Catering Girl Ch. 04

Somehow my arms were wrapped around her neck and hers around my waist as we slow danced to Declan O'Rourke's Galileo (Someone Like You). I just rested my head on her shoulder and felt that all was well with the world.

At that moment I didn't have a care in the world. The song finished, and we slid back into the booth. We enjoyed the music a while longer until it was time for a certain little girl to get to her bed.

As I came out of Little Miss's room after tucking her in, Whit handed me a glass of wine and we relaxed by the fire. She held me in her arms as we sat on the sofa and watched the flames flicker.

Upon finishing my glass, I relaxed in her arms. A hand crept up underneath my tee shirt and it began to cup my breast.

"Oh god, yes."

"You like that baby?"

"Yes," I moaned. Her hands felt so good, teasing me, getting me excited. I grabbed her and pressed my lips to hers. "Bedroom now," I panted. She pulled me up from the couch, and I followed her down the hall. As I locked the bedroom door, she pushed me against the wall and resumed kissing me.

Not being able to take it any longer, I swung her around and pushed her back onto the bed. We wiggled her out of her sexy jeans, and when I lifted her sweater off, I saw my prize for the evening. Whit was wearing a sexy green satin bra with black lace and a pair of matching boy shorts.

Stripping myself down to my boxer briefs, I lay on top of her. Feeling the lace of her bra against my hardening nipples, and it made my arousal even stronger. My hand pressed against her satin shorts, and Whit writhed in response. Needless to say, it didn't take long, and I had her seeing stars.

When she started to come down from her bliss, I held my Whitney and marveled at my feelings for her. So much has happened in the month since we first had tea together.

"Let me return the favor." Her voice was husky and sexy. But I had to put my hands on hers and stop her.

"Maybe in a few days? I'm a day early. But if you just want to hold me that would make me happy tonight." And that is how I was when sleep found me.

The next morning, we hit the slopes again. It was another fun day, but my mind was occupied by what might happen tonight when we got together with my mom. At lunch, my anxiety about the evening began to take hold, and I was starting to not feel that good. The anxiety just made my normal cramps worse. I left my two ski bunnies and treated myself to a nap. The large bed and the knowledge that I wasn't going to be disturbed for a while was glorious.

I was feeling a bit less grouchy when my bunnies came in. Naps are a great thing.

"Mommy, we brought you something." Little hand held up a small grocery sack. I peeked inside to see a bar of my favorite dark chocolate.

"I thought you might need a little 'medicine' to help with your cramps."

"Thanks babe, this is the kind of surprise I like." I gave Whit a kiss. "Well pumpkin, you ready to go see grandma?" I put my best happy face on. Madison started to skip around. Where does she get all her energy?

We pulled into mom's tavern just after it got dark. "The Rusty Spike huh?" Whit was looking at the old fashion letter reader board on the street with some lights forming an arrow to the building. As usual, a few lights were burned out.

"'Now with family dining' that's new." I commented. Then I remembered that about six months ago mom said something about a small remodel. We walked in the door and I figured out what her small remodel was. Instead of there being a couple of pool tables as you walked in, there were some tables and a roped off divider separating the 'family dining' area from the bar. On one of the divider posts was the state required sign saying only those over 21 could be in the bar area. Yeah, right, like anyone was going to enforce that way out here.

"Grandma!" Madi took off and leaped into my mom's arms.

"How is my favorite granddaughter?"

"Good. I can ski now!"

"She's a natural. Mom, this is my friend and ski instructor Whitney." Whit glanced at me with a bit of a look. I think she was expecting me to introduce her as my girlfriend. But at the moment, it was harder to say than I thought.

"Hi Mrs. DeLuca, pleasure to meet you."

"Well welcome to the Rusty Spike. Come over here and have a seat. Like what I did Jenny?" I rolled my eyes at her. I hate being called Jenny, but only my mom can get away with it now.

"Don't get any ideas." I gave Whit the look.

Whit laughed, "Sure... Jenny."

"Grrr," I growled. "So Mom, you got a dining area, getting much business?" I looked around and a few tables were filled with guests.

"Yeah, it's paying for itself. Hershel's place closed so there was a lack of basic dining in the area, so I changed things up. Not making much, but it's better than nothing. Sit, take a load off. Can I get you something to drink? You want your normal Sprite honey?" Madi and I slid into one side of the booth offered, and Whit took the opposite side.

"Sure mom, same for Madi. Whit?"

"Ah, uh, Diet Coke for me, thanks." Mom went back to the bar to get drinks. "Sort of dark in here." The place had old 70s wood paneling, and a few lights hung from the ceiling.

"Interesting, I was thinking it was more lit up now. Guess it's all in perspective." Mom came back with drinks and some menus.

"I brought you all some of our wings. I know they're your favorite."

I do love them; she is right about that. It was a big basket of tasty, spicy goodness. And a proper bowl of blue cheese dressing to dip them in. But I knew what was coming next.

"Grandma, do you have any ranch?"

"When did you start putting ranch on your wings little one? Who taught you that?"

"Miss Whitney did." Mom looked at Whit with mock horror.

"Oh no, you're one of those, aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am, ranch goes on everything. I think it was the eleventh commandment or something like that."

Mom laughed. "I think I'm going to like you. Okay, I'll bring out some ranch. But I'm not going to have a lot of time to catch up with you and chit chat. My cook quit a week ago and I'm training a replacement. But I got a few minutes here and there." With a new cook, both Whit and I didn't feel all that adventurous with Mom's menu, but we figured whoever was back there couldn't screw up a burger too badly. Not that the menu was all that exotic. Most of it was burgers, sandwiches, and fried stuff.

True to her word, Mom scurried back and forth from the kitchen to our table to talk to us. Much of the time, not surprising, she spent learning what was new with her granddaughter. How her new dolls have gone on great adventures, and how things are going in preschool with her friends.

I filled her in on my new job and how great a place it's to work. In contrast to the food service work I have had in the past, I felt proud of my job and what I have been able to accomplish. Mom was also impressed that Whitney ran the accounting department for the corporate office. But we never quite got to the part that the company was her family's company.

There were a couple of times I was about to change the topic and let her know that Whitney is more than just a friend, but every time I got the conversation close to a point of being able to bring it up, Mom had to run back to the kitchen and check on things.

We had polished off everything. Whit and Madi were hungrier than I thought, but a day of skiing will do that to you. A couple of the bar flies had seen me and came over to say hi. In a sense, the Rusty Spike was home for me. Many an evening as a kid, I did my homework in Mom's office, and my first job after Madi was born was working behind the bar here. You can work a bar in Idaho at 19, just not drink what you are pouring.

The place did fill up for the dinner hour and mom was hopping. I even slipped behind the bar for a bit and lent a hand filling drink orders to help keep up. But eventually things died down and Mom sat down with us.

"So, Jenny, anything else new I need to know about. Any boyfriends?"

"Well Mom, actually...." and that is as far as I got before little miss no filter between brain and mouth spoke up.

"She doesn't need a boyfriend, Grandma; she's got Miss Whitney. I've seen them kiss." And with that truth bomb dropped, Madi grabbed a stray fry still in her basket and, after dunking it in her ranch, popped it in her mouth.

Whit and I just looked at each other, sort of in disbelief. Nowhere in my thought processes thinking through how this would go did it ever turn out this way. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Mom was sitting there, still a little shocked.

"What I was about to say, Mom, is Madi is right. Whitney is more than a friend." I reached out and put my hand on hers. "Mom, I'm gay." Whit squeezed my hand to let me know she was right there with me.

A few minutes later we were getting a crying Madi into her car seat. I slumped into my seat, and Whit peeled out of the parking lot.

"That was unreal. I'm sorry Jenn."

"Does Grandma not love me anymore Mommy?" It hurt to see my baby crying because of something someone who loved her said.

"I don't know, pumpkin. But Mommy does, and I always will, no matter what." I rubbed my temples; my head was throbbing. "Sorry, I've never seen her lose her shit like that before. I mean she got mad when I told her I was pregnant, but this was on another whole level."

"Yeah, that big guy at the bar was cowering in the corner. But I'm proud of you Jenn, you kept your cool and were levelheaded the whole time."

"I hope that is not the last time I see her. I don't want to leave it this way."

"I know, but it might take time. Years maybe. And you realize it might never happen."

"That's what I am scared of, Whit."

The rest of our drive back to the condo was in silence. I rocked my baby to sleep, she was really upset. I was mad at my mom, not so much for what she said about me and Whit, but that she exploded and did it in front of Madison. My baby just is not developed enough as a person to understand let alone process what she heard and saw. She just saw the two people who mean so much to her fighting and one of them saying very mean and nasty things to her mommy.

Finally, she fell asleep, and I stumbled into the living room. Whit just stood there and held me. The tears began to roll down my face, and I just cried in her arms.

"Whitney Maritime, how may I help you—one moment please." I clicked off my headset and slumped back in my chair. The day after a long weekend is always hard to go back to work on, and when you had one as lousy as mine, well, I really didn't want to be here. It was one of those days where you put one foot in front of the other.

The one bright spot was midafternoon when a florist van pulled up in front of the office.

"Hi, I have a bouquet here for a Jennifer DeLuca."

"Oh my, that's me."

"Well, it's your lucky day. Someone is thinking of you. Have a great day." The delivery guy headed back out the door to his next stop.

It was a lovely bouquet with a few roses and other hothouse flowers. The note that came with them simply said:

~~~~~

Thinking of you, be strong.

Love you!

Your Whitney

xoxoxo

~~~~~

I smiled. I was rereading the card when my boss Ginny came out.

"Jennifer, those are lovely. Let me guess, those are from a certain brunette who works down the street?"

"Yeah, she's trying to lift my spirits. I sorta had a tough weekend."

"You and Whitney had a fight? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, we're fine. I came out to my mom, and well, it didn't go well." I flopped back in my chair. Please don't ask me to explain more, please??? I just want to get through this day.

"Well, we should at least get a picture of you and the flowers so you can send it to your girl." Now that was an idea I could get behind. I gave Ginny my phone and let her take my picture, which was quickly texted over my girl.

"The reason I came out here is to set up our usual 'Name the Tug' suggestion bin. We have a couple of new tugs being delivered this summer and need to name them. It's tradition that the employees suggest names for the new tugs." She set an old 3 lb coffee can with a slit cut in the plastic lid down on my counter with some slips of paper next to it. "The winner gets a small spiff too."

I could always use a few extra dollars so I took a slip and thought of an idea. After I put my thoughts down and slid the slip into the can, my phone dinged. It was a text from my Whitney, with a big thumbs up.

The afternoon plodded on and five couldn't get here fast enough. Finally, it did, and I shut the phones down and headed to my car. Once the flowers were safely set so they wouldn't tip over, I put my key in the ignition. A-a-a-and nothing.

You've got to be kidding me, right? Click, click, click. Nothing. My fists of fury pounded on the steering wheel. I tried the car again and, you guessed it, nothing. Just then there was some tapping on my window. I pressed the button to lower the window, and nothing happened.

Opening the door, I looked at Captain Eriksen.

"Looks like you are having a bad day."

"And just when I didn't think it could get any worse, now my car won't start."

Captain Eriksen offered to take a look at it with me and quickly figured out my alternator was shot.

"Make you a deal Jennifer, if you can get a replacement from the auto parts store, I'll get a couple of the guys here and we'll replace it for you. I think we have enough tools floating around here to get the job done," he chuckled.

I agreed, not like I had much choice in the matter. After a couple of texts, Whit came over and helped me get Madi from preschool, and we joined her for dinner. Probably a good thing too, as I didn't much feel like cooking.

As we sat down for dinner, I could feel the weight of the world resting on me.

"Let me help you with the alternator," Whit smiled as she offered to help me.

"Thanks, but I want, no I need, to get this on my own."

"Are you sure? This is going to be a few hundred dollars to get a replacement. Do you have that?"

"I'll have to dip into my emergency fund, but yeah, that is why I have it in the first place." I remember being so proud of myself when I saw my savings account with $500 in it. For some of you, that is not much. For Whit, a drop in the bucket. But for someone like me, it was a feat. There was a lot of scrimping, saving, extra hours and side work to make it happen. And I had already resigned myself to doing it again to refill the fund.

"Please let me help? What are friends for but to help each other?"

"I appreciate the offer, and maybe you can help me get to the parts store. But when I got my savings, I swore to myself that it was part of my path to being independent. To being a grown adult. Not a scared teen mom with no future. I need to take this step myself to prove that I can do it."

"Okay, I want to help you though. I like helping you."

I just smiled back. She did help me with a trip to the auto parts store. The first one didn't have the right part in stock, but they checked and a nearby store did.

Whit found a parking spot in front of the store and the three of us went in. I gave the manager behind the counter my name and he went into the back and returned a moment later with a box containing my new alternator. What I hadn't noticed was someone getting her credit card handy.

As the amount rang up on the display, I noticed her hand attempting to slip her card into the reader.

"Whitney!" All the heads in the store turned towards us. "I told you, I want to buy my own alternator. I don't want your help."

"Please? Let me help you." That look might have helped her get away with things as a teen, but it wasn't going to help her now.

"No, please. I need to do this on my own. Please, it's important to me."

"Fine." And she stormed out of the store.

Madison and I exited a minute later to find a frustrated Whit behind her wheel, the motor already running. I got Madi in the Jeep and then climbed into the passenger seat.

"Whitney Mitchell! How could you try and do that to me? I told you I wanted to do this on my own. Did you even hear me?" I probably would have completely lost my cool, but for a four-year-old in the back seat.

I watched as she bowed her head, almost to the steering wheel. A small tear formed in the corner of her closed eye.

"So..so..sorry Jenn, I just wanted to—"

"I appreciate your offer to help, really I do." I leaned across the jeep and put my arm around her. "But I need to prove to myself that I'm not helpless anymore. I know this is probably hard for you. You can just snap your fingers and solve problems like this, no sweat. But for some of us, when life happens, it takes some work to get over the hurdles."

As we drove in silence over to the Maritime parking lot, I looked at the receipt in the box. It was a little more expensive than I had wished for, but hey, who said adulting was easy? I put the box in the trunk so I wouldn't have to carry it on the bus the next morning.

As Whit dropped us off at our house, I leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"Thank you again for the lift. You really are helping me in more ways that you realize."

"I know, and I do get what you're trying to do. It's hard to see my friends struggle when I know I can help them." This time it was Whitney kissing me. It was good to know me being a bit of a stubborn mule wasn't causing any hard feelings.

"Miss Whitney, would you please stop kissing Mommy so we can go in the house? I's gots to pee badly," a little voice chirped up from the back. She was already out of her seat and had her door open. I hustled her in for the night before we had an accident.

True to his word, Captain Eriksen and a few of the guys fixed my car the next day. They said it was easy due to where the alternator was located. They all seemed happy to help me out, but I think a couple of the younger guys were looking to see if they could use this as a lead-in to a date with me. Sorry boys, but I don't think you stand a chance. I did make sure to thank them though with a batch of chocolate chip cookies a few days later when their tug pulled up to our dock to drop off some paperwork.

Whitney

"So, it's back to being Catering Girl again, huh? You know, you wouldn't have to do this if you just let me help you."

"Come on, we've covered this already. I need to cover my own bills. So that sometimes means picking up some extra work. And thank you by the way for taking care of Madi tonight."

"Well, I think I get the better end of the deal. You work at some cocktail party catering thing and I get to have a Friday night girl's night. Watch movies and eat popcorn with Madi. And then I get to snuggle with you when you come home from working."

"Yeah, but it will be late. I will probably be too tired to do anything. And I have to get Little Miss going tomorrow. She has a playdate at the park with her daddy."

"Oh, that's right, Dallas is coming. You're meeting him there, right?"

"Yes, just a couple hour visit, this time. Just to get the two of them acquainted with each other. If this goes well, we'll do it again in a few weeks when he has a Saturday off again. Yikes, look at the time, I have to get going."

Jenn said goodbye and headed out to her catering gig. The two of us had a fun evening. It was a total girl's night. Pizza, popcorn and sodas. Some of the things Jenn never let her have at home. As I introduced her to the joy that is Ben and Jerry's, I reminded her, "what happens at Miss Whitney's stays at Miss Whitney's."

"Right. Do you think Mommy's going to like my nails?" She held out her freshly painted fingernails. The glitter in the purple polish caught the light and sparkled. I held out my matching nails next to hers.