Love's Someday (14 page)

“Not one of my happier memories.” Alex wrinkled her nose in disgust. “It was a Chihuahua, by the way.”

“It was simple then, that’s for sure. We could be queer and nobody cared.” Chantal started the tape again.

The camera was facing a closed door, and a hand reached out and turned the handle. Alex’s head whipped toward the camera as she raised her hand to block the view. Topless, she was straddling the waist of a woman who wore much less.

“In flagrante delicto,” Chantal said with a laugh on the tape.

“Cut it off!” Alex moved from her spot on the hearth. The group erupted with laughter as she chased Chantal around the den and wrenched the remote from her hand. “Anybody hungry?” she asked as her face colored. “I think it’s time to put the burgers on the grill.”

The Alex that Ashleigh knew wouldn’t have batted an eye at being caught in a compromising position. As she remembered it, Alex had frequent sexual escapades regardless of who was watching. And now she stood punching the buttons on the remote feverishly trying to kill the power as a healthy blush crept up her throat and face. Ashleigh found herself surprised at her own laughter. There had been a time when seeing that spectacle would have stung, but it didn’t now.

Alex ejected the tape from the player, despite the groans and protests around her. “There’s plenty of footage to watch. Chantal has at least a hundred discs in the cabinet. I’m going to go heat the grill,” Alex said to Vicki as she made a hasty retreat out the back door.

“
Chickenshit
,” Jaclyn called after Alex. “Pop this in.” Jaclyn handed Chantal a disc marked club footage.

Ashleigh could only make herself watch for a few minutes. She was and always would be her harshest critic. As Vicki moved into the kitchen, Ashleigh followed, leaving Erica and everyone else to watch without her. “Need some help?”

Vicki smiled at her. “You can grab a barstool and talk to me while I get a few things together.”

Ashleigh did as Vicki said and took a seat. “I think I’ve neglected to mention how nice your house is. How long have you lived here?”

“About ten years.” Vicki looked around the kitchen with a scowl. “It needs updating. I’ve been wanting to paint and replace the countertops, but you’d think I was asking to build on a wing the way Chantal whines.”

“I want to build a deck in the backyard, but Erica claims it’ll bring termites,” Ashleigh said with a smile. “She doesn’t think I know about treated wood. The bottom line is she doesn’t want to take the time and won’t hire someone to do something she has the skills to do.”

Vicki stopped mixing the salad and looked into the den where Chantal and Erica were going over the bank of electronics associated with the home entertainment system. “Looks like our other halves are getting along fine. They sound like they have a lot in common.”

Ashleigh nodded. “I figured if Erica hit it off with anyone, it would be Chantal.”

“So this is not so bad, feels like old times, doesn’t it?” Vicki pulled a tray of hamburger patties from the fridge.

Ashleigh swiped a tomato wedge from the salad bowl. “It’s weird, but it really does.”

“Been keeping those pipes of yours in shape? I’d really like to hear you sing.”

“Oh, Vic, I’m not up to that.” Ashleigh paled at the thought. “I sometimes sing with the radio in the car when I’m alone, but that’s it.”

“No pressure,” Vicki said with a disarming smile when she noticed Ashleigh’s fearful expression.

“Got a text from Lindsay,” Jaclyn said as she walked in behind Drew. “She’ll be here in an hour.” Jaclyn took the barstool next to Ashleigh. “She says she can’t wait to see you.”

“How is she?” Ashleigh asked.

Jaclyn swiped a piece of cucumber from the salad bowl and deftly avoided a swat from Vicki. “She’s bitchy right now. I leave the house when ‘Aunt Flow’ shows up because my wife doesn’t like me much.” Jaclyn leaned in close to Ashleigh. “And I don’t like her, either, but I’m scared to say so.”

Alex stuck her head in the door. “Are we eating outside?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Vicki replied. “Is it getting chilly?”

“Yep.” Alex took the platter. “Bring my hoodie when you come out please.”

“Can we do anything to help?” Drew asked as Vicki handed plates and silverware to Jaclyn.

Vicki shook her head. “Relax and let us spoil you.”

Ashleigh and Drew moved to the window and watched as the women set the tables. Drew nodded in Alex’s direction. “What’s it like seeing her again?”

“Not what I expected.” Ashleigh watched as Alex smiled at Vicki as they talked. “She’s just someone I knew a long time ago. There’s nothing there anymore.”

“That’s not what your eyes say.” A faint smiled played across Drew’s face as she looked at Ashleigh. “You’ve been studying her intently, and she’s been doing the same to you.”

Ashleigh tried not to react to what Drew was saying. Any hint of interest on her part would spur Drew on, and she would pick Ashleigh apart until she knew her every thought.

“What was she like?” Drew asked with a devilish grin.

Ashleigh grabbed Alex’s sweatshirt from where it hung on the back of a chair. “I might answer that one day,” she said with a grin as she brushed past Drew.

Ashleigh caught a faint hint of perfume as she clutched the shirt in her hand. The scent brought back a torrent of memories as she stepped onto the patio. Alex’s mouth on her skin, her fingers woven into the dark locks, and those eyes peering into hers as Alex kissed her way down her body. Ashleigh stopped short and hung the hoodie on the back of a chair.

“So, Alex,” Drew said later when they sat down to eat. “You’re an attorney now. I imagine that’s a far cry from the music business. What type of law do you practice?”

Alex glanced at Ashleigh before answering. “Corporate, nothing exciting.”

“Your mom finally snagged you, didn’t she?” Ashleigh said as Alex looked away and smiled.

“She got tired of me being a bum. When we came back off the tour, I spent my days on her sofa in front of the TV.” Alex stuffed a potato chip into her mouth. “She laid down the law—school or work. I, of course, picked school, thinking I could screw off.”

“You work for your mother’s firm then?” Ashleigh asked between bites of her burger.

“Oh, yeah, she’d have it no other way. For every argument I presented, she countered. I couldn’t win. When I got my first paycheck, we went house hunting,” Alex said with a laugh. “I mentioned that I liked a house on the street behind us here, and Mom had me signing a purchase agreement before I could second-guess it.”

“Two McKinney women under the same roof and at the workplace every day made for a tense environment,” Vicki said. “The day Alex brought us over to see the place, a moving van pulled up at the same time. She’d just closed and her mother had the movers packing Alex’s stuff. She was in on the same day.”

“So is there a Ms. McKinney home right now?” Drew asked to Ashleigh’s horror.

Alex grinned. “No, but I have a cat. Ms. Mischief, she’s all I care to live with right now.”

Vicki pushed her plate away and groaned. “I shouldn’t have eaten the whole burger. I’m miserably stuffed.”

Ashleigh was thankful for the change in topic. She wanted to kill Drew for prying into Alex’s personal life.

“Ash, I wanted to show you something if you’re finished eating,” Chantal said as she stood.

“I am.” Ashleigh stood and began to pick up her plate when Vicki reached over and grabbed her arm.

“I’ll clear the table, go with Chantal,” she said with a smile.

Ashleigh followed Chantal down a gravel path to what appeared to be a work shed in the back corner of the yard. Chantal slipped a key in the lock and opened the door. “Come in.”

Padded walls surrounded the large room with a low hung ceiling. Chantal’s drum kit sat in the corner surrounded by a glass partition. Sound equipment and instruments took up the rest of the space. “No more practicing in the living room. The neighbors never hear a sound when the door’s closed.”

“Wow.” Ashleigh ran her fingertips over the baby grand that matched the one in the living room.

Chantal pointed to another corner of the building. “We spend a lot of time in here messing around. I just added the fridge and sofa. I’ll have a bathroom built on in the spring.”

Ashleigh surveyed the collection of Alex’s guitars and the huge keyboard bank that she had a mental image of Vicki sitting behind. “Why didn’t y’all continue to record after I left?”

With her hands on her hips, Chantal turned and looked at Ashleigh. “It wasn’t because of you,
darlin
’, so let go of that guilty tone. You remember how it was when we signed with the recording company. They dictated our every move, and we weren’t allowed to be who we really were.” Chantal moved closer to where Ashleigh stood. “It was really hard for me to see the woman I loved escorted to events clinging to a man.”

Ashleigh remembered the strong rebuke of their sexuality by record company executives. They were assigned escorts when they went out in public, and though most of the men were gay, it still grated their nerves. At a time when Annie Lennox and so many were making androgyny a fashion statement, the women of Versal were expected to stay deep in the closet.

“It wasn’t just that, Ash, we were all feeling the strain. It wasn’t fun anymore.” Chantal shrugged. “It wasn’t what we expected, and your departure was a turning point. We saw an opportunity and we took it.”

“So what ya think?” Vicki walked in the door with everyone in tow.

“It’s pretty cool,” Ashleigh said with a grin.

Kaitlyn whistled as she walked into the room with her hands stuffed in her pockets. “If I were a musician, my nipples would be really hard right now.”

“Sit down,” Vicki said to Ashleigh as she pulled the bench from beneath the piano. “Wait till you hear the sound in here.”

Ashleigh scrubbed her hands together and sat on the bench. She stared at the keyboard for a moment and the room went silent. “I haven’t played in a long time, maybe you should—”

“I don’t care if you play ‘Chopsticks,’ just play it,” Vicki said with a smile. She stood behind Ashleigh and rested her hands on her shoulders. “Just relax and put your fingers on the keys.”

Ashleigh closed her eyes and let out a long slow breath. Her hands rested in her lap, and for the longest time, she didn’t make a move. Ashleigh placed her fingers on the keyboard and the first strain of “Moonlight Sonata” filled the room. She smiled as her fingers moved over the keys effortlessly, as if her hands alone remembered the music. It came back so easily, and she felt the familiar pull that made her want to sit there for hours.

“Now let me hear that voice of yours,” Vicki said with a squeeze of Ashleigh’s shoulders.

“I can’t.” Ashleigh stood, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. “I haven’t stretched those muscles in years, and I’m not comfortable attempting that in front of everyone.” Her tone belied the rising panic, but she was terrified that her worst fear would be confirmed in front of the women she felt she needed to impress the most. What if she couldn’t sing anymore?

Jaclyn gave Ashleigh a nudge. “It’s just us, Ash—”

“Let’s play the new song we wrote,” Alex said as she picked up her guitar. “We’ve got a test audience we can take advantage of.”

With twenty years and a failed relationship between them, Alex could still sense when she needed rescuing. The discreet wink she gave Ashleigh confirmed that her interruption wasn’t a coincidence. She was well aware of Ashleigh’s discomfort.

Erica opened an eye, glanced at the alarm clock, and groaned softly into her pillow. The alarm would sound in an hour and a half, and she knew she would still be lying awake when it did. Careful not to disturb Ashleigh, she climbed from bed and grabbed her robe as she left the bedroom. She needed coffee, breakfast, and a shower, and most of all, she needed to be alone for a while. They’d gotten in late from Vicki and Chantal’s the night before. Mercifully, she was asleep when her head hit the pillow, but after her body got its rest, her brain began assimilating all the details of the previous day. She was powerless to stop the parade of thoughts and images playing like a movie on fast-forward in her mind.

There were many disturbing things for her to ponder, the first being Alex. She was indeed “smokin’ hot” as Kaitlyn had so eloquently put it. If she was a single woman and circumstances were different, Alex would have been someone that she would’ve been taken with. She could understand how a woman could get caught up in the magnetism that Alex exuded. Ashleigh had done exactly that at one time. Erica’s stomach turned at the thought. She exhaled loudly as she remembered how Ashleigh’s face flushed when Alex walked into the room. Was the attraction between them still there? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that.

Erica leaned her head against the cabinet while she waited for the coffee to brew. Watching Ashleigh play the piano had been a revelation in itself. She remembered how the muscles in Ashleigh’s jaw flexed, how her brow furrowed over half-lidded eyes as she concentrated. Ashleigh’s eyes closed as she gave in to the music as one would give in to an unexpected kiss. This was something intimate, something very personal, something that could be shared, but only at a distance. Erica wasn’t simply watching Ashleigh play the piano, but reconnecting with her first love. She understood then that Alex was not the only threat from Ashleigh’s past. Music itself was a powerful ex-lover.