Coming of Age

"Sure," she said, picking up her clothes. "Lead the way."

Lena went to the far side of the pool house, where a separate door led to an oversized bathroom that had a stackable washer/dryer in the closet. Lena took the pile of clothes and put them in the dryer, setting the timer for ten minutes. She reached into the walk-in shower and turned the water on.

"Should be hot in a minute." Lena dropped her towel on the floor. Kaylee was reminded how spectacular Lena's breasts were. The tan lines on her breasts from the bikinis she wore were even more pronounced in the artificial light.

"Mind if I join you?" Lena asked.

At this point Kaylee had shed whatever inhibitions she might have had. "Sure, why not?" she said.

They both stepped in under the hot spray of the spacious shower. Lena lathered up her hands.

"Let me wash you," she said, starting with Kaylee's back. She marveled at the blonde's tight, youthful body. The soapy film made it that much more enjoyable a chore as her hand glided across the soft, supple skin.

Kaylee closed her eyes tightly under the hot spray, enjoying Lena's touch.

"That feels good," she said, letting Lena's hands roam free on her breasts. To Lena, this was more erotic than the encounter poolside. Kaylee was so sexy stark naked, her tanned body and blonde hair dripping wet.

"You're not in a hurry to get out, are you?" Lena asked as her fingers revisited the "V" between Kaylee's legs.

Time suddenly didn't seem a factor to the young blonde. "Ummm . . . not in that much of a hurry."

Lena pulled Kaylee tight against her, so Kaylee's back was pressed against Lena's ample breasts. Her fingers started to fuck Kaylee with greater urgency.

Kaylee gasped, squeezing her thighs together to trap Lena's hand between them.

"Don't . . . don't . . . don't stop," she begged. She was going up again into rarefied air. She felt dizzy as another head splitting orgasm ripped through her. She'd never felt like this when she had masturbated in the shower, and now she was fully giving in to the tender mercies of an older woman she barely knew. This wasn't lost on Lena, as she too was experiencing fresh, young love for the first time in years. The shower ran and ran until their skin wrinkled, but neither of them wanted to get out.

Finally Lena turned the shower off, pinching Kaylee's delectable bottom as they got out.

"Hey!" the young blonde said, surprised at the pinch.

"I'm sorry," said Lena. "You're just too cute to resist."

Kaylee turned around and kissed Lena full on the lips.

"This is what I wanted to do when I met you. You were so sexy in the negligee and fluffy robe. I'm so glad you asked me to stay. I've never felt like this with someone else before."

"I hope it was a good feeling," Lena said.

"The best . . . amazing if I could pick a word."

"That's a good word," Lena said.

"It's the truth."

Then the reality of what had happened dawned on Kaylee.

"Will we see each other again?"

"You want to?" Lena asked.

"I'd like that very much."

"My guess is that your parents don't know you're a lesbian?"

"They have no idea."

"Well maybe you could schedule me in right before lunch, and we can have a long lunch next week?"

"I can't wait," the young lover said.

"Neither can I," said Lena.

Kaylee dried off and dressed and was gone. Although she had left physically, she still dwelled in Lena's mind. "What a day," Lena thought. "I started it as the last day of my mini-vacation and ended it with mind blowing sex with a sexy little minx nearly half my age." Kaylee's mind was no different. On the ride back to the shop all she could think of was Lena's lessons in how to properly make love to a woman. She never dreamed that Cincinnati, and not Berkeley, would be the true source of her sexual awakening.

Chapter Five

Once a Liar . . .

"What took you so long?" said Carlton. He'd been waiting for almost three hours for Kaylee to return. It was almost 5 p.m., quitting time, and Kaylee's truck needed to be cleaned and restocked for the following day. "What was going on at the Peter's residence? Your dad said that you were consulting with the client. Three hours?"

Kaylee had to think quickly on her feet, and lying wasn't second nature to her.

"We just got talking, and I guess I lost track of the time."

"For three hours?"

"She did give me something to drink."

Carlton had been away to college too and had drank to excess more than a few times. He could smell the vodka on Kaylee's breath.

"Vodka?" he asked.

"There was some. But I waited long enough to be under the legal limit when I drove home."

"That's a relief."

"You won't tell my dad, will you?" She flashed her baby blues at Carlton. Predictably, he caved.

"No, no I won't. But you shouldn't be doing those things when you're supposed to be working."

"I know. I won't do it again. I promise."

Carlton started going through the contents in the bed of Kaylee's truck. "Just let me know next time when you're going to be this late."

Carlton wasn't satisfied with Kaylee's answers. She'd never done anything remotely approaching this - - showing up three hours late with liquor on her breath. That wasn't her. He had no inkling of what happened, but knew it wasn't right.

* * *

When Kaylee got home, dinner was already on the table and the meal was half-eaten.

"Decided to join us, eh Kiki?" her father said.

After the day with Lena, everything seemed different. Kaylee felt like a fish out of water playing the role of the innocent teenager living in her parent's house. Nothing about it felt right.

"I'm . . . I'm not so hungry right now. Maybe I'll get to bed early," she said, looking for an escape route.

"I'll fix you a plate and keep it in the oven," Sandy said, trying to be helpful but again not understanding what was going on with her daughter.

"That's fine," Ted said. "You sure spent a long time on the Peter's account. Was it worth it?" her father asked.

"Oh yes," Kaylee answered. "Well worth it."

* * *

After Sandy cleaned up the dinner dishes and Ted watched his two hours of "Thursday Night Football," the couple retired to their bedroom. At forty-five Ted was still in good shape, working out occasionally and being out in the field at least three days a week. Sandy meticulously watched her weight, and could still fit in a size 6 dress, though her breasts had gotten much larger, necessitating alterations on the top. They were both nude in the bathroom, getting ready for bed.

"I'm worried about Kaylee," Sandy said, voicing what was top of mind for her.

"I'm not," said Ted. "She's a young woman trying to figure it all out."

"It wasn't like her to disappear at work and then skip dinner," Sandy said.

Ted laughed. "Maybe she met a fella and was having hot, passionate sex with him," he said, joking.

"That's not funny Ted. You know what I mean. I'm not sure I recognize her anymore."

Ted got behind his wife, who was looking in the mirror. He wrapped his arms around her, just under her breasts.

"Don't worry honey," he said, whispering in her ear. "Kaylee's a good girl and I know she'll do the right thing."

Ted hadn't held Sandy like that in quite a while. Sandy turned around and kissed her husband.

"I guess you're right," she said, placing his hand on her breast. "She's growing up and life goes on."

Ted couldn't believe his good fortune. They usually had sex once a week, and usually on a Saturday. He loved the feel of his wife's breasts. Kaylee's tardiness had faded to background noise for him.

"Time for bed?" Ted asked.

Sandy gripped Ted's hardening penis. "I think it is now."

* * *

Kaylee could barely keep focused on her work the next day and was looking forward to going out for pizza with Sarah. Sarah already knew her secret, and she was dying to unburden herself of what happened with Lena before she exploded.

Kaylee kept it to small talk until the pizza arrived at their table.

"I want to tell you what happened yesterday," Kaylee said, taking a piece of pepperoni pizza off the center stand.

Sarah had already taken the first, heavenly bite. Hot cheesy pizza was almost as soul satisfying as sex . . . almost.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Sarah asked.

"I . . . I spent time with Lena Peters."

"Like how did you spend time with her?" Suddenly Sarah lost interest in the pizza and put her slice back on her plate.

"Like we had sex?" Kaylee said.

"So you had sex with a forty year old woman?"

"She might not be forty yet."

"So she isn't married?"

"I don't think so. She told me she's divorced."

"Thank goodness for small miracles. Kaylee, what the fuck? Are you out of your mind? Isn't she one of Ted's customers?"

"Yes. Yes. I know I messed up."

Sarah couldn't suppress her rising anger. For her friend's misbehavior. But more for not wanting her.

"You disappoint me Kaylee. You really do. How can you do that to your father? To your family?"

What Sarah really wanted to say was "Why did you do that to me?"

The gravity of her situation finally crashed down upon the young blonde. The conversation had gone sideways on her. She was hoping to get support and understanding, and not an upbraiding, from her best friend. She starting crying into her pizza.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing," Kaylee sobbed.

Sarah felt guilty shaming her best friend. Part of what she felt was envy and she knew it. She scooted her chair next to her friend to comfort her.

"I didn't want to upset you Kaylee, but you're not thinking clearly."

"I know. But it felt right. I know it was messed up but for the first time it felt right."

"To be with another woman?"

"To be with her."

Sarah had to suppress her pangs of jealousy.

"Maybe you found someone special," Sarah said.

"How would you know?" Kaylee asked, wiping away her tears.

Sarah held her breath. She never figured she'd out herself at a pizza parlor. "Because . . . because . . . I like girls too."

Kaylee was wide-eyed. "You do?"

"Uh huh."

"How long have you known?"

"Since I was about twelve."

"And you never told me?"

"You never told me."

"Fair enough," said Kaylee. Then the thought occurred to her. "You . . . you were never attracted to me, were you?"

This didn't seem like the time or place for such an admission. Sarah reacted without thinking.

"No . . . not at all. We're best friends, right?" she asked.

Kaylee was relieved. She was glad she wasn't missing that. "Of course, best friends."

* * *

Lena returned to work after her one week hiatus. Her office manager, Grace, was tidying up Lena's office.

"Glad that Carter deal bit the dust?" Grace asked her.

"So glad. It was a dog, and it had to die," Lena said.

"You're looking good. The week off did you well. You look refreshed," Grace said, noticing the glow Lena was giving off.

"Just a week of relaxing by the pool," she said. Grace had been with Lena since she was an junior analyst. She followed Lena from New York to help run the Cincinnati office and was one of the few people Lena confided in.

"It sure looks like more than that," said Grace, reading Lena's face and body language.

Even with their long relationship, Lena was reticent to share her encounter with Kaylee given their age difference. Of course, like Kaylee, it was too big of a secret to keep to herself. Grace was in her mid-50's, including two failed marriages, so she might have some sage advice, given that Lena had never been in this situation before.

"I did meet somebody," Lena finally confessed.

"Aha," said Grace. "I knew something like that happened. You haven't been this happy since Michael signed the divorce papers. So who is it?"

"Her name is Kaylee."

"That sounds like a young name," said Grace, hitting the nail on the head. Lena decided to come clean with everything.

"She's home from college. She just finished her freshman year."

"So she's a teenager?"

"She's twenty."

"My God, Lena. You're old enough to be her mother."

"Don't remind me," said Lena, who just turned forty and didn't enjoy reaching that milestone.

"You sly dog. Did you seduce her?" Grace asked, clearly titillated by Lena's story.

"Not really. If anything, she came on to me."

Grace wanted to ask about the sex, but decided not to, hoping that Lena would volunteer that information.

"So she's living at home?"

"Uh huh."

"And obviously her parents don't know."

"Obviously."

"Do they even know that she's a lesbian?"

"No, they don't."

"I hope she's worth it."

"I haven't felt this good in years," said Lena. "I think I'll just let this play out. It's not like I'm attached to anyone, and she is an adult."

"I'd like to meet her."

"I'll tell you what. If we're still seeing each other in a month, I'll bring her by the office."

"That's a deal. Now tell me exactly how the Carter deal went off the tracks . . ."

* * *

It had been three days since Kaylee had visited Lena's residence. She felt uncomfortable going back without talking with Lena first. Kaylee had already formulated the reasons they shouldn't be seeing each other, foremost being her parent's reaction. Kaylee called during her lunch break while she was out servicing clients. She was sitting in the cab of her cluttered pick-up, eating a sandwich her mother made her.

"Ms. Peter's line," a woman's voice said.

Kaylee was sure she called Lena's private cell phone. She didn't know that Lena's calls also rang through to Grace's desk, and whenever possible Grace screened Lena's calls.

"Oh hi, I was calling to speak to Lena."

It was a young voice, so Grace quickly put two and two together.

"Is this Kaylee?" Grace asked.

Kaylee was taken aback. She didn't think that Lena told anybody, though she had already told Sarah.

"Why yes . . . how did you know?"

"Lena mentioned your name a few days ago."

"She did?"

Grace sensed Kaylee's anxiety. "Lena shares everything with me. I've been with her for twenty years, and everything she tells me is in the strictest confidence."

"Thank you," Kaylee said, relieved, "just tell her that I called."

* * *

Lena came back to the office with a salad in one hand and a double expresso in the other.

"Your Kaylee called," Grace told her.

Lena remembered giving Kaylee her number, but was surprised Kaylee actually called. She put her lunch on her desk and went back to Grace's desk with her coffee in hand.

"So what did she say?" Lena asked.

"She was surprised I answered the phone," Grace said.

"And did she leave a message?"

"Only that you should call her. I did tell her that your personal information is just between me and you."

Lena kicked herself for forgetting to tell her that Grace might answer her phone.

"I'll call her," Lena said, finishing her drink and slinging the empty cup into the waste basket.

"What are you going to say?"

"I'm going to say that I want to see her. My parents already know I'm a lesbian so I don't have the same issues she does. She's going to have to sort out those issues and decide for herself."

"That makes sense," Grace said.

Lena went back to her office and picked at her salad, all the while thinking about Kaylee and that magical afternoon when she introduced Kaylee to lesbian sex.

* * *

Kaylee was disappointed that Lena didn't call back right away. She didn't know that Lena was still fretting about what to say, and had decided to take a few phone calls instead of calling Kaylee back. Kaylee was back at the maintenance facility where her mother was waiting for her. As the company's bookkeeper, Sandy was in charge of accounts receivable and payables, and Kaylee, being a business major and tech savvy, was indispensable in the office. Sandy, being almost fifty, resisted the technological solution, so using Excel was still somewhat of a mystery to her.

Sandy gave Kaylee a stack of bills for inputting. She was looking over her daughter's shoulder as Kaylee processed the invoices at lightspeed (or so it seemed to Sandy). Kaylee was just about to the bottom of her stack when her phone rang. Sandy glanced over to see Lena's name flash on the screen. Panicked, Kaylee hit the message button so the call went immediately to voicemail.

"Who's Lena?" Sandy asked.

Kaylee tried mightily to hide her angst. "Oh, just a friend," she said.

"Local?"

"Uh huh," Kaylee grunted. She picked up an invoice and asked an inane question, hoping to deflect her mother.

"So this Anderson Pool Chemical bill, where did you want me to classify this?"

Sandy was surprised by the question. Kaylee had set up the classification system. "In supplies, of course."

Kaylee nodded her head, glad that her mother's attention was now elsewhere. The young blonde took the last invoice to input when her phone chimed with a text message. Lena's name popped up again with the message "Call me."

When her call to Kaylee went to voicemail Lena hung her phone up. She knew that anyone younger than thirty wouldn't listen to a voicemail. She diligently sent a text message. Kaylee groaned when her mother saw the text message.

"You're done with the invoices. You can call your friend back now if you'd like," Sandy said, appearing to be helpful but really wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"No," Kaylee said. "Let's power through the rest of the work and then I'll call her back."

Sandy nodded, but inside something didn't feel right. Kaylee would usually accept any excuse to get out of office work. Why was she avoiding the call? She rightfully concluded that Kaylee must be hiding something but of course had no inkling of what that might be.

* * *

After dinner, when Kaylee was in the privacy of her bedroom, she decided to try Lena again. This time she reached her on the first ring.

"Kaylee, sorry I missed you earlier today," Lena said.

"It's OK," said Kaylee. "I know you're busy."

She was tempted to tell her about her close encounter with her mother but decided there was nothing to be gained by sharing that bit of information. It wasn't Lena's fault that Kaylee had a nosy mother.

"So what's up?" Lena asked.

"I was thinking about last week. It's the only thing I've been able to think about," Kaylee confessed.

Lena felt likewise. "I can't stop thinking about you as well."

Kaylee wasn't expecting Lena's response. For a woman as rich and attractive as she was, Kaylee thought she was just a blip on Lena's radar screen. An afternoon delight, and that was it. Lena's response made Kaylee rethink what she wanted to say. She said what was top of mind.

"I'd like to see you again."

Lena wasn't surprised by Kaylee's request. But she wanted to make sure the young blonde thought through her decision.

"Kaylee, I really like you. I do want to see you. But I'm sure you can appreciate our age difference, not to mention the fact that your parents don't know you're gay."

Kaylee was confused. "Are you saying you don't want to see me?"

"No, no, not at all. It's just that what we do has consequences. You know that."

Kaylee did know. What Lena was asking was how she was going to handle her parents.

"I haven't figured it all out. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to see you."

"Kaylee, let me tell you something. Back before I was exclusively with women I did date men, and I dated a few who were married. I learned that sneaking around usually comes back to bite you. But that's your decision. Everyone I know, including my parents, know that I'm gay."

"Your usual day for service is Thursday," said Kaylee, forging ahead despite Lena's admonition, "I'm going to schedule you as the last appointment of the day so I can stay longer."

Against Lena's better judgment she said "OK." It was too good for her as well and too much to resist.