Page 15 of SapphicLover69
“You should be safe in your house, not out here spying on us,” Tammy advised in a gentler tone. “You could’ve just walked up and talked to us like a normal person. Then we wouldn’t have chased you down and accused you of being a stalker.”
“Will you tell us your name?” I entreated.
“Teresa. I work at a bookstore with an LGBTQ section, and I like to sneak off and read, you know, about girls like me.”
I twisted my lips and propped a hand on my hip. “You know my books aren’t intended for minors.”
Teresa shot a horrified look at me and snapped into an upright posture. “I’m eighteen! Sure, I live with my mom. Who can afford their own place at my age? But I’m not a child.”
“Just in the closet,” Tammy concluded.
Teresa grimaced, nodded, and lowered her chin.
“Why are you afraid?” I asked. “Did you think someone you know would be at the conference and out you?”
“It could happen,” she muttered. “Happened to Chico. Then some guys busted him up.”
“I thought New Orleans was a gay-friendly city,” I commented. Of course, so was Gulfport, and I’d been hiding away in my closet. That was different. I had to keep my job until I didn’t need it anymore.What will happen if my royalties dry up and I have to go back to teaching?
“Parts of it, only not my neighborhood. My mom would be beside herself if she found out. She has all these plans for me to marry a doctor or something.”
“Well,” Tammy mused in a grandmotherly way. “You could always marry a lady doctor. Maybe that would suffice.”
The first hint of humor escaped Teresa’s lips, and she snapped her head from side to side. “I doubt it. Besides, what lady doctor would look at me?”
Reaching my hand slowly toward her, I pushed the hair back from a lovely, youthful face bedazzled with big, brown eyes. The insecurity in them revealed volumes and, in an instant, I felt like I knew her. I read every insult, slight, and berating comment someone had made to her, the painful sting of guilt and shame because religious people had convinced her all queer folks were horrible sinners, the battle she had waged with her disposition for years. She’d probably slept with a few boys just to prove she wasn’t gay, only it didn’t go away. It doesn’t work like that.
“I’m a mother,” Tammy said. “I know I don’t look like one, but, once upon a time, I tried to be straight. Your mother might not like it, she may not understand, but I think she’d love you no matter what. I know that’s how I feel about my grown-up kid.”
“Yeah, well, maybe,” she fudged. “Anyway, I didn’t mean to upset you, and I wasn’t stalking.”
“I know. We’re sorry for scaring you and assuming the worst,” I offered in apology.
“Someone has been sending Aspen threatening messages, and she’s at the conference, so we had to find out if it was this shadowy character with the long, dark hair,” Tammy explained.
“There you are!” Winter raced up, face flushed, sweat pouring from every pore in her northern-midwestern body. “Is this her?”
“No,” I answered. “She’s alright.”
“OK,” Winter confirmed as she huffed out heavy breaths. “I don’t know if we’ll find the tour now.”
“Of course we will!” Tammy pulled out her phone and pushed a button. “Hi, hun. False alarm. Where are y’all now?”
I smiled at Winter, whose face shone with relief, and/or perspiration. “Winter Bliss, Teresa, a young fan of our genre. She works at a bookstore. Teresa, care to walk back with us to a nice, well-lit street?”
Producing a smile for the first time, she answered, “Sure.” Together, we left the stench and hazards of the alley for the prevailing scent of alcohol and ghostly dangers that awaited us at the next stop on the tour.
Chapter 9
No Way To Say I Love You
Confident Tammy had my back and, with Winter assuming the role of leech, I enjoyed the remaining haunted locations—although the story of unspeakable horrors committed at the LaLaurie Mansion was so disturbing I worried I’d have nightmares about it for the next decade or more. At least it had taken my mind off my minor worries.
Back at the voodoo shop, the other tourists peeled off for their next activity, and we said goodnight to the sapphic book fan club of three. Tammy had also apologized to Teresa and invited her to come back to the Windsor Court tomorrow. She said she’d think about it. Demi and Nan said they wouldn’t miss it and planned to attend every class geared toward readers. The dirty blonde with no name merely shrugged.
“That was awesome!” Elaine exclaimed. Her aspect was half amazed and half exhausted. My legs were tired, and I was in good shape. I could only imagine how she felt given the physicalchallenges she had to contend with. At that moment, I admired her more than ever. She endured much more in the name of research than I ever had. Still, a glow of satisfaction lit her moist, flushed face.
She doesn’t need to walk to the hotel with the pain she must be in.
