Side Order of Love by Tracey Richardson

Author:Tracey Richardson [Richardson, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, General, Lesbian, Fiction
ISBN: 9781594931437
Google: zLKVNQAACAAJ
Amazon: 1594931437
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2009-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Her reputation for being organized intact, Connie had her bags packed and lined up neatly in the hallway, even though she wasn’t leaving for the mainland for several hours.

Torrie spotted her on the back deck, sketching with charcoal. The image of Connie reaching toward a canvas—a pencil, charcoal or brush in her long, gnarly fingers—would always be with Torrie, and she stood admiring the sight, remembering the countless times over the years she’d watched her aunt in the same pose.

“Hey,” she finally called out, the slam of the screen door behind her startling her aunt. “Sorry.”

Aunt Connie smiled fleetingly, pulling her gaze back to the large sketchpad on the easel in front of her, and Torrie’s eyes followed. With bold black strokes, Connie was sketching a woman walking on the beach, a stick in one hand, a large dog beside her intently watching its master. Torrie stepped closer, peering over Connie’s shoulder, and was immediately struck by the sketch. It was Grace on the canvas, her hair loose around her shoulders, a look of pure delight on her face, the cuffs of her jeans pulled up to her knees. The figure walked bare-toed in wet sand, the surf lapping just inches away. The attention to detail was magnificent, and Torrie sucked in her breath. “It’s beautiful, Aunt Connie.”

“She’s a beautiful subject to work with. She makes it easy.”

Torrie couldn’t take her eyes off the sketch. Grace looked so youthful, carefree, happy—the way Torrie imagined she would look if she were in love. “You like her a lot, don’t you?” she asked, her gaze still pinned to the sketch.

“Yes, I do. Why don’t you, Torrie?”

Torrie couldn’t look at her aunt for a moment, afraid the shame of her unrequited feelings would be revealed. But Aunt Connie had set down her charcoal and was leaning back in her wicker chair, looking at her insistently.

Torrie sat down heavily in the adjacent chair. “I like her just fine, Aunt Connie.” She really wanted to tell her aunt to leave it alone, to quit bugging her about Grace. To quit trying to force them together. Grace had certainly been right about Aunt Connie’s matchmaking intentions, but the pointlessness of it was getting tiresome.

“You don’t really act like you do. Both of you act more like you’re just tolerating each other.”

“That’s not true.”

“I certainly hope not, because I’ve arranged for you to have dinner with Grace at her place tomorrow night. I don’t want you to starve while I’m away. Or be lonely.”

Oh, Christ. It was hard enough being just a few houses away from Grace. Being forced to spend time with her was far more than she could handle. It was downright painful. The hug last night had been frighteningly fantastic. Their bodies fit together perfectly, and Grace was so supple and warm against her that Torrie had had to remind herself that it was merely a friendly hug, that nothing more would ever happen between them. “Please tell me you didn’t do that.”

“Of course I did.

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