Lesbian Stepmother (4 page)

Lonna laughed, delighted.

Abbie threw the paper aside and stared incredulously at
the iPad box. She stared at it for a long time, making no move to
open it. Finally she turned her head and looked at Lonna. “You
can’t give me this.”

“Of course I can. I just did.”

“But you
can’t
.”

Lonna took a chance and reached out, ruffling Abbie’s
hair. “I can so. You wanted one, and I wanted to buy you one.
So I did.”

“Do you know how much these cost?”

Lonna smiled warmly. “I have a pretty good idea.
The sales clerk told me.”

Abbie looked back at the box. “I don’t
know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. The look
on your face when you opened it was enough for me.”

Abbie looked at her again, licking her lips. “You’ve
really been nice to me lately. And I appreciate it. But this is too
much.”

“Abbie, I bought this for you because I wanted
to. It made me happy to buy it. If you don’t accept it, that
would really hurt.”

“But why? Why would you be this nice to me? My
own father wouldn’t even buy me one of these.”

“Your father is...kind of an insensitive jerk.”

Abbie nodded. “No shit.”

“I wish you’d stop thinking of me as an
extension of him. Or even as a stepmother. I wish you’d just
think of me as Lonna. That’s who I am, really.”

Abbie seemed to consider it. She started to speak and
then stopped. She was fighting something inside herself. “I’ve
been nothing but a bitch to you. Why would you want to buy me
something as nice as this?”

“
I told you that already. I like you. It makes
me feel sick inside when we don’t get along. And when I see
you happy, I feel happy. It’s because I care about you.”

Abbie swallowed, looking away. “Even though I’m
a bitch?”

“
You’re not a bitch!” Lonna placed
her hand on Abbie’s cheek. To her surprise, Abbie didn’t
pull away. “You’re a beautiful young woman, and it’s
your birthday. And if there was something I could do to make it
better for you, I wanted to do it.”

Abbie took an enormously deep breath, and when she let
it out she appeared much more relaxed. “So…you mean I
really have an iPad now?”

“
You sure do!”

Lonna thought Abbie was finally going to open the box,
but instead she set it beside her on the couch. “Thank you,
Lonna.”

“
You’re very welcome.”

Abbie shifted on the couch so that she was in a better
position to see Lonna. She licked her lips again, composing her
thoughts. “I think I owe you an apology.”

The words meant more to Lonna than she would have
believed. Her whole body sang with happiness. “You don’t
owe me anything, honey.”

Smiling, Abbie nodded. “Yes, I do. I’ve
been cold to you right from day one. I never even gave you a chance.
You tried over and over, and I just kept blowing you off.”
She looked her in the eyes. “And I’m sorry. I really
mean that.”

“
Thank you.” Lonna’s voice cracked.
She felt as though she were going to cry. “That means a lot to
me.”

Abbie motioned to the iPad box. “
This
means a lot to
me
.
Not the gift, but the fact that you gave it to me. It tells me
something about...” She sighed. “...about you. From
now on, things are going to be different. I promise.”

Tears spilled down Lonna’s face. “I hope
that means we’re going to be friends.”

“
It does.”

“
Real friends?”

“
Yes.” Abbie looked away for a moment and
then looked back. There was something in her eyes that hadn’t
been there before. A softness. “I misinterpreted you.”
She licked her lips. “It was a mistake. I won’t make it
again.”

Lonna laughed, still crying. “It’s going to
be so nice, having you for a friend, Abbie. There are so many times
when I wish I had somebody to talk to about things. There’s so
much I want to share with you. This is like a whole new world
opening up for me.”

Abbie smiled. It felt good. “Well, you’ve
got someone to talk to about things now.”

Lonna smiled. “Thank you so much.”

“
I can’t believe...” Abbie paused,
looking off in the distance.

“
What?”

She took another deep breath. “I can’t
believe we could have been close all this time. It’s my fault
we weren’t.” She looked at Lonna. “You know,
you’re not the only one who wishes she had somebody to talk to
around here.”

“
You can talk to me about anything you want to,
Abbie. Any time.”

“
I...” She shrugged. “I didn’t
know that.”

Lonna reached out and took her hand, holding it in hers.
It was very soft and warm. “You know it now. I’m here
for you, no matter what. For anything.”

“
Thank you, Lonna.”

“
You’re so welcome.”

Abbie was still smiling. She wiped her eyes, which had
gotten moist. “There’s so much shit I want to tell you
now. All kinds of crazy things.”

“
You can tell me anything.”

Abbie nodded. “I don’t mean anything in
particular. Just all kinds of stuff.”

“
Anything you want.”

“
I will. I promise.” She reached out and
touched Lonna’s hair, brushing it back from her eyes. “God,
this is really going to be cool!”

“
I agree.”

“
Thanks for saving my birthday.”

Lonna got to her feet, pulling Abbie by the hand. When
they were both standing, Lonna wrapped her arms around her, pulling
her into a tight embrace. Abbie hugged her back, squeezing hard.
They stood that way for almost a full minute, holding each other in
the quiet living room. If Lonna had ever felt better, she didn’t
remember when.

After a moment, Abbie released her and leaned back.
“Thanks, Lonna.”

“
Thank you.”

“
And thanks again for the thoughtful present.
It’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever given me.”

“
You’re very, very welcome. It was money
well spent.”

Abbie kissed her on the check. She had a big smile on
her face. “Would you like some breakfast? It’s my turn
to cook.”

Chapter 6

They ended up cooking together. It was an almost exact
duplication of the previous day’s breakfast, the only real
difference being the lack of bacon; neither of them wanted it. They
had fun as they got in each other’s way, chopping and stirring
and buttering toast, chatting about whatever came to mind. Neither
of them had had such a happy morning in a very long time and they
both snuck apprehensive glances at the clock, knowing it wasn’t
going to last. The real world would beckon, ruining their fun.

Sitting at the table and sipping coffee, Lonna filled
Abbie in on the miserable dinner she’d suffered through the
night before. “He just sat there, shoveling it in, oblivious
to everything else around him.”

Abbie was smiling, chewing on some rye toast. “I
can’t believe you made me a big casserole and I didn’t
even come home.”

“There wouldn’t have been enough for you,
anyway. He just kept eating it. I barely got any myself.”

“It’s completely gone?”

“There was a little left over. I made him save
it for you.”

“I never even saw it.”

“He must have eaten it during the night.”

“What a pig. I can’t believe he’s
not fatter.”

Lonna laughed, taking a bite of eggs. “It’s
all the caffeine, I think. If he’s not drinking coffee, he’s
drinking soda.”

“I don’t want to think about him anymore.
It’s bad enough we’re going to have to waste the night
having dinner with him.”

Lonna slumped in her chair. “God. I forgot
about that.”

Abbie was smiling at her. “Why did you marry
him, anyway?”

“I don’t know. I thought we weren’t
going to talk about him?”

“Okay. Fair enough.” She took another
bite of toast.

“What about you? You called during dinner,
something about a big date.”

Abbie dropped her toast and wiped her mouth with a
napkin. She sighed. “Something else I don’t want to
talk about.”

“Sorry.”

“No, no. It’s not your fault. It was
stupid, is all. Or, I should say, a mistake.”

“You don’t have to talk about it, honey.”

Abbie looked at her with a smirk. “It was this
guy, okay? He’s been pestering me for a date for weeks. I
finally agreed to go out with him just so he’d quit hitting on
me.”

“I can see how that would backfire.”

Abbie laughed again. Her laugh was very musical, and
Lonna loved the sound of it. “I spent the night trying to make
him as miserable as possible. It took awhile, but I think I finally
pulled it off. I can be a real bitch when I put my mind to it.”

Lonna smiled, drinking her coffee.

“Anyway, I don’t think I want to go on any
more dates for awhile.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for
you.”

“I’m not. I didn’t want it to.”

“Well, then, congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Abbie looked at the clock on
the wall and cursed. “This sucks. I’m finally having a
nice time and now I have to run off to school. My whole birthday
will be wasted, and then I have to spend the night going to dinner
with my asshole father.”

“Maybe he won’t want to go after the little
fight you two had.”

Her eyes brightened. “Hey! You might be right!
That would be something. I could stay home tonight and set up my new
computer.”

“That’s something to look forward to.”

“It sure is. I still can’t believe you
actually bought me one.”

“Don’t get too excited. Next year it’ll
probably be obsolete.”

“Still. Like I said before, it’s not the
gift so much as the fact that you bought it for me. That was one
hell of a gesture, Lonna.”

“You’re one hell of a young lady.”

Abbie looked at the clock again. “Shit!”
She stood up and began gathering her breakfast dishes.

“Leave those. I’ll clean up. I don’t
have to be at work for another hour.”

“I don’t want to leave a big mess for you.”
She carried her things to the sink and began running the hot water.
“The whole sink is full.”

Lonna stepped over and tried to bump her out of the way
with her hip. “Scoot over, princess. The birthday girl isn’t
washing any dishes while I’m around.”

Abbie laughed and bumped her back. “Says who?”

“Your wicked stepmother.”

“I thought you were Lonna.”

“I am Lonna. And you’re late for school.”

Suddenly Abbie had her arms around Lonna again, hugging
her tight. “I don’t wanna go to school! I’m too
happy!”

Lonna almost laughed, but she was too overcome with
emotion at the unexpected embrace. She wrapped her own arms around
Abbie and held her, stroking her back with one hand. She kissed the
top of Abbie’s head. After a moment she thought they were
done, but Abbie made no move to let her go, and she didn’t want
to be the one to break the contact. She felt almost blissful
standing there holding the younger woman.

Finally Abbie released her and leaned back. Her eyes
were wet and glimmering under the harsh kitchen light.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She quickly wiped her eyes.

“Tell me.”

She shook her head. “Nothing, really. I
just...” She licked her lips. “I just don’t feel
like going to school. I wish it was Saturday.”

“That makes two of us.”

“It’s going to be such a long, shitty day.
I’ve got calculus with Mr. Zermont. Jesus, what a waste of
time.”

Lonna laughed softly. “At least it’s
Friday. Tomorrow we can just sit around at home and do whatever we
want.”

Abbie nodded. “Yeah. But my dad’ll be
here all day. I’ll end up staying in my room.”

“You don’t have to.”

Abbie looked at her. “Hey, you know something?”

“What?”

“I always thought I was avoiding you by staying
in my room, but now I wonder. I think I was kind of blaming you for
the way I felt about my father.”

“I sometimes got that impression.”

“Really?”

“Sometimes. Not always. I usually thought you
just plain hated me.”

“I’m sorry!”

Lonna ruffled her hair again, smiling. “Don’t
be. I’m just glad we finally ended up on the same team.”