Emily's Home - Ginger's Out Ch. 11

Her voice was nearly a whisper. "When I was here, after I got shot, there was more than one ..." She cried. I had guessed it. I didn't care one bit. Long before we were a couple, they were roomies. I'd already learned how they met and more.

"It's okay lover. Please don't cry. It's not a surprise. The three of you have gone through a lot together." I giggled. "The time here in the aftermath, at least to me, falls into the category of 'Don't ask, don't tell." Bitch punched me. I mean, for real. I guess that means she loves me. We giggled like maniacs.

"I have to ask; we're living together now. What effect will that have on your deal with the two of them? You know – the casual sex stuff that went on before."

Reenie shook her head. "You're amazing; you are so into my head it's scary. Before you dropped in on us earlier we had just talked about that very thing. It was agreed that part of us was over. Candy actually brought it up." I felt her smile. "I was actually sort of surprised, too. I thought it was pretty cool. That's how much they love us being a couple, babe.'

Some of what Reenie said spurred a thought. "This is just me asking a question for the sake of asking, okay." She nodded into my neck. "If you came home like I did with Lily ... me and Candy ... any thoughts?"

"I think this kinda goes to a bigger question. Let me see if I can use the right words for a change." That's something she does that bugs me, but I wasn't gonna worry about it that night. "To me, the question is: Is it cheating if it's someone we both know and we agree that it's okay to be with them?" Wow!

"Sheesh, I've never been in a position where I had to think about that. Who can I use as an example?"

"What about Tess?"

"What about her?"

"I don't know; if I told you I'd been with her before you and I met, or before you and I got serious, that would be one thing. It would be totally different if I just got interested in her now. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I get that. What happened before doesn't matter to me. Even Candy and Georgia - that was about three women, convenience, and coincidence. The ..." She kissed me. I think we were pretty much done anyway. We were on our sides, wrapped up in each other, warm, comfy, kissing, deeply in love. I don't remember falling asleep.

Tuesday sucked. I mean really bad. And it started so well too. We woke up pretty much the same way we must have fallen asleep. Reenie on her belly, my arm and leg draped over her, my face in a soft, fragrant mass of red. My soft kisses on her face and neck work her up. Oops; woke her up. Tells ya what was on my mind as I write about Tuesday. She turned her head to find the clock, screeched, and bounded out of bed.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck ... we talked so long I overslept." She scurried to the bathroom; I heard her mumbled curses as she showered. I didn't want to get up but I did. I dragged myself to the toilet, stopping to take a fresh pair of panties from the dresser. I was doing what I had to do when my honey stepped out of the shower. Gloriously naked and dripping wet, she gave me the full hundred watts. "Good morning sunshine. How's your tummy today?"

"My god you're beautiful!" She smiled shyly. "I'm okay thanks; just a little headache after our stupid night last night." I watched as she toweled dry, boobs bouncing, fit, lean, gorgeous, and mine. She caught me eyeing her and laughed.

"Good thing I'm late or I would be the way you're looking at me." My turn to blush; she was right though. I had a tingle deep inside me, a very familiar, warm sensation. She walked the few steps to the sink and kissed my neck. When I turned, we kissed, wonderfully. She pulled away, hung up the towel, and bounded back to the bedroom.

I heard her as I showered. "I think I want you to have a turn with Candy. The two of you need to get this over with once and for all. Give that some thought will ya?" I had stopped washing my hair when she said what she did. Was she right? Dressed for work, she poked her head in the shower. "Give me a kiss goodbye gorgeous." I did. "See you at home."

In my panties, I started coffee. Lost in thought about what Reenie said, I turned and bumped into Candy. A wide awake, flushed, very cute and very naked Candy. Had she heard Reenie? Her kiss, hands in my hair and on my ass, her body pressed to mine, was my hint. I moaned. I did what you would have done. I kissed her back, put a hand on her soft breast and toyed with her firm nipple.

"Ginger, you're here. We can do this now if you want. It will only be this once. Reenie's right. For both of our sakes, we should get it over with and move on. I love her too much, and I like you too much, to come between the two of you." My hand had moved from her breast and was sliding down her firm tummy. My body was telling me yes, my mind was a jumble of emotions. This was so not Kathy and Lily. I really did want to find out. Would I regret it? I didn't know.

My fingers kept moving south until they found her soft, wet lips. Her mouth opened as we looked at each other. What do I do? She kissed me, her mouth warm, her tongue finding mine. She tipped her hips, inviting me to explore. Her fingers curled in my hair. I pushed two fingers inside her. The moan was low from deep in her throat. Go or no go?

"Please baby." My thumb moved to find her clit. The breath through her nose as we kissed was like a gasp. She rocked against my fingers, moving with me. My heart was beating so fast I felt light headed. All systems were go.

"I can't." I don't know why. I'm having the hardest time writing this, trying to gather my thoughts, marshal my emotions and tell you about it. Giving myself to Julia was a conscious decision, made easily, done without hesitation, especially knowing she'd called Sheri. Kissing Lily was impetuous. Reenie? Despite how it happened, I knew I had to meet her. This beautiful woman? God I wanted her. And it just didn't feel right. It wasn't her, it was Reenie. I just couldn't.

"What's the matter, Ginger?"

"I don't know Candy." It was horribly awkward taking my fingers from her most intimate place. "I'm so sorry." She had offered herself to me without reservation or hesitation. "Please forgive me." She kissed me, softly and sweetly.

"Honey, I understand without you saying a word. You want me, but you love Reenie." That was when I lost it. The tears started as I cried. She hugged me gently and brought my head to her shoulder. "This wasn't a test, Ginger. It may have been wrong of me to do this today, but you can't or don't want to. Either way it's totally okay." I was miserable, crying, and feeling guilty. And – she was right.

I sniffled, wiped my eyes and said, "I dowant you. And even though we talked about it, and you heard what she said, I just can't bring myself to do this to her." She kissed me again, snotty nose and all. Good god, period or no period, my body reacted like it should when a gorgeous, naked woman kissed me like she did – again. It's just not fair.

"You're too nice to do this to." I laughed. "And you're way too cute to not do it with." She laughed. "Hell of a problem isn't it?" She nodded. "I guess the only way to solve this is for me to get dressed and get to work." Sweet brown eyes smiled warmly. I held her face in my hands. "You really are special. Thank you for not ... thank you for understanding."

Work was a mess. I was still a frazzled, fraught mess after Candy. I made a point early in the morning of asking Deanna to join me for lunch. She eyed me cautiously but agreed.

"Great. Which team are you with today?"

"Kayla's."

"Okay, I'll come find you. What time do you normally break for lunch?"

"Actually, it varies, but generally it's between 11:30 and 11:45."

"Wonderful; if things break up early, come find me. Otherwise I'll see you then. Did you enjoy the holiday weekend?"

"Yeah, we went to a Reds game Saturday and were with my sister's family yesterday. It was a lot of fun."

I smiled. "I'd love to hear about it. See you then. Have a good morning." I saw Deanna head to the small conference room so I headed to the other one. I smiled. Natalie already had everybody busy doing whatever they were all doing.

"Morning everybody; hope you all had a good weekend. Natalie, can I borrow you for a few minutes?"

"Sure Ginger. Be right back everybody." We headed to my office. "What's up?"

"Just need a few minutes for an opinion." I closed the door. "Let me get to it so you can get back to your group. How's your team doing? Everything going smoothly?"

Natalie is no dummy. She smiled and said, "You've talked to Kayla huh?" When I nodded, she said, "I don't know exactly what she's told you, but Deanna's getting to be a disruptive force. It's little things and it's not all the time." This was nearly word-for-word what Kayla had said. "I can see the guys are uncomfortable, not wanting to say anything, but resentful of her chirping. Does George know?" I was a little upset but I understood what was behind the question.

"For the moment, I'm going to deal with Deanna myself. Do you have any other input? Anyone said anything specific when you're not in your group?"

"It surprised me when it happened, but Bryan came to me last week. He was particularly upset with Deanna." That's a surprise. Bryan Tillman is a young guy, a few years out of college. He's really sharp, personable and easy going. "He took offense to the inferences Deanna made about you and Reenie. He said it was offensive and had no place in the workplace, let alone in mixed company." Natalie eyed me and said, "I was surprised. He's an easy going guy."

"Yup, I agree. Okay, Nat. Thanks very much. This will be between us ... well, for as long as I can keep it that way. So you know, I'm having lunch with Deanna today." Natalie's pretty face showed surprise. "I know she's with Kayla's crew; I wanted to talk to her one-on-one. So before things got rolling today, I invited her to join me."

Natalie's smile was warm. "Smart; face-to-face, just the two of you. You're going to do well, Ginger. Regardless of how it works out with Deanna, George made a great choice. We're all happy that you were chosen as his successor."

I tried not to blush. "That means a lot Nat. Thank you. I hope I can salvage things with Deanna. She's a good worker; I'd hate for this to turn out badly." We were finished for now. "I'll let you get back to your team, kiddo." I stood and offered my hand. "You're always welcome to come to me any time you feel the need. Thank you for your input and candor." Natalie flashed her trademark brilliant smile, shook my hand, and left. Jodi's eyes followed her then came back to me. I smiled and waved her in.

I gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "How are you doing?"

"The baby's fine, I feel great, Kerry's nearly as excited as I am. The weekend was relaxing and busy. My Mom's getting to be a nuisance but I can't complain. She hasn't doted on me like this since I was a kid." She smiled. Be happy for her, Ginger. "Deanna again huh?" News travels fast – good and bad.

"What do you hear Jodi?"

"Probably what you have. She's not been very nice since you introduced Reenie to everyone."

"We'll see how things go at lunch." Jodi looked puzzled. "I invited Deanna to lunch. It'll give me a chance to talk to her, hear from her, see what, if anything, can be done." She nodded. "I've got a few things to do; talk to you later."

At dinner, Reenie and I talked about my day. "I wanted to but I couldn't. God love her, Candy understood. Do you?"

"She heard me. Dammit, I'm sorry Ginger."

"Honey, you've got it wrong. She didn't press me. She said that as long I was there, we could if I wanted to." I had to make her understand. "I did too. You knew, she knew and I did too. I was this close ..." my fingers were nearly touching "to turning and taking her to bed. But I couldn't. I was so frustrated and embarrassed I cried. She held me, then we kissed." I laughed, saying, "That was a big mistake. I almost gave in. Sheesh she's a good kisser." Reenie cracked up.

"You're not telling me anything I don't know, girl. Tell me about your lunch with Deanna. How did that go?"

"She's a good woman who means well. She's just inflexible in her views. All of that is okay, but when it spills over to work and others get upset, then it's not. I talked about our weekend with my sister's family. She was appalled that I would bring you to meet the children. I'm not sure how this can be resolved or how she can keep her job. I really don't want to take this to George, but I think I'm going to have to ask him what I should do."

I don't think she changed the subject intentionally, but I wanted continue talking about Candy.

"Do you understand why I feel the way I do and why I did what I did this morning?" Reenie was bringing a fork to her mouth when I said what I did. She paused, turned to look at me, and put the fork down. Geez, what did I do now?

Not quite cop eyes looked at me. She pursed her lips in thought, then said, "We talked about a lot of things last night, Ginger." She shrugged. "I have my thoughts, but why don't you tell me."

"I love you." She smiled. "We talked long into the night last night about a lot of stuff." Reenie nodded. "I know what you said when I was in the shower. I think I get why and I love you for it." Her blues bore into mine. "This may sound ridiculous, but I think it was an Ann Landers column that said divorce was second only to death of a spouse on the life upheaval ranking ... or something like that." I laughed. "I have no idea what dusty region of my brain that came from." Reenie cracked up. Several minutes and more kisses later, I continued. "Maybe it left more of a mark than I thought babe. But I don't want to do anything, even with someone like Candy, that could impact us."

"How was your workout with Kathy?"

"She's fabulous; she commented on how much more flexible and how much stronger I've gotten." Reenie smirked. I laughed. "Brat, you would notice that! Seriously, every single thing she told me would happen working with her has proven true. It's really remarkable."

"So you know her from Nora. Does she have business cards? I could refer her to people on the job. You speak so highly of her I wouldn't be worried about doing that." She looked puzzled. "What? Why are you smirking like that?"

"I'm not sure if she has business cards; she's kind of embarrassed about her last name. She's never used it with me. The only reason I know it is cuz Nora told me. Her last name is Trainor." Reenie almost choked; we were both laughing.

"It so is not." Nodding, I laughed with her. "Oh god, the poor thing. By the way, what's your report on our neighbors?"

"Well, I only (finger quotes) met Carol; she was very nice. Cute, chatty, seemed pretty in the know about the neighbors. She told me about the couple on the other side of us." I told my honey about the Novicks. We had finished dinner, paid, and were in the car on our way home.

Reenie laughed when I told her what Carol said about Bill. "I think Carol liked the fact you're a cop. It's probably not unlike how Georgia and Candy feel about having you at the club." I told Reenie that Carol mentioned the other lesbian couple somewhere nearby.

She shrugged, saying, "Hello? We're just like everybody else. We work, live and love; just folk."

I smiled. "That's just about word for word what I told Kayla – from work." Reenie nodded.

"Didn't you mention her and ... I don't remember her honey's name, but they're on the party list, right?"

"Brittney; yup, they sure are! Honey, I think you're really gonna like Kayla!! She's good people."

"Before I ravage you, you wanna sit on our patio?" My fabulous redhead stopped, looked at me, and said, "God as my witness, I never thought I say the word 'my' and 'patio' in the same sentence, let alone 'our patio.'" She kissed me. "This is like a dream come true for me, Ginger. Thank you."

"Who's gonna ravage who? Someone owes me a night in cuffs. You want to make it tonight or wait till date night?"

"You gonna make me wait a whole day? You bitch!"

"Just for that, I get to cuff you tonight and tomorrow night!" I did; she liked it! Wink!

Author's Note: As ever, this is a flight of fantasy; completely fictitious. If there is any resemblance to anyone walking among us my apologies. Another author put it so well: "The site is free. The author is 'paid' in comments and votes." I hope you've enjoyed another chapter of a rather long tale!!

This story is dedicated to someone very special – the 'other' AVL. A little over a year and, remarkably, half a million words later, my life is so much different. Readers from all over the world have found my stories. This is an incredible site with so many gifted writers. Without her prodding, teasing and assistance I wouldn't have found my muse. She saw talent I had no clue I possessed. She saw growth while I struggled to find the right words as I wrote. I'm still in awe and amazed at it all. This story lay unfinished for quite some time. I had to come back to it, finish it, and publish it as a tribute to her.