you?"
"I'm at Jadyn's."
"Oh good! Put her on the phone. I have to ask her about the picnic this weekend."
Lacey grimaced and kicked herself. "She's kind of tied up at the moment, Mom. Can I get her to call you back?"
"Sweetheart, if she's tied up, then why did you answer your phone?"
Lacey pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it, puzzled, before what her mother said clicked in her brain.
"Jesus, Mom!"
"Oh, I'm sorry dear. Are you tied up too? Although how you managed to answer the phone if you're both tied up… "
"Mother!"
"I'm not sure that's a word you want to say when you're tied up, dear," Rebecca answered. "Unless it's your 'safe word'. That's the correct term isn't it? 'Safe word'?"
Lacey bowed her head and shook it back and forth. She rubbed her hand over her face. "Mom, do you talk to Cassie and Phillipa like this?" she said, bringing her sisters into the fray.
"Oh no. Cass wouldn't get it and Phil," Rebecca paused, "Phil has probably written a book on the subject and would start telling me things I *really* don't want to know."
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Is there a reason you called me, or was it just to torture me?"
"Not just to torture you, sweetie. If Jadyn had answered the phone I would have tortured *her*."
"Mom," Lacey warned.
Rebecca laughed. "I took a chance that you'd be at Jadyn's or at least on your way over there. I really do need to talk to her about the picnic. And I wanted to remind you that you promised to pick up Cassie's kids so they can be there."
"I didn't forget. We have to pick them up from the nanny at 11."
"Correct. Now, can I talk to Jadyn?"
"You can't right now, Mom. She's… talking to someone."
"Someone?"
"She's talking to someone on the balcony."
"Someone on the balcony?"
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Turn your hearing aid up. You're repeating everything I'm saying."
"I'm repeating?"
Lacey sighed in affectionate exasperation.
"Who is this someone?"
"I don't know."
"Is it a female someone?"
"Yes."
"Ahhhhh," Rebecca suddenly understood why her daughter was out of sorts. "Lacey?" her mother said gently.
"Hmmmm?"
"Do you love Jadyn?"
"Moooooommmmm…"
"I'm being serious, now, sweetheart. Do you love her?"
"Yeah, Mom. I do. I love her with everything that I have and am," Lacey whispered. "I waited a long time to have someone like her in my life and it's more amazing than I ever thought it could be."
Rebecca stifled a cry. As long as Lacey had been waiting for this feeling, Rebecca had been waiting for it for her. She knew that love, for her middle daughter, was not a merger or a game to be played, like her two other girls. And she was joyful to the point of tears that Lacey had finally found what she'd been searching her whole life for.
"Has Jadyn ever given you a reason to doubt her?"
"No, but what if this is an ex come to sweep her up?"
"Sweetheart, she's probably an ex for a reason."
"Yeah," Lacey sighed. "I've never been jealous before, Mom. I don't think I like it."
"It's not the most pleasant feeling, you're right."
"Were you ever jealous?"
"Oh yes. Many times. In fact, there was one woman in particular. She was a clerk at your father's office and she was beautiful and smart and she could discuss the law with him for hours on end. And I was a housewife with three small children. But… I figured out that I had to trust your father. He chose me for a reason. And at the end of the day, when he came home and saw me, and his eyes lit up, I knew that I was right to trust him."
"Are you saying that Jadyn and I have the kind of relationship that you and Dad have?"
Rebecca laughed. "I think the potential is there. But it takes a lot of work. You have to remember - out of all the people Jadyn has ever met in her life, she's chosen you."
"Thanks, Mom."
"So, go get your girl."
Lacey smiled and sighed. "Yes, ma'am."
"And then have her call me back."
Lacey laughed. "I will. I love you, Mom."
"I love you, too, sweetheart," Rebecca said softly.
Lacey snapped her phone shut and stirred her curry dinner again. All right, she thought. So, I'll have to show her again why she picked me. Why did she pick me? Lacey thought. I'm not the smartest. Or the most gorgeous. I'm not the funniest or the bravest or the most talented at anything. I'm a pretty good writer. That's about it. So why did she pick me?
Lacey leaned her hip against the counter as she absentmindedly stirred dinner. Damn, I can't think of one reason.
Okay then, why did I pick her? She thought. I recall something about a nice ass, she grinned. And the eyes. Those gorgeous eyes that seem to see right inside me. From the first moment, they pinned my insides and wouldn't let me go. She's smart and funny. Compassionate. And there's … something else. We just seem to "fit". She doesn't 'complete' me - she adds something to what I am. Lacey smiled. And that's enough right there.
Lacey heard the patio door slide open and low murmuring voices from the living room. Her stomach tightened at the sound, but she called out, "Hey, honey! I'm here."
"Lacey?" Jadyn's voice raised in surprise. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the kitchen," Lacey called back. Here we go…
Jadyn came around the corner of the kitchen. "Hey, sweetheart." Jadyn walked over to Lacey and gave her a quick kiss.
"Hey," Lacey smiled back gently.
"Oh, Lacey," Jadyn turned to introduce the other woman. "This is Jennifer."
Lacey took a good look at the other woman. Long dark hair, dark brown eyes, gorgeous bone structure and olive skin. She's gorgeous. Yeah, there's no way I should be jealous of that!
"Hi," Lacey said leaning forward and sticking out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
Jennifer took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, too."
Firm handshake and soft skin… this just keeps getting better and better, Lacey thought.
Jadyn wiped her eyes. "Jennifer and I were just doing a bit of celebrating. She just got full custody of her kids. I'm afraid I got a little over-emotional."
"Custody?" Lacey picked up the spoon and stirred the curry again. "You don't do family law."
Jadyn looked at Lacey and crooked her eyebrow. "No, I don't. But April does," she said, mentioning her best friend from law school. "Jennifer was my downstairs neighbour when I lived in my last apartment."
"Ahhhh," Lacey acknowledged.
Jennifer cleared her throat. "I just wanted to come and thank Jadyn for giving me April's name. I couldn't have asked for a better lawyer."
Lacey smiled. "Well, you could have," she grinned at Jadyn, "but she doesn't do family law."
Jennifer burst out laughing and Jadyn leaned forward to kiss Lacey again. "That's why I love you. Unstinting, if slightly prejudiced, faith in me."
"Well, ladies," Jennifer said, "I have to get going. I have 3 hungry kids at home waiting for their hotdogs." She stuck her hand out to Lacey. "It was very nice to finally meet you."
"It was nice to meet you," Lacey smiled.
"As for you," she said, turning to Jadyn, "Thank you again. For everything."
Jadyn pulled Jennifer into a hug. "I'm so glad things worked out the way you wanted them to," she whispered. "Come on. I'll walk you out." Jadyn led Jennifer to the front door. A few more murmured words of farewell and Lacey heard the door open and close.
Once again Jadyn was back in the kitchen. She stopped in front of Lacey and wrapped her arms around Lacey's waist looking down into the other woman's eyes, a faint smile on her face.
Jadyn leaned down, capturing Lacey's lips in a gentle kiss. Moving her mouth softly against the other woman's, Lacey waited, enjoying the sweetness and connectedness of the kiss. Finally Jadyn increased the pressure, using her tongue to ask for entrance into her lover's mouth. Their tongues danced together, stroking together, until Lacey groaned and broke the kiss, resting her forehead on the other woman's chest.
Breathing heavily, she looked up into Jadyn's eyes – those wonderful green eyes full of compassion and love. Those eyes were the first thing that really pulled Lacey to Jadyn, and they sparked with understanding.
Lacey gave Jadyn a slightly crooked grin. "You still love me?"
Jadyn grinned. "Yeah, I still love you. See?" she said, pointing to the stove, "I made you that curry stuff that you like."
Lacey rested her arms on Jadyn's shoulders and played with the hair at the back of her neck. Quirking her head to the side she said, "WHY do you love me? I mean, why did you choose me? Out of all the people in the world, why me?"
"I thought *you* chose *me*," Jadyn said.
"C'mon, now," Lacey smiled. "Why me?"
Jadyn pulled back a little from Lacey. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated on her answer.
"I don't know, really. I thought you were cute. And you're smart. And talented and funny."
Lacey smiled.
"And… we just seemed to fit. There's a connection between you and I that goes beyond the logical." Jadyn smiled back at Lacey and kissed the tip of her nose.
Lacey smiled and snuggled into her lover's arms for a long hug.
A vibration against her hip signaled to Lacey that she had another incoming call. Breaking away slightly from her girlfriend, she checked the caller ID and snapped the phone open.
"Hi, Mom."
"Hi, sweetie. I just thought I'd check how things were."
Lacey smiled into the eyes of her Jadyn. "Things are just fine, Mom."
"Oh, good! I'm glad to hear it. Can I talk to Jadyn, now?"
"Sure, hold on." Lacey handed the phone to Jadyn and moved around the kitchen gathering plates and cutlery and stirring the curry yet again.
Hearing the snap of the phone, Lacey turned around to look at Jadyn who had a rather puzzled look on her face.
"Your mother says to tell you," Jadyn began, "not to forget that we have to pick up the kids from the nanny for the picnic."
"Oh good lord, she already told me that," Lacey groused.
"She also said that we should turn the phone off for the rest of the night because we have important business to tie up." Jadyn made the statement into a question.
Lacey burst out laughing, then immediately became very thoughtful. A gleam sparked in her eye, she turned to the stove and turned off the burner. She walked over to Jadyn and gently took her hand, leading her down the hall to the bedroom.
"Wait a minute," Jadyn protested weakly, "what about dinner?"
"Dinner can wait," Lacey replied, kissing Jadyn fiercely on the mouth.
On the other side of town, Rebecca Franklin hung up the phone and whistled a merry tune as she made herself a martini. She heard her husband's car crunching up the driveway to the front door and began preparing him a martini as well. Suddenly, the same gleam that had sparked in her middle daughter's eyes, now sparked in her own. Now, she thought, I wonder if I could talk Richard into tying up some loose ends. She grinned, picked up the martinis, and went to meet her husband at the door.
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