Page 29 of SapphicLover69
Elaine leaned in and cupped her hand to her mouth. “I think she really likes you. What are you going to do about it?”
What indeed?I considered. “I’m certainly not planning to break her heart if that’s what you mean. She’s a delightful elf and a freaking robot engineer.”
“Not who you’re accustomed to dating, huh?”
“You mean sweet, loyal, protective, and innocent?” I replied. “Nope. A step up from my usual.” In an instant, I realized how true a statement it was. Even Tracy, as much as she loved me, wasn’t willing to give me the time I needed to come out of the closet. And my other girlfriends? Honestly, there hadn’t been that many. They had either been too absorbed with their problems, wishing me to fix everything for them, or they’d been leaps and bounds ahead of me, impatient when I couldn’t keep up. I had to remind myself I’d only just met Winter. I didn’t know if she saw a psychiatrist each week to keep her mental illnesses in check or if she was so creative and intelligent that she’d become bored with me in a week. But more and more, I wanted to find out.
Everyone clapped for the act that finished, and Winter took the microphone. With fearlessness I seldom could evoke, she announced, “So, I’m just singing this song for somebody, and I hope she knows it’s for her.” A familiar-sounding musical introduction started, and she took a deep breath. Referring to the words on the screen, with frequent glances at our table, Winter belted out Taylor Swift’sYou Belong With Mewith convincing fervor.
Talk about being overcome with warm fuzzies! If I’d been standing, I would have felt the earth move under my feet. Instead, I sensed another brick crumble from my protective wall. The last time anyone sang a song for me was Bobby Templeton in the ninth grade. Winter was a breath of fresh air to a lonely soul. Her gesture was so hopelessly romantic that once again I found myself torn between my desires to ravish her and to protect her heart from emotional harm.
When she returned to our table, we all offered her another round of applause. “I didn’t know you could sing!” Tammy exclaimed with a smile as broad as her shoulders.
“What a fun performance,” praised Beth. “I loved all the facial expressions and gestures like you were in a music video.”
“And you claim to be shy,” Elaine added in jovial accusation.
“Yeah, well, I can only do something like that with the aid of alcohol,” Winter laughed. She plopped back into her chair, and I enveloped her in a friendly hug, followed by a kiss on her cheek.
“Thank you,” I said, igniting a pink flush on her pixie face. At the risk of getting lost in her admiring gaze, I looked her straight in her electric blues and said, “I see you, Winter.” Whirled about by a cyclone of emotions, I laughed, shrugged my shoulders, and added in humorous diversion, “And, besides—sneakers are more practical than heels.”
Winter joined my laughter, swinging her sneaker-clad feet back and forth while gripping the edge of her chair. With a smug smile, she teased, “How do you know it was for you? I could have been singing to that hot chick over there across the room.”
I glanced in the general direction she tossed her head. “Which one? I may have to throttle her, rough up the competition.”
Giggling, Winter turned a playful aspect back to me and downed the last swallow of her beer. As she cradled the bottle, inspecting its brown hue, she radiated vibrations of joy and delight that coiled their tendrils around me, drawing me intotheir web. It had been a long time since I’d felt so appreciated and wanted. It’s possible that I’d never felt such a pure emotion from another person. Lust, desire, bitterness, and rage, yes. Others had directed extreme and potent feelings toward me in the past; however, what I sensed from Winter was genuinely baffling.
Winter can’t love me. She doesn’t even know me. Shereallydoesn’t know me. And if she did, what then? Disappointment.I needed to nip this in the bud, or I’d be the one with the broken heart.
“OK, our turn, honey,” Tammy declared, drawing my attention away from the woman at my side to the one across the table. She stood up, drained her bottle, and slapped it down with a satisfied, “Ahhh.”
Beth hit her joystick and maneuvered away from the table. “Our usual?”
“If you like,” Tammy replied, motioning for Beth to take the lead. Twisting over her shoulder, she commanded, “Y’all better clap and cheer.”
“Of course we will,” I replied in feigned indignation.
“They are hilarious,” Elaine assured Winter and me. “They have this routine they do at all the conferences.” For no apparent reason, Elaine’s face screwed up in a confused frown. “What’s that?”
My gaze followed a line from her pointed finger to a folded piece of paper resting on the other side of Winter. I didn’t remember it being there when she got up to sing. But ever since she did—no, ever since we walked in—I’d been absorbed with Winter, my awareness wrapped in her to the neglect of anything else.
Winter’s joyous expression dimmed, and she snatched it up. When I saw her eyes round and her mouth fall agape, I plucked the paper away from her.
“Now, on the side terrace. Let’s settle this.” My impulse was to crush the note and hurl it far away, but it was handwritten. Detective Campbell would want to run tests on it. “Fingerprints,” I absently said aloud.
“Here.” Elaine opened her purse and fished out a plastic bag. “Don’t move your fingers. Just drop it in here.”
I obeyed, sparing her a scrutinizing look. “What all do you keep in that purse?”
Elaine met my eyes without humor. “A little bit of everything. You aren’t thinking about going.”
“I certainly am,” I declared. At the microphone, Tammy and Beth launched into their rendition of Elton John and Kiki Dee’s duet,Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Oh, the timing. The irony!
“Look,” I stated with determination. “This needs to stop. I’m going to see who meets me on the patio, find out what her problem is, what she wants, and do whatever I have to.” I bolted up with ire and resolve surging through my veins. “Don’t worry; I can handle myself.”
Winter flew to her feet, matching my gaze with fiery fortitude. “Fine, but I’m going with you.”
Securing her palms on the table, Elaine pushed up and straightened her back with obvious effort. “And so am I.”
