Chapter 13
Time slowed to a stop when Stephanie had opened the door to Calvin’s house.
This woman had been on her mind all week, and suddenly here she was, right where she wasn’t supposed to be.
It was that feeling that time didn’t exist that had kept her on her feet when the woman she had ghosted at attempted to trip her even as she beckoned her into the house.
Nobody but the two of them existed until a man shouted from what seemed like far away, snapping her back to the reality of where she was. A moment of panic had her backing away from the noise, from the people she now noticed who were all staring at her.
Two steps back had her bumping into something solid and warm. As the heat rose up her body, she knew exactly whose breasts were now pressed into her back, whose breath was on her neck, whose floral smell had enveloped her. Stephanie.
Memories rushed through her mind of their night together even as the pieces fell together.
Calvin had two stepdaughters, and Stephanie was one of them.
What were the chances of running into each other in just the last week?
Had this all been planned? Did anyone else in the family know they had spent a night of passion together?
Using all her strength, she pushed away from the woman and stood on her own, turned to face Calvin, who was rushing towards her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.
Or at least she was sure it was Calvin. He looked twice as old as he had before and was no longer the muscular beanpole he had been, now, he had a beer gut and a bald head.
Trying to return the hug, without actually returning the hug, because Court didn't hug strangers and Calvin was a stranger after all these years. If she had known there was going to be hugging, she’d have stood these people up.
Damn Ellis for encouraging her to come here.
Closure wasn’t worth the hassle of touching people.
“You look so grown up, Courtney.” Letting go, Calvin stepped back and analyzed her. As if more than a decade wasn’t enough for her to get older. Did he notice the differences in her, the confidence and control she had lacked all those years ago, or was he just judging her hairstyle and clothing?
“Call me Court, please.” She corrected, because she always did. “And I'm over thirty, so I hope I’ve grown up.”
“Boy, how time flies! Over thirty already.” Calvin said in amazement, though Court knew that all his step kids were either older or younger than her by less than five years. Which meant he must have known she was aging, just as they were.
Smirking at the idea that he might have no clue that she was thirty-two or if he just never thought about her enough over the years to think she was aging. She was betting on the second. Because he had found her now, he could have found her just as easily years ago.
As she pulled away from him, nobody around them said anything, not in greeting or anything else. Over a dozen faces were staring at her, and not a smile among them. Right then, Court knew the weekend was going to be worse than she had even imagined if nobody wanted her there.
“Yes, and a lady doesn’t like to hear her age announced for all to hear.” Running her fingers nervously through her short hair, she tried to make light of the situation with a joke.
At some point, Stephanie had slipped away and was nowhere to be seen in the crowd, and Court wondered if she was avoiding her. Part of her wanted to back into her again and feel her body pressed against hers again. To feel her heat against her again.
Calvin chuckled at her joke as he let go of her, and she pushed that thought from her mind. This was Calvin’s family. Which meant that being with Stephanie was out of bounds. Now, completely. No matter how this weekend ended up, she didn’t want to have that kind of connection to him.
“Welcome to our home, Courtney. You look good,” Marlene said stiffly from beside Calvin. There was no welcoming hug or even a smile, which meant she wasn’t all that happy for her to be there. It seemed nothing ever changed.
When she had been young, Marlene had never made an effort to make her feel comfortable and not out of place during her short visits.
Not once had she been inviting to a young girl who was just trying to have a relationship with a man who had once been a big part of her life, and never treated her like anything but an inconvenience for those few days Court had been in her house.
Her house, something she was reminded of when she dared to make a mess or not put away a glass.
From what Court could remember, Marlene was the head of the household. What she wanted was what happened. Calvin had had a backbone once, but he hadn’t had one after he met her. Marlene was in complete control.
“It’s Court, please. Thank you for having me.
” She told the woman, ignoring the chilly tone, and gave her best work smile before turning her attention on the rest, trying to guess which sibling was which.
They all looked a little familiar, but none stood out except for Stephanie.
That was someone that she had been trying to get out of her head for days now without success.
This was going to be a huge test because she’d put these people out of her mind for good a long time ago. There was little in her life from before, and less that she wanted to keep. The memories she had here were ones she hadn’t needed after she was no longer able to spend time with them.
“Did you bring your husband? Kids?” Calvin asked, looking behind her as if she was hiding a family from him. Loved ones that were content waiting outside and let her face these people alone.
“I have neither at this point. Still living the single life.” She tried to sound like she was interested in either of those options, but she didn’t think she was pulling it off.
After five minutes with these people, she wasn’t ready to tell the entire group she was a lesbian.
That wasn’t a group announcement sort of thing.
Not that the family should care too much since Stephanie was also queer.
Or at least willing to sleep with another woman.
Court had no idea which it was yet. At least she had all weekend to figure that out now.
The woman herself had come back into the room, but was hanging out in the back of the crowd. Their eyes met at her admission, but Stephanie quickly looked away. Was she hiding something? Maybe there was no ex at all and she was dating someone still. She wouldn’t be the first woman to lie to her.
“It’s okay to be single. You don’t have to be married, but you’re not getting any younger.” Marlene's eyes flicked to the left of her, a glance right at Stephanie, who was trying not to be seen as interested that Court was there.
“Mom, why don’t you lay off pressuring her for a minute about getting married, since you haven’t seen her in how many years?
Maybe concentrate on her for a minute.” A tall man beside Marlene chastised the older woman, causing her to scowl at him.
He turned to Court and offered a hand and a genuine smile and a hand to shake.
“I’m Dylan, and it looks like your hair never grew back. ”
Instantly, there was a weird tension in the room.
He’d brought up the past, and everyone was remembering how he had cut off her braid, a braid that had been a foot long and had been her pride and joy until it was gone.
Not the braid itself, but the hair. She had been growing it out for five years.
It had taken one snip of the scissors and it was gone.
Which had caused her to chase down the cutter and pummel him until Calvin pulled her off him.
Him being Dylan. Back then, he had been shorter, but had the same brown hair that flopped over his eye, so he had to swoop his head in a circle to get it out so he didn’t have to move a hand.
It had been that fight that had sent her home to her mother early that summer. Or would have instead, she’d run away. Not resurfacing for two months. But no matter what, she didn’t talk to Calvin for fifteen years, until today.
Dylan’s cocky grin should have been enough to cause her to walk out the door. But instead, she took his offered hand and shook it and tried to ease the tension. “Nice to see your black eye healed.”
“That and a few more of them over the years. Do you still have that mean right hook?” Dylan laughed and still held her hand until she pulled it away from him, feeling very uncomfortable.
Was he flirting with her? Was that what was happening? In front of his entire family? It had been so long since Court had been hit on by a man, if she ever had, that she didn’t even register it right away. If Stephanie was off limits to her, wasn’t Court off limits to Dylan?
And there was no way Dylan and everyone else didn't notice she was gay. She in no way hid it well. Sure, she had new girly clothes. But that still didn’t camouflage her entire being.
She hadn’t hidden her sexuality since she was a teenager and never thought she would again, because she was proud of who she was and if others thought differently, she didn’t care.
And now she was regretting not being herself this weekend.
If that had been too much for them, so be it.
Before she could turn and leave, everyone in the family took turns shaking her hand and introducing her to spouses and kids and chatting about old times like they were good. But then these people had good times in this house, Court didn’t.
By the time Marlene announced the burgers needed to go on the grill, she had met them all, or all but Stephanie. Who was diligently helping her mom in the other room? And the group that was there wasn’t nearly as interesting as she was. Not by a long shot.