Beautiful Pt. 03

She was gazing down at me, running her fingers through my dark hair. "C'mon, I'm in the mood for mini-golf."

I laughed, and we headed out.

***

"I'm not distracting you, am I?"

Sandy laughed at me, waving her putter. "You know very well you are. Now get down so I can hit."

I continued to balance on the small, flat stone next to the hole. "I'm not stopping you."

Sandy shook her head and took her stance beside her ball. Her eyes narrowed, and I could almost feel her concentration solidify. She looked down at her blue golf ball, back to the hole, and then down again. I waved my arms a little, but I doubt she noticed, her arms moving like a pendulum as she sent her ball rolling towards its goal. It hit the hole dead center, dropping in with that distinctive plastic 'thunk'.

"Yes!" Sandy pumped her fist as I groaned. "Another two for me."

I jumped down off the rock I was standing on and tapped my ball in for a three. "No fair, you're too good at this."

"Me? You're the one who threw the gauntlet down."

"I take it all back. Have mercy." It's true, I'd gotten a hole-in-one on my very first shot, and I admit I'd talked a little trash. Of course, since then Sandy had absolutely demolished me.

"Mercy is for the weak." She set her ball down on the next tee. "Did I tell you that I was a scratch golfer in high school?"

"Figures."

"I actually got recruited to play golf at several schools, but I liked field hockey better. And you couldn't get to the Olympics as a golfer. At least not then."

She sent her ball down the Astroturf fairway, just missing the stonework on the left side and gliding around the sand hazard. The blue orb cozied up to the hole for another tap in two. I hit mine right into the sand. "Shit!"

"Oh, baby." She put her arm around me and kissed me on the temple. For the briefest moment I leaned into her and the comfort she provided, but as I opened my eyes I saw people watching us, and I jumped away.

Sandy looked at me, concerned, before following my eyes to the people watching us. I saw anger flash in her eyes. "You can't let them bother you."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, we'll talk about everything later. Now I'm going to finish kicking your butt."

"You are, huh?"

"Well," she lowered her voice, moving just a little closer, "There're plenty of other things I'd like to do with that cute butt of yours, but they'll have to wait 'til we get home." She moved up the short fairway, flashing me a wicked smile that made my cheeks heat up, not to mention some of my other bits.

Sandy refrained from any other overt PDA's for the rest of the round, although she didn't stop teasing me, making me very hot and flustered by the time we finished. As we climbed back into Sandy's Jeep she reached out and took my hand. "That was fun. I haven't played mini-golf since I was in high school. Maybe college."

I nodded. "Paige and the boys loved it when they were younger. It's been awhile, though. It'll teach me to challenge former Olympians to sports. How are you at board games?"

Sandy laughed, her rich alto voice filling the Jeep. "Maybe we can find out. So what are you making me for dinner?"

I stared at her for the non sequitur, laughing. "What? When did we decide that?"

"Just now. I figure I won the game, so you have to cook me dinner. Doesn't that seem fair to you?

My eyes narrowed and I cocked my head to the side. "Would you have made me dinner if I'd have won?"

Sandy made a face and shook her head. "Sweetie, you weren't going to win."

"That's probably true."

Sandy made her eyes big, with a little begging in her voice. "I'd let you cook anything you want, something that your kids don't like. I'm not picky."

That did hit home. Charlie was very hard to please, food-wise, and Will wasn't much better. "Okay, chicken curry. Charlie won't touch it, and I love Indian food."

"You've got a deal. Do we need to go to the store?"

"Yep, there's a Fresh Market on the way back to the house."

I guided Sandy to the aforementioned store, and we grabbed some organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs before heading to the international food section. We found the Indian section easily, and there were multiple jars of sauce, each sporting names that didn't mean anything to me.

"I didn't realize there were so many." I bit my finger, staring at the selection.

"Well, let's see. The Rogan Josh is mild, the Vindaloo is spicier. Tikka Masala, of course, that's pretty standard."

"I think I want the spicy one."

"The spicy one it is."

I grabbed one of the jars of Vindaloo Sauce and dropped it into the basket I was carrying. "I have rice at home, do we need anything else?"

"Seriously? Wine, of course. Silly girl."

I giggled and we headed over toward that section of the store.

Sandy looked over the selections. "Ooh, this would go well. I haven't had this in a while.

I looked at the label. "What's a Gewurztraminer?" Unfortunately I didn't get the answer.

"Melanie!"

I felt a block of ice drop into my chest as I heard my name from my left. I spun on my heel, away from Sandy. I realized my mouth was hanging open and I tried to pull it shut.

"Melanie."

"Penny, Hi"

Penny leaned forward and kissed me on my cheek. "We missed you at church this morning."

"Yeah, sorry, just, I, uh." What was I doing? Shit, Melanie, think of something! "I had a late night, didn't sleep well."

"Oh, I understand that. Hello." She turned to Sandy, who was standing too close to me. She held out her hand.

"Sorry, Penny, this is my friend Sandra. Bill has the kids this weekend, so we're just doing a girl's night. Sandy, this is Penelope Hobson, she and her husband go to my church. Her husband's one of the deacons."

"It's nice to meet you, Sandra."

"Likewise."

Penny's eyes flashed down to the bottle of wine Sandy was holding before she turned back to me. "You missed it, this morning. We all prayed for Tabitha's daughter Nina, she's, um, well she's in trouble and needs your prayers, She and that boyfriend of hers, if you know what I mean. And Donna Jo, pray for her and her husband, he's well, you know, again." I did know, it was well established that John enjoyed knocking a few back down at the bar. Of course, if I were married to Donna Jo I probably would, too. "And Paula Ray's daughter, Sophie, you should have seen what she was wearing today. Her skirt didn't come halfway to her knees. And she used to be such a sweet little girl. I'm just glad you never let Paige wear anything like that. Pray for her."

I kept from rolling my eyes through sheer force of will. "I'll do that. Thanks, Penny, but we need to get going, don't want to be too late."

Penny said goodbye and 'nice to meet you' as she smiled a big, fake smile and backed away, looking back and forth between me and Sandy a couple of times before heading down one of the aisles with her basket.

"So," Sandy leaned in towards me, "you reckon anyone's ever told her gossip's a sin?"

"Gossip?" The sarcasm was strong in my voice. "That's not gossip, those were just prayer requests." I took a breath. "Seriously, though, let's get out of here."

"Yup." We took our basket, including the wine, up to the checkout and paid, Sandy handing over her card. That was nice of her, because the wine she'd picked wasn't exactly the cheap stuff I usually bought.

I tossed the bags into the back seat of Sandy's Jeep before climbing inside and fastening my seatbelt. My head flopped back against the headrest, and I groaned. "I cannot believe we ran into Penelope Hobson on our, well, almost our first time out in public."

"Is that bad?"

"Well, she's gonna want to know who you are, and she'll ask about it. Notice I didn't give her your last name. Hopefully that'll slow her down a bit. If we're lucky something else will draw her attention and she'll forget about us." I took a breath. "Sandy, can I ask you a question?" Sandy nodded. "If she does figure out who you are, is there anything online that would, um, where she could tell that you're gay?"

"Not that I know of. I've never really hidden it with friends and family, at least not since college, but I've never come out publicly. There really isn't that much media attention for Field Hockey, even in the Olympics."

"Okay." My voice sounded scared, and Sandy looked concerned. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so worried about this."

Sandy's eyes were kind. "It's fine. Tell you what, let's go back to your place, make dinner, and we'll talk."

"Talk, is that bad?"

"No." She reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "But I want us to be on the same page here. And I want to make sure I know what you need to be comfortable with us."

I nodded, and I tried to put the whole incident out of my mind as Sandy pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the house. When we got back Sampson hopped up on the counter in the kitchen, completely unfazed by Sandy's presence. Sampson meowed and butted his head against her hand.

"If you give him some treats he'll love you forever." I pointed to the cabinet above the tabby, and she dug out the bag of treats, laying a few on the counter. Delilah, hearing the familiar sound, poked her head into the kitchen as well. I left Sandy to her new friends, setting out a cutting board and unwrapping the chicken. I pulled the Chef's knife from my knife block and set to work.

After a few slices two arms encircled my waist and soft lips pressed themselves against my neck.

I giggled before brandishing my knife at her. "Hey, working with sharp objects here."

"Okay, what can I do to help?"

I nodded towards the far wall. "Grab the big cast iron. Put it on the big burner on high and add some vegetable oil, in the cabinet. Then I'll need some flour in a Ziploc bag to coat the chicken."

"Geez, sorry I asked." She kissed my neck again and moved away.

We made a pretty good team. By the time I finished cutting up the chicken Sandy had the flour ready, and I coated it and began to cook it while I directed her through starting up the rice. It wasn't too much later we were sitting down to steaming bowls of Chicken Curry Vindaloo, or however you'd say it.

"Mm, this isn't bad for curry from a jar. Someday we can go to India and get the real thing."

I cocked my head. "Have you been?"

"India? No, but I'd love to someday. So you haven't traveled much?"

I shook my head. "Daddy traveled a lot for his job, and he never liked it much."

"Maybe we can change that someday."

"Yeah." Would that ever even be possible? Would we ever be able to do more than this, steal moments when no one was around? I tried to smile, but I could feel it fail on my face when I did.

Sandy's expression was soft but worried as she looked back. "I guess we should talk now, huh?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Melanie. You're allowed to feel your feelings, and to ask yourself what you want. The only thing I ask is that you be honest. Alright?"

I nodded, wiping away the tear from my eye. "Can we clean up first?"

"Will that help?"

I nodded. "It'll stop me from constantly thinking about it."

Sandy laughed. "Okay, c'mon, I'll help."

I tried to stay calm while Sandy cleared the table and I loaded the dishwasher. I really didn't have any idea what I was going to say, after all. Eventually I tossed in the little soap packet, pressed start and closed the door.

"Okay, the table's wiped down." Sandy tossed the damp rag into the sink. "Anything else?" She was smirking at me a little, and I knew she knew I was stalling.

I took a deep breath. "No, we're done. Um, wanna go into the living room and sit down?" I led her there and sat on the couch. I was a little surprised when she didn't sit next to me, instead opting for an armchair a few feet away.

"Melanie, after last night this shouldn't come as a surprise, but I really like you." She wasn't smiling, but her eyes were confident and kind.

"I really like you, too, Sandy." I hated how small and shy my voice sounded, even while my heart was drumming in my chest.

"I believe you. But, I just want to be clear. I know that was your first time with a woman last night, and if that's all we ever have, I'd always be honored. I don't want it to be the only time, but I also want a relationship. And I'm not big on skulking around in the shadows." Sandy gave a nervous laugh. "I don't have time for it anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for any kind of commitment, but I need to know if you'd be able to make one, to me, some day." Her eyes were so serious, but I could see the emotion swirling behind them.

"Sandy, I just don't know. I mean," I spluttered into silence, not able to find the words. I looked down, fighting back tears.

I heard Sandy move, and felt her weight settle next to me on the sofa. Her hand rested on mine, and I uncurled my fist to accept it. I remembered what it was like the first time I'd held Bill's hand. I'd felt small, like a leaf basking in the impossible power of the sunlight. It had been a stupid, naïve, girlish feeling, as I'd learned very well over the subsequent years.

But this couldn't have been more different. My hand didn't disappear into Sandy's like it had Bill's so many years ago. It fit, snuggly, securely, and I never wanted to let it go. She was so much stronger than me, and I didn't just mean physically. I was such a coward.

"Melanie, let me ask it this way. If you didn't have to worry about your family, your mother's reputation or your brother's campaign, or your ex-husband's approval, if it were just you and the kids, then, well?"

I opened my eyes and looked at her, her beautiful green eyes earnest. I couldn't find the words, but I was able to nod. Sandy reached up and cupped my cheek.

"I just want to be with you, Melanie."

I leaned into her palm, finally finding my voice, shaky as it was. "I want that, too." Sandy smiled, her sharp features softening adorably. She leaned forward and kissed me, my soul thrilling at the touch of our lips. It was soft and gentle and the most wonderful feeling, and I let myself rest against her.

She kept it chaste, no tongue, although I was so ready for that. Just as I was about to try myself Sandy pulled away.

"Melanie?"

"Hmm?"

"It's time for bed."

I giggled, glancing at the clock. "It's not even eight."

"Oh, I don't plan on sleeping, or letting you sleep, for a very long time."

"No?"

"No." Her voice dripped with sex, and my heart was starting to race. She stood, holding out a hand, and I placed mine gently in hers and let her guide me to my feet.

She kissed me, and I sighed, pressing myself against her. When we separated I looked up into her eyes. "So, bedroom?"

"Yeah," she gave me a wicked grin, "but I need my bag first." She ran over and grabbed the blue exercise duffle she'd brought in earlier.

"What's in there?"

Sandy shrugged, walking back towards me. "Work clothes for tomorrow, my toiletries."

"That's all?"

She slipped her arms around my waist, looking down into my eyes. "No."

I giggled stupidly at her firm, sultry tone. I turned and led the way to the stairs and up to my bedroom. I could feel her eyes on me as I walked, and by the time I was listening to her close my door I was trembling.

I turned as she tossed her duffle onto the floor at the foot of the bed, stepping towards me.

"Melanie? Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I just, I guess I'm a little nervous."

"Really? Even after last night?"

"Last night was so wonderful, Sweetheart." I tasted the endearment on my lips as I said it. God, that felt good.

Sandy's eyes lit up, her grin widening as she heard me say it. Her hands went down to my thighs, sliding up over my hips and under my tunic style top. "I want a lot of those nights with you, baby. There's so many of them in our future if you want." She lowered her lips to mine, and her hands slipped around and untied the sash around my waist. Moments later she was pulling it over my head, the cool air kissing my skin.

We took some time to slowly undress each other. A part of me still winced inside as each of my garments was removed, but, I think, less than last night. Of course, the loving way Sandy touched each revealed part of my body helped tremendously.

Sandy was on her knees in front of me as I stepped out of my jeans, her tongue sliding over my soft belly. Her fingers hooked the waistband of my pink cotton panties and pulled them down.

"Sit on the mattress, baby. Lie back."

I did as she said, closing my eyes as her hands ran over my hips and thighs, easing them apart. She pressed kiss after kiss against the soft skin inside my legs, and I experienced the dual feelings of pleasure and shame as she did. I carried most of my weight in my thighs and butt, and the sensation of someone being so intimate with the parts of your body you hate the most was very strange.

After a few moments, though, the pleasure won out, and I surrendered to it as Sandy's tongue slid through my cleft, swirling over my pearl before she sucked it in between her lips. My body shuddered in pleasure, my hands gripping the sheets while hers traveled up and over my belly and sides, caressing and playing over every crease and crevice. She didn't avoid touching any part of me. Quite the opposite, I could almost feel how much she cared through her gentle caresses.

My moans grew louder as I approached my tipping point, and they seemed to spur Sandy on. My pleasure began to crest. Forty-eight hours ago I would have severely doubted that I would ever experience intimacy again, and now for the second time in twenty-four hours I was naked with another woman, my body seizing in orgasm under her powerful, gentle touch.

She stood up, my nectar shining on her face. "Get in the middle of the bed, lover." I obeyed, watching her shed the remainder of her clothes. She slid a single knee onto the mattress. "Roll over, on your tummy."

I grinned, blushing as I did as she asked. My eyes closed as she ran her hands down my back and over the swell of my cheeks. She leaned forward and breathed kisses over my exposed skin, her fingers tracing the dimples created by my cellulite, never shying away. She touched me like I had the most perfect, smoothest skin, like I was a Victoria's Secret model and not an overweight, middle-aged mother of three. The shame was just starting to bubble up again when Sandy's breathy voice broke through as she squeezed my backside.

"God, Melanie, you are so beautiful." She took a deep breath and pulled away, climbing off the mattress. "Do not move. Oh God, so nice." She reached out and gave my thigh one last caress before she began rummaging in the bag she'd brought. I started to roll onto my side so I could see, earning an immediate reprimand.

"Hey, you. No peeking."

"Okay." I turned away a little, still trying to watch out of the corner of my eye, but she was too quick, getting back on the mattress before I could see what she'd gotten. She ran her hand down between my legs, and I shuddered as she dipped her fingers into my pussy.

"Up on your knees, baby." I complied immediately, as her hand continued to both lift and work my sex. She circled my clit, and I pressed back against her to increase the contact.

"Ooh! What's that?"

Sandy's voice was thick with mischief. "You mean this?" I felt it again, cool, soft plastic against my thigh. Sandy lifted whatever it was, running the cylindrical length through my cleft. "Feel what it is now?"

She pressed the tip against the entrance to my vagina, and a shiver ran through my body. "Yeah." It was a strap-on, of course, and I braced for what was coming. I suddenly felt empty, awash with the need to be taken. God, I hadn't been filled in so long, and I wanted it.

"Is it okay?" Sandy's voice almost surprised me. There was a real question in her tone, even though I thought the soaked state of my sex gave a most eloquent answer.