Sundays on Squire's Isle:

Sunday, June 24

The Waiting

by Geonn Cannon

http://www.geonncannon.com

Amy nearly always went to bed before the digits on the clock hit double digits, always out before prime time was over. Occasionally she would burn the midnight oil, staying up until that witching hour before she finally rubbed her partner's thigh, leaned over to kiss her goodnight, and trudged to bed. Coffee Table Books opened at five-thirty and she needed to be in the kitchen by no later than quarter to five to start getting things ready for the first rush.

Since it was Saturday, she stayed up a little later than usual and was in bed a few minutes after midnight. The curtains were drawn, but she could see the glow of the streetlight outside, and occasionally a car passed to remind her the island wasn't really abandoned. She still had the light on, wearing only a basketball jersey as she read a chapter of her book.

Kate came down the hall and Amy glanced up as she turned the page. "Nothing good on TV?" she asked as she went back to her book.

"Nothing as good as cuddling with you." She undressed and crawled under the blanket in her underwear. "How's the book?"

Amy marked her spot and rolled onto her side. "About as good as TV." She stroked Kate's cheek and leaned in to kiss her. Clothes were quickly done away with, and Amy's head disappeared under the blankets. Kate pushed the blankets up, her knees hilling the blanket on either side of Amy's head, and she closed her eyes as her lover went to work. Amy's hand appeared from below, caressing Kate's breast. Kate covered Amy's hand with her own and whispered encouragement.

Something buzzed and, for a moment, Kate wondered how Amy had gotten the vibrator from the drawer without her noticing. The second buzz was more readily identifiable as a cell phone, and she uttered a curse as she looked to see if it was hers or Amy's. She grunted and dropped her hand to rest it on the blanket bulge of Amy's head.

"When you call back whoever this is, tell them it's rude to call after midnight."

Amy's reply was muffled by Kate's thigh. She lifted her head and repeated, "Answer it."

"Oh, you freak." Kate laughed as Amy's tongue ran down her thigh to go back to work, and she steadied her breath as she reached for the phone. She checked the ID and frowned. "Honey, cut it out for a second."

Amy whined. "Why, who is it?"

"Amy Wellis' phone, this is Kate." Amy burrowed up, her head emerging from the blankets just above Kate's breasts. Kate was looking off to one side, listening to a voice that, to Amy, sounded tinny but female. "What? When?" She glanced at the clock. "Is she...? No. No, it's good, I'm glad you called. Amy will be, too. When will you know anything-- right. Okay. Can you call us when you know anything else? Thanks. Okay. Thanks, Dana." Amy mouthed 'Dana who?' but Kate didn't see her. "Do you want to talk to Amy? She's right... okay. Right, yeah. I'll tell her. Okay. Take care of yourself... bye."

"Dana who?" Amy said once Kate hung up.

Kate reached up to stroke the side of Amy's head as she returned the phone to the nightstand. "Dana Cabot. Nick Bronwyn's ex-girlfriend."

"What did she want?" She did the mental calculations. Nick and Dana lived in Chicago, so it wasn't quite as late there as it was here.

"She's still down at Nick's emergency contact. Nick started having abdominal pain, and she kept waiting for it to go away. She thought it was just gas or indigestion. Finally she got a friend to drive her to the hospital. Her appendix was about to burst."

"Oh, my God." Amy felt the color draining from her face. "Is she okay?"

"She's in surgery right now. Dana's at the hospital and she found your number in Nick's address book. She thought we would want to know."

Amy was sitting on Kate's middle, her feet curled back underneath her, but thoughts of sex flew from her mind and was replaced with worry.

"Dana said she would call when they know more. Should be a couple of hours." She rubbed Amy's arm. "I'll sit up with you."

"You don't have to."

"I know." She sat up and kissed Amy's lips briefly. Amy cupped the back of Kate's head, fingers tangling in the strands of her black hair. She needed another haircut; it was starting to get shaggy again. Amy liked playing with hair, but only when it was short, and Kate liked Amy playing with her hair. "We should probably get dressed."

Amy nodded. "Sorry about leaving you..."

"It's okay. We'll finish up later."

"Yeah."

They rolled away from each other but didn't go far. Kate retrieved her shirt from the floor and slipped into it. Amy got up and put on her robe. "I'll go make us some coffee."

"I'll come with."

They went through the apartment to the living room. It was odd returning from the bedroom without sleep or, really, without even sex. She turned on the light and Amy went around the counter into the kitchen. Kate had brought their cell phones out of the bedroom and put them on the coffee table, then stretched out on the couch. She smoothed the material of her shirt over her thighs, still sensitive from her belly button to her upper thighs thanks to Amy's interrupted exertions. Neither of them would have stopped for just anyone but... this was Nick.

Nicole Bronwyn was a photographer who traveled from city to city on different assignments, often finding a warm bed and a soft body to share it wherever she was. Amy's bed was her port of call in Squire's Isle, an arrangement that almost ended when Nick returned to discover Amy was now in a committed relationship. But Nick was too charming to turn away, Kate decided she was a good egg, and... well. Sometimes these things just happen. She and Amy welcomed Nick into their bed.

For a while, Nick was in a happy relationship with Dana. There was commitment, there was a "world tour" of Nick breaking the news to the women she'd kept in every port, and she came home every night to a woman she loved and who loved her back. Kate and Amy were both sad about losing their occasional partner, but Nick remained their friend. For a few months, maybe even a whole year, the relationship was serious enough that Amy had even stopped making U-Haul jokes and started sincerely asking when they were going to make things official.

Then one day, out of the blue, Nick had shown up on their doorstep asking for a place to stay. Her hair was cut very, very short, showing off her long neck and slightly too-big ears, and her dark eyes were a little too wide. She seemed manic, her happiness forced, her entire demeanor jumpy. Over dinner, she let the bomb drop. "Dana left me. She met someone else. Fell in love with her. Didn't want to cheat." She suddenly rubbed her face and Kate had seen the mask slip. "But she couldn't go on. She loved this other woman. More than me." She laughed then, a little hysterically, and closed her eyes as she started to cry.

Kate realized she had fallen asleep just before Amy came around the couch with two mugs of coffee. Kate propped herself up on the arm, and Amy lifted her legs just long enough to slip under them.

"I love when you make me coffee." She breathed in the steam and hoped it would help wake her up. Her body felt cheated of more than just sex; she'd been in the sleep mindset. It was hard to switch gears so suddenly no matter what news they were waiting for. "Everyone else on the island has to pay for the privilege, but I get it for free."

"See? There are perks to sleeping with me."

"More than one or two."

Amy smiled and held her coffee in her left hand, her right sliding up and down the inside of Kate's thigh. Kate closed her eyes and enjoyed the touch.

"Most people on the island have to pay when I do this, too."

Kate's lips curled into a smile. "Whore."

Amy squeezed and then looked toward the curtained window. "It's not going to happen like this."

"What's not?"

"Nick. She doesn't... die because some stupid unnecessary little organ decides to explode on her. She goes to war zones. You saw that picture of her in Bagram, with the turtle shell helmet, the goggles, the..." She waved her hand over her chest. "The damn body armor. No. Nick is not going to die from something stupid and simple and... ordinary."

Kate took Amy's hand, linking their fingers together. "Are you okay?"

"Death scares me." She smiled at how ridiculous that was and shrugged. "I know. Who isn't? But it's always out there. And I always know that if it can reach someone close to me, then maybe it can... it will come after me next."

Kate sat up. "It won't. I won't let it. And I've fought death and won before, remember?"

Amy smiled and bumped her forehead against Kate's. Usually the topic was off-limits; the word 'suicide' was as verboten with Kate as 'prison' was with Amy. But here, in the middle of the night waiting on word about their friend and sometimes partner, it seemed safe enough to bring it up.

"That's one of the reasons I asked you out. You went up against it and survived. I thought you could protect me."

"Always." They kissed, and Amy moved her hand higher on Kate's thigh. Kate pulled back and hissed with her eyes closed tight. "Honey, stop. I'm still a little edgy from..."

"I know," Amy whispered. She kissed the corners of Kate's mouth and then pushed her down. "We're alive. And I was in the middle of proving to you just how alive you were when we got interrupted." She kissed Kate's chin and then eased down her body. Kate slid one leg up the back of the couch, letting the opposite foot drop to the floor as Amy settled between her thighs. She lifted Kate's shirt and kissed her pubic hair, then went back to what she had been doing before the call came in.

Kate reached up and cupped the back of her own head, eyed closed as Amy began to tease and stroke with the very edge of her tongue. Her finger, wet and dexterous teased her folds as her lips closed around Kate's clit and sucked. Kate's breasts rose and fell with her steady, sharp breaths. She wet her lips and her toes curled in the carpet. She turned her face to the crook of her elbow and gently brushed her mouth against the warm skin, and uttered Amy's name in a stuttering three-syllable cadence.

"A-hay-mee."

Amy pressed the flat of her tongue against Kate and moaned; Kate arched her back and ran her palm down her side, over her breasts and stomach to grab a handful of Amy's hair. Amy made a contented sound, moved her tongue in a circle, and Kate came with a trembling groan of pleasure. She pulled her hand forward without lifting it, drawing her hair over her face as she sucked her pinkie and ring fingers into her mouth.

Amy sat up and kissed Kate's belly, then her breasts, and settled with her head on Kate's chest. Kate wrapped her arms around Amy and closed her eyes.

"Your heartbeat is rapid."

"Your fault," Kate murmured dreamily.

Amy chuckled. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She stroked Amy's back and settled more comfortably against the couch cushions. The phones were on the table; they would hear if anyone called with news about Nick. For right now, they were happy to just doze.

Amy was leaning forward with her elbow on her knee, chin in hand, the nail of her pinkie finger between her lips as she nibbled on it. Kate was slumped against her, head on Amy's shoulder, more asleep than awake despite her eyes being open. Amy squinted her eyes at the TV and tilted her head to the side. "See?" She pointed with the remote control. "There is no way she's enjoying that. They're putting themselves in painful positions so they'll make faces that look like they're enjoying themselves, but really--"

"Uh huh."

Amy turned and smiled when she saw Kate's eyes were closed. "Come on. Watching porn alone is just sad."

Kate yawned and reached for her coffee. "Porn, or Positions Outside the Regular Norm." Her eyes were open now, and she wrinkled her nose. "No one in history has ever fucked in that position."

Amy chuckled. "Right?"

"No, I mean, ever since Caveman Og realized that the girl-next-cave had parts that interlocked with his, even he knew that that--" She pointed at the screen. "--is just unfeasible. Holy crap. See what else is on. Maybe there's something on Tivo."

"Aw, come on. This is funny."

Kate took the remote from her and said, "If we're going to watch porn, we have higher quality DVDs in the bedroom. Want me to go get one of those?"

"No. I'm not horny. I just need something to take my mind off Nick."

"You could go down on me again. I'm willing to let you. For your sake."

"Saint Kate." She slumped back, guiding Kate's head from her shoulder to her lap. "No, just find something on TV that won't melt our brains."

Kate scanned the channels while Amy kneaded her shoulders. "You could just go to bed. You have to be up in three hours anyway. I'll wake you the second Dana calls."

"Eh. I'd just toss and turn. I'd rather sit up. I feel like if I go to bed, she'll know and think I don't care. Stupid, huh?"

"Hey, I'm up, too. I know exactly what you're talking about." She lifted her head slightly and blinked at the TV on-screen guide. "Whoa. When did they start showing Quantum Leap again?"

"I dunno."

Kate clicked on it, and they watched Scott Bakula for a while. Halfway through the episode Amy's phone began to ring, and both women immediately woke up and lunged for it. Kate got it first, and twisted to hand it to Amy. Amy answered it and immediately put it on speaker.

"Hello? This is Amy Wellis."

"Go to bed."

Amy grinned, and Kate surprised herself by tearing up at the sound of Nick's voice. She sounded weary, but she was herself.

"Hey! You're--"

"I'm fine. They got it in time, but it was very close." She was quiet for a minute. "They said Dana called and let you know, so I threatened them until they let me use the phone to tell you to please, please go to bed. I knew you'd be waiting up for me."

"Kate's here, too."

"Hi, sweetie."

"Hey, Katie Bear. You go to bed, too. It means a lot to me, but..." There was a sharp intake of breath and Amy's heart broke.

"You okay, Nicole?"

"I'm still... I'm just a little woozy from the drugs." She sniffled. "I love you guys."

"We love you, too. Get better and come out to see us, okay? It's been too long."

"I definitely will. I love you, Amy. Love you, Kate."

Kate said, "We'll go to sleep if you will. You had a big night."

"I was asleep for most of it. They gave me lots of great drugs to make sure of it. Although I think I am a little loopy."

"Well, get your loopy ass to sleep. We'll do the same. See you soon."

They hung up and Amy fell into Kate's arms. Kate held her, kissed her, and whispered that Nick would be okay. Amy turned her head and nuzzled Kate's ear. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Want me to carry you to bed?"

"No. You go on. I'll rinse out the cups and I'll be there in a second."

"Okay." She kissed Amy, letting her lips linger, and then stood up and turned off the TV. She padded into the bedroom. Amy sat on the edge of the couch and looked at the window. She had to be up in less than three hours to get the store ready for the day. She scratched the back of her neck and took the cups into the kitchen to rinse them out, then turned off the lights and followed Kate down the hall.

Kate was lying down, blanket pulled to her shoulders but still revealing she had undressed completely. Amy undressed and joined her under the blankets, pulling Kate to her so that their bodies slid deliciously together.

"I don't think I'm going to get to sleep..."

"Not even if I sing you a lullaby?"

Amy smiled. "You would do that for me?"

"Of course. Lullaby... and goodnight. Go to sleep little Am-ee..." She ducked under the blankets and started humming. Amy chuckled. The rest of the song was too muffled to hear, but Amy quickly decided it was her favorite song ever composed.

She could think of worse ways to start a Sunday.

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