Open Tab Read online

  Olivia turned and smiled. “This must be Riley.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Riley said.

  “And you. And, this is Owen?” Olivia guessed.

  “Say hi, Owen,” Fallon whispered.

  Owen waved.

  “This is my friend, Liv. And, that,” she pointed to the little girl. “That is Summer.”

  Owen smiled.

  “Do you want to go play with Summer?” Fallon asked. “She has some cool toys.”

  Owen nodded.

  Fallon placed him on the ground. He held onto her leg and Riley’s. Fallon chuckled. She’d never seen Owen act shy.

  Riley crouched down to her son’s height. “You can go with Summer, sweetheart. It’s okay. Fallon and I will be right here.”

  Olivia watched Fallon and Riley with interest. Owen looked at his mother and then at Fallon for assurance. She wasn’t surprised to see that Owen had bonded with Fallon. Fallon was a natural with children. That was one of the reasons Olivia had fallen in love with her. Having a family had always been important to Olivia. Finding someone she believed could fulfill her needs both as a woman and as a parent mattered to her in a partner. Fallon had fit the bill perfectly—almost perfectly.

  “Go ahead, buddy,” Fallon encouraged Owen. “You and Summer can play. I’ll make you a hot dog later.”

  Owen grinned. “Hot dogs, Mommy!”

  “So, I heard,” Riley said. She grinned when Summer held out her hand for Owen and he accepted it. That might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

  “Can I get you a glass of wine or something before I go help the kids?” Fallon asked Riley.

  “I’ve got it,” Olivia said.

  Fallon tried to smile. For some reason, she was not in love with the idea of leaving Olivia to entertain Riley.

  Olivia folded her arms across her chest. “What is it? I promise, I won’t get her drunk and take advantage of her,” she said.

  Fallon shouldn’t have been surprised by Olivia’s comment. She was.

  “At least, I won’t in the time it takes you to do whatever it is you are off to do,” Olivia said.

  Riley felt Fallon’s discomfort. No matter how Riley tried to reassure her friend, it was clear that Fallon’s concerns about her sexuality lingered. The people in Fallon’s life were comfortable with who Fallon was. Riley was someone new. It was easy for her to understand why Fallon felt a degree of unease. She gently rubbed Fallon’s back. “It’d take more wine than you have in this kitchen to manage that,” Riley said. “But if Fallon’s willing to drive me home, give it all you’ve got.”

  Fallon chuckled at the expression on Olivia’s face. Didn’t see that one coming, did you, Liv? “I’ll leave you two to your debauchery.”

  “So,” Olivia began. “Red or white?”

  “Whatever does the trick,” Riley said with a wink.

  Olivia laughed. Well, well, Riley, just who are you? “Red it is.”

  ***

  “No.” Fallon held up a finger. “Em,” she warned.

  Bam! A snowball hit Fallon in the chest. Riley laughed. Owen had fallen asleep in Fallon’s bed. Fallon had been lured outside by the porch lights for a snowball fight. It didn’t take much to entice her outside. If ever Riley had witnessed a pathetic protest, it had been Fallon pretending that she had no desire to play in the snow. “I’m too old for the cold,” she had said. Riley wondered if any of the kids had bought the theatrics for a second. She certainly hadn’t.

  “They’ll be out here for a while,” Olivia said. She closed the front door. “Coffee?”

  “Sounds good,” Riley replied.

  “This is her winter game,” Olivia commented. “Everything snow in the winter; everything water in the summer. I think she only wants kids so she can be one.”

  Riley smiled. She took notice of Olivia’s wording and tone. She wondered if Olivia recalled the fact that she and Fallon were not a couple, and Emily and Summer were, in fact, children she shared with someone else. She liked Olivia. It was easy to see what had attracted Fallon to the woman. Beautiful seemed a deficient description for Olivia Nolan. Olivia looked more like a movie star to Riley than someone who worked for the government; unless she was playing a spy in the movies. Not that it surprised her. Fallon was attractive and charismatic. People were drawn to her. It made sense that someone like Olivia would be charmed by Fallon, just as Fallon would find Olivia captivating. That was the word she had been searching for. Olivia was captivating. She was intelligent, articulate, and quick-witted; all things that enhanced her good looks. She also seemed possessive, or perhaps it was protective of Fallon.

  “So, how long do you think you’ll stay in Whiskey Springs?” Olivia inquired.

  “I don’t have any plans to leave.”

  “So, you plan to stay.”

  “To be honest, I haven’t given much thought to it one way or the other. I needed a change.”

  “Fallon mentioned that you lost your husband. I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you. Yes, I did. It certainly wasn’t in my plan,” Riley said. She accepted a cup of coffee from Olivia. “Some things you can’t plan for; they just happen.”

  “That they do,” Olivia agreed. “Plans are a funny thing,” she said. She looked out the window and sighed. “I’d like to think that we end up where we are meant to,” she said as she turned her attention back to Riley.

  “Destiny?” Riley asked.

  “I don’t believe in destiny, not one that’s preordained anyway. I think we have choices that change our destiny.”

  Riley nodded. She had pondered destiny many times. It remained a difficult concept for her. She hadn’t chosen Robert’s death. He hadn’t chosen it either. Someone had made a choice and turned her life upside down. A man chose to get in his car after a bender and he crashed into Robert. There was the choice. Robert was gone and she was alone because of another person’s decision. Sometimes, you had no say in what happened to you. Life happened and you had to deal with it. If that wasn’t destiny, what was it? What was the point to it if it wasn’t preordained? It was a question with no answer. That’s what Riley had come to believe. She had choices to make; that was true. Most of those choices had been thrust upon her. If Robert hadn’t been on the road that day, she would be making different decisions.

  “I suppose that’s true,” Riley said. “There are times when someone else’s choice changes all of ours.”

  Olivia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You sound like Fallon.”

  Riley was curious.

  “She says that to me all the time. My choice to leave changed her life.”

  “I’m sure it did,” Riley offered honestly.

  “It did. She forgets it was also her choice to stay. We’re all affected by the decisions of other people. I still think it’s how we respond to those decisions that shape our destiny.”

  “Maybe,” Riley said. “All I know is that life goes on even when you sometimes wish it wouldn’t.”

  “Loss is hard.”

  “Yes, it is,” Riley said.

  “It gets better.”

  “It does,” Riley agreed. “But it never completely goes away.”

  Olivia glanced out the window again. “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Do you miss it?” Riley asked. “Living here, I mean?”

  Olivia smiled. “Sometimes, I do. It wasn’t the right place for me. Fallon could never understand that.”

  “She loves this place.”

  “She does. It’s her home,” Olivia said. “She fits here.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “As much as I could, I did. I wasn’t so sure our kids would.”

  Riley was taken aback by the comment. Whiskey Springs was a friendly town. She was sure that there were plenty of skeletons in people’s closets, and Riley had heard her share of gossip in the last month. People were people no matter where you traveled. She wouldn’t hesitate to raise children here.

  “I know what you’re thinking—small to
wn, nice people, safe, quiet. It’s all those things,” Olivia said. “It’s not…”

  “A hub for culture?” Riley guessed. She meant no offense. Small-town life differed from city life, and Olivia lived in a city. In places like San Diego and Washington DC there were gallery openings, film screenings, plays, wine tastings, museum exhibitions, and political roundtables to attend every day of the week. You could find all those things in Vermont, but events were scattered and far less frequent. Whiskey Springs offered karaoke on Thursdays at The VFW and movie night every Friday at the small library. The town did take great pride in its fire museum and the historical society it boasted. It was not the city.

  Olivia chuckled. “There is that. It also lacks diversity,” she said honestly.

  That was a concept Riley understood. She’d seen the evidence of its impact on Fallon. There was no LGBT center, and there was a notable lack of color in the town. There was one couple from Mexico, and Fallon had introduced Riley to Mr. Okada. He was a World War II veteran whose son occasionally brought him into Murphy’s Law when he visited. That was it. Olivia’s observation was not just candid, it was personal.

  “I’ve noticed,” Riley said.

  “I’m not surprised. Coming from a city, it’s more noticeable.”

  Riley nodded.

  Olivia sipped her wine. “When it came time for this house to be completed—I don’t know; I felt it all press in on me,” she said with a sigh. “We’d always said that I would carry our children. That was never a burning desire for Fallon—the pregnancy part.”

  Olivia couldn’t begin to explain why she was sharing all of this with Riley. She barely knew the woman. She did know that Riley had become important to Fallon. She’d witnessed the evidence of that all afternoon. If Riley mattered to Fallon, Riley mattered to Olivia. Fallon would always be a central part of Olivia’s life. It might not be the way she had once hoped, but Fallon still meant the world to Olivia. And, she imagined that Fallon told their story somewhat differently. No matter how many times they argued, no matter how many ways Olivia sought to explain why she felt the need to leave, Fallon could never seem to accept Olivia’s feelings. Whiskey Springs was home to Fallon. It had always been her home and Olivia knew that it always would be. Was she seeking Riley’s approval? Maybe she was hoping Riley would grant her the absolution she still craved. One thing that Oliva felt certain about; Riley Main wasn’t about to disappear anytime soon.

  “Anyway,” Olivia continued. “Fallon always wanted kids. It’s one of the many things we had in common.”

  Riley smiled.

  “Our kids would hardly look like their schoolmates. There were days, Riley; there were days when I wondered who was looking at me. I mean, here I was a black lesbian in a town where there was one other lesbian—the one I lived with, and not a single person of color except me. I didn’t want my kids to grow up that way.”

  Riley wasn’t sure what to say. She’d be lying if she claimed that she couldn’t see Olivia’s point. She also knew that Olivia’s departure had hurt Fallon deeply. She wondered why Olivia had wanted to build a house, build a life with Fallon in a place that felt so foreign to her. It seemed obvious that Olivia carried both guilt and some amount of regret. Riley wasn’t sure what the latter was about—leaving Fallon or agreeing to start a family with her in the first place. “Do you wish you had stayed?”

  “No,” Olivia answered without hesitation. “I wish I hadn’t hurt her so badly. Don’t get me wrong; it hurt me too. It was my decision. I think somehow that made it a little easier for me. I wanted her to come. The truth is; it wouldn’t have worked. She would’ve resented me in the end.”

  “Not an easy road,” Riley said.

  “No.”

  “You came out friends.”

  “We did.”

  “You still love her,” Riley surmised.

  “I’ll always love her. I think if you love someone from your soul, you always love them. It changes. I love Barb. That doesn’t take anything away from what Fallon and I shared.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m sure you do. What about you? Whiskey Springs isn’t exactly the hot bed for dating,” Olivia said.

  Riley laughed. “I haven’t even thought about that.”

  “Not ready?”

  “I don’t know that I’d say that. I’m not avoiding it,” Riley said. “I’m not about to start signing up for Match.com either. Someday—someday, I hope there will be someone again.”

  Olivia smiled. Riley was engaging. She possessed the unique ability to set people at ease immediately. Olivia wasn’t surprised that Fallon had gravitated to the younger woman. Riley’s lighthearted sense of humor was infectious and genuine. In a few hours, she’d managed to capture the attention of all three children. She was content to listen, but when she spoke all eyes turned to her. Down to earth and unassuming seemed to be Riley’s nature. It said a great deal about the woman standing in the kitchen Olivia had once called hers. The mark that loss left on a person often reflected cynicism and rigidity. Neither was evident in Riley’s demeanor. In fact, the young woman seemed to Olivia to be naturally trusting and optimistic. No wonder Fallon is enthralled.

  Fallon jogged into the kitchen out of breath.

  Riley smirked. Fallon was a mess. Her hair was sticking out from underneath her hat at peculiar angles. Her jacket and pants seemed to have been pelted by as much dirt as snow. A trail of mud traced her footsteps from the door to the kitchen.

  “Please tell me the children are cleaner than you,” Olivia said.

  “They’re on their way to the bathroom,” Fallon said. “Evan will use mine.”

  “And, the girls?” Olivia asked.

  “I’ve got it,” Fallon said.

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “I’ll handle it. I hope I see you again soon,” she told Riley.

  “Me too,” Riley replied. She looked at Fallon and shook her head.

  “What?” Fallon asked.

  “Who won?” Riley asked.

  “Me, of course!”

  “Of course,” Riley said.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  Olivia groaned in the distance. “You have some laundry to do!” she yelled to Fallon.

  Fallon grinned. “Good thing I have laundry service.”

  “Oh no, not yet, you don’t,” Riley reminded her.

  “You still think you can win this bet?” Fallon asked.

  “I told you; I like my odds.”

  Fallon shrugged. “I like snowball fights.”

  Riley poked her cheek with her tongue. She did not miss Fallon’s meaning. Fallon was determined to win their bet, and if she had her way, Riley suspected she’d be facing a pile of muddy laundry next week. “We’ll see, Foster. We’ll see.”

  Fallon winked. “I’ll stock up on Tide.”

  Riley laughed. I’m sure you will.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  March 15th

  “Are you seriously still doing her laundry?” Carol asked.

  “My last week of servitude,” Riley said. “I still can’t believe I lost.”

  Riley laughed as she hoisted Owen onto her hip. When Fallon set her mind to something, she did it. Riley had been given that lesson in spades. She’d done more laundry than she had ever imagined in the last month. Fallon had attempted to let her off the hook more than once, but Riley insisted that she make good on their wager. A bet was a bet, and Riley was good for her word. Doing Fallon’s laundry also gave her a reason to see her friend, not that she needed one. They had a standing dinner date twice a week—every Monday and every Thursday night. They’d yet to miss one. Riley looked forward to her evenings with Fallon. Some nights they talked for hours, sharing stories about college and even their “first time.” Other evenings, they found themselves in front of the television watching some crazy action movie or indulging in a few episodes of The X-Files or Friends. Fallon loved Friends. She would recite the lines before they were spoken. It amused Riley endlessly. Of course, the
re was the one time that Fallon convinced Riley they needed to watch Super Why with Owen because Owen had a cold and needed to rest. Fallon had quickly become her best friend. Riley reveled in their relationship.

  Carol pushed opened Riley’s front door.

  “Thanks,” Riley said.

  “Thanks for lunch,” Carol said.

  “My pleasure.” Owen fought Riley’s grasp. She put him down and removed his jacket and shoes. “Go ahead and play, sweetheart.”

  “He certainly is full of energy.”

  “Yes, he is,” Riley agreed.

  “Mommy! I Swed!”

  “Swed?” Carol asked.

  “Sled,” Riley clarified. She wondered if Fallon was secretly grooming Owen for a future in bobsledding. Riley’s backyard sported a small hill. It didn’t seem to matter whether two inches or ten inches of snow blanketed it; Fallon had Owen in his sled—a sled that Fallon had purchased. Dwindling snow coverage did nothing to deter Owen and Fallon’s enthusiasm for sledding. She chuckled. “Every time she’s here, she’s got him out in that sled.”

  “Sounds like Fallon. She’s a big kid.”

  “So, I’ve noticed. She loves to ski.”

  “She does,” Carol agreed.

  “She doesn’t go often. The last time she went the kids were here.”

  Carol shrugged. “Yeah, she sort of slowed down after she broke her ankle.”

  “She broke it skiing?”

  “No, she broke it walking through the parking lot at the pub.”

  “How?”

  “Who knows?” Carol shrugged again. “She was out of the pub for a few days.”

  “She worked with a broken ankle?”

  Another shrug served as Carol’s reply.

  “God, she’s stubborn.”

  “You think?” Carol laughed. “What are you two up to tonight?”

  “Other than me cooking dinner? Who knows? Mud sledding?”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “Me neither. I think she wants to torture me with the dirtiest laundry possible until the last minute.”

  Carol laughed. “Sorry,” she apologized when her phone rang. “Hey, Ida. What?”