I Found My Heart in
Osmosis
A gradual,
often unconscious process of absorption or learning
By SX Meagher
Part Two
When a quiet but
determined knock roused Ryan from a deep sleep, it took her a few moments to
get her bearings. The room was so dark that she assumed it was the middle of
the night, but something wasn’t right. She recalled that they had fallen asleep
after making love, but no one should be in their house knocking on their
bedroom door. And she couldn’t figure out how someone was knocking loud enough
on their front door for her to hear it so clearly. Her heart was pounding when
she pulled away from Jamie and got to her feet, walking directly into the wall
that shouldn’t have been there. “Fuck!” More from shock than pain, she grabbed
her head and fell back onto the bed.
“What’s wrong?”
Jamie’s arms were around her, hands moving over her body, trying to figure out
what part of Ryan’s body had made the loud thud.
“I ran into the
wall.” Ryan sat there for a second, then asked, “Where in the hell are we?”
“
“Damned if I know.
It’s the middle of the night!” Naked, Ryan felt along the wall, finally finding
the door. She opened it a crack and saw Jackie standing there, fully dressed
and looking concerned. “What …?” Ryan blinked, shook her head. “What time is
it?”
“Time to go,”
Jackie said. “It’s ten o’clock. I wanted to come by earlier, but you kinda gave
me the impression you wanted me to keep my nose outta your business.”
“Fuck,” she
muttered. “We were asleep …” She shot a malignant glare at the heavy drapes
that they had drawn to prevent the bright lights outside their window from
keeping them awake. Which was also why neither of them had seen or sensed the
sun rising. Ryan hadn’t set her watch alarm, and neither of them had thought to
call the front desk for a wakeup call. “I guess I do want you to wake me up,
but only when I really need you to. Got that?”
“Clear as mud.
We’re leaving right now. Can you make it?”
“Shit no!” Ryan
opened the door another few inches, letting Jackie see her. Her hair was
sticking up and she was clearly not dressed.
“I’ll tell Coach
you’re gonna get there on your own. Good luck,” she added, chuckling as she
turned and jogged away.
Jamie leaned
against Ryan’s body as the door closed. “Nice way to wake up,” she murmured. “I
think a fire drill would have been more fun.”
“Well, at least we
can stop for breakfast on the way,” Ryan said. “If I don’t get something to
eat, there’s gonna be trouble.”
They hugged
briefly, then Ryan felt around for the bathroom door. “Is it a good idea to
make rooms this dark? What if there had been a fire?”
“That’s why they
call them blackout drapes. You start to shower and I’ll get some clothes out
for you. We can be out of here in no time.”
“Screw it,” Ryan
said, taking Jamie’s hand and pulling her into the bathroom. “I’m just as
fucked if I’m ten minutes or a half hour late. I’m sure we both need showers.”
“Only if we plan on
interacting with humans.” Jamie giggled, looking at their images in the mirror.
“Dogs would be chasing our cab if we didn’t shower.”
Her scowl fading,
Ryan put her arms around her partner and hugged her. When they parted, she
plucked at a hank of Jamie’s hair that was sticking up in an odd direction. “I
don’t think I wanna know what’s in your hair. It’s stiff.”
“Let’s assume it’s
gel, okay? I don’t think I’ll ever be as comfortable being covered with bodily
fluids as you are. I think they’re pretty gross.”
Ryan kissed Jamie’s
forehead. “Yours aren’t, but you can’t change what you like and dislike. Let’s
go wash ’em off.”
“Are you sure we
have time for breakfast?”
“We’re taking time.
I’m gonna have to clean the locker room after the game, so I’ll need some
energy.”
“Punishment?”
“Yep.” Ryan started
the water, waiting for it to warm to the proper temperature before she stepped
inside. “So we’re gonna take a cab and have it stop at some kinda
drive-through. I screwed up by not setting my watch, but I’m not gonna punish
myself all day long.” She gave her partner a small smile. “Life’s too short.”
“Ooo … that’s my
good girl!”
***
After the
remarkably un-churchlike service, Mia called
“’Kay. Ask away.”
“Are you really
happy?”
Her mother’s eyes
were boring into her, and Mia felt exposed and vulnerable. She surprised
herself when she started to cry quietly. “I’m happier with
“You’ve never been
much of an explorer,” Anna Lisa said, taking her daughter’s hand. “You need
people.”
“Yeah.” Mia nodded.
“I’m not a loner. And
Anna Lisa’s eyes
sharpened. “Then why stay here? What’s in this for you, Mia?”
Swallowing the urge
to snap, Mia gathered her thoughts and asked, “Don’t you remember what it was
like to fall in love? Or didn’t loving Dad make you feel like you’d do anything
for him?”
Sighing heavily,
Anna Lisa sat back and gazed at her daughter reflectively. “Oh, I did. I would
have stood in front of a train if he’d asked me to.” She leaned forward and
said earnestly, “But at the same time, he wouldn’t have asked me to do anything
that made me unhappy. My happiness was as important to him as his was to me. Is
that … true with
“Of course it is!”
Irritated and hurt, Mia said, “She never asked me to come here! Hell, she tried
so hard to talk me out of it that she really hurt my feelings. I have to
reassure her every day that I’m keeping busy and enjoying myself.”
“Even when you’re
not.”
“Especially when
I’m not! She watches me with those big, blue eyes, just trying to find the
smallest sign that I’m wavering.”
“Damn it, Mia! Why
don’t you just admit this isn’t working and come home?”
“Because,” she
said, taking a moment to breathe, “she needs me. That’s all that matters. I
watch over her and make sure she eats enough.”
“She’s skin and
bones! Her veins are so prominent I could see her pulse beating! She’s a
gorgeous woman, but she’s so pale and gaunt, the poor thing looks like she’s
starving!”
“I know, damn it!”
Mia started to cry again. “She won’t budge from what her trainer tells her. She
let you put oil in that dressing yesterday, but she’ll never let me do that. I
refuse to lie to her, so I do what she asks me to.”
“So your biggest
reason to be here isn’t a valid one, right?”
“No! I do watch over her! I make sure she’s in
bed early, and I make her sleep late on Sunday. And I’m always there when she
needs to talk.”
“When would she go
to bed if you weren’t here?” Anna Lisa asked. “Would she stay up late and watch
TV?”
Mia laughed. “Of
course not! She’d probably go to bed even earlier. She forces herself to stay
up to talk or …” She just barely stopped herself from revealing that they
frequently missed
Anna Lisa’s gaze
pierced Mia. “Then why are you here?”
“Because I love
her, God damn it! I need to be with
her. I need to hold her and sleep
with her. Feeling her body against mine is the highlight of every day. Damn it,
don’t you remember?”
Slowly, Anna Lisa
nodded. “Of course I do.” She held Mia’s hand, looking at her with sympathy.
“But is that enough?”
“Yes.” Mia wiped at
her chilled tears. “It has to be.”
***
After brunch, the
threesome went back to the apartment and
Anna Lisa put her
hands on her daughter’s shoulders, holding her still while she gazed into her
eyes. “Is there any way I can talk you into coming home with me?”
Mia shook her head.
“No, I can’t do that, Mom. I need to work things out here. I won’t leave just
because everything isn’t perfect.”
“There’s a
difference between perfect and …” Anna Lisa bit her lip, letting the rest of
her thought die quietly. “I’d love it if you came home.”
“I will,” Mia said.
“I don’t know when, but I’ll come home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
Anna Lisa put her
arms out and hugged Mia roughly. “I wish I could make you do what I want.”
Gently, Mia ran her
hand across her mother’s back. “I wish you could be happy that I’m doing what I
think is right. You raised me to decide what I need and make sure I get it.”
Pulling away, Anna
Lisa looked at Mia and found herself unable to hide her smile. “Why did you
only listen to the things that you could use to drive me crazy?”
“Only the good
stuff stuck,” Mia said. She pressed her face against her mother’s neck and held
on to her until she was sure she wouldn’t cry. “You’d better go. You don’t
wanna be late.” Turning her head, she called, “Jordy!”
In seconds,
“Yes. I’ve got to
allow time to return my rental car.” She extended her hand and when
When she released
her hold,
“Don’t threaten
her, Mom!”
Anna Lisa wrapped
her arms around her daughter. “I wouldn’t threaten her. I save that for you.”
She swatted Mia sharply on the butt and kissed her cheek simultaneously. “Be good.”
Her voice was a little shaky, and she headed for the door without another word.
***
That evening, Mia
watched a reality show about college students, the sound down low so it didn’t
disturb Jordan, who was asleep. One of the women was struggling with her
decision to stay at her college rather than move across the country to be with
her boyfriend. She’d been admitted to the new school, but transferring would
set her back just enough credits to preclude her graduating on time. Mia had
been watching the woman’s story unfold for several weeks, and had found herself
rooting for her to make the move. Tonight, she wasn’t so sure. She shifted just
enough to be able to wrap her arms around Jordan, who lay heavily against her
body.
***
The alarm went off
about fifteen minutes after Mia fell asleep. Or perhaps it just seemed that way
because she couldn’t force her eyes open.
Eyes opening wider,
Mia asked, “I missed breakfast?”
Mia put her hands
behind
“Uhm … that’s not
my mouth,”
Mia let her go and
Her eyes were
bright and clear and she looked like she’d been up for hours. “Always.” Mia
draped an arm around her neck and pulled her close, kissing her again.
“Everything’s better when you kiss me.”
“Gotta go.”
Yawning and
stretching, Mia nodded. “Being with my mom was draining. I didn’t sleep well,
either. She wired me up.”
“You’re in a good
spot to unwind. Have a good day.” Smoothly,
Mia waved back,
then grabbed
***
A “thunk” woke Mia,
and she blindly reached for the alarm clock, amazed to see that it was after
9:00. She lay still for a moment, decided that the noise hadn’t been anything
to worry about and went back to sleep. On and off all morning she woke briefly,
considered what she’d planned for the day, then went back to sleep. It wasn’t
until noon that her body demanded she get up. Stomach rumbling from hunger,
bladder full, she stopped in the bath, scowling at her pale, grumpy image.
Seeing that the
only things in the house were granola and various forms of protein powders
didn’t help her mood, but she couldn’t summon the energy to get dressed to go
to the store. She sat at the kitchen table, stabbing innocent bits of granola
with her spoon, her mouth curled into such a sour expression it was almost hard
to get the spoon into it.
After breakfast,
she settled on the floor and started reading a book for her humanities class.
But her attention wandered constantly, returning again and again to her
conversation with her mother. Why was she
living like this? Was she really helping
“Are you all
right?”
Mia released her
hold and made her mouth curl into a weak smile. Sitting up, she said, “I guess
I didn’t know how tired I was.” She got her feet under herself and stood,
feeling a little woozy. “I’ve got to get to the store!”
Mia gave her a
quick kiss. “I’m fine! Damn, I’ve been napping all day. I need to go out just
to get my blood moving!”
“Fine. Let me
shower and we’ll walk down to the restaurant at the end of the street.”
“I’m fine! Really!”
Mia was putting every watt of power she could generate into her smile, but it
was clear
“That’s great. No
better time to go out to dinner. We can have a meal without our roommates
salivating over our stuff.”
Blowing out a
breath, Mia nodded. “Can we shower together?”
***
They did fit, but
maneuvering enough to get clean was a challenge. Mia finished first and got out
to let
After getting
dressed she went back to the bathroom to offer to help
“Hey,” Jill said.
“We were just chatting about the team.”
“Mmm.
“No, I can handle
it. Besides,” she said, grinning, “it’s getting crowded in here.”
“I can help,” Jill
said, looking at
“Never have,” she
said, backing out of the room and closing the door behind her.
As she went back to
their room she heard Jill ask, “She pissed off?” Prudently, Mia dove for the
door, not wanting to hear
***
Mia was sitting on
the unmade bed, watching the network news. “No rush. That place is never
crowded.”
Rushing around the
room,
By the time they’d
been seated and had ordered, neither woman was speaking.
The break had given
Mia time to calm down, and she took
Mia shook her head
and started to walk, with
“We have our own
room …”
Mia turned to glare
at her, and
“We could if you
wanted to,”
“No!” Without
warning, Mia stopped and
“Makela and
Ekaterina don’t give me the
time of day, and I’d have trouble understanding them if they did! Toni comes in
the door and gets on the phone with her husband. And I don’t like Jill because
she wants to fuck you!”
“She … but … it’s
not …”
“Fuck!” Mia’s voice was so loud that
windows would have vibrated if any had been nearby. She bent at the waist,
hands on her knees, panting softly. After a few moments, she stood and faced
Mia’s heart started
to pound in her chest. She reached for
Slowly,
Feeling sick, the
words rushed out of Mia’s mouth. She was nearly frantic, on the verge of tears.
“I didn’t want to make things hard for you. I wanted to just lay low and try to
get comfortable before I started making demands.”
“Demands? Is that
what it’s called when you tell me how you feel about something? What kinda
relationship is that?”
Desperately, Mia
grabbed her lover’s arm and pulled her to a stop. She flung her arms around her
and held her tightly. “No, no, I’m … I’m trying my best. I wanna support you,
not make things harder. It’s just getting to me.”
“What’s getting to
you? Having roommates?”
Mia pulled away and
looked into
“That’s everything
except me. Are you sure I’m not on the list, too?”
“No! God, no!
You’re everything to me, Jordy! I’ve left my home, my friends, my family, my
school to be with you!”
“You’ve been
telling me that everything’s great: you like where we live, you don’t mind our
roommates, you don’t mind my schedule. Why wouldn’t I wonder if you’re sick of
me, too?”
Mia could feel the
fear leaving her body, immediately replaced by anger. “Look! You either believe
I love you or you don’t. There isn’t one more thing I can do to prove it to
you.” She closed her eyes and felt her hands ball into fists. Holding them next
to her reddening face, she shouted, “God damn it,
“You can! I’ve
always told you the truth about everything important.”
“It’s important
that you’ve been here for three weeks and have been unhappy the entire time.
That’s damned important to me; that’s why I’ve asked you about how you feel a
couple of hundred times.” Her eyes narrowed and she spoke even more softly. “I
could tell that you weren’t happy, that’s why I kept asking. It sucks, Mia. It
sucks a lot that you continued to lie even when I begged you to tell me the
truth.”
“Damn it,
Clearly puzzled,
“Help you with anything
you need! That’s what partners do!”
“I love being with
you,” Mia said, stunned at her lover’s reaction. “I was so unhappy when you
were gone.”
“And now you’re
unhappy here.”
“Not when you’re
home! That makes it all worth while!”
“Only until you
lose it and tell me how you really feel. Then you want to move, or kick the
other girls out, or … I don’t even know what you want!”
Mia’s lower lip
quivered and her voice cracked. “That’s because you haven’t let me tell you.”
Her voice was still
cool when
“I want us to have
our own apartment. I want it to be closer to the center of town so I can walk
places when you’re gone.”
“I … I’m not sure,
but I think it will. Having our own place’ll let us be ourselves. That’ll
help.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll figure
out something else. Jesus! I can’t be sure what’ll work!”
“And I can’t be
sure you’ll tell me the truth.”
“Damn it, will you get over that?”
“I can’t,” she
said. “Trust means everything to me, and to have you selfishly keep secrets—”
“Selfishly?” Her
voice rising, Mia demanded, “I moved to the middle of nowhere, spend all day
alone, live with people I barely know in a piece of shit apartment … to spend
three hours a day with you. And you have the nerve to tell me I’m being
selfish?”
“Yeah.”
Defeated, Mia
closed her eyes. “Fine. I did this all out of a hidden need to live in a dump
and act like I love you. Now that you’ve found me out, I guess I’ll go home.”
***
It took about
fifteen minutes to finish the walk to the apartment, and Mia’s head was
spinning the entire time. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to make
“Where are you
going?”
“For a walk. If I’m
gonna be ignored, I’d rather be alone.”
Stunned and
heartsick, Mia started walking, her only goal to be away from
She froze when she
heard footsteps behind her, then realized the person was running, not creeping
up on her. It took just a few moments for her to recognize the soft cadence of
her lover’s footfalls and that almost brought a smile to her face. She’d just
started to turn when
“I’m sorry,” she
whispered, her breath coming in quick gasps. “I’m so sorry.”
Mia returned the
hug, but with less fervor than
“I’m not mad. I’m
really not.”
Pulling back, Mia
looked up at her lover. “Then what are you?”
Mia rested her
cheek on
“Doesn’t matter.”
“A little,” Mia
admitted. She nuzzled against
“Okay. Wanna walk
some more?”
“Yeah.” Mia took
“You’re never
stupid. And you’re never selfish. You were trying to be supportive. I was
stupid not to see that.”
“S’okay. I hurt
your feelings.”
“Ehh … I’m not sure
what happened. I just went off. Doesn’t happen very often.”
“I know,” Mia said.
“First time I’ve ever seen you get angry.” She looked up at
“You won’t.”
“What? Moving?”
“Yeah. They’re gonna
cut two more this week. There’s a chance we’ll be going home this weekend … so
it seemed ridiculous to think of renting an apartment.”
Mia stopped and
twirled, putting her hand on
“What?”
“That you’re
worried about getting cut.”
Looking down at the
ground,
“Are you really
worried?”
They made eye
contact and Mia could see the anxiety in her lover’s eyes. “Yeah. There are too
many outside hitters. We’ve got five, and they’ll take four at the most. So …
one of us has to go before the final roster’s set. Two of the girls are
untouchable … so that leaves three of us to fight for one or two spots.”
Mia took her hand and
tugged on
“We’re …
different,” she said thoughtfully. “I’m better offensively than either of the
others, but Rachel is a much better server and Lina is a little bit better at
defense than Rachel or I are.” She shrugged. “It depends on what the coaches
are looking for.”
“Aren’t they
looking for offense? Isn’t that what wins games?”
“Sure. But the
veterans are both excellent offensively and have a lot of experience in international
play. They might want the subs to be better defensively in the event of a tight
match. It’s impossible to tell.”
“So you and Rachel
and Lina are all new?”
“Yeah. Rachel is
only a freshman, so she’d be a great choice. She could get some experience this
year and really know what she’s doing in 2004.”
Mia put her arm
around
“I know,”
“I know they’re
gonna keep you,” Mia said. “You’re too fantastic to even consider cutting. So
I’m gonna look for an apartment.”
“Come on, honey.
You’ll make it! You’re a total stud!”
Barely smiling,
***
Jamie got home a
little late on Monday night, barely beating Ryan home. She was looking over
some menus from their favorite take-out places when Ryan walked into the
kitchen.
“Hi.” Ryan bent and
kissed her head. “Just get home from therapy, or not in the mood to cook?”
Jamie put her arm
around Ryan’s hips and hugged her. “The former. Right before my time was up, I
asked Anna about making a referral for you. She spent a good fifteen minutes of
her own time telling me why she wouldn’t.” She smiled up at Ryan. “She must
love me since she gave me a freebie.”
“Why wouldn’t she
make a referral?” Ryan was frowning as she walked to the refrigerator and
pulled out a container of yogurt. “It’s not hard.” She grabbed a spoon and
pulled out a chair, straddling it backwards, as was her habit.
Jamie watched her
meticulously arrange the fruit throughout the container. “She said she didn’t
think she was the best person to make a referral for you.”
“Who is? The Yellow
Pages?”
“Nooo. She reminded
me that you have a therapist who knows you. She thinks Ellen is the right
person to make a referral. Ellen’s been seeing you for a while and she’d
probably have some idea of the type of person you’d click with.”
Jabbing at her
yogurt, Ryan grumbled, “I was gonna call and quit. I don’t wanna talk to her
again.”
Jamie reached
across the table and brushed some dust off Ryan’s arm, then gently stroked it.
“Why not, honey?”
“’Cause I’m done. I
told you I don’t like going, so why go back?”
“Uhm … because
you’re in a group. I’d think you’d say goodbye to the other people in the
group. I mean … you’ve shared things with them, right?”
“Not much,” Ryan
said, her eyes focused on her rapidly dwindling yogurt.
“Well, it’s rude to
call and cancel now. Go tomorrow and tell them that you’re leaving.”
Ryan spooned the
last of the yogurt into her mouth and stood up. “I’m gonna call her now, then
she can think of a referral for me for tomorrow.” She started to leave but added,
“Order something spicy, ’kay?”
“Okay.” Jamie
watched her leave, wondering what was going on in that adorably irritating
mind.
***
The phone rang not
long after they’d finished dinner and Jamie went into the living room to answer
it. “Hello?’
“Jamie! Niall.”
“Hi, Niall.” She
smiled at the way he spoke on the phone. It reminded her of roll call more than
conversation, but she was used to the odd habits of the O’Flaherty cousins.
“Your ma hooked me
up with her real estate guy. You know him?”
“No, I haven’t met
him. Have you?”
“No. But I talked
to him. He doesn’t do commercial or rental properties, so he turned me over to
a guy he works with—Ray something or other. Anyway, I’m gonna go meet with this
guy tomorrow and I thought one of you might wanna go with me.”
“Uhm … Ryan’s
probably busy, but I can make it as long as it’s in the afternoon.”
“Yeah. Three
o’clock. That good?”
“That’s great.
Where should I meet you?”
“At the guy’s
office. It’s on Castro, just up from the theater.”
“Okay. I’ll be
there and I might have Ryan with me.”
“Great. See ya!” He
hung up before she could add another word.
She walked upstairs
and stood in the doorway, watching Ryan type. Waiting until her partner paused,
she said, “Can I interrupt?”
Ryan looked up and
smiled. “Never. I mean, you’re never an interruption. What’s up?”
“Niall’s got a
meeting with a real estate agent tomorrow at 3:00. I said I’d go with him.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He knows
more about what he wants in a building, but I’m … how can I say this?” She
tapped her chin with her finger. “I’m a little more …”
“Polite … civilized
… conversational … pretty?”
“Thank you. I was
going to say patient.”
“I’m glad you’re
going,” Ryan said. “Niall can be a real ass. He’s so abrupt.”
“Yeah, he is, but
he’s a good guy. I like him.”
Ryan’s eyes
widened. “You’d better! He’s family!”
***
Ryan showed up
right on time for therapy on Tuesday morning, and nodded to all of her
companions. Even though it had been quite a few weeks, she always stood alone
on the street corner while they waited for Ellen to open the office. She was
polite and smiled at everyone, but it had to be clear to the group that she
wasn’t really one of them.
Ellen arrived on
time and opened the door to the building. She handed Barb the key to the office
and said, “Will you open up? I need a minute.”
Barb took the key
and the group started to follow, with Ryan trailing behind. Ellen tapped her on
the shoulder and said, “I got your message.”
“Right.” Ryan
looked down and moved a discarded piece of paper around with her shoe. “Uhm …
can you help me?” Glancing up, she caught Ellen’s gaze and held it,
uncertainly, for a moment.
“I hope I can. I’ve
got a little time after group. Can you stay?”
“Sure. But you
could just call me. I hate to take up your time. You can even leave a message
if I’m not there.”
“No, I have time.”
Ellen smiled at Ryan. “Ready?”
***
Everyone but Ryan
filed out at the end of the session, and she looked longingly after them. Ellen
took out her appointment calendar and set it on her lap. “Tell me what you’re
thinking, Ryan.”
“About …?”
“Therapy. Are you
serious about it?”
“Uhm … yes, I’m
serious.”
Ellen gazed at her
for a moment. “You don’t seem serious about it. You might be the type of person
who needs privacy, but from what I’ve gathered … that’s not really who you are.
My guess is that you’re not committed to this.”
“I …” Ryan put her
hands on her knees and seemed to gather her thoughts. “I want to feel better.
I’m serious about that.”
“And you think
you’ll feel better if you find a new therapist?” Ellen’s voice carried no
animosity, just gentle concern.
“Maybe. I … I
really don’t know. I just know that I hate … this. I feel like I’ve been
sentenced to come here.”
“Why?”
Shrugging, Ryan
said, “I don’t feel like I have much in common with the other women. Well …
maybe Barb. But I don’t feel like I can really let go with the others. I feel
like they’d flip if I said what’s really on my mind.”
Ellen leaned
forward and looked into Ryan’s eyes. “What is on your mind?”
“It depends,” Ryan
said, fidgeting a little. “Sometimes I feel fine. But when something sets me
off I can really feel out-of-control. I don’t think the other women can get
that.”
“You might be
right. Most of them haven’t been through the same type of thing you have. But I
still think you can benefit from a group. I think sharing how you feel with
someone who knows what you’re going through can help you.”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah,
I guess you’re right. But this isn’t the right group. It’s just not.”
“How about this?”
Ellen looked down at her book. “Would you consider spending an hour with Barb
and me? Her trauma’s very close to yours. And I think you’d make each other
talk a little more.”
“Uhm … I guess I
could try it.”
“No pressure. If
you want to see someone else … I’m happy to give you some names. As a matter of
fact, I’ve written down three. I called each of them and they have time
available.” She handed Ryan the paper.
“Why don’t we try a
few sessions?” Ryan said. “It can’t hurt.”
“I don’t want you
to feel pressured,” Ellen said. “You can think about it and leave me a
message.”
“No, no, I’m good.
Let’s do it.”
“I’ll talk to Barb
and see if she’s interested. I think she will be.”
Ryan opened her
book and wrote a few things. “Here’s my available time. If Barb agrees go ahead
and set something up. You can leave me a message.”
Ellen took the
sheet and glanced at it. “I think we’ll be able to figure something out. I’ll
give you a call.”
Ryan stood up and
shook Ellen’s hand. “Thanks. I wasn’t really looking forward to starting with
someone new.” She grinned. “I just couldn’t take another day with the whole
group.”
“We’ll try
something new,” Ellen said. “We both have the same goal. To help you feel more
like yourself.”
***
When Ryan got home
from practice, Jamie was still out. She started to make some pasta, unable to
wait to see when her partner would arrive. The water was just reaching a boil
when Jamie came in the back door, carrying a big, greasy, brown paper bag,
redolent with the smell of garlic.
“Combos?” Ryan
cried.
“Welcome home,
Jamie,” her partner said. “Gosh, I’ve missed you.” She put the bag down and
walked over to the stove, turning it off.
Ryan hugged and
kissed her quickly. “Combos?”
“Yes, dear. I was
in the neighborhood, so I bought you two combos. I’ll never stop smelling like
tomato sauce and garlic, but I did it for love.”
Ryan tore into the
bag, unwrapping her favorite treat and getting the food on plates in what
seemed like seconds. “Kitchen?” she asked, already putting the plates on the
kitchen table.
“Sure.” Jamie
washed her hands and grabbed a long strip of paper towels before she sat down.
“Drink?”
“Do we have any
beer?”
Ryan looked in the
refrigerator and said, “Yep.” She took two out and set them on the table.
“You know,” Jamie
said after taking a sip, “you and Niall have the same speech patterns
sometimes. You treat your words like they’re pretty valuable, too.”
“Huh.” Ryan smiled
coyly and took a drink of her beer.
“Stop it!” Jamie
pinched her and asked, “Do you want to know about my day?”
Ryan just nodded
and dug into her sandwich.
“Brat.” She
arranged a napkin in the placket of her blouse, then put another on her lap,
hoping that a delay would make Ryan talk. But her partner could wait anyone
out. Especially when she had one of her favorite foods in front of her. “We met
Andrew, the guy who Mom worked with.”
Another nod from
Ryan.
“And I’m glad we’re
not going to work with him.”
One raised eyebrow
asked why.
“He’s very, very
gay. Very classy. I know the boys aren’t anti-gay—”
“Sure they are,”
Ryan finally spoke. “They’re just not anti-lesbian.”
Jamie thought about
that for a second and saw her partner’s point. “Do you think they make gay
jokes and things like that when we’re not around?”
“Of course. You
have to expect the worst from the boyos. I’m sure they make all kinds of racial
and ethnic jokes too. They just don’t do it in front of me. Or Brendan.”
“Only you two
dislike those kinds of jokes?”
“No, I don’t think
Rory does, and maybe Colm, but they aren’t the types to complain.”
“But you and Bren do?”
“Yeah. We lecture
them, which they really hate.”
“I’d hate it if
they said negative things about gay people around me.”
“They won’t. They
treat you like a girl. They know girls usually don’t like that stuff.”
“So it’s what they
can get away with, huh?”
“I suppose. But
they’re no worse than any other group of twenty-something guys.”
“Well, then I’m
really glad we’re not working with Andrew. The guy we talked to looked like he
could crack walnuts with his bare hands. He wasn’t very tall, but he was built.
Looked like a big fire plug.”
“Straight?”
“Yep. Had the
picture of the wife and kids on his desk.”
“Good. The boys
would work with a gay guy, but a cultured, well-dressed gay guy might be too
much for them.” She smiled wryly. “Did you see any places?”
“Just pictures. We
spent most of the time telling him what we were looking for. That took over an
hour.”
“Who talked?”
“Me,” Jamie said,
smiling. “And Niall interrupted.”
“That’s my boy. I
knew I could count on him to do the O’Flaherty name proud.”
***
When
Mia covered her
hand with her own and asked, “What’s that?”
“I said that you
should probably think about whether or not you should leave.”
Smiling, Mia said,
“Hey … don’t worry about that. I know you didn’t mean it.”
“Wha … are you
serious? God damn it,
“What? That you
don’t want me here?”
Obviously angry,
Mia nonetheless sat back down and stared at her partner.
“You said a lot of
things last night, and I know that some of them are true.”
“Thanks,” Mia
snapped. “Good to hear that you don’t assume everything I say is a lie.”
Mia rolled her
eyes, but didn’t respond, waiting for
“You told me you’re
unhappy with our apartment, but I think there’s more to it than that. I don’t
think you’re gonna be happy traveling with me, either.”
“I didn’t say
that!”
“I know.”
“I’m not going to
watch TV! I’m going to be with you! That’s what counts.”
“No, I’m not,” Mia
agreed. “It’d only be fun if you were with me.”
“So … if you won’t
enjoy it and it’ll cost us thousands of dollars … maybe you shouldn’t come.”
“But … don’t you
want me?”
“Of course I do. I
always want you. That’s never in question, Mia.” She grasped her chin and held
her head steady, looking into her eyes. “Never. I’d love for you to be there.”
Mia felt like
crying. “Then I’ll go with you!”
Moving her chair
back,
“I wanna be with
you,” Mia said, her voice catching. “I wanna take care of you.”
“You take care of
me by taking care of yourself. I’m happy when you’re happy. And knowing that
you’re just going with me to sleep together isn’t gonna do it.”
Mia lifted her head
and gazed into
“Ohh …”
“So you don’t want me to go?”
“I want you to go
if you want to go. If you’ll enjoy being in
Mia’s chin was
still quivering, and her voice was unsteady when she asked, “But don’t you need
me to take care of you?”
Mia leaned forward
and rested her forehead against
“I want that too,”
“Damn, you know how
to make me smile.” She tilted her chin and pulled
The front door
opened, and all of the roommates entered, with Jill saying, “Hey! No making out
in the living room!”
Jill gestured at
the table. “You haven’t even finished eating. Are you gonna feed her?”
“Yep.”
***
When
Smiling sexily,
Mia lay on her
back, gazing up at her partner with a thoughtful expression. “I think I’d like
… hmm … let’s see …” She put her hand on
“If I get too
noisy, just stick something into my mouth. Like your tongue,” she murmured,
batting her big, brown eyes.
“Be right back,”
“It’s so cute that
you call that your supergirl outfit.”
“Well, most girls
don’t have one of these,”
“I’m glad you don’t
have one very often,” Mia said. “But every once in a while …” She grinned
lasciviously.
“I’m glad I can
have one when you want one and toss it aside when we’re done. Besides,” she
said, finding what she wanted, “I don’t think I’d last very long if I had a
real one. You’re too hot for words!”
***
The next morning,
“Does this make it
nicer?” Mia moved up and captured
“Unh … yeah. Much
nicer.”
Now Mia gasped and
smiled through their kiss. “Delicious,” she murmured. “Touch me just like that.
All day.”
“I promise,”
***
Even though her
legs were wobbly, Mia got up and made
Jill leaned against
the counter, her smirk now bordering on ostentatious. She leaned forward and
patted the top of
“I was trying to
figure out which one of you’d been banging you head into the wall last night.
You don’t have a knot up there so it must be Mia.” She laughed at her joke, and
slapped
Mia’s expression
was a complete blank. “Be right back,” she said, patting
“Don’t think so,”
“Maybe she didn’t
get enough sleep … with the neighbors remodeling.”
“Yeah. That’s
probably it,”
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