Disclaimer : Characters and situations are all from my imagination.
Warnings : Sex and love between women
Feedback : Constructive criticism and feedback, both welcomed at geonncannon@gmail.com
A Squire's Isle Birthday
March 12, Amy Wellis
Not Exactly Psychic
by Geonn Cannon
http://www.geonncannon.com
Copyright © 2013 Geonn Cannon
1997
Amy shut the bedroom door and went to her desk, taking out the small journal she had gotten for Creative Writing the previous semester and placed it on the bed. She flipped to the first blank page and took the pen out of her shirt pocket. She wrote the date across the top - it was her sixteenth birthday - and then looked out the window as she thought about what she would write. She had only taken the class to appease her literati parents. They wanted a scholar. They wanted her to write articles, to be a wunderkind novelist. Amy just wanted to get off the island and away from the bookstore.
But the journal was fun. It was a way to organize her thoughts, preventing them from becoming a swarm of bees that bounced around in her skull when she couldn't sleep. But when it came to writing about the events of the day, she was stumped. She didn't want to write some boring thing about having dinner with her parents and her brother or the way Joey had tried kissing her at lunch. She didn't want a list of occurrences, she wanted something bigger.
She was sixteen years old. It seemed like eons, but she knew it was realistically only about a quarter of her life even if she died young. She tapped her pen against her cheek and then began to write across the top of the page.
"Today is my thirty-second birthday."
She smiled and considered where she would be on that day in the far future and what she would be doing. 2013! The second decade of the new millennium. The world would most likely have changed in ways she couldn't even imagine. She would have changed in that decade, too. She decided to start with wishful thinking.
"My husband woke me up in a delightful way, wishing me a private happy birthday before we had to get up and deal with the kids. Our beagle Charlie kept us from spending as much time as we would have liked with the celebration, but that's responsibility for you! Madison gave me a bouquet of paper flowers she made for me in class, and Leonard gave me lots of kisses (which is a pretty good present from a toddler!)"
She smiled and pictured the scene. Herself in her thirties, surrounded by her family. Her husband and baby and daughter and a dog tripping her up. She checked her calendar and saw that her birthday in 2013 would be on a Tuesday. So she would probably have to go to work. But where? What would she be doing? Well, that was easy.
"After breakfast, I went to work at the interior design company I started. My employees threw me a little party, which was great, and treated me to lunch. After work my husband..." She didn't want to put in a name for the man for fear of jinxing it, but she wanted to assert that she would be married to a man. There was no way her urges would linger until she was in her thirties. "After work my husband picked me up and took me to a fancy dinner while the kids were with a babysitter. Afterward we got a little frisky in the car to make up for my aborted 'good morning,' and he gave me a diamond tennis bracelet."
She smiled as she scratched the last part out. Sure it was a fantasy, but it had to have the touch of realism as well.
"He gave me a handcrafted wooden jewelry box with my initials in the lid. Then we went to pick up the kids so we could tuck them in, and they both wished me a happy birthday before they went to sleep. Then we cuddled up on the couch and watched my favorite movie of all-time, Romeo + Juliet." She felt safe naming the movie as her future favorite; she'd gotten the VHS for her birthday and imagined she'd wear it out from rewatching before too long. Claire Danes in those wings was so... She blushed at the thought before pushing it aside before it could settle in. Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes.
She smiled at the imagined birthday far in the future and put aside the pen. She put the journal aside to shower and get ready for bed, and she picked it up again when the only light came from the lamp on the nightstand. She reread what she wrote and then lay the book on her chest. She looked out the window and drifted off as she thought about the perfect life awaiting her in the future.
2013
The alarm buzzed, and someone else's hand silenced it. Amy pressed harder against her partner's back, arms tightening around the waist she instinctively knew was Kate's. Nicole wasn't in bed with them and after a moment she heard the water running in the shower. She tickled Kate's stomach, and Kate chuckled quietly.
"Happy birthday."
Amy grunted in response and kissed Kate's neck. The bedroom was cold, but she could hear the heater working to raise the temperature even as she pushed her hands under the hem of Kate's shirt. "What are you going to do to me today?"
"Hm." She twisted so that she was on her back, her arm around Amy. "I think I have to conspire with Nicole before we commit to anything. But I think a trip to Outskirts might be a possibility."
"Oh, wow. We haven't been there in ages. Let's invite Dean and Miranda." She kissed Kate's chin and cheeks as she climbed on top of her. "Where's my present?"
"You'll get it in due time." Kate pushed her hands into the elastic of Amy's underwear to cup her ass. Amy arched her back and lifted her head to give Kate access to her throat, her hands still roaming underneath Kate's shirt.
The shower stopped and Nicole came out far too early to have toweled off or dressed. Amy's theory was confirmed when her other lover climbed onto the mattress behind her and she felt her slick curves against her back. She turned her head and greeted Nicole with a kiss.
"Happy birthday, beautiful."
Amy smiled and pressed back against her, sliding her thigh between Kate's legs.
"Ah-ah," Nicole admonished. "Let us do the work today." Nicole looked down past Amy's shoulder, nodded to Kate, and together they stripped Amy out of her panties and tank top. She closed her eyes as they trailed their hands over her, Kate in front and Nicole at the back, gasping when they paused to tease spots they knew to be especially sensitive.
Eventually Nicole's hand moved between Amy's legs, while Kate massaged her breasts before sitting up to kiss her. Amy alternated from one pair of lips to the other, getting dizzy enough that she wasn't sure who she was kissing or whose tongue was rolling over her shoulder. She knew Nicole's fingers inside of her, though, and only Kate had the access to suck her nipples. She came with Nicole's tongue in her ear and Kate's cheek on her breast, and she blew Kate's hair as she exhaled and sagged against her.
"Whoa. And I thought birthday spankings were fun."
Nicole swatted her rear end and Amy squeaked as the three women separated. Amy knelt next to them, pushing her hair out of her face and looking from Nicole to Kate. She raised an eyebrow, her hands flat on her thighs as she eyed up her options.
"So which one of you gets to be the birthday girl's first present?"
They both nominated themselves, so Amy issued a compromise: they would make love to each other while she watched. She didn't last long as a mere spectator, and soon they were entangled once more. After her second climax she kissed both of her lovers and begged off for a shower. She had to get dressed and go to work, even though she knew Stephanie would most likely let herself in and get things sorted even if she was a little late. She was nearly finished with her shower when Kate joined her in the stall. The time they shared behind the curtain was mostly on point, even if they did pay a little more attention to their naughty bits than strictly necessary.
Afterward she dressed in a turtleneck and brown canvas pants, kissed her women goodbye, and passed through the doorway in the living room that took her to the kitchen of Coffee Table Books. She loved the silence of the kitchen before the day began, the hum of the machines waking up and coming to life as they awaited their orders. She went through to the front and started the coffee, humming to herself as she checked her watch.
Only fifteen minutes later than she thought. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for setting her alarm twenty minutes earlier than normal in anticipation of birthday activities. She had just put the last carafe on when there was a knock on the front door. Stephanie, right on time for her early-morning shift, waved at her through the glass as Amy went to let her in.
The girl, who had worked at Coffee Table Books since its inception eight years earlier, put her arms around Amy and hugged her. "Happy birthday, boss lady!"
"Thanks, Steph." She returned the hug, still trying to come to terms with the little freshman who had transformed into a beautiful young woman. "How's your mom doing?"
"Much better. Thanks. She loved the cookies you sent her."
Amy smiled. "Good! Let her know we're thinking of her."
Stephanie nodded and followed Amy behind the counter. "If you wanted to sit back and relax, I'm fine with taking the brunt of the work today. It is your day, after all."
"Actually, I'm looking forward to it. In fact, I think today the special will be birthday cupcakes. Everyone who makes a five dollar purchase will get a free cupcake."
"Excellent. Love it. I'll go get started on them. Any preference?"
"Can't be a birthday cupcake without sprinkles."
"I'm on it, boss lady."
Amy grinned and rested her hands on the counter, watching the street outside the window. This early the streetlights were still on, and only a handful of vehicles passed by while she was watching. She was already looking forward to Outskirts, wondering how she'd let so much time go by since her last visit. Life just getting in the way, she supposed.
She sighed deeply and pushed away from the counter. She needed to distract herself with work before she drove herself crazy trying to guess what Nicole and Kate had gotten for her.
#
Almost everyone Amy knew on the island found their way to the store during the course of the day. Nadine stopped in before work, and Vanessa Kavik dropped off an 8x10 portrait she had painted of the storefront that had Amy in tears as she hugged her. She found a place of prominence next to the kitchen door where it was sure to be seen by every customer when they paid for their purchases.
Stephanie had gone home a little before noon and came back at five for the second part of her shift. Amy left the store in her very capable hands and went to prepare for her birthday dinner. She showered again, did her hair and makeup, and went into the bedroom. She dressed in a red blouse and an above-the-knee black skirt, deciding on dark pantyhose instead of nude.
Once she was dressed she turned on the TV just to have a murmur of background noise. Kate was still at work and Nicole was out making sure they had the private room at Outskirts for their party. The apartment felt enormous and empty without their presence and Amy instantly took back any gripes she'd made about being cramped since Nicole moved in. She wanted the pressure of other people around her.
She opened her jewelry box to take out the earrings and necklace she never wore except on special occasions. She was putting on the earrings when she spotted the much-folded piece of paper tucked against one side of the box, held in place by a hairpin. She slipped it free and saw a large "32" written in curly letters. She knew instantly what it was, and mostly remembered what she had written, but she sat on the edge of the bed and unfolded it carefully.
"Today is my thirty-second birthday."
She read about her perfect grown-up life as imagined by a confused and adrift teenager. A husband, two kids, a dog. An interior decorator, which made her laugh out loud in the empty apartment and shake her head. She remembered how desperate she had been to get away, how Squire's Isle was the last place she ever wanted to be. She had been so sure that the second she had a chance she would hightail it to somewhere... else. The specifics didn't matter. It just had to be somewhere else.
"Well, kid," she said softly. "You were off by a wide mark."
She dropped out of high school after being kicked out of the house, disowned for being caught with an older woman. She was arrested for possessing enough marijuana that it counted as intent to sell, and she was put in prison for two and a half years. But she got her GED, found a decent enough job to build up some savings, and then she returned to the island to reluctantly accept her inheritance. Her father's bookshop.
She turned it into a coffee shop with her brother's help, and it was his idea to keep the books as a gimmick to make the customers linger long enough to need refills. Coffee Table Books was born.
And then she met Nicole, and then she met Kate, and then Nicole came back, and...
Amy heard the front door open. "Ames? Are you home?"
"I'm back here."
Kate appeared in the doorway. She wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a narrow black tie swinging as she rested her hands on the doorframe and leaned into the room. "You look amazing, baby. Nick's setting up the room at Outskirts. You ready to go?" She tilted her head and stepped into the room. "Amy? You look... maudlin."
"Not maudlin. Nostalgic." She folded the prediction and tapped it against her hand. "I'm really glad I'm not psychic."
Kate was lost, but she went with it. "Me too. It would ruin your gift."
Amy returned the paper to her jewelry box, which was handcrafted wood, but had been self-purchased. She closed the lid and crossed the room, turning off the light as she put her arm around Kate's waist.
"I'm sure whatever you got me will be amazing." She thought for a second. "But if it's a beagle, we're not naming it Charlie."
Kate glanced at her, brow furrowed. "All right. Are you planning to explain these weird little comments, or do you just want to leave me in suspense?"
"We'll see how the night goes. Maybe I'll make you and Nicole torture it out of me later." She winked as Kate escorted her out of the apartment to her birthday party.
On the sidewalk she paused and looked toward the storefront of Coffee Table Books, the corner entrance Vanessa had so meticulously recreated in her painting. She looked at Kate, who was hurrying to the other side of the car so she could unlock Amy's door. Squire's Isle, her birthplace, the island she had spent most of her formative years scheming to leave in her wake. And now the only place she could ever consider a home. And Kate, watching her across the top of the car. And Nicole, setting up the party across town.
"Are you coming, or should I tell Nicole the party is delayed until your thirty-third birthday?"
"Hey. I'm an old bitty now. I've earned some long contemplative moments."
"Hey, don't call yourself old. I'm older than you are."
"Yes, but you wear it so much better."
"Nice save."
She stepped off the curb and got into the car. She leaned across the console and kissed Kate long and hard, smiling when they parted.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
She fastened her seatbelt and watched Coffee Table Books as Kate drove past it. She was glad that sometimes Fate didn't let people choose what direction their lives took. If given the chance she would have fought tooth and nail against the road she was currently on. But now that she was well on the way traveling her road, she wouldn't trade the path for anything she'd written in her teenage journal.