CHAPTER 24 #2
Elisa smiled at her being so sweet and said, “You don’t have to do that, but thank you.”
She cupped Myra’s cheek and kissed her softly.
“I want to. He’s cute.” Myra shrugged her shoulder a little. “You’re cute, too.” She kissed the tip of Elisa’s nose.
“Gee, thanks,” Elisa said with a laugh.
“And sexy,” Myra whispered into her ear to prevent Gwen from hearing her.
Elisa swallowed and gave Myra the best sultry glance she could muster, half-expecting Myra to give her a confused expression in return because it wasn’t like Elisa to be throwing around sultry glances.
Instead, Myra’s brown eyes darkened a bit, and they told Elisa that she had accomplished her goal.
Jesus, Myra was sexy. Myra licked her lips, and Elisa wanted to kiss them hard until they were lying on this sofa, with Myra on top of her.
She wanted to feel Myra’s weight on her body, pressing her into a mattress somewhere, probably the one on her bed, but she didn’t care about the location at this point.
She just wanted Myra, and with Gwen sitting next to them, she couldn’t have her .
“So, this isn’t awkward,” Gwen pointed out. “Me being the third wheel while I drink a margarita all by myself because you two just keep aiming those sex eyes at each other and don’t seem to have time to drink.”
Elisa pulled her eyes away from Myra long enough to give Gwen another glare.
“Okay. Sorry. I’ll cut it out,” Gwen added.
“Should I go?” Myra checked. “I’m the one who interrupted your night. I can get back to work or just head home.”
“What? No,” Elisa said, turning back to her.
“Babe, you can call me later,” Myra suggested. “Be with your friend tonight.” She looked at Gwen. “Or should I say sister ?”
“You’re funny,” Gwen said.
“Let me clean up in the kitchen because I left a mess in there, and I’ll go home. I’ve got some work I need to do anyway.”
“Okay,” Elisa said, unable to argue if Myra had work she needed to do.
Ten minutes later, Myra had cleaned up enough to feel okay about leaving, so she kissed Elisa goodbye and said the same to Gwen before she left for her own house.
“You are crazy about her, aren’t you?” Gwen asked, setting her still half-full margarita on the table.
“Yes. It’s obvious, huh?”
“Definitely.” Gwen chuckled.
After Gwen finished her drink, they sat there for another hour or so, sharing some snacks while talking about Elisa’s possible job and the fact that Adele had promised her that they would figure things out so there would be no need for Elisa to move back into the guest house when they were on breaks just to see her kids.
“Does Myra know that?”
“Huh?” Elisa asked.
“Did you tell her that you’re not giving in to my insane brother?” Gwen asked.
“Not yet. She was at work, and then, we were all here. ”
“I’d tell her,” Gwen suggested.
“I will.” Elisa looked over at Buster, who woke up and stretched.
“Whoa! Big boy stretch,” Gwen said. “Elisa, you’re required to say something like, ‘Big stretch,’ anytime your dog stretches. If they yawn, you have to say, ‘Big yawn.’ It’s a must for all dog havers.”
“Havers?” Elisa laughed.
“Yeah, I don’t like using the word ‘owners.’ I do when I have to, but I feel like our pets really own us more than the other way around.”
Buster walked over to Elisa and sat.
“I think he needs to go out again,” she noted.
“And I should go home,” Gwen said. “If I were you, though, I’d tell her. Make sure she knows that you’re staying.”
“She knows I’m staying. I never said I was moving. Besides, I just got a dog and told her about a job.”
“Yes, a temporary one. And the dog will go with you. So, just make sure she knows that you’re not going back.”
“It was just to stay, Gwen.”
“Elisa, it was to stay in your ex-husband’s guest house. It’s your whole old life. I would be worried if I were her. She knows you stayed there before for the kids. All I’m suggesting is that you should fill her in that you won’t be giving in to him.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said.
Elisa hadn’t planned on addressing this with Myra at all because she wasn’t going anywhere, so it would be irrelevant, in her opinion, but maybe Gwen was right.
She would have been staying in the guest house where she’d lived after their divorce, basically being a housekeeper more than anything else, and she had to admit to herself that she expected that to be the case again if she returned, unsure she would’ve been able to prevent it or stop it if it happened.
When Gwen left, Elisa put the leash on Buster, and he began dancing with excitement.
She decided to walk him up and down the street instead of making him go in the backyard because it was his first night at his new home, and she wanted him to get as many walks in as possible, but when she opened the door, it was sprinkling, so the walk had to turn into him peeing in the front yard and her hurrying him back inside.
It was starting to pick up, and Elisa was only in her T-shirt and jeans, with flip-flops she regretted putting on.
“Come on, buddy. It’s starting to really come down.”
Undeterred by the rain, the dog huffed at her as if he was determined to take his time sniffing around, and she had to laugh at that.
Then, Elisa looked up at Myra’s house and saw a light on.
It wasn’t late yet, so she shouldn’t have been surprised by that, but it made her think about what Gwen had said.
Deciding not to wait until later to tell her that she wasn’t going anywhere, she marched on to Myra’s front door.
“Hi,” Myra greeted. “What are you doing out there? It’s pouring.”
“I’m not staying at the guest house,” she said.
“What?” Myra asked.
“Babe, I’m not staying at the guest house. If you’re worried that I’ll go there and stay there or just go there because he wants me to, I’m not going. I talked to Adele. We’ll figure it out, but I’m not staying there on their breaks or any other time. I’m staying here. I’m in New Orleans now.”
Myra smiled and seemed to sigh in relief.
‘Damn. Gwen had been right,’ Elisa thought.
“That’s really good news,” Myra said.
“You were worried?”
“I felt like I had no right to be,” Myra replied. “But, yes. I just want you to be happy. I didn’t think that would make you happy, though, and I didn’t like how he told you that I couldn’t go with you.” She shook her head. “Or any woman if you wanted–”
“You,” she interrupted. “I want you.” She looked down at Buster, who was sitting calmly by her side. “And I want to come inside. Can I come inside?”
“What? Oh, yeah,” Myra replied.
“Actually, I can’t,” Elisa added .
“You can’t?”
“I didn’t lock the house, and Buster is here. Can you maybe come to my place?”
“Um… Yeah. Sure,” Myra replied.
“Myra?”
“Yeah?”
“Pack a bag.”