Chapter Three #3
“Paul McCartney and Wings. I’m a big oldies rock fan, to warn you. It’s all Tish plays in the kitchen, so I’ve acquired a taste.”
“Duly noted. I know he’s vegetarian, is that who inspired you?” Sid asked, spearing a triangle of pancake. “I suppose I’m one, too. I don’t eat meat at every meal.”
“I say that because there are some things I won’t give up. I can’t drink coffee without real cream and I can’t do Thanksgiving without my mom’s turkey and homemade oyster stuffing.” She didn’t mean to eat so fast, but damn Sid could cook.
She could fuck like a master, too. Kit felt like she’d hit the lottery.
“Your family is local?”
Kit shook her head, effectively dissolving thoughts of Sid’s mouth on her pussy. “North Carolina, but only a few hours away. I’m the youngest of three daughters. You?”
“My parents have passed. I have an older brother still in Wyoming. He oversees the ranch now, and he’s welcome to it.”
“You weren’t kidding about the cowboys then.”
Sid laughed and shook her head. “Your family… do they know you’re a lesbian?”
“Actually, no.”
Sid looked up from her last bite.
“I never saw the reason to make a deal of it, you know?” she added. “It’s not like we talk about my love life when I visit. My sisters are married with kids, so my parents got their grandchildren. I’m off the hook there.” She smiled, forcing it.
“Do you fear their disapproval? I mean, I understand if yes. My parents, I think they knew before I came out as queer to them so it wasn’t so bad.”
She shrugged, wishing they could change the subject. “I’m not the only gay person in the family. My cousin on my mom’s side… everybody’s cool with it. I… I guess when I’m ready I’ll tell them.”
Sid pushed aside her empty plate and leaned on the counter opposite Kit. Her nipples touched the cold surface, and Kit watched them pebble. They’d certainly surpass the taste of her pancakes.
“You ever bring anybody home to meet them?”
“I’ve never been in a serious enough relationship,” Kit said. Until now? This new conversation track interested her. Surely Sid wasn’t renting the moving van in her head already. For one, this place wouldn’t hold a fraction of her stuff, and her apartment was no bigger.
Assuming she and Sid lasted, could she bring Sid home to meet the family without having a panic attack? Honestly, she’d feel content living the rest of her life without bringing it up at the Christmas dinner table, regardless of whether or not her parents or sisters suspected.
Kit ate her breakfast. Too soon to think of happily ever afters and matching rocking chairs in old age. What could she possibly say to move this conversation in a different direction?
Saved by the ringtone. Thank you, Tish. She’d set her boss’s number to “Sugar Sugar,” and excused herself to answer the call.
“Rise and shine, missy.” Tish sounded cheerful as always. “Are you decent?”
“Depends on your definition of the word. What can I do for you on a Sunday?” Tish didn’t need to know she stood in Sid’s living room-slash-bedroom, or that the apartment’s nude resident stood behind her and hooked her thumbs in the waistband of Kit’s pants.
All the while, a knot formed in her stomach. Tish rarely called her on a day off. This could only mean a plea to work overtime.
“Well, wherever you are, I’m glad to hear you answered your phone instead of some ax murderer.” Behind Tish’s voice, Kit heard Vinnie snickering.
Kit frowned. “Meaning?” Where was this going?
“Kit, it’s a small town. Not many people own bright red Mini Coopers with ‘I brake for books’ stickers on the back windows,” Tish said. “Vinnie’s uncle called to say he noticed your car wasn’t in your driveway when he drove past on the way to early Mass.”
Her stomach roiled. She rented one half of a duplex near Dominic Petrocelli’s home. Nice guy, but so damned nosy, always trying to fix her up with one of his drivers. “Why would he call you on a Sunday morning to say something like that?”
“He thinks I’m your mother. The heck should I know?” Tish laughed. “He was worried, I’m thinking. I guess if everybody in town knows you sleep in on Sunday, imaginations run wild.”
Am I that predictable? “As you can hear, I’m intact and breathing. Next time you get a call from that busybody, you should threaten to charge more for the chocolate and champagne packages we’re undercutting to Big Apple Limo.”
Another laugh. “I’m not going to rag you about it, I promise. But, if you met a guy last night, yay for scoring.”
Kit let out a small chuckle. “Tish, is there another reason for this call?”
“Yes, sorry, I don’t mean to embarrass you. I got an urgent phone call from Dare’s Destiny. They’re having a special tasting today and last night the refrigerator holding all their food broke down.”
Kit had visited the local winery a few times. Tish often supplied chocolates for them, and she had an idea where this conversation was headed.
“Oh, lord.” It came out more as a reaction to Sid’s hand down the front of her pants. She’d wriggled underneath the zipped fly and rubbed her clit. “Er, that sucks. I’m guessing you’re at the shop now?”
“They don’t want to cancel because people have paid the tasting fees in advance, so yeah. Want to earn some extra coin?”
Kit preferred to strip down to nothing and topple onto Sid’s futon with the hot brunette underneath her. She couldn’t leave Tish to fulfill a large, last-minute order by herself, though. The chocolatier treated her too well.
“Give me a few minutes to clean up, and I’ll be over as soon as I can.” So much for a hot morning fuck. She eyed Sid and her heart sank on seeing the other woman pout.
“Oh, you’re an angel. Kit, I’ll make this up to you. I just wish I could count on other certain people on my payroll.” Tish’s tone darkened at that.
“You don’t mean Sid, er, Sidney, right?” Sid perked up at this, and Kit put a finger to her lips for a second. “Do you have a way to call her, because I can look her up and see if she’ll want to help out.”
“I don’t mean her. Who currently works for us now? Until you let her know?”
Shit. Gloria. The sex had gone to her brain. She’d forgotten for a second Tish put it on her to can the slacker.
“Consider it done.”
“Awesome. Listen, you take care of that and I’ll call Sidney Campbell and ask if she’s interested in a baptism by fire. I have her number from the resume. See you soon.” Tish rang off before Kit could say goodbye.
“What’s up? Everything okay at the shop?”
“You’re about to get a phone call.” Kit then summarized the winery’s dilemma and sighed. “It doesn’t happen often, but Tish will get calls like this. She’s too damn good at making chocolate and has trouble saying no.”
“Good for future business, anyway.”
“You’re replacing Gloria, who isn’t yet aware she’s about to be kicked to the curb. No need to feel bad about it, because she’s awful.” She called up Gloria’s number and waited. “I don’t know what possessed Tish to hire her in the first place.”
“Ouch. Hard to find good help, I guess.” Sid made a face.
“Either that, or these girls come in thinking it’s going to be like Ace of Cakes or some other exaggerated reality show, where an entire day is squeezed into thirty minutes.
They realize they have to stand behind a counter and wait on indecisive people who want you to explain the ingredients of every damn truffle when the place cards list all the ingredients, and I’m going to shut up now. ”
Kit realized her pent-up frustrations from suffering the counter work, before Tish promoted her to the kitchen, might influence Sid to change her mind. She relaxed a bit when the other woman laughed.
“Kit, it’s fine. I’ve worked in food service. I know the drill. Just happy to be part of the team.”
“It’s not all that boring, and if you come today you’ll make chocolate. We get a nice steady stream of—” Finally Gloria answered and Kit turned away her attention. “Hey, it’s Kit. Got a minute?”
A roaring sigh tickled her ear, and she imagined Gloria in one of her gaudy floral blouses, buttoned to the throat and covered by the olive drab cardigan she probably slept in. “Yeah. I was about to meditate, then shower and have breakfast, but I guess it can wait.”
“Look, Tish is working to get a last-minute order done for the winery…”
“I don’t work Sundays. Anyway, I’m busy.”
“Right, you’re meditating. You can’t do that at the shop, huh? Put a little om in the nom nom nom?”
“What?” Gloria sounded dull and leaden.
Kit sighed. Damn, this girl had no sense of humor and had all the personality of a mud puddle. She’d planned to ease into a gentle layoff, but fuck it. She had a hot new co-worker teasing her who deserved more of her time.
“Gloria, I have good news for you,” she said. “You can meditate every day and every hour until the planets align. Tish says you’re fired effective immediately. She’ll mail your last check. Don’t ever work in customer service again.” Tap. Swipe. Done.
She tossed the phone on the futon and turned in Sid’s embrace, dislodging her hand. “Well, that was easy.”
Sidney held her gaze, brows furrowed. “So, uh, why didn’t you tell Tish you were at my place, and I was standing right here? Does Tish have a no-dating policy for employees?”
Crap. What to say here? Tish might have guessed correctly she had some overnight fun, but her bed partners were her concern.
“There aren’t any employees to date. At least, not until recently,” Kit said.
“Tish is happily married, like I said, and the part-timer who works during the holiday season has a guy.” Of the temps who spun through the revolving door before Gloria, none had appealed to her as a booty call, much less a potential life partner.
“I never asked about a policy because truthfully I never thought it would come up, and it’s not her business that we hooked up.
“You’re not upset about that, are you?” she asked. Kit hated to think of souring the work day ahead of them.
Sid pursed her lips, as though pondering the reason, and slowly shook her head. “No. It’s very considerate of you to keep quiet about us. It’s nice when somebody thinks of your feelings. Thanks.”
They kissed, lightly at first, then Sid opened to receive Kit more deeply. She cupped bare flesh and moved into a tighter embrace, savoring how her lover’s bare nipples brushed over her thin shirt and tingled her skin.
A second ringtone pealed through the small space. Sid put a finger to her lips to bid Kit to hold all thoughts until she finished the call.
“That was Tish. Let’s make something sweet,” she whispered, coming back to Kit’s embrace.
Kit smiled.