Page 15 of She Came Upon A Midnight Clear
“Yeah. He passed about two years ago. He was fifteen; old for a pittie. I got this for him last year.”
She holds out her forearm to show me the American-traditional style tattoo of her beloved dog’s sweet face. He’s got a knit beanie and a sailor collar on and is smoking a pipe, and the background is a loop of rope and the ocean. The banner below his face says ‘Rocky’.
I stroke a fingertip over the ink. “It’s beautiful work. And such a lovely way to remember him. I sort of noticed you had some new ink last night, but I was… distracted. But I remember him. He was such a good boy.”
“The love of my life,” she says, shrugging, but I can see the discussion has made her emotional.
“You mean it wasn’t Marcy?” I tease, trying to lighten the mood.
“Oh, God no,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Marcy was a year-long mistake. Except that’s how I met you.”
Her gaze is on mine, and I feel as if she’s looking right through me,intome, and I shiver. I can’t help it. I feel so incredibly connected to her.
The kettle whistles, and she breaks her hold on me, turning to pour the hot water through the French press.
“It’s true, though,” she says, her back to me as she slowly presses the plunger down. “If it weren’t for Marcy, I would never have known you, so I don’t see that relationship as a loss. I never have. I learned what I don’t want. And who I do.”
Her back is still to me, and it’s probably a good thing, because her words go through me like a warm caress, making my breath catch. Has she really wanted me this whole time? The same way I’ve wanted her?
“It was so hard,” I tell her, “to hang out with you two all the time. When we went to Pride together that year…”
“And Marcy got totally hammered? Yeah, she was kind of a nightmare at Pride.”
“Her partying was one reason why I asked her to move out,” I admit. “It was after you two broke up, and she really went wild for a few months.”
She hands me my coffee mug, sliding it across the counter, then leaning on it, her own mug cupped in her hands.
“Remember those movie nights at your place?” she asks, her gaze on mine once more.
“Yeah, of course.”
“I have to tell you, by the end of the relationship, it was kinda killing me that I was there with her, and not you.”
My heart hammers in my chest. My heart, or a thousand butterflies frantically beating their wings. “It was?”
“Yeah. I’ve thought about you a lot since then. Always hoped I’d run into you somewhere. There aren’t that many lesbian clubs in San Francisco anymore, or in Oakland. But I always keptmy fingers crossed. I sort of can’t believe we never did bump into each other.”
“Well, I got my Masters around the time the two of you split up, and then the job up north started right after the night I saw you at that Christmas party.” I pause, the memory of that night hanging in the air between us. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you I’d gotten a new job and was moving away.”
“Yeah. And now here we are, six years later.” She bites her lip, then slides her hand across the cool concrete to grab mine. “I am really damn glad you showed up last night.”
“You are?” I’m not being coy on purpose; I just need to hear her confirm it—that she’s feeling the same things I am right now.
“Yeah. Evie, can you stay for a few days? Or do you have to get back to work?”
“Oh, I… school is closed for a few weeks for winter break, and I just need to get back in time to prepare for the next semester, so I’m pretty flexible.”
“Yeah, you are,” she says with a grin.
I roll my eyes, grinning back at her. “Yes, I can stay. All I needed was a toothbrush. Oh, and maybe some clothes.”
“I plan to keep you mostly naked, but you can borrow a clean sweater from me, if you like.”
“Okay,” I say with a nod, my insides going warm with a deep pleasure that’s seeping down into my bones.
She drags my hand to her mouth and kisses it, and suddenly I’m shivering with need again. But just then my stomach growls.
“I nearly forgot to feed you. Drink your coffee, darlin’.”
