Full Moon at Lake Conroe

Amanda turned the wheel, driving slowly enough with the music soft enough to hear the crunch of gravel under her tires. Nikki's car was already there, she saw. She pulled up next to the white Audi that she drove, and killed her BMW's engine. The car shut off, and Amanda leaned her head back against the headrest, thankful to have made it. Normally she worked from home on Fridays, but earlier in the week one of the firm's lawyers had made a brutal mistake, and there was an all-hands partners' meeting for Friday afternoon to discuss and debate the fate of the miscreant.

It had been stressful. Amanda knew that walking into the meeting; the emails flying around had grown insistent about deflecting or laying blame. She walked into the meeting knowing that she was going to have to be the peacemaker. And within ten minutes the tempers that had simmered between the firm's realization of that mistake and now boiled over. There were two distinct types of litigation that the firm handled, and the two sides were fighting over the seriousness of missing the important deadline. Amanda stood after twenty minutes of pointless bickering, pointed that out, and refocused the meeting.

She slid her phone out of her purse around five and sent a text to Nikki. "Still here" was all it said. Amanda had spoken to Nikki in their usual manner the night prior, after love but before sleep, reminding her that the weekend getaway would probably be delayed over the meeting. Nikki accepted the likely late arrival of her lover, wife and best friend fairly well; Nikki reasoned that Amanda had held down the fort on those nights where she was working late, or early, or out of town.

The meeting broke up at six, and Amanda fled to her SUV. The mid-August traffic in Houston was abhorrent. Awful. Everyone trying to get out of town as fast as their car would take them, and the jam left Amanda sitting in impotent rage in her car. She wanted to slam her hands against the steering wheel, to screech at the top of her lungs to get a fucking move on and gesticulate wildly from the driver's seat. Instead, she lurched along, yard by yard, until finally, mercifully, the traffic lessened and speed picked up.

With her SUV getting up to speed, Amanda turned the radio to her preferred station - an 80s-era one and sang along to some good tunes, Madonna and Prince among others. When she was in Nikki's car, she suffered through the twang of the C&W that her wife adored. It wasn't that the music was bad, but Amanda was not born in Texas, not raised in Texas, nor had she been living in Texas for long. She was there for Nikki and Nikki alone. So the good-natured but frequent debate over the quality of one's music was a routine car-ride situation. One that she avoided driving alone.

Should they have driven together? It was something they had debated for some time. The weekend was one that they planned a long while back. There was a branch of the lake in the northwest part that had remained a lot quieter, the homes surviving the rest of the lakefront's buy-raze-build McMansion process. Nikki had remained friendly with this good old boy since their days in high school together. Bobby Coleman was his name, and his family cabin was now fourth generation Coleman. Bobby used it infrequently; he had moved up to Dallas and so the place remained unused more often than not.

When Bobby asked her to give the place a thorough once-over, that was the deciding factor. Nikki took the day off of her job, and drove up early. She got the place opened, and texted Amanda a list of things that she needed to pick up and bring to the cabin to ensure its habitability. In exchange for the two women giving the place that tidying up that it needed, Bobby charged them the whopping price of free for the weekend. It was the second year that they'd taken this trip; both women had been looking forward to a quiet weekend away from the city and its hustle and bustle now for some time.

The door burst open and Nikki was standing there, looking impossibly domestic. She wore these basic khaki shorts, a tank top, her big, dark nipples visible through the fabric. She had the scarf tying her long dirty-blonde hair back, and stood there with her hands on her hips, hollering out at Amanda.

"You gonna sit in your car all night, or get in here and help me?" she demanded.

"Sorry, love!" Amanda replied, exiting the car and thumbing the button to open the tailgate. "I was resting. Traffic was fucking awful," she reported.

"Six on a Friday night?" Nikki snorted. "Awful is about the softest word I'd use," she drawled slowly. Amanda pulled two heavy bags out of the back and then managed to thumb the gate closed before trudging to the house.

Nikki boldly looked Amanda up and down. "God, you look so sexy in your office clothes," she greeted Amanda before kissing her on the lips. "Glad you're here!"

"Hell, girl, I'm glad I'm here, too," Amanda agreed, thrilled as always from the little kiss. After a twenty year marriage to a man she came to loathe, such little affectionate greetings lifted her heart each time.

They went inside, and Amanda peered around. "Ewww," she said, wrinkling her nose in distaste as the stink of musty air permeated.

"I know, right? Yuck," Nikki agreed. They took the supplies - mostly of the cleaning variety - out of the bags.

"I gotta go change, Nik," Amanda said.

"Sure, Am," she replied absently, still pulling things out and checking them off her list. Amanda's bag was already in the master bedroom, sitting there next to Nikki's. She hefted it up on the bed without the usual grunt. She flipped it open, finding a dearth of clothing and blessedly, no cosmetics. Amanda carefully got out of her silk top and hung it on the one hanger in the closet. The bra she tossed into the suitcase. She reached behind her and undid the button on her skirt, and shimmied out of that. It too was hung carefully, and then Amanda pulled on a gray tee-shirt emblazoned with her collegiate alma mater, and a pair of loose gym shorts.

Nikki looked up, and smiled. "Nice tits," she smirked, which made Amanda laugh gently.

"How can you be horny when there's cleaning to do?"

Nikki's grin got wider yet. "Can't help it. You make me horny, no matter what we're doing!" she proclaimed.

That was good for another kiss, this one longer and deeper with a trading of tongues. Amanda put both her hands on Nikki's shoulders and pushed away. "Easy, tigress," she said, winking. "I'll be enjoying all of you later tonight."

"Damn right you will," Nikki took the deferral easily. She grinned; Amanda could see her wife's thoughts so clear on her face. I can't wait!

But chores were necessary, and time was growing short. So they set to it, and stayed busy until close to nine.

***

Tah jumped a little in her seat, when quite suddenly from down the hallway came a high-pitched tirade. Her head tilted just so to listen better, and sure enough the stream of invective started blending Spanish and English in equal measures. The voice rose and fell, and the driver who was currently incurring Zara's wrath was probably standing there, looking shame-faced, as the administrative manager of the trucking company dressed whatever at-fault driver down.

Tahlia chuckled. What a pair they made! Tahlia, an import from Australia had never lost her Aussie accent despite living in the Austin area for years. She'd come to the States to go to college at UT, and survived two years of that education before she realized that she absolutely hated the formal education. She managed to latch onto a trucking company as an intern, and over her ten years of living in the Austin area, had secured good employment for most of that time. Her current position, handling the logistics of deliveries, was typically one held by a college graduate. But her experience in the position coupled with an interview that had impressed the owner enough that he'd given her the job.

She'd met Zara on her first day of work. She'd spent the first hour or so in the owner's office, going over paperwork with him. Once those chores were done, she was escorted around. The workers at the loading docks, and those truckers who were waiting for their rig load-outs, all gave her the same look. Tah knew that her shorter, thicker, curvier body drew the eyes of men with ease. It was something that she'd come to tolerate though never love. None of the men she had met stirred anything within her. Not that she fucked around at work; such impulses rarely came to good ends.

The last visit had been to Zara's office. Tahlia watched as the dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty looked up from her phone call. She was scowling, and jabbering in rapid-fire Spanish to someone. She ended the phone call after about another minute.

"Hi," she said brightly.

As Tah replied, Zara's eyes flashed a bit wider.

"Where are you from?" Zara demanded.

"Zara, please!" the owner tried to interject.

"What? She's got an accent and it's a nice one!" Zara said, rolling her eyes impudently at the owner.

"Australia, originally," Tah said.

"Aussie!" Zara's eyes shifted to the owner, showing both mirth and mischief in them. "Well, now we're really an international firm! Rednecks, Mexicans and Aussies!"

Tah held her body stiff for a moment; she had a sarcastic streak of her own, but would not unleash it so impudently in front of the boss. But the owner uttered an indulgent chuckle.

"You forgot pain in the ass," he said.

Zara grinned. "The biggest," she confirmed, "but you love me anyway."

He sighed. "Sometimes," he allowed. Tah got the sense that this was not an uncommon occurrence between the two. There was a familiarity in their verbal jousting.

"Only sometimes?! That's it, I'm calling OSHA and the EEOC!" she said, but the giggle uttered at the end destroyed any actual threat.

"Sorry," Zara said immediately next, her gaze shifting back to Tah. "I'm the office mom, manager, accountant, busybody and cover girl all mixed up in one."

"I'm your new logistics manager," Tah explained.

Zara nodded. "Well, I guess we'll be talking...like daily...for hours...and hours," she said.

"Probably," Tahlia chuckled. It was fair to say that she liked Zara from the get go. Her ebullience and charisma created this wonderful sense of the woman. She finally stood, and Tah got a hint why she had said cover model; it was not that Tah studied a woman's body in minute detail to determine whether she was attractive or not, but Zara was the sort of woman whose body magnificence shone through. They shook hands and then Tah made her way to her office and began the process of settling in.

Her first day had been in late January. Now that it was early August, she had gotten into a steady routine. She and Zara were the only two women who worked for the company, and had banded together naturally, as much for mutual support as for mutual defense. The rednecks who worked for the business thought that their leering glances and wolf whistles were appreciated; behind one of their closed doors, the two ladies made scornful remarks about whatever asshole had made the comment or sounded the whistle.

They got along well both professionally and personally. All the drivers soon found out that Tah was every bit as direct as Zara, and had perhaps an even shorter amount of patience and tolerance. Her style was not to dress a driver down for a fuck-up, but at the same time, a driver hauled into her office for making a mistake left her office knowing damn well that he had fucked up. In contrast, the drivers or loading crews that left Zara's office often did so in full flight, as the Mexican woman's fury was given to full voice.

Neither woman knew it - because if they did they would have really gone on a rampage - but there was a low-level competition among the drivers and loading crew to see who could get their asses busted the most and loudest by the two of them.

That's not to say that it was an every day occurrence. Most of the time the deliveries were made timely and properly, and the fleet of trucks were in good working order. The owner appreciated the work of both Tah and Zara, and said as much in their weekly meetings. He had stated it, time and again, that his business was far better off with them as his key employees than it would be without.

Neither Tah nor Zara spent much time together after work, though. Tahlia lived a little further away, still in a simple apartment that she'd kept for the past four years. She had to, in order to be able to afford her twice-annual trips home. Tah did not know much about Zara's private life; while she was quite open about some things, like her continued modeling, she said nothing about whether she had a significant other. Tah was between men at the moment; the last boyfriend had proven to be an unworthy snake, and she was just not ready to put herself back out there.

Having just turned thirty, she had to endure her mother's growing impatience with her. She protested to her mother "What, are you going to move to the States if I have a baby?" It was typical mother-daughter pressure, the mother wanting nothing more than to spoil a grandchild rotten. In some ways, her emigration to the States was as much to flee her mother's meddlesome habits as it was to try and get that education. Her mother routinely dropped questions as to when Tah would return home, but while she missed home...she loved Austin. She loved Texas. She loved her life. She was in no great hurry to scoot home.

A knock came at her door, pulling her attention from a spreadsheet. She was dressed in her typical office casual - jeans, a blue chambray workshirt, and a ballcap emblazoned with Texas on it, her ponytail sticking out the back. Zara was there, and she too was dressed simply, though, better than Tah. The simple summer dress was conservative, not showing off her curves, but still, it clung to her body.

"You're in early," Tah commented. Zara tended to get into the office around ten; Tah preferred to get in early and leave early, and those three hours she had most days before Zara got in were usually productive.

"Yeah, I have to leave by one," Zara said. "Licensing bullshit," she said, leaving the eternal wait at the DMV going unstated.

"Oh, joy of joys."

"Tell me about it," Zara said and in another unusual move, took a seat opposite Tah. "So, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Do you like boats?"

"Boats?" Tah repeated, a trifle confused. "I mean, they're fine. Why?"

Zara inhaled deeply and let it out as a heavy sigh. "So I was supposed to spend the weekend after next down at Lake Conroe. You know it?"

"Yeah, vaguely," Tahlia replied. "Doing what?"

"A girls' getaway," she answered Tah's query. "Just me and another girl. But the other girl had to back out and I'm stuck either going down alone, or seeing if you wanted to tag along?"

The injection of hope in Zara's voice rocked Tah back in her seat a little. She was getting along quite well with her office mate, but taking it outside of the office felt like a big step.

But her brain demanded instantly You aren't doing anything better and getting the fuck away from this zoo is probably a good idea! "What do I need to do or bring or pay for?"

"Bring yourself, a bikini, whatever you like to drink and nothing. It's my place," she said.

"You have a lake house at Conroe?"

"Yeah," Zara said, her grin turning fey for a moment. "My early modeling career was pretty lucrative," she admitted. "But it's not a mansion or anything. There's a part down there with older, smaller homes and I found one. But it's mine and I need to escape Austin for a weekend but hate doing it alone," she admitted in a rush.

"Well..." Tah said.

"Please?" Zara came close to begging.

Tah's lips suddenly split into a big grin. "Yes!"

"YAY!" Zara said with a clapping of her hands. "So like Friday, wanna get a drink after work, talk it over?"

"Sure, that's a great idea," Tah thought.

"Perfect. Great. OK," she said standing up. "I won't feed ya to the fish then," she winked slyly on her way out. Tah chuckled at the snark, and then returned to the spreadsheets.

In the afternoon of the day of their departure, Zara appeared in Tah's doorway. "Goddamn idiot," Zara mumbled as she stomped into Tah's office.

"Who?"

"Tyler," Zara said with an exaggerated eye roll.

Tah nodded. Yes, Tyler was an idiot and currently a major thorn in both of their sides. "Thank god we're leaving tonight," Zara continued. "You all packed and whatever?"

"Yep, bags are in my truck," Tah said.

"Good. Well, hate to run, but I have a call in fifteen that I need to prep for. Just wanted to make sure you're ready to go."

"I'm not backing out now, this late," Tah assured Zara's back.

"Si si si," Zara called as she headed down the hallway.

Tah was looking forward to it, to be honest. A week ago, Zara had showed her pictures of the cottage, the boat, her land and they'd discussed how it would all work. A heat dome had settled over Austin two days earlier, making every single second spent outside feel like a torture chamber, so the escape to water would be welcome. That, and jumping into the lake from Zara's dock!

Tah, both true to her own nature and at Zara's insistence, had packed light. Very little makeup, mostly casual clothing, the jean shorts and bikinis. The two had decided - well, Zara had decided - that Saturday would be spent out on the lake in Zara's boat. Tah had long noticed how bossy that Zara was, and if anything it was worse when planning this trip. But then, Tah thought, she was the guest. Why not let Zara run the show?

The day went by fairly quickly, and by four Tah hopped up into Zara's beat up Ford Explorer, and the music was turned up, sunglasses donned, and Zara drove swiftly east. Tah found herself clinging her hand to the seat belt, more than a little scared by Zara's aggressive tactics on the road. They talked constantly the entire trip, an easy ebb-and-flow back and forth.

Rather than work, this was all personal. What it was like growing up in Australia, or as a first-generation immigrant. Zara's big family, Tah's smaller one. Things they did as girls, hopes they had for the future, plans they were making. The nearly three-hour drive went by in a flash, and then the girls got out and made their way into the cottage. Tah stood and gaped, not so much from the opulence, but from how it was impeccably decorated. She gushed, over and over, at the design and Zara smiled and nodded, clearly ecstatic at the recognition.

But first things were first. They got into bikinis and popped a beer and ran out along the dock and jumped into the water. It did not cool either one down much, but immersion in the lake felt really good. They climbed out and sat at the dock's edge, drinking beer and talking as the brilliant sunset gave way to night and the silvery moon rising high over the land.

"Full moon tomorrow night," Zara pointed out.

"Werewolves," Tah chuckled.

"Going to eat you up!" Zara confirmed with a giggle. The bugs drove them to the cottage porch, and the minor protections of the citronella candles. Their conversation drifted from topic to topic. It was a pleasant night, the best sort of night, and it was nearly midnight when they realized that they were both quite drunk...and needing to sleep.

Tah's head buzzed as she laid it down on the pillow. She fell quickly to sleep - or more like passed out.

"Ahhhh fuck me," Tah moaned as she brought her hand up to cover her eyes from the sun's intrusion and the pain she felt in her eyes. She had the worst taste in her mouth, and her head throbbed behind bloodshot eyes. But a bathroom call was most pressing of all, so like it or not she had to rise and stumble down the hall. After the ablutions, she brewed up some coffee and swallowed some aspirin, and took the coffee out onto the cottage porch.