Stranded in Salina by Shea McBride

Author:Shea McBride [McBride, Shea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-04-19T23:00:00+00:00

It turns out Lou’s wish is effortless: to share a shower.

Delilah is stricken by her simplicity as she watches Lou unwind through a thin curtain of steam. The water is warm and soothing on her sensitive skin and sore joints, but the peaceful look on Lou’s face calms her more than anything. The woman’s body is both soft and hard at once, worn with age but sturdy from labor. Looking at her without clothes on feels like a secret, a privilege. When she steps closer and rests her head on her shoulder, Lou gives a satisfied hum and winds her arms around Delilah’s waist.

“You look happy,” Delilah tells her.

“Haven’t done this in years.”

They sway gently beneath the stream of water. Delilah presses her palms against Lou’s shoulder blades, feeling them shift beneath her skin as they rock side to side. Then the question that’s been at the front of her mind for the past hour comes forward. “Hey, Lou?”

“Hm?”

“Are you…lonely?”

Lou’s shoulders bob with a little laugh. “Every woman in the whole world like me is lonely. I ain’t special for that.”

“I like women like you,” Delilah says, holding her tighter.

“You’re sweet.” Lou’s fingertips trace absentminded shapes along Delilah’s back. “It’s just part of the job,” she adds, quieter. “I knew what I was getting myself into when I got through all that corny self-discovery crap. I came out on the other side just fine enough.” She shrugs. “Lonely is just a part of that. Can’t remove it, can’t pretend it ain’t there. Just gotta keep trucking on.”

“But you still wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

“Hell no.” Two light kisses are set to Delilah’s temples. “Never.”

Delilah smiles at that answer. “Good. I wouldn’t want you to.”

They go quiet for a little while, just holding each other under the flow of water. Then Lou turns her around so Delilah’s back is to her chest and begins shampooing her hair in that as-a-matter-of-fact way of hers that makes Delilah laugh. “I feel so pampered,” she says. “I could get used to you spoiling me like this.”

It’s worded jokingly, but a newfound tension bubbles up in the space between them at the thought. Delilah feels it on the air, so palpable she could touch it and hold it in her palm.

What strikes her is that it’s true: she could get used to this. All of this.

They’re quiet as Lou rinses the shampoo out of Delilah’s hair and shuts off the water. When Lou towels her off, so careful and deliberate, Delilah’s throat tightens as if she might cry. She can feel the loneliness radiating off of Lou in waves; it extends from her own body too, touches Lou’s frequency with a neediness she can’t look at directly. She wonders if Lou feels it too. She has to.

They brush their teeth side by side at the sink. The easy, familiar nature of it only tightens the tension in the air between them.

Delilah falls into bed the moment they’re back in the room, forgoing clothes in favor of pulling the cool white sheet over her bare body.

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