“Yes you did! You do.” She was very careful to keep her eyes forward and on the road. “You are going to wear it on your next date, right? Trust me, It’ll blow his mind.”
“I will, I promise.”
“So,” Paige’s voice changed, trying and failing to be nonchalant, “why wouldn’t Grandma like him?”
“What?”
“When you told me in the kitchen, you said you wouldn’t want Daddy or Grandma asking about him. Daddy I can understand, but I think Grandma’d be super happy you were seeing someone. So what is it? Is he younger? Oh! Or is he Black?”
“Paige! Why would that matter?”
“It wouldn’t matter to me, but it’d matter to Grandma, and you know it.”
I sighed. “Okay, they are just a couple of years younger, less than five, which when you’re my age is nothing to think about. And they are white, not that it matters.”
“What does he do?”
“They’re a medical professional, so they have a good job.” Paige opened her mouth to keep up her inquiry, but I shut it down. “And that’s all you get, young lady. Now pay attention and try not to kill us.”
Paige grinned at me. “Yes, Ma’am.”
***
I shook another hand, keeping the smile plastered onto my face. It wasn’t too hard, really. Overall, I enjoyed my church family, the vast majority of them were really good, loving people, and they weren’t ultra conservative like at the church I’d attended when I was married to Bill. Of course, that didn’t mean they were liberal. I’d actually done a lot of research after Bill and I had divorced, and this was the least conservative church I’d been able to find that I thought wouldn’t bring mother or my ex-husband’s ire down on me.
In a whirlwind of self-destructive patterns and bad choices, this had been one good one. But that didn’t mean it didn’t have its issues, including some annoying intra-church politics and a fully functioning rumor mill, the latter of which was about to bite me in the blubber.
“Melanie, it’s good to see you. We missed you last week.”
“Thanks, Samantha, I missed you, too.”
She cocked her head a little to the side with a conspiratorial smile. “Well, I heard you didn’t miss us too much.”
“Hmm?”
“Oh, Penny was telling us about your little adventure.”
“Hi, Mom! What little adventure?” Paige put her hand on my shoulder, and I felt my heart leap into my throat.
Sam turned to her. “Oh, nothing, just your mom and a friend picking up some wine at Trader Joe’s last Sunday.”
Paige’s eyes got big. “You’ve seen her friend? What’re they like?”
“I didn’t see her, Penny did. And your mom’s allowed a girl’s night when you’re at your dad’s.” Sam gave Paige a smile, before reaching out and putting her hand on my elbow. “You know I’m not adverse to a glass of vino from time to time, we should do that some time.”
I smiled a fake smile. “Absolutely.”
Luckily Samantha excused herself to get her kids from children’s church, and I tried not to act scared.
“Where’re your brothers?”
“In the rec center, playing basketball.”
My brow crinkled. “Even Charlie?”
Paige shrugged. “He’s at least there.”
“Can you go get them? It’s about time to go.”
Paige headed out toward the hallway that ran to the rec center, and I found one of the soft chairs that populated the church’s entryway and sank down into it. I smiled and waved at a few more people, but mostly my thoughts centered around a chestnut brunette doctor and field hockey coach, and what it would be like to have her sitting next to me.
A few other people stopped by to say hello as I waited, and I dutifully returned their pleasantries. Eventually Charlie and Will appeared, and I stood up and looked around to find Paige. I didn’t see her for a second, but then two men moved and I could see Paige talking to Penny Hobson.
My heart leapt into my chest. “Paige! Let’s go!”
Paige waved, saying goodbye and heading towards me. “You okay, Mom?”
I nodded, pulling out the keys from my bag. “Yeah, I just want to get home. You want to drive?”
“Sure.”
***
The afternoon passed in its usual blur of laundry and dishes. I spent a few hours helping Charlie out with a book report on Steinbeck’s ‘East of Eden’. I remember reading it when I was in eighth grade. It was the first time I realized that the books our teachers assigned were actually quite good, instead of the instruments of torture or punishment most students assumed them to be.
Darkness had finally fallen outside, and I’d gotten the kids on the way towards bed. I’d retired to my room, where I was sitting up in bed, reading, when there was a soft knock on the door.
I marked my place and set my copy of ‘Middlemarch’ on the bed stand. “Come in!”
The door pushed open and Paige stepped inside, already wearing her sky blue pajamas.
“Mom? Would you braid my hair?”
“Well, sure, Honey. Come here.” That was odd. She hadn’t asked me to do that for a long time. I used to braid her hair every night when she was little, until the day she’d announced that she could do it herself. When she did now, it meant she wanted to talk.
She crawled onto the mattress, handing me a ribbon and a brush before turning her back to me. I started to brush her hair out, my heart racing just a little faster than usual. “So what’s on your mind, sweetheart?”
“So, Mrs. Hobson was asking about your new friend, the one she saw you with at the grocery store.”
I forced my voice to stay controlled. “Well, that should have been a short conversation.”
“Yeah, well, um, there wasn’t anything I could say. But she did describe her to me.”
I tried to regulate my breathing. “Really? What did she say?”
“She said she was tall, a curly-haired brunette named Sandy.”
I set the brush aside, buying some time to figure out what to say by separating Paige’s hair into three equal bunches.
“And?”
“That’s it. Mom? Coach Dalton’s first name is Sandra.” Paige’s voice was tentative and unsure. “I’ve seen, well, I’ve seen you talking.”
“Paige, let me ask you a question. Do you tell me everything about all of your friends? When a boy asks you out, is your first reaction, ‘I should run home and tell Mom’?”
Paige chuckled. “No.”
I wove the strands together. “And I don’t ask, much.”
“Sorry, it’s just, a lot of the girls think she’s gay, the coach.”
I tied her braid off and Paige turned around. “Has she said anything to the team, officially, about that?”
Paige shook her head. “No, she never talks about her personal life. But she’s never mentioned a husband or a boyfriend. Kaylin thinks she is, and since she’s one herself, aren’t they supposed to be able to tell?”
I smiled at the naivete in that statement. “Not always. Would it matter to you if she were?”
“No. But I thought it might matter to you, if you guys were spending time together.”
“Thanks, sweetheart, but I can take care of myself.”
“It’s just, you always tell me that I can talk to you about anything, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, I’m eighteen years old, Mom, I’m not a kid. You said you met someone, and then someone sees you with Coach Dalton. And you were describing the person you met, you never actually called them ‘him’, it was always ‘they’. I know you can’t talk to Grandma, or Dad. But you can talk to me, if you need to.”
***
“So she suspects, at least.”
I nodded, taking another bite of the chicken vindaloo Sandy had brought me for lunch. “Yeah, definitely.”
Sandy chuckled, swirling a piece of na’an through her chana masala. “I thought there was something off about her the last couple of days. Do you think we should tell her?”
“Not quite yet. I still want you all to myself for a little while longer.”
Sandy grinned, leaning forward across the corner of the table and kissing me.
We lingered like that for a second before she sat back. She nodded towards my bowl. “I like your vindaloo.”
I shook my head. “You haven’t tried it.”
“Really?” Her grin was wicked, and I realized what she was getting at.
“You could taste it on my lips?” Sandy nodded, edging forward a little. “You want some more? Then you better ask nicely.”
Sandy put on a British accent, channeling Oliver Twist. “Please, sir, can I have some more?”
“Oh, all right.”
Sandy covered my lips with her, this kiss more insistent, and my body instinctively began to surrender to it. Sandy leaned away, breaking contact only long enough for her to pull me around the table and into her lap. Her arms went around my middle and mine encircled her neck. Our liplock was long and deep, and my body, whose arousal had been at a lower simmer all morning knowing Sandy was coming for lunch, was now at a raging boil.
My lover’s lips moved to my neck before sliding up and whispering in my ear. “Couch, or bed?”
I gasped as she sucked my earlobe into her mouth for a moment. “Bed, c’mon.” I stood, pulling her to her feet. I loved how much taller than me she was, and I kissed her again before I turned, dragging her behind me towards the stairs.