Thy Neighbor's Wife (24 page)

because I’d been trying to figure out what course of action to take

when my mother stopped in for an unexpected visit. I went into the

kitchen for a minute and didn’t notice that she’d taken the poems

with her when she left. Apparently, she’d seen them addressed to

“Ms. Foster” and signed with a girl’s name and decided to take mat-

ters into her own hands without even talking to me.

“The next day, she turned them in to the school. If she’d just

gone to my principal, things would have been kept quiet, but she

didn’t. Instead, she had an in-depth discussion about them with the

three administrative assistants in the district office. It just snow-

balled from there and everything was blown out of proportion. Ten

different versions of the situation circulated, mostly ones that col-

ored me as having an affair with my student.” She snorted in dis-

gust. “Please. My students were fourteen and fifteen years old. How

sick would I have to be?”

“So, your mother was the parent who turned in the poems.”

“Yeah.” Alex gave Jennifer a suspicious look. “You’ve heard

the rumors, too, I assume?”

Jennifer grimaced with guilt. “Dawn made a comment that day

she and Kayla visited and met you. Her kids go to your school.”

“Ah.” Alex nodded. “That’s why she kept looking at me

funny.”

They sat in silence for a long while, sipping their wine and

looking out onto the water.

“Alex, could you still get your job back? If you wanted to, I

mean.”

Alex blinked in surprise. “I don’t know; I never really thought

about it. Maybe.”

“Mm.” They were silent again. Then Jennifer got up to retrieve

the bottle of wine from inside. Kinsey got up, too, and Alex untied

him and handed him off to Jennifer without a word. She took him

inside with her just as if she’d done so a million times, as if he was

her dog, too, and they all lived together. The Westie immediately

curled up on the couch and Jennifer lovingly scratched his head

before returning to the deck with the wine. She refilled both glasses.

“I think you and I need to make a pact.”

“What kind of pact?”

128 Georgia Beers

“From this point on, we do what we thing we should do. Not

what our mothers think. Not what our friends think. What we

think.”

“In what types of situations?”

“In all types. Every type.”

“Every type?”

“Mm hmm.”

“That’s a lot.”

“Yup.”

Alex stared out onto the water, looking pensive. When she

looked back at Jennifer, there was a sparkle in her eyes reflecting

the moonlight and the almost indiscernible flickering of the candle.

When she smiled, Jennifer’s heart melted right into her knees. Alex

held up her glass. “To exercising our own free will.”

They clinked glasses and sipped.

The breeze kicked up a bit and Jennifer shivered involuntarily.

It didn’t escape Alex’s notice. “Cold?”

A sheepish smile crossed Jennifer’s face. “I caught a few too

many rays today.”

“Come here.” Alex said it without thinking. She set her glass

down, sat up, and opened her arms and legs to make room on the

lounge.

Warning flags popped up all over the place, but Jennifer

refused to acknowledge their existence. It took all of three seconds

for her body to veto her brain and make the move to the chair. Her

head screamed at her in alarm, but her body moved of its own

accord, settling comfortably in front of Alex. When Alex gently

pulled her back against her, Jennifer couldn’t hold in the sigh of

contentment.

They sat quietly for a long time, just listening to the wind blow

and the waves lap and the occasional boat hum slowly by, the red

and green lights the only other proof of its presence. Jennifer

couldn’t recall ever having felt quite so comfortable in her entire

life. At the same time, though, she felt totally and utterly alive, as if

every nerve ending in her body was standing at attention and her

nervous system could short circuit at any moment. It was delicious

and unpredictable and she never wanted the night to end. Ever.

Alex’s bare legs were warm and much longer than Jennifer’s.

Their knees were bent, Alex’s legs surrounding Jennifer’s lower

body, keeping her safely on the lounge. When she wrapped her arms

around Jennifer, the smaller woman felt like she was in a giant

cocoon, protected and cared for.

“Better?” Alex asked, her lips so dangerously close to Jenni-

fer’s ear that she felt an immediate surge in her belly.

“Much.” Jennifer’s voice was so low it cracked. Alex’s chin

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 129

rested on her right shoulder and Jennifer turned to look into her

eyes. That small movement proved to be her absolute undoing.

Alex’s face was flushed, her eyes dark, her lips moist. Jennifer

could feel the heat coming off Alex’s body and it seemed that she

had no course of action but one.

She reached back with her right arm and hooked it around the

back of Alex’s neck, pulling her face the last inch to her own. With-

out stopping to think twice—without stopping to think at all—she

crushed her mouth to Alex’s, dual moans escaped from each of

them at the moment of contact.

There was no tentative uncertainty. There was no taking of

time to gently brush and softly nibble one another’s lips. There was

only hunger and want and not just from Jennifer. Alex felt it, too,

and was just as swept away as Jennifer. Warning bells clanged

loudly, but neither woman paid any attention to them. They had

simply gotten too physically close to one another and all the will-

power they’d been using to resist temptation had basically fallen in

on them.

Jennifer went by pure instinct. For the first time in her life, she

did what felt right at the time. Alex’s lips were the softest she’d ever

felt and she wasted no time pushing her demanding tongue between

them. Alex pushed back and they battled back and forth as Jennifer

twisted in Alex’s arms, trying to gain herself a better angle for

which to explore her friend’s incredible body with her hands.

There was a sharp crack and the back of the chair jerked down

harshly to a flat position, leaving Jennifer lying directly on top of

Alex. Their eyes met in amusement over their new position and Jen-

nifer raised one wicked eyebrow before descending upon Alex’s

mouth again, ravaging with pure delight.

She felt like a teenage boy. Her hands fumbled with the buttons

on Alex’s shirt as she tasted the skin of her friend’s cheek, her ear,

and her neck. She wanted so badly to touch, to feel with her finger-

tips that skin that had been taunting her for weeks.

Alex’s hands were in Jennifer’s hair, her breathing ragged. She

pulled Jennifer’s face back up and plunged her tongue possessively

into her mouth, moaning as she did so. Jennifer pushed the shirt

open and cupped one lace-covered breast in her palm, enthralled by

the feel, the weight of it. She ran her thumb over the nipple, causing

Alex to arch into her hand.

“Oh, God,” she groaned, suddenly wrenching her mouth from

Jennifer’s. “Wait.” Panting, she shifted beneath Jennifer. She slid

her off to the side and sat up. “Jennifer, wait. Please.” She swal-

lowed, catching her breath. “Wait.”

Jennifer blinked at her, still immersed in a haze of sex.

“What?” she asked breathlessly, struggling to sit up. “What’s the

130 Georgia Beers

matter?”

“What are you doing?” Alex gasped, trying to clear her head.

“What are you doing to me?”

“What?”

“I can’t…I can’t do this.”

“Alex…” Jennifer reached for her again, kissing her neck, mur-

muring against her skin. “Please. I know you want this as much as I

do. It’s okay.” She slipped her hand back under Alex’s shirt, softly

stroking the same breast. Alex closed her eyes briefly, reveling in

the aura of this woman who seemed to inexplicably know just how

to touch her. Her legs felt like they were made of jelly and the ache

in her groin was insistent. She was vaguely aware of Jennifer’s hand

slipping around behind her and fumbling with the clasp on her bra;

it was enough to snap her back to reality.

“No.” She grabbed Jennifer’s hands and held them both in her

own. Looking her in the eye with difficulty, she said, “We can’t do

this.”

“Why not?” Jennifer felt like she’d lost all ability to think

clearly.

Alex closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow breath. The anger

seeped slowly in and she covered her eyes with her hands. “Damn

you, Jennifer,” she said through clenched teeth. “Damn you.”

Jennifer reached to pull away Alex’s hands. “Alex…talk to me.”

She pried gently at the fingers, her voice soothing and sweet.

“Come on. Come on, sweetie. Please.”

“Stop it,” Alex said, lowering her hands. Her voice was almost

firm and the crack in it almost unnoticeable. “Stop coaxing me like

that. I can’t…I can’t…It can’t be like this.” Her eyes filled with

tears. “I don’t want it to be like this.”

Jennifer’s heart filled with dread at the sight and she wanted

nothing more than to make it better. “Alex,” she said again in the

same loving tone. She brushed a strand of hair out of Alex’s face,

surprised when her hand was pushed roughly away.

“Stop it! Stop touching me and stop saying my name like that.

Please. God, why can’t you understand? Why can’t you understand

what it does to me? Don’t you have any idea what it does to me?”

Jennifer blinked as Alex stood up and put distance between

them. She leaned on the deck’s railing with her hands, staring out

onto the water. Silent tears rolled down her face. Jennifer had no

idea what to say, so she waited until Alex finally spoke.

“You’re married, Jennifer.” Alex’s voice was barely discernible

in the night air.

“I know.”

“I’m not your experiment.”

“I know that, too.”

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 131

“Do you think this makes you any better than Eric?”

Jennifer flinched, surprised by the accusation in the question.

“Excuse me?”

Alex turned to face her. “Do you think your sleeping with me is

any different than him having an affair on you?”

“What?” Jennifer felt her face flush with irritation. “Pardon

me, Little Miss I’ll Warm You Up, Come Here And Sit Between My

Legs. What was that, a test?” Alex looked away, guilt written all

over her face, visible even in the dark as Jennifer continued. “In

case you hadn’t noticed, your tongue was in my mouth just as often

as mine was in yours. I’m not the only guilty party here.”

“You’re the married one!” Alex shouted. “Jesus, Jennifer, make

up your mind. Go buy some courage. You’re not in love with your

husband; anybody can see that. If you’re not happy, then leave.

Leave him. Do something. Have the guts to be who you are for a

change.”

Jennifer’s fury grew so dark that it clouded over the hidden

message Alex was sending. Her eyes crackled with rage. “Let me see

if I’ve got this right. You’re judging me? You? The lesbian author

who only writes about straight people? The out and proud gay

woman who let her own mother run her out of a job without the

tiniest of whimpers? You’re telling me I need to find the courage to

be who I am?”

Both women were breathless and the angry tension on the deck

was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Alex swore she could hear

Jennifer’s heart pounding as hard as her own. Kinsey had left his

place on the couch and was standing at the door, sending disapprov-

ing looks at the pair through the screen.

Jennifer was the first to break eye contact; she did so when she

felt the anger recede and the tears begin to well. She looked down at

her feet for a minute. Then, swiping angrily at her wet cheek, she

turned, walked down the steps of the deck, and left.

Alex watched her go, unable to move, still feeling the remnants

of her own resentment, though they were quickly eclipsed by guilt

and the desire to wipe Jennifer’s tears away. She scrubbed her hand

over her face with frustration.

“Shit.”

Chapter

Fourteen

“Awek!”

A little blonde-headed body torpedoed itself into Alex’s mid-

section and she scooped it up. She kissed Hannah’s face and

smelled her hair, closing her eyes and reveling in the sweet, inno-

cent scent of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo. Sometimes, just holding on

to Hannah was all she needed to do to make the world seem not so

bad after all.

“Hey, Stretch. How’s life?” Jackie asked, handing her friend a

glass of Merlot.

“It’s there,” Alex replied, taking a too-large mouthful of the

wine and setting Hannah down on her feet. “Sometimes it’s just

there and that’s all.”

Jackie looked at her a little oddly, like she wanted to explore

the comment. Instead, she nodded. “Ain’t that the truth.”

Rita’s kitchen was bright and sunny, filled with yellows and

floral designs. Alex always thought of it as “Rita’s kitchen” because

Jackie absolutely despised cooking and rarely spent any time in