A Baumgartner Christmas (8 page)

“A little,” her friend admitted,
giving her a sidelong look.

Carrie took the offered Sharpie,
addressing the box to the timeshare in Florida. “Do you want to know something
about him that I’m now pretty sure you don’t know?”

“What?” Daphne gave her a return
address label to stick on.

“He has a tattoo…” Carrie paused,
looking up at her for emphasis.
“On his cock.”

Daphne’s jaw dropped, a quite
satisfying response. “Are you serious?”

“Creepy or sexy?” she asked.

“Sexy.” The redhead nodded,
sipping her wine. “Unless it’s something weird. Then it could be creepy.”

Carrie snorted. “See, I was
hoping you could tell me.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get
quite that far,” Daphne sighed, watching her put the last box with the others.

“Too bad.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Wait… quite that far. That
means…” Carrie squealed, jumping up and down. “I knew it! I knew it!”

“So we made out a little.” Daphne
tried to hide her smile. “Not far enough to see his cock tattoo, though, that’s
for sure.”

Carrie grabbed her glass of wine,
taking a gulp. “He offered to show it to me, but Doc stopped him.”

“Go figure.” Daphne laughed.

“Well, Doc is pretty open about
me being with women, but men… not so much.” Carrie shrugged, carrying her wine
into the living room.

Daphne trailed behind her. “What
do you mean, he’s open?”

“We’ve always had this
understanding, since college. Because, you know, I’m bi.” Carrie sat on the
sofa, curling her feet under her, inwardly holding her breath. Revealing the
fact that she was bi was the first step—and might be the last.

“You are?” Daphne sank down
beside her, all wide-eyes.

“Well… yeah.” Carrie glanced up,
trying to gauge her reaction.

“Interesting.” The response
wasn’t much of a clue.

So she just decided to ask her
directly. “Does that freak you out?”

“No. I just didn’t know.” Daphne
ran a wet finger around the rim of her glass. “I mean, it’s not often you find
someone else who’s bi.”

“You?” Carrie hid her smile
behind her glass. Doc had been right after all.

Daphne nodded.

“Doc thought you were.”

“Did he?” Her friend laughed.
“But you didn’t guess?”

“I suspected…”

“So wait…” Daphne leaned in,
curious. “Have you been with a woman since you’ve been married?”

“No.” Carrie shook her head. “But
Doc thinks I should.”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed and she
frowned. “Is he one of those guys who wants you to be bi so he can cheat?”

“No, it’s not like that,” Carrie
protested. “He doesn’t care if he’s not involved. He’s fine with me being with
a girl all on my own.”

“Really?” Her friend looked
doubtful. “But he wouldn’t mind if he was a part of things, of course.”

“Well yeah.” Carrie grinned. “I
can’t blame him.”

“But not guys?”

She pursed her lips, remembering
their conversation about Wilson. “Actually, we were just talking about that.”

“And what did you two decide?”

Carrie shrugged. “He’s not as
okay with that.”

“Go figure.” Daphne snorted,
glancing at her. “Let me guess… the conversation was about Wilson?”

Carrie blinked and swallowed, not
sure if she should tell her friend the truth—but they always told each other
the truth, right? Even when it hurt.

“Well… that’s where it started, I
guess.”

“I can’t blame you.” Daphne’s
finger traced round and round the rim of her glass. “He
is
fine. Prime
threesome material.”

“Well, he’s not an option on the
table,” Carrie reminded her, putting her hand on her friend’s forearm. Her skin
was as soft as a baby’s.

“But
I
am.” Daphne spoke
the words, matter-of-fact, sliding her hand down to press it into Carrie’s.
“Doc’s given you permission to have sex with me… if you want.”

“Yes.” Carrie’s heart beat so
fast it felt like it might burst out of her chest. “If
you
want.”

Daphne linked her fingers with
Carrie’s, smiling. “I wish I had a husband who was so open.”

“You don’t have a husband at
all.” The words were out before she thought about them.

Daphne laughed. “Thanks for
reminded me.”

“You know what I meant.” Carrie
flushed, squeezing her hand. “You’re free to do whatever you want. With
anyone.”

“I am.” She nodded, their eyes
meeting.

“If you were me…” Carrie
swallowed. “What would you do?”

Daphne said what she felt, as
always. “I’d have an affair with my best friend.”

“You would.” Carrie couldn’t
catch her breath.

“Hell yes,” she breathed.

The front door opened and both
girls jumped, startled, as Doc came into the room, brushing snow off his
shoulders.

“Hey girls! It’s snowing, but
they say it’s supposed to warm up, so I doubt we’ll get a white Christmas. Not
that we’ll be here anyway…” He slid his coat off, glancing at them sitting on
the sofa, and then stopped, looking between them, from one to the other. “Am I
interrupting something?”

“No,” Carrie protested, trying
not to sound breathless as Daphne unobtrusively disengaged her hand.

“I was just getting ready to go.”
Daphne stood, putting her wine on the coffee table. “Nice to see you, Doc. Have
a good holiday, if I don’t see you.”

“You too,” he replied, watching as
she slid on her coat and boots. He held the door for her as the women said
goodbye, waving to each other before Daphne slipped out into the cold.

Doc looked after her, curious.
“What was that about?”

“Nothing.” Carrie wasn’t in the
habit of lying to her husband, but this time, this one time, she wanted to keep
this to herself. At least, for a little while.

* * * *

“It’s about time you picked up
the phone!” Carrie berated her friend over the wire, but she really felt like
hugging her through it. “Where have you been for the past three days?”

“Home,” Daphne replied.

“I was getting ready to come make
sure you were still alive,” Carrie scolded. “Why haven’t you picked up the
phone? Did you get my messages?”

Of course she’d been worried
about just this thing, that Daphne would be scared off, that it would ruin
their friendship. And maybe it had, just the mention of it. The thought made
Carrie feel physically ill. She’d been feeling that way for days.

“Yeah, I got them,” Daphne
admitted. “I just… I guess I’ve just been feeling sorry for myself.”

Uh-oh. So this was it then.

“Why?”

“Oh I don’t know, because you’ve
got Doc, and now you’ve got Wilson lusting after you, and you pretty much just
get everything, and what do I get?” Daphne spat bitterly.

Wow.

“Wow.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

Carrie stared at the receiver for
a moment. “What do you mean, I have Wilson lusting after me?”

“He came over here the other
night and you were all he could talk about.”

“…What?”

“You heard me. You and your
temporary tattoo. And it’s not that I blame him—you’re fucking gorgeous, and
who wouldn’t lust after you? Hell, even I’ve thought about it. You know I
have.”

“Daphne… stop.” Carrie really
wished her friend was in front of her, that this conversation had taken place
in person instead.

“What?”

She took a deep breath. “Listen,
I called you for a reason.”

“What reason?”

Might as just well come out with
it. “I wanted to invite you to Key West with me for Christmas.”

Daphne was quiet for a long time.
“Are you serious?”

“I already bought the ticket so
you better say yes.” She’d dipped into her own savings account, the one she’d
had since before she and Doc were married.

“Wow.” That was all Daphne could
seem to say. “Wow. I mean… wow.”

“Come on, it will be fun. Doc
can’t come for a few days, he has to work. It will just be me and you. Well,
and Doc’s parents. But we can go shopping and swimming and, hell, we can even
swim with dolphins if you want, I don’t care—”

“Shut up,” Daphne replied,
laughing. “You had me at shopping.”

“You’ll come?” Carrie’s heart
swelled, filling her throat.

“Of course I’ll come! I told you
I’d jump at the chance. I’m jumping! This is the best Christmas gift ever. I so
need a break.”

Carrie smiled at the phone. “Me
too.”

Chapter
Four

“How many inches?” Carrie twisted
the phone cord around her finger, glancing at Daphne sitting on the sofa in the
living room. Her friend raised her eyebrows, grinning, and Carrie stifled a
laugh. “Oh Nan, I’m so sorry. When do they think flights will be going out of
Boston again?”

“So how many inches?” Daphne used
her hands to denote the measurement. “Eight… ten…” The width between her hands
got wider, and wider still. “Twelve?”

“Fifteen inches of snow is just
crazy,” Carrie agreed, snickering at the shocked look on her friend’s face, the
way her hands tried to take that huge measurement. “So they’re saying at least
a day? Maybe two?”

“Did they get that kind of snow
in Michigan?” Daphne called.

Carrie shook her head, answering
Nan. “No, Doc said it was all rain when it went through. They got wet, but no
snow… yep, he’ll be here… okay… and where is the Christmas tree stored?”

Daphne got up and wandered into
the kitchen, pouring herself more wine while Nan peppered Carrie with
questions.

“Oh, Nan, it’s no problem, Daphne
and I can decorate it before you all get here… yes, two boxes of presents were
delivered yesterday, and we got another notice on the door to pick up some more
today… oh, Daphne and I were shopping, so we were out… yes, the weather’s
gorgeous… I know, I know… seventy-seven today…”

Carrie answered her
mother-in-law, watching Daphne wander around the living room in her black
bikini. They’d gone swimming after their shopping trip. Carrie’s hair was wet,
her white bikini bottoms still damp.

“So?” Daphne looked at Carrie as
she hung up the phone.”Looks like we’re decorating a Christmas tree?”

She nodded. “Looks that way.”

“Well, let’s get our tinsel on!”

The girls went into the storage
closet under the stairs and got the artificial tree out, putting it together
branch by branch. Nan’s taste in decorations tended toward the tasteful, so the
lights were white and blue, as were all the ornaments. By the time they were
stringing the white and silver garland, it was around dinner time.

“We’ll have it all decorated by
the time Doc gets here,” Carrie said proudly, watching Daphne stretching to put
the white star on the top of the tree. She was still in her bikini and it
hugged her ass snugly, showing off her curves in all the right places.

“His flight comes in tonight?”
Daphne stepped down from the stool and stood back, hands on her hips, red head
cocked.

“Yep.”

Daphne picked up her glass of
wine, taking a sip. They’d been drinking all afternoon. “Are we picking him up
at the airport?”

“He’s taking a shuttle,” Carrie
replied. “He doesn’t like me driving at night.”

“He’s so overprotective.” Her
friend laughed, rolling her eyes. But then she smiled. “Must be nice.”

“Are you hungry?” Carrie asked.
They’d gone shopping that morning to stock the refrigerator and it was full of
food.

Daphne’s eyes lit up. “Do we have
any of those little chocolate cashews?”

“Such a healthy dinner!” Carrie
got them from the top of the refrigerator, opening the canister and handing it
over as she came into the living room.

Daphne popped one into her mouth,
sucking happily. “God, these are so good.”

“It’s so weird.” Carrie looked up
at the tree, shaking her head.

“I know,” Daphne agreed, laughing
at the two of them decorating in bikinis. “It feels like Christmas in July.”

“I know what will make it feel
like Christmas.”

Daphne watched Carrie as she
stretched out on the white carpet. “What are you doing?”

“Come here.” She held a hand out,
beckoning Daphne to join her as she wiggled her way under the Christmas tree.

“Weirdo.” Daphne snorted, but she
got down on the floor, stretching out on her back beside Carrie. The girls
looked up through the branches at the white and blue lights reflecting off the
silver and white garland. It was magical.