Life's Surprises by Jackie Calhoun

Author:Jackie Calhoun
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian
ISBN: 9781594933684
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2013-09-10T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Mallory

“Do you still want to come with me tonight?” Caitlyn and Mall were alone in the kitchen, drinking coffee. Jacob was asleep. Zoe was at Rusty’s apartment, and Mike was at work at the car wash.

“Yes.” She had been mulling this over all week. “I just had some questions…” Her voice trailed off.

“Ask them.” Caitlyn leaned her elbows on the table, looking over her coffee cup at Mall.

“When did you know?”

Caitlyn looked at her for a moment before answering, “Brad and I were best friends with another couple. I fell for the wife. I was always thinking of things we could do together, like bird- watching or going on nature hikes or bike rides. She had two kids. I had Jacob. Sometimes we took the kids, sometimes we went out as couples, and sometimes we left the kids with their dads and went off together.”

Transfixed she asked, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Caitlyn said with a faint smile. “Her husband got transferred. We still correspond, but I never told her. Feelings do fade when you’re separated.”

“You said that you had an affair.” Heat flooded her face.

“Yes, with someone I met at the Y. It’s over. It was what you’d call a fling, I guess, but for me it was galvanizing. Brad found out, and that was that. She wasn’t into a lot of unpleasantness. It gave him a reason to divorce me. He was already seeing Pam.”

Mall nodded and took a breath. “I see,” she said for something to say.

When they left around six that afternoon, no one was at home. Zoe was still at Rusty’s home, Jacob had gone with his father. Mike was spending the night with Sam. Mall drove. Nervous, she worried that someone would recognize her, that she would feel out of place, that no one would like her.

None of her worries materialized. She liked Caitlyn’s friends, although they sometimes made her squirm as when one of them said teasingly, “I see why you have been hiding Mall, Cate. Shame on you for not sharing her with us.”

They came home to a dark house with only the cat waiting inside the door. Mall turned on a light, and they stood uncertainly in its glow. More to break the silence, she said, “Thanks for asking me to come along.”

“No problem. We do this every couple of weeks. You’re always welcome to come with me.”

She nodded. “Think I’ll go to bed.” It was ten thirty.

“I’m going to stay up and read a while. I never sleep well after a stimulating evening.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

“Okay. See you in the morning.” Mall started toward the stairs.

“Did my friends give you any insight?” Caitlyn asked.

She turned on the first step. “No. They are pretty much like everybody else.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know.” She went up to her room, where she got ready for bed and climbed under the covers with a book. When she put it down and turned the light out, she couldn’t sleep.

She had hatched the idea

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