Reece's Faith (47 page)

"Thanks a pant load," Faith frowned, and then stopped to gaze fondly at some trousers in the leather shop window.

"My pleasure. She loves Joan Jett. Didn't you know that?" Cori wondered then blew bubbles into her soda.

"Yes, I know that, but I have never heard a song like that."

"The whole album is sex, sex, sex."

"Well I'm thrilled Ms. Jett is so open about her preferences. God, that was humiliating."

"Aw... lighten up. I can't believe she hadn't played that one in your presence. You'd think it would be her idea of mood music." Cori blew more bubbles.

"Hardy har." The actress lamely backhanded the dancer in the stomach. "Our musical preferences are quite opposite; her's gives me a headache." She glanced sideways at her friend and chuckled. "Must you do that every time you get a fountain soda? And tell me again why you have to get a soda every time we're in the mall?"

"Fountain sodas rock! Besides, you know I have a system. First, I get a pretzel at the pretzel place. By the time I'm finished, we're right outside the cookie place and I get a soda, then I have to pee in Macy's."

The actress wandered around the corner to get a better look at the merchandise.

"So, when does Reece get a chance to listen to all her CD's?" the dancer asked, following Faith.

"She listens to her music while she's alone and mine when we're together," Faith smirked.

"Reece is sooo whipped," the dancer said with mock sadness, drawing a genuine grin from Faith. "Say, those pants are hot! They sell other... accoutrements here too, you know." Cori wiggled her eyebrows.

The actress smiled devilishly.

Marsha wandered up to the girls with her own burden of packages. "You know, girls, I liked it much better when Theresa was here; she insisted that she hold all of the bags. She's such a gentleman."

"Yeah, she's something else isn't she," Faith agreed absently. She was definitely going to buy those pants, among other things.
Now, how to ditch the old lady...
she thought.

"She lets
her
call her Theresa? How come I can't call her Theresa," Cori pouted.

"I'm special," Marsha replied quickly.

"Because you want to live to see another day," Faith answered at the same time.

"Mom, why don't you have a seat over there on the bench for a bit. Here, watch the bags, Cori and I want to go into a store without checking everything for a change."

"Sure, I can stand a break. You girls go on," she shooed them away with her hand.

Faith and Cori winked at each other and dashed into the leather specialty store.

When they returned, each wearing very evil grins, they noticed the bench was mobbed and Marsha was sitting there, bopping her head side to side.

"Mom?" Faith wondered what her mother was doing.

"You know, I can't get that song out of my head?" Marsha hummed a few bars then sang, "You are my fet-ish."

Cori shnarfed cola through her nose and howled with laughter.

Faith sat down in the middle of the mall and pulled her sweatshirt up over her face. "Leave me alone, I wanna die," she mumbled at the tugging on her sleeve.

"Aren't you Judith?" an excited teenage voice inquired.

Faith felt her legs go numb.
Oh no, not now.
She peeked her eye out from her shirt and grimaced. A small crowd had appeared around her, all holding little pieces of paper and various writing implements.

"Hey, yeah! It
is
her! Guys, come here!" another more excited young voice hollered.

The actress stood up as gracefully as she could, while trying to hide what was in her bag. She was embarrassed enough by her mother's and Cori's antics, if they should see what she just purchased, Faith was sure to be front-page fodder again. Glancing at the two women, she noticed her mother tapping her foot to the beat in her head and Cori still laughing.

I hope she pees herself
, she wished with a smirk. Turning to the small crowd, Faith smiled graciously. As much as she loved to cater to her fans, even answer fan mail personally; she wanted this to be quick. Her mother and Cori were bound to do something embarrassing.
As if my mother singing about rough sex isn't horrifying enough.
She glanced back over towards the bench, receiving a wave from both women. She narrowed her eyes at them, willing them to behave and continued to sign autographs for the ever-growing crowd.

 
*  *  *

Reece welcomed the hard spray of the shower massage with a deep sigh. She bent her head and let it pound into her neck.

Ahhh, this is heaven.

 
*  *  *

Reece was annoyed with Frankie's tree. She had found it up in the closet one day and he told her it was a fantastic seven-footer. It wasn't; it was pathetic and kept falling to the side. The club owner tried and tried, but the stupid tree wouldn't listen and she punished it for its disobedience. Once it was totally dismembered, she walked out in her pajamas in the rain and threw it into the trashcans in the alley.

"Now what?" she stood there letting the cold rain cool her temper.

She looked around her. As luck would have it, there was a small forest of Christmas trees for sale set up on the corner. The deciding process was quick and the wet dark haired woman dragged the drenched tree through the house. When it became firmly wedged between the two rooms, Reece pitched a fit, cussing and carrying on until she got it to bend around the corner and threw it into the living room.

The club owner was, for once, grateful for Cori's bright ideas and was happy that Faith wasn't due home all day. If she had any thought about leaving, Cori's eggnog was sure to keep her a bit longer. The dancer had promised.

Reece finally fit the soaking-wet tree into the stand. This being her first experience with a live tree, the wet pine needles in her underwear was a new and unwelcome sensation. Once she was able to get it standing straight, the frustrated woman couldn't wait and had dried the tree with towels and put up what lights and decorations she had.

Reece stood back to survey the tree. Her shoulders slumped in defeat when she realized only half the thing was covered. So, aggravated and full of needles and sap, she had to go out into the rain again and buy a sufficient amount of balls and ornaments to cover the twice-as-large tree. The salesman had even talked her into personalized stockings, which was good, because she had forgotten about those.

Hours later, when finished with the tree, Reece hung the stockings and stepped back to admire the finished product. "Hey, not half bad," the filthy and exhausted woman smiled, watching the lights twinkle and flicker. "You did good."

Taking a quick look at the damage inflicted on the rest of the house, the club owner groaned and got to work cleaning the mess.

 
*  *  *

Reece bent over and let the steaming water massage her lower back.

I hope she likes it
, she worried.
I'll just have to kill Cori if she doesn't.

Cori and Faith were discussing Christmas and Faith mentioned how special it was for her to have a family holiday, a decorated tree and listen to carols and Christmas songs. It was a tradition in her home and this would be the first year she'd go without it. Cori figured that since Reece simply hated the holiday season, she could have Faith help her decorate her house and had relayed the message to Reece. The club owner took the dancer's suggestion and ran with it. She'd do anything to make Faith happy, even pick pine needles out of the strangest places.

Reece really hated Christmas. Even growing up with nuns, she despised the holiday. Once she started working at The Lounge, she hated it even more -- the commercials, the inane songs on the radio, the shopping. Christmas and the weeks prior, meant the streets of Manhattan were crawling with thousands of tourists, all stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to gawk at window displays or knocking her around with their big clumsy bags full of stupid gifts. The whole month of December meant various office parties spilling over into The Lounge, the men rude and disrespectful to her girls and it had been Reece's job to protect those girls. The drunken idiots snorting at her when she would tell them to behave, challenging her, laughing in her face, finding it very amusing that a 'girl' was telling them what to do. Yeah, she hated Christmas. After only two years at the Lounge, she made it a point to take off on her bike and escape New York City in the winter. Frankie understood, and besides, he was tired of bailing her out of jail for assault.

The relaxed club owner sat in her bathrobe on the couch and stared at the tree.
Something's definitely missing,
she thought.

"Oh shit. Presents." she groaned and shuffled upstairs to get dressed.

 
*  *  *

"Honey? Where are you?" Faith yelled from the doorway. The actress knew that Reece would probably go ballistic if she wasn't there to present her surprise.

Faith and her mom waited patiently by the front door, making all sorts of unnecessary noise.

"Faith, I don't think she's home."

"That's weird," Faith worried.

Marsha glanced around and saw the tall woman's wet coat draped over the kitchen chair and the wet boots on a towel.

"Sweetheart?" she pointed to the wet clothes and then pointed upstairs.

"Oh, the poor baby, she's probably wiped out. I'll take care of it, mom. Stay here," Faith ordered.

"Actually, dear, I thought I'd go down to the corner and maybe order us some dinner. I'm sure she's starved and we're all pretty tired to start cooking."

"Mom, it's pouring!" Faith protested.

"Oh never you mind, I'm wet already," the older woman waved her hand. "I'm sure you can use some privacy, anyway," Marsha winked and slipped out the door.

"Maybe she
is
kinda cool," Faith wondered.

The actress found her lover laying on the bed snoring. She smiled at the sight and brushed the dark hair away from Reece's face.

"Reece, love, I'm home," she whispered, ending the sentence with a soft kiss.

"Hmmm," the tall woman grinned sleepily and opened one eye.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. We have company."

"What kinda kiss was that?" Reece complained.

Faith slid on top of her lover and kissed her properly. Reece wrapped her arms around Faith and deepened the kiss briefly before jumping up with a panicked look on her face, dropping Faith in the process.

The actress frowned from her position on the floor and reached out a hand for some help.

"Reece! What's the matter with you?" she scolded.

"You didn't go into the living room did you?" she asked quickly.

"Why would I go there?" Faith played it cool; glad she was a professional.

"Oh, no reason," Reece breathed easy. "Company?"

"Mom's here. She went to get dinner." "Hey, cool! She's not so bad, Faith." Reece smiled, then the panicked look returned. "
She
didn't go in the living room did she?"

Faith slid her arms around Reece's waist and looked up at her face. She was trying so hard to hide her secret; it was cute. "What do you have in there Reece? Are you hiding a woman from me?" Faith teased.