You Can Ring My Bell

It was a surprise to find her here, as the usually silent partner normally only stopped by once or twice a month to check on her investment. The last visit had only been the week before.

"I'm afraid Clarence had a family emergency that took him out of town last night," the thirty-three year old said, "something about his mother-in-law being ill. But if there's any sort of problem, I'm sure I can take care of it."

"There's no problem," Rachel quickly said. "I just wanted to talk to him about something, that's all."

"Good," Audrey said in reply, "I always like to see things running well here at D'Martini's."

"It can wait until he gets back," Rachel said as she started to leave, breathing a heavy sigh of relief at the thought that she'd just been granted a reprieve. She didn't wish his mother- in-law ill, but Rachel hoped that her sickness kept Mr. Winchester away long enough for her to come up with a more appealing solution.

She had gotten as far as the door, when Audrey unexpectedly called out her name. Hesitantly, she turned around in response.

"Rachel," Audrey said, "Clarence happened to mention to me before he left that he'd asked you to drop off yesterday's morning receipts at the bank on the way home. I don't see the deposit slip here; do you have it?"

Rachel paused as she tried to come up with any explanation other than the truth. When nothing came to mind, she reluctantly decided that she would have to go with that, or at least a selective version of it.

"I didn't get to make the deposit," she said hesitantly. "There was this big fire on the block and they closed the bank early."

"I heard something about that on the radio this morning," Audrey noted, "but didn't realize that it was on the same block as First National. No problem though, just give me back the deposit and I'll just add it to today's receipts."

"I.. I.." Rachel stuttered, wondering if she could lie convincingly enough to say she had left the envelope home in her apartment. With the weekend ahead of them, it might at least give her that much more time. "I don't have it. I mean, I took it home last night and left it on my kitchen counter. I was running a bit late and I ..."

"I see," the older woman said, her tone still casual. "I would really like to close out the week's books, though. Tell you what, it's usually pretty quiet around here until people start coming in for the early dinner special. Why don't you head home and pick it up? It shouldn't take that long, and I can drop it all off at the bank on my own way home."

The matter settled in her mind, Audrey turned her attention back to the papers on her desk, dismissing Rachel with a casual wave of her hand. It was only when she realized that the younger woman hadn't left that she looked back up.

"Was there something else?" Audrey asked, surprised that Rachel hadn't left.

"I really didn't forget the money at home," Rachel admitted after a short pause.

"I see," Audrey said, putting down the papers in her hand and giving the girl her full attention. "Why don't you have a seat and start from the beginning?"

Rachel sat herself down in the empty chair in front of the desk and, hoping for the best, told the truth and nothing but. At least up until the point where she came in this morning and had her talk with Heather.

"And obviously, that was what you had wanted to talk to Clarence about when you came in here," Audrey said once Rachel had finished, to which the hostess nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"So it seems that we do have a bit of a problem after all, don't we?" Audrey commented, rising from behind the desk and walking around to the front where she sat down on the edge next to Rachel.

Silence filled the room as she looked at Rachel, waiting to see if she had anything else to say. When nothing else was forthcoming, Audrey went on.

"I guess the question we have to consider now is," she said, "whatever shall we do about

it?"

"Like I said, I'm more than willing to make up the money," Rachel repeated, "half now and the rest as soon as I can."

"Yes, I understood that," Audrey said, "but I really do have to consider how Clarence would want me to handle this. After all, I'm just a limited partner and it is his business."

Rachel wasn't sure she liked the sound of that.

"I suppose I could simply turn the matter over to the Sheriff's office and let them sort it out," Audrey mused out loud, "but that would be somewhat hard on you, wouldn't it?"

Rachel thankfully recognized the question as rhetorical and didn't make a stupid comment. She found herself holding her breath in anticipation of what Audrey was going to say next.

"No, this is going to take a bit of consideration," the older woman said. "Clarence will be gone a few days at least, so it gives us a bit of time to think about what to do."

Rachel saw a glimmer of hope in that statement.

"I am a bit curious about something, though," Audrey said as she adjusted the skirt of the business outfit she was wearing. "You undoubtedly had a plan when you came in here, some line of thought on how to convince Clarence to let you work off the debt. Why is it that I have the feeling that there was more to it than what you've told me?"

With any chance of resolving the matter to her advantage resting on a razor's edge, Rachel knew she had to be as truthful as possible with the woman just a few feet in front of her. The question was, how was she going to explain what Heather had suggested she do?

"Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't help but think that it was your intention to offer Mr. Winchester a bit more of an incentive than you explained a minute ago - one of a more, shall we say, personal nature," Audrey offered, pointing out that she also couldn't help but notice that there were two more open buttons on Rachel's blouse than there had been when she had walked by the hostess earlier.

Rachel glanced down for a second and sure enough, an ample amount of cleavage was indeed visible, along with just a hint of the bra containing it. That she didn't even remember undoing the buttons when she had checked her appearance outside the door didn't bother her as much as the fact she'd been so lost in her concerns that she hadn't even noticed Audrey walk past her. What else might she have missed?

"Since I haven't heard an objection," Audrey continued after allowing her what she thought enough time to do so, "I guess I can assume I was right in my supposition. That being said, I'm further curious as to what that incentive might have been. Or to put it more simply, just how far were you willing to go?"

"I was going to offer to blow him," Rachel said with a bit of hesitation, deciding, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"I'd have been surprised if it was anything less," Audrey said, a small smile on her lips. "Still, we are talking about a great deal of money here. What were you planning to do if he wanted more than you were offering?"

The question took Rachel a bit by surprise. She had considered that Mr. Winchester might be one of those men who were actually faithful to his wedding vows. In fact, one of the more hopeful scenarios she's entertained had been that he would turn her down, but be so impressed by the offer that he'd let her off the hook. That he might ask for more hadn't even occurred to her.

"I'm not sure," she admitted honestly.

"I bet it never even occurred to you, did it?" Audrey asked, not needing a reply to know her answer.

Now that she was thinking about it, Rachel had to admit that, in view of the alternatives, there was indeed little she might not be willing to consider in order to get out of this fix.

Audrey waited another moment or two to let Rachel think about it, then added her own observation.

"Well, for what it's worth," Audrey said as she slid off the desk and began walking back around to her chair, "I think that if I was in your situation, with the very real possibility of the police becoming involved, I'd be willing to go pretty far to prevent that possibility as well."

She paused for a second as she sat back down, then added.

"Also, for whatever it might be worth, I think that, had he been here, Clarence would've been impressed by your offer - very impressed indeed," she said with a smile.

Behind that smile was the memory of having once had dinner with Clarence and his wife soon after having become partners, after which she had formed a definitely unflattering opinion of Mrs. Winchester. An opinion confirmed a few months later when, after sharing a few drinks one night, Clarence had shared the confidence that his wife had lost all interest in things sexual early on in their marriage and that, on occasion, he had turned to others for solace.

That her plan, however desperate it might have seemed, would probably have worked brought little comfort to Rachel. Now she was back at square one and she wasn't sure what her next stop was going to be.

"You know, with the length you were now admittedly willing to go to in order to resolve the situation," Audrey said, her tone reflecting an even stronger touch of curiosity than before, "I'm curious if, after you realized that the players in this little drama had changed, you entertained, even for a little bit, the possibility of making the same offer to me that you planned to make to Clarence?"

Audrey's question caused the look on Rachel's face to turn from disappointment to confusion - a change that made the older woman realize that she had asked her question under a false assumption. What was, she believed, common knowledge evidently wasn't as common as she had thought.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed that you knew," Audrey offered. "I've been called "that dyke bitch" so many times that it never occurred to me that you didn't."

Actually, Rachel had indeed heard a waitress once refer to Audrey in just those terms, but at the time didn't take it literally. Evidently, she should have.

"Not the most flattering of terms, I'll admit," Audrey grinned, "but technically accurate, at least the first half."

"Are you saying you want me to..." Rachel started to say as comprehension dawned. "You mean you want you and I to ..."

Audrey let her consider the implication for a bit and then laughed.

"No, that was just my sometimes warped sense of humor coming into play," she chuckled. "I guess that the latter part of that epithet is also sometimes true."

"Then you're not really a ..." Rachel started to ask.

"No, I am most definitely a card-carrying carpet muncher." Audrey grinned. "I guess I was just a bit curious as to what your reaction to the question might have been."

For the briefest of moments, Rachel was uncertain whether she should've felt relieved or disappointed. She had never had any real curiosity about other women before, but in the few seconds that Audrey's question had been out there, it had made her wonder.

During that same short interlude, Audrey herself had been taken aback a bit by her own reaction. Pretty as the girl sitting across from her was, Audrey knew from comments by other employees that she was as straight as an arrow. So why had she even suggested what she had? Especially since coercion had never been her style. More importantly, knowing what she knew, why had those few seconds when she considered the image of Rachel down between her legs produced a reaction both immediate and profound?

"So what do I do about the money?" Rachel asked, hesitant to bring up the question again, but finding it a safer topic than the one that had just flashed through her mind.

"I think that perhaps the best thing I can think of is to take the weekend to consider it," Audrey replied, also a bit relieved to change the subject. "But not to worry, I'm sure we can work something out to everyone's satisfaction. Contrary to what I said before, I'm really not a bitch - well, at least most of the time."

"Thank you," Rachel said, an intense sense of relief washing over her as she realized that this all might just work out after all. "Thank you so very much."

She started to rise from the chair when the phone on the desk rang and Audrey reached out to answer it. Not certain if Audrey was done with her, Rachel waited to be sure.

"Oh no, that's terrible," Rachel heard Audrey say in response to something she had just been told by whoever it was on the other end of the phone conversation. "Of course I'm disappointed," she continued after listening a bit more, "but the important thing is that you take care of yourself first. Don't give anything else a second thought."

The conversation went on just a bit longer, then Audrey brought it to a close. She seemed to actually forget that Rachel was there until the younger woman broke the silence.

"Bad news?" Rachel said.

"Of a sort," Audrey replied, seeing no reason not to. "An old friend of mine is getting married up in Blue Ridge Junction tomorrow, and it seems my date for the ceremony took a fall last night and sprained her ankle rather badly. She'll be okay but she'll have to stay off it for the next few days at least."

"Oh, that's too bad," Rachel said in sympathy, then, not even thinking that the question might be inappropriate, asked out of curiosity if the lady in question was Audrey's girlfriend.

"No, I'm not seeing anyone seriously right now," Audrey replied, thinking nothing of the question. "Jenna and I went to school together."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Thanks," Audrey said, disappointment evident in her tone. "With the wedding tomorrow, I don't know who I could ask..." she started to say, but paused as an idea flashed across her mind. "Rachel, do you have any plans for the weekend?"

Rachel was about to say yes, but realized that whatever plans there might have been had involved Frankie. It was going to take a bit of time, she realized, to remember that he was no longer going to be part of her life.

"No, I guess I don't, not anymore," she finally said.

"I don't suppose you'd be interested in going to a wedding, would you?" Audrey asked.

The question hadn't come as a total surprise, given the one that had preceded it, but it was still enough of one to give Rachel pause. There had been plenty of weddings that she'd gone to as just a friend, but they had all been with guys. She wasn't sure how she might feel about being the plus one of another woman. Especially in light of that moment of uncertainly earlier when she thought Audrey was propositioning her.

Thinking it over, the young redhead felt a sense of debt as well as of trepidation. She obviously owed this woman, but at the same time, hadn't it been doing someone a favor that had gotten her in trouble in the first place?

"Are you asking me to be your date?" Rachel asked, looking for a bit of clarification.

"I wasn't really thinking of it like that," Audrey said, "but I suppose that is what it would be. I'm really just looking for someone to go with me. It's so awkward going to things like this alone."

Rachel nodded her head in agreement, not that she'd ever had a problem getting a date to anything, at least not since she'd hit puberty. Still, she could imagine that it could be awkward indeed.

"Would I have to do anything special?" Rachel asked, not really sure why she had asked that or what kind of answer she even expected.

"Well, I supposed you might be expected to dance," Audrey smiled. "It is somewhat traditional. But other than that, I guess all you have to do is have fun. After all, it's a wedding, not a funeral."

While Rachel took a few more moments to think about it, Audrey was considering that the invitation might in itself have been too impulsive. It wasn't really fair to put this young woman on the spot, and she was about to say just that when Rachel unexpectedly said yes.

"I'd love to go," she said, with enthusiasm that seemed a bit forced, but still genuine. "It sounds like it might be fun."

What she didn't say was that the deciding factor had been that, even if the ceremony and reception were as boring as hell, it had to beat hanging around an empty apartment all weekend, or worse, going out and having to explain to her friends how wrong she had been about Frankie. She would have to do that eventually, but better later than sooner - at least after she came up with a breakup story in which she wasn't the complete idiot that she had actually been.

"Splendid," Audrey said, her voice reflecting both pleasure and surprise at her response.

As Audrey gave Rachel all the details, she suggested that the younger woman take the rest of the day off to pick out an appropriate dress and such. She herself had packed her travel bag last night, but she appreciated that Rachel would need a little time to do the same.

This time, Rachel didn't hesitate to rise from the chair and head for the door. As she did so, she had a momentary flash of second-guessing her decision. Did she really know what she was doing, going to a wedding as another woman's date? Probably not, she told herself as she pushed that brief doubt aside, but it would hardly be the first time that had been true.

Stepping back out into the restaurant, Rachel spotted Heather waiting by the hostess station, undoubtedly anxious to learn what had happened in the office. Since Heather also hadn't known Mr. Winchester was out today, Rachel wondered if, given the amount of time she'd spent inside, her friend had just assumed that she'd spent that time down on her knees.

Having a bit of a warped sense of humor of her own, Rachel brought a hand up to the side of her mouth as if she was wiping away a non-existent smudge, a reflex that she knew her friend would interpret wrongly. Then she headed to the bathroom as she if was in need of

freshening up.

She would tell Heather about what had happened in the office soon enough - well, at least the part where Audrey promised to help her work out a solution to her problem. That part about her agreeing to be the brunette's date at a wedding tomorrow was something she would keep to herself. She'd known Heather long enough to know that there was no way she'd ever believe that there wasn't some sort of quid pro quo involved.

Back in the office, Audrey had waited until the door had closed behind the hostess before reaching again for the phone, dialing from memory the number of the local Sherriff's Office. Once the connection had been made, she asked to speak to Deputy Marla Dunn. The conversation was brief, but what she wanted done didn't take long to explain and with the number of favors owed her by the deputy, Audrey had no doubt it would be done.

Hanging up the phone, Audrey leaned back in the tall leather chair and smiled in satisfaction. If there was one thing she hated, it was a thief, and it satisfied her to know that this one wasn't going to get away with it.

-=-=-=-

Blue Ridge Junction was two hours north of Darbyville, which was one of the things Rachel had taken into account when agreeing to go to the wedding. The chance of her running into anyone she knew was so slim as not to be not worth worrying about. The ceremony wasn't scheduled until the late afternoon, but, in order to have plenty of time to drive upstate and check into the Inn beforehand, Audrey had told Rachel that she would pick her up at half past nine.

That they would be staying overnight after the reception was what had caused Rachel to second-guess her decision as she was leaving the office. Yet when she thought about it, it certainly made more sense to get a good night's sleep and come home bright-eyed on Sunday morning than to drive home in the dark after a night of partying.

The traffic was just a bit heavier than expected and they arrived at the Inn a little bit before noon. After checking in, Rachel was pleased to see that the room had double beds. Since the arrangement had originally been made for Audrey and Jenna, it seemed that the two were indeed just friends, after all.