Starlight Wishes

If there could be said to be a perfect moment, Bailey thought that she was as close to it as she would ever get in this life. Perfection, there was no other word to describe it. One single heartbeat where nothing else mattered and all she could feel was perfect joy.

"Are you okay?" Susan asked, slightly unsettled by the way Bailey had collapsed over the back of the car after crying out so loudly.

"Oh, I'm fine," Bailey replied, thinking that had to be the understatement of the year.

"Was it all right?" Susan further asked.

Lifting her head, Bailey thought at first that Susan was joking. How could she not realize what she had just done to her? Yet, as the moments passed, it was evident that she really had no idea.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Bailey smiled, "but of course it might be even better the second time."

That there was going to be a second time brought a smile to Susan's face, replacing the look of concern.

-=-=-=-

"You must've gotten home pretty late last night," Diane commented as her mother walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee from the carafe on the counter. "I got up at about one to get something to drink and noticed that the light in the foyer was still on."

Turning to face her daughter, Susan took a sip from her cup before answering. She clearly remembered turning off that light out of habit when she'd gotten home, not thinking that perhaps she should've left it on.

"Yeah, the damn car stalled out on me after I'd dropped Bailey at her apartment," Susan said, offering the first explanation she could think of, one that, based on it having happened before, carried a ring of truth. "I think it might be the battery or something."

"Really, it seemed fine when I gassed it up yesterday afternoon," Diane offered, "but I guess with a car that old you never know. Did you have to call Peterson's Garage to have them give it a jump?"

"I called, but they only have one tow truck available after ten, and he was already backed up with multiple calls," Susan replied. "So I had to wait a while."

"Why didn't you call me? I'd have come and got you in the wagon," Diane said.

"I didn't think it would be as long as it was," Susan replied, "and I didn't want to wake you if you'd already gone to bed."

"But the tow truck finally came, right?" Diane asked.

"That's the funny part," Susan said. "After waiting about an hour or so, I decided to give it another try and, lo and behold, it started up again. It might've just been a loose connection somewhere."

Noting that the only thing she knew about cars was how to put gas in them, Diane suggested that she call Jack to take a look at it. After all, he had practically rebuilt the car with their father.

"There's no need to bother your brother, he's got enough on his plate with the business. I'll take it in to the garage when I have the chance and let them give it a once over," Susan insisted.

"How was the night otherwise," Diane then asked. "Did you and Bailey have a good time?"

"It was okay," Susan replied.

"Just okay?" Diane pressed.

"Well, dinner was excellent, as you might expect at Romano's, and we did go for a little drive afterwards," Susan elaborated, "but overall, it was a pretty mundane evening. It was nice to get out for a change, you were right about that, but all things considered, if it wasn't for the car trouble, I'd have probably been home in bed by the eleven o'clock news."

"So then, what I'd said about Bailey..." Diane asked a bit hesitantly, "that turned out to be just my imagination?"

"I'm afraid so, honey," Susan smiled. "I mean, you might very well be right about her for all I know, but as far as her and me, well..."

Susan paused as she noticed the time on the wall clock.

"Goodness, it is that really the time?" she said, shifting gears. "I have an appointment with Mr. Donaldson at the bank at nine-thirty and if I don't get going I'm going to miss it."

With that, she poured the rest of her coffee into the sink and, grabbing her bag, hurried out the kitchen door, saying as she did so that she should be back in an hour or so.

As she watched her mother head for the station wagon parked out by the curb, Diane felt a bit foolish for having brought the matter up at all yesterday. But she had been so sure, she told herself. Then, after finishing her own coffee, she decided to take advantage of the fact that she had a free morning and take the Mustang in herself, saving her mother a trip. Billy Greene was one of the mechanics at Peterson's and she was sure he'd put it at the head of the line as he owed her a favor or two.

Settling into the front seat of the convertible, Diane took a moment to readjust the rear and side view mirrors. Then, when she glanced over her shoulder before backing the car out of the garage, a flash of crumpled white cloth on the rear floorboard caught her eye. She had vacuumed the car at the gas station after filling it up yesterday, so she knew it hadn't been there then. Curious, she turned off the ignition, then pulled down the passenger seat so she could reach down and grab it.

Her first thought was that it might be a handkerchief that Bailey or her mother might've dropped, but as she lifted it and brought it closer to get a better look, her eyes popped open with astonishment.

"Holy shit!" Diane exclaimed as she unfolded the white lace garment and held it between her outstretched hands.

Diane was absolutely certain the expensive panties, torn and definitely in need of a washing, hadn't come from her mother's lingerie drawer. She did the laundry every week and was familiar with everything that went in and out of the hampers.

"Mundane, my ass," Diane said loudly as, balling the material in her left hand, she pulled the key out of the ignition.

Taking the car in to be checked would most likely be a waste of her time; she was willing to bet the cash in her purse on that. Instead she headed back into the house and called the friend she was supposed to meet this afternoon and canceled their plans.

Diane figured that her mother should be home within the next half hour. Sitting at the kitchen table, whirling the panties around an extended finger by its still intact strap, she felt a deeply gratifying sense of

validation. This was going to be fun.

"Young lady," she said to the empty chair across the table from her as she practiced her best imitation of Susan's mom voice, "would you care to explain these?"

Yes, fun indeed.

END