Best Lesbian Romance 2011 by Radclyffe

Author:Radclyffe
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2010-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

A WITCHY WOMAN CALLED MY NAME

Merina Canyon

Lacey wanted everyone to call her Lance, but she had a hard time getting us to do it. I liked to call her Lace, which was what her mama called her before she died. Lacey told me she hated to be called Lace because it sounded like the worst part of being female—being enslaved in the kitchens and sewing rooms. I had to laugh at that ’cause I spend a lot of time tending the home fires myself. “No Lace for you then, Sir Lancelot,” I said from behind my checkout stand at the grocery store. “Ain’t no skin off my teeth.”

Lance loves her cowboy clothes and boots and always has her curly black hair cut short like a boy. My hair is short too, but not that short. She has these icy blue eyes with long eyelashes and a constant just-woke-up look. She’d come into the store every day for her Red Bull and Snickers, and some folks accidentally called her sir till they looked her straight on and saw her mother’s Spanish beauty looking out. She didn’t actually want to be a man—she just wanted to be treated equal with a man, with the same sort of respect for her dare-devil strength out on the ranch where she works.

She probably would have gone on just trying to prove her equal strength to men and wandering aimlessly through life if it hadn’t been for that witchy woman, Gwen.

The one time Gwen came into the store is branded in my memory. She was some kind of sandal-wearing, stunning woman with long brown hair tenting down her bare shoulders. She had on a white summer dress and just seemed to have magic sparking off her. I’d say she was about my age—thirty-three, about six or seven years older than Lance.

Gwen came up to my counter, so I said, “Howdy, ma’am. Are you finding what all you need?”

“Well, howdy to you too, friend. I’m looking for coffee.”

“Aisle four,” I said, pointing back behind me.

“Do you have any ready made?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I pointed over to the deli. “But it ain’t the good kind,” I whispered. “If you want the good kind, go around the corner to Carmen’s Café. They got espresso.”

“I guess you got me figured out.” She smiled, flashing these fox-brown eyes at me. That’s when I spied Lance beyond her tan shoulder, looking like an ice sculpture. She was over by the cigarettes, a carton of Marlborough half off the rack. I wanted to yell over and tell her to close her mouth so the flies don’t get in, but I was under some kind of spell myself.

This witchy woman in white glistened from head to toe like she was covered with a layer of baby oil. Her hair had ripples in it, and I had a strong itch to reach out and run my hand over it the way I would a horse’s mane.

Lance dropped the cigarette carton on the floor and then she turned too fast and ran into a cartful of closeouts.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.