Thirteen Hours (27 page)

“What was wrong with her?”

Laurel felt a sob threaten to tear from her throat. “I’m not sure. She was poisoned somehow. We…don’t know, exactly.”

“Poisoned?” Dana dropped her eyes to Isis, then looked up at Laurel. “How?”

“Her owners said she was an outdoor cat. She was out overnight and when she came back, she was having trouble breathing. They brought her in to us and we basically fed her drugs while we watched the poison work its way through her system.” Laurel let out a sob, scaring Isis into leaping from her lap onto the floor. With a glance backward, the cat loped away from the couch, down the hallway.

Dana scooted closer and pulled Laurel into her arms. She went willingly, collapsing into a desperate hug.

“There was nothing you could do?”

Laurel shook her head, burying her face in Dana’s shoulder. “I just watched her die. Nothing we gave her seemed to have any effect. She went into respiratory failure and she was having these horrible seizures.” She shuddered at the memory. “It was the most awful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Dana shushed her and began a gentle rocking motion, soothing Laurel with soft caresses up and down her back. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

Sniffling, Laurel mumbled, “I know I’m a professional and I should be able to handle this, but—”

“Handle this?” Dana frowned at Laurel. “You had to watch an animal die an ugly death today. Why should you be able to handle that?”

“She looked a lot like Isis,” Laurel whispered. Fresh tears spilled from her stinging eyes. “That’s all I kept thinking, the whole time. How much she looked like Isis.”

Dana laid back on the couch and settled Laurel on top of her body.

“Isis is just fine, honey. She’s inside and she’s safe.”

Laurel sniffled and rested her ear on Dana’s chest. She closed her eyes, lulled by her lover’s heartbeat. “I get so mad when I see bad things happen to cats because they live outside. I know some people believe cats belong outdoors, but I can’t even imagine.” She looked down the hallway where Isis had disappeared, wishing she had her within view. “She’s my little baby and I can’t even imagine letting her out and putting her at the mercy of nature, human or otherwise.”

“I understand,” Dana murmured. She stroked Laurel’s back. “You should have called me, honey. Even if you didn’t want to do it at work, you didn’t need to suffer alone. I could’ve tried to leave earlier—”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

Dana sat up, dislodging Laurel from her place in her arms. “Bother me?”

Laurel turned at the sound of distress in Dana’s voice, and her stomach dropped at the crestfallen expression that greeted her. “I didn’t mean—”

“You thought it would bother me if you called and told me you were having a bad day?” Dana kept her hands on Laurel’s hips, but it felt like some distance had grown between them. “I want to be the one to make you feel better when you’re sad. I want the first thing you do when you’re upset to be to pick up the phone and call me. I thought—”

“Dana,” she interrupted. “Please, honey.” She gave Dana a helpless shrug. “I’m sorry. It’s not that I didn’t think you would want to be there for me. It’s just that I felt silly.”

“Nothing that makes you upset is silly,” Dana said. “No matter what it is.”

“But—”

“And you never need to feel silly with me. I love you, Laurel. When you’re hurting, I hurt. And knowing that you’re choosing to hurt alone makes me want to cry.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Laurel said after a few seconds. “I would want you to call me if you were upset about something. Of course you would want the same thing.”

“Of course I would.” Dana pressed her lips against Laurel’s, holding the sweet contact for a number of breaths. Drawing back, she asked, “Do I not tell you well enough? How I feel?”

“You tell me just fine. Maybe sometimes I just don’t listen well enough.”

“Maybe I need to tell you more.” Dana hugged her tight, stroking up and down her sides. “Laurel, you’re the most important thing to me. I want to know everything about you. I want to be with you when you’re happy, and I especially want to be with you when you’re sad. I want the chance to make you feel better.”

“You do make me feel better,” Laurel whispered. From the moment Dana had walked in the door, her heart had been healing from her long, stressful day. “Believe me, you do.”

“How can I make you feel better tonight?”

Laurel’s mood shifted almost immediately and she started to smirk, then thought better of it. For once, she truly didn’t feel like having sex.

“We could order pizza and watch a movie on the couch.” Wiping damp strands of hair away from her eyes, she said, “You could let me choose the movie. Something nice and happy and romantic.”

“Done.” Dana reached into her pocket and drew out a slim cell phone. “Usual place?”

“Yeah.” Laurel leaned back on the arm of the couch and gazed at her. “I’m glad you came over tonight.”

“Me, too,” Dana said as she dialed. “Same thing? Small pizza with green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and no cheese?”

Laurel gave her an enthusiastic nod. There was such comfort in having someone who knew her pizza order by heart. Realistically, it was close to the bottom of the long list of reasons she adored Dana, but it warmed her heart nonetheless.

“Yes, I’ll hold.” Dana smiled at her. “You’re weird, you know. Pizza without cheese? Blasphemy.”

Laurel wrinkled her nose. “I started eating it like that when I was stripping. It was my way of justifying having something like pizza as long as the shape of my body determined the size of my paycheck. Turns out it’s actually very good that way.”

As Dana recited their standard order into the phone, Laurel retreated into her bedroom to change. Now that she knew they were staying in, she was determined to be comfortable. When she returned to the front room in her pajama bottoms and a tank top, she found Dana on the couch with Isis curled in her lap. Even from her spot across the room, Laurel could see Isis kneading her oversized paws in contentment as Dana stroked her fur. Surprised, she stopped in the doorway and watched in amused silence. It was the first time she’d seen Dana choosing to cuddle with her cat.

“Thanks for taking care of her until I got here,” Dana murmured to the lounging Isis. “And I’m telling you right now: you are never,
ever
allowed to go outside. I don’t care how much you beg me once I’m living with you, I’m going to be firm on that one.”

Laurel raised her hand to her mouth and tried to hold back her smile. That Dana was holding a serious conversation with her cat made her entire body feel warm; that her lover had so casually mentioned living together—to Isis, of all audiences—brought joyful tears to her eyes.

She was determined to go at Dana’s pace, but in this instance, she couldn’t resist giving her a little nudge. Stepping into the room, she cleared her throat. “You know, Isis was asking me about that.”

Dana jumped, apparently startled at Laurel’s entrance. “Asking you about what?”

“When you’re going to stop leaving for extended periods of time.”

Laurel crossed the room and handed Dana the pajama pants and T-shirt she kept at Laurel’s place for overnights. Sitting down next to her, she said, “I tried to explain to her that you have your own place, but she thought it was kind of silly. We spend almost every night together, and having two places means that she just gets left alone on occasion.”

“And she doesn’t like being alone,” Dana said. “I guess it is pretty silly. When you put it like that.”

“Well, Isis thinks so, anyway.”

Dana looked down at the black cat, scratching behind her ear.

“You’d really share your mom with me?”

Isis didn’t respond.

“Isis,” Laurel cooed, in the voice she knew would get a response from her chatty cat. “What do you say?”

Blinking sleepy golden eyes, Isis raised her head and meowed.

Dana looked from cat to human, raising an eyebrow. “What did she say?”

“I think it was “if you’re having pizza, I want tuna fish..” Laurel moved closer to Dana, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “Either that or “stop anthropomorphizing me..”

Dana tipped her head back and laughed out loud, which once again sent Isis scurrying out of the room. Laurel took advantage of the vacant real estate on Dana’s lap and scooted closer.

“I love your sense of humor,” Dana said, still chuckling. “I mean, I just love you.”

“Would you love to live with me?”

Dana’s eyes lit up, and she didn’t even hesitate. “In a heartbeat. I don’t know why we’ve left it this long. What’s it been? Eight months?”

“The best eight months of my life,” Laurel said.

Dana paused on a smile, as if delighted by a secret thought. “I think the best is still to come,” she said.

“Count on it,” Laurel said. “Your place or mine?”

“How about ours?” Dana said. “I wouldn’t mind finding a bigger place than either of us has. And…I guess I’d really like someplace where we can start fresh together.”

Before she could get too excited, Laurel felt obligated to give her proper warning. “You’ve never lived with someone before. I’ve probably got some bad habits.”
I have a feeling we could be the lesbian Felix and Oscar here.

“You’ve got a lot of great ones, too,” Dana said. “Like loving me.”

Squeezing Laurel in a tight hug, she whispered into her ear. “Oh, and licking me.”

“Is that it?” Laurel teased. “The extent of my great habits?”

“I doubt it. But those are two of my very favorites.”

“Do you feel ready for this, sweetheart? I mean, I know I just came out of nowhere with this, and I don’t want to feel like I’m pressuring you—”

“Are you kidding?” Dana asked. “I hate it every time you leave. Or I leave. I hate being away from you.” She gave Laurel a serious look.

“If I hadn’t already been planning to come over tonight, would you have called and told me that you were upset and needed me here?”

Laurel couldn’t lie. “I don’t know. Probably.”

“If we live together, you promise you’ll always call me if something bad happens to you? Or if you’re unhappy?”

“Whether or not I live with you, yes,” Laurel said. “I promise.”

She tucked her head under Dana’s neck and breathed in her scent. “I’ve learned my lesson. I’m feeling one hundred percent better now that you’re here.”

Dana pulled her close, running a gentle hand over the side of her breast. “Want to start looking for apartments this weekend?”

Laurel blinked in happy surprise. The day had just turned around, and in grand fashion. “Definitely. And I want to do something else very soon, too. Maybe after we’ve moved. I don’t want to be distracted.”

“Sounds interesting.” Dana nibbled on Laurel’s earlobe, and nuzzled into her neck. “What do you want, sweet girl?”

“My third fantasy.”

Dana released a low, rumbling noise from deep in her throat. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

A G
LITCH

D
ana stalked out of the bedroom with a grumpy scowl on her face, looking beautiful but surly in a dark gray suit. Laurel stood in the kitchen, silently packing each of them a bag lunch to take to work. Spreading mustard on a turkey sandwich for Dana, she watched her cautiously.

Would Dana break the ice, or would she have to do it?

They’d traded sharp words just minutes ago, Dana storming around after finding a wet towel hanging over the shower door dripping onto the floor. She hated untidiness, and apparently water on the bathroom floor was a high crime. Her first words to Laurel that morning were sharp.
What the hell? Are you trying to make a mess?

Laurel had sniped back, irritated at the reproof in the place of the hug and kiss she’d grown accustomed to.
Well, you’re charming this morning, my little ray of sunshine.

And that was the last time they’d spoken before Dana shoved the bathroom door closed and Laurel stomped away to the kitchen. Exactly seventeen minutes had elapsed. Laurel knew because she had been keeping count, her stomach uneasy because of the mood between them.

She listened but kept her head down as Dana swept into the kitchen and shuffled around preparing a fresh pot of rich-smelling coffee. Dana didn’t say anything as she worked. Neither did Laurel, leaving their morning routine to be carried out in silent efficiency.

It was the end of their second week in the new apartment together, and as they neared the end of unpacking all the boxes, they were going through a crash course in each other’s habits. Dana was the consummate neatnik, just as Laurel had expected. Laurel was more mellow than Dana, though she guessed her lover would label her ways “messy.” Laurel really had been trying to be more conscientious about her environment, and until this morning, Dana seemed to be exercising a remarkable amount of good-natured patience whenever she slipped up.

Learning all of Dana’s pet peeves wasn’t an easy task, and Laurel thought she deserved more credit than she’d been granted in the bathroom.

“Where’s my briefcase?” Dana’s voice was strained. She stood on the other side of the kitchen counter, in the dining room. “I left it by the door, but I’m not seeing it there.”

Laurel lifted her eyes. “I put it in the front closet.”

“The front closet. Of course.” Mumbling something inaudible, Dana strode away.

Fighting off tears, Laurel stuffed a banana into one of the brown paper bags and rolled the top closed just as Dana returned. Managing a pained half-smile, she offered it to her. “Here’s your lunch.”

Dana’s face softened a little, and she set her briefcase on the floor and took the bag, carefully avoiding Laurel’s fingers. “Oh. Thanks.”

“No problem.” Laurel met her gaze warily. She itched to touch Dana’s hand but held back, not sure the contact would be appreciated.

“It’s just a turkey sandwich.”

Dana expelled a deep sigh and put the bag down on the counter.

“I’m sorry, honey.”

Despite the way her stomach ached with tension over their argument, Laurel wasn’t quite ready to let it go. “Why?”

“For causing our first fight.”

At the hangdog look on Dana’s face, Laurel managed a faint smile.