Fresh Tracks (27 page)

Amy sighed. "I know. I'm kind of bummed about it."

"Me, too."

"You are?"

"Sure. I've liked having them here."

Amy squeezed her wife. "So have I. Do you think they had a good time?"

Darby's voice surprised them both as she spoke from her cocoon of blankets on the couch.

"If the noises I heard last night are any indication, they all had a good time."

Jo laughed and Amy turned to regard her niece. Darby sat up and stretched, her dark hair

sticking up at all angles. "What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"What do you mean 'what do I mean?' I mean there was a lot of sex going on in this house last night. You didn't hear it?" Darby stood in her sweatpants and T-shirt and began

folding her blankets. "Apparently, I'm the only one not getting any," she muttered, making a face.

Amy crossed the room so she could interrogate Darby without others in the house hearing

her. Jo rolled her eyes and went to get more coffee.

"What did you hear?" Amy demanded, her voice hushed. She huddled close to Darby as if about to receive a cryptic, secretive message.

Darby grinned and shook her head. "You are such a gossip, Aunt Ame. You're worse than my mother."

Amy slapped at her shoulder. "Tell me!" she hissed.

"Two of them were going at it right after we went to bed. Then when I got up around three thirty to get a glass of water, somebody else was doing some heavy breathing."

"Who do you think it was?"

"I don't know!" Darby feigned indignence at the line of questioning. "It's not like I was watching. But the math isn't that hard. Add up the panting and squeaking bed springs.. .a

groan here and there." She shot a look at Aunt Jo when she returned from the kitchen

with a fresh cup of coffee. "And when you two started in, I wanted to kill myself." She shuddered. "Please. It's like listening to my parents. Blech! Thank God for thick pillows."

With a teasing glance at Aunt Amy, she said, "You make a lot of noise."

Amy had the good sense to blush and scratched her forehead in the hopes, of covering it

up.

Jo laughed outright. At Amy's glare, she shrugged. "Sorry, honey. Truth hurts."

The expression on Amy's face told the other two that she was searching hard for a witty

comeback. Failing, she sighed and headed for the kitchen to make breakfast. Jo followed.

Darby smiled and shook her head as she continued to neaten up the couch. She supposed it

was a good sign that her aunts apparently had a healthy sex life. They'd been together

forever and a day and she didn't see any hints of the dreaded lesbian bed death that her

older friends had mentioned or suffered from. It was easy for Darby to imagine becoming

tired of the same woman day after day, night after night, and she wondered what that said

about her. Her aunts evidently didn't have that problem. Good for them, she thought with

unexpected pride.

The sounds from the previous night really hadn't bothered her all that much. What was so

awful about listening to a woman's pleasure, after all? She did wince when she'd picked out

Molly's, though. Darby had found herself torn between the stinging fact that it wasn't her

causing Molly to make such sounds and the fantasy of pretending she was causing it. She

simultaneously envied and hated Kristin.

Rifling through her duffel bag, she thought about her cell phone for the first time since

her arrival. It made her shake her head in wonder when she realized that she'd barely

thought about Rebecca—the reason she was hiding out here at the cabin in the first place

—at all in several days. Her cel phone was like an extension of her body, and it was highly

unusual for her to just put it out of her head like she had. She was sure Julie must have

left her a message or two.

"Or twelve," she muttered in disbelief as she powered up the cell and noticed how many missed calls she had. Julie was going to skin her alive. She took a deep breath and dialed,

resigned to her fate, as Kristin and Molly appeared from the stairs, hand in hand. Darby

looked away, their tousled appearance and the glow on Molly's face too much to take in at

the moment.

"Morning," Molly said cheerfully as she and Kristin entered the kitchen.

"Happy New Year," Amy said, hugging one and then the other.

"Yes, it is." Molly grinned as Kristin pulled her closer.

"Coffee?" Jo asked, holding up the pot. At the nods of consent, she pulled down two mugs and filled them.

"Looks like we got a little bit of snow," Kristin observed, pushing some blond hair out of her eyes as she gazed out the window.

"Not a lot. Couple inches," Jo said. "I'm going to go out and snow-blow in a few minutes. Do you two have a time in mind that you need to head out?"

Molly and Kristin looked at one another and Molly frowned. "We've got two cars. I totally forgot."

"That's okay," Kristin said. "I'll probably start out fairly soon. I have a couple stops to make." Feeling Molly stiffen next to her, she squeezed her hand. "Don't worry. It's okay.

I'll get a head start, make my stop, and still beat you home. It won't take ten minutes."

"Promise?" Molly's voice was soft and her voice imploring.

"I promise." Kristin kissed her tenderly on the mouth and her body sent her several sizzling flashbacks in quick succession...Molly waking her earlier by whispering in her ear,

Molly's knee nudging Kristin's legs apart as Kristin lay on her stomach, not quite awake yet, Molly's fingers slipping over Kristin's ass and down to the wetness that awaited them

between her thighs, Kristin pressing her face into the pil ow to muffle her sobs of ecstasy.

It certainly was a hell of a way to welcome in the New Year. It also made Kristin 100

percent sure that it was the way she wanted to be with Molly from that moment on. Close.

Playful. Sexy. Loving. All the things they used to be. She'd missed Molly so much. She

hadn't even truly realized it until that morning, and she was going to do everything in her

power to keep from missing her again, even if that meant stomping into Jack Reeves's

office on New Year's Day and telling him she quit. Which was exactly what she planned to

do on her way home.

She was scared to death.

"Molly?" Kristin's voice was barely audible, quiet enough for only her wife to hear her.

"Hmm?"

Kristin took a deep breath. "I need your help." There. She'd said it.

"Sure, baby. With what?" Molly's green eyes were open, curious.

Just the sight of her gentleness and willingness to offer assistance made Kristin's eyes

well with tears.

"We'll talk about it tonight."

Molly studied her carefully, squinting and then nodding. "Okay. Tonight."

Kristin let out a breath, surprised by how not hard it had been to ask Molly for help. She

shook her head. God, I'm an idiot.

The ticka-ticka of canine nails coming down the bare steps interrupted any further

conversation and suddenly, Ricky was jumping at Kristin's legs. Then Molly's. Then Amy's.

The group chuckled, each woman squatting to the level of the dog to lavish attention on

him. Amidst the cooing and fur-scratching, Laura appeared, looking tired, disheveled, and

smiley.

"Morning, everybody," she said, her voice hoarse. She grabbed a jacket off the hook and stepped into her boots.

"Good morning, Laura." Amy eyed her suspiciously.

As Laura and the dog headed out into the sunny, snow-covered morning, Jo nudged Amy and

said, "You were staring at her."

"Did you see the red mark on her neck?"

Jo burst into laughter.

"Told you." Darby's voice held a smile as she finished checking her messages and joined the group.

"Told you what?" Molly asked.

Jo raised her mug to her lips and just before sipping, said, "Apparently, you and Kristin weren't the only ones getting it on last night."

"Getting it—oh, God." Molly clamped a hand over her eyes. Cheeks flushed bright red, she buried her face in Kristin's shoulder.

Kristin held her tightly, enjoying the moment. Over her head, she regarded Jo and Amy.

"Laura and Sophie? No way!"

"Unless you two were making the rounds up there last night," Jo said with a wink.

Kristin laughed. "Afraid not. Good for them," she said with satisfaction.

When Sophie came down the stairs a few minutes later and approached the chatting

cluster, all five women did their best to look at anything but her. Sophie furrowed her

brows. "All right. What's going on?"

At the various murmurs of "nothing," the five scattered in different directions. Amy and Molly hit the kitchen to start breakfast. Jo and Kristin dressed for outdoors. Darby busily

dialed her cel . Sophie's eyes darted around the room and she pressed her lips together to

stifle a grin. We must have been louder than I thought.

She glanced out the window and saw Laura and Ricky wandering in the snow, leaving twin

tracks in the otherwise untouched white. Surprisingly, waking up in the same small bed,

wrapped up in one another, hadn't been at all embarrassing. As a matter of fact, it had

been nice. Very nice. The truth had given Sophie a minor bout of heart palpitations, but

Laura's reassuring smile had put her at ease.

"I'm not going to ask you for a thing, so don't worry," she'd said gently as if reading Sophie's thought. The dimples were prominent in the morning light. "I just want to say

thanks and that I've really, really, really enjoyed the past three or four hours with you.

Happy New Year, Sophie."

Relief had flooded Sophie's system, along with.. .something else. "Happy New Year to you,"

she'd said, kissing Laura warmly on the forehead.

"And right now, I really, really, really have to pee." With that, Laura had struggled out of the too-small bed, hit the bathroom, and then taken Ricky downstairs.

Now, as Sophie finally tore her gaze away from the window, Darby was chatting on her cel .

They made eye contact and Darby winked at her with a knowing smile.

Yep. Definitely louder than I thought.

Molly tried to tamp down the hint of panic that began to surface the second Kristin keyed

the ignition of her Lexus. The window of the driver's side slid down silently and Kristin

smiled at her, blue eyes twinkling in the bright sunshine.

"You look worried," Kristin pulled off her leather glove and stroked Molly's cheek with her fingertips. "Trust me?" she asked quietly.

"Always."

"Good." She pulled Molly's head partway through the window and kissed her soundly on the mouth. "I love you. I'l be home before you get there. Please drive safely, okay?"

"You, too. Precious cargo."

Molly stepped back as Kristin donned a pair of black sunglasses and rolled up the window.

She looked so damn sexy, her blond hair loose around her shoulders and her face seeming

more relaxed than it had in months, she took Molly's breath away. Kristin followed the '

freshly cleared driveway in reverse out to the road. As she shifted into drive, she waved

through the window at Molly and at her friends, who were gathered in a clump at the front

door. She tooted the horn twice and was gone.

Molly let her hand drop to her side and blew out a deep breath, the visible puff floating

away and then dispersing into nothingness. She heard the crunch of snow underfoot and

felt Amy's presence behind her. Amy wrapped her arms around Molly from behind and

rested her chin on Molly's shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked with tenderness.

Molly nodded, placing her arms over Amy's where they crossed her stomach. "Yeah. I think so."

"Then how come you look like you just lost your best friend? You were glowing this morning.

Why the change?"

Pressing her lips together in a thin line, Molly honestly contemplated the question. The

answer was plain and simple, but no less scary to admit. "I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

Molly turned, threaded her arm through Amy's, and led her on a slow stroll back toward

the house. "I'm worried that once we're home and the influence of—she made an all-

encompassing gesture—"this place is behind us, things will go right back to the way they used to be."

"And why does that scare you?" Amy asked gently.

"It scares me because..." She dropped her eyes to her boots. "I don't think I can stand going back to the way it was," she said so softly Amy could barely hear. "Not after seeing and feeling how good it can be between us again."

They reached the front door and stopped. The others had gone in, so just the two of them

stood on the stoop. Amy regarded her friend with great affection. "All I can say, Primo, is you have to have faith. It's a lame piece of advice, I know, but it's all I've got. And I think it's the truth. You have to have faith—faith in Kristin and faith in the two of you together.

If anybody can pull through this, it's you guys."

"You're right," Molly said, wrapping Amy up in a grateful hug. "It is a lame piece of advice."

They entered the house laughing and hung up their coats. "Where are the girls?" Amy asked Darby, who sat on the floor killing zombies.

"Upstairs packing, I think. Aunt Jo's in the shower."

Amy nodded and excused herself to the bedroom. Molly stood uncertainly, then turned to

look at the back of Darby's dark head. She felt a mixture of emotions that she wasn't

quite sure what to do with: sympathy, guilt, longing, regret. She sat down on the floor next

to Darby, Indian-style, and watched her play. They didn't speak for several long moments.

"You doing okay?" Darby asked finally, not taking her eyes from the screen.

"Yeah," Molly replied. "You?"