Out Of Love Part 26

That earned her a chuckle. "I have lots of chances to be serious. This room should be fun."

"It's certainly living up to that tonight."

Carmen turned on her side to face her. "Please don't think it means this isn't real for me. I love this with you."

Judith's stomach fluttered at Carmen's choice of words. "So do I."

Another kiss followed, this one filled with heat as Carmen once again began to caress her body. "I'm about to show you how much. Let's hope that coffee works. I don't think my ego could handle it if you fell asleep."

"I wouldn't worry if I were you. I plan to stroke that ego of yours all weekend."

Carmen flinched when Prissy's wet nose brushed against hers.

The dog seemed to know how annoying that was, and made it a point to do it every morning.

But Carmen wasn't ready to get up. She and Judith had stayed awake half the night making love. If she woke up for anything, it would be for more of that.

A noise from the kitchen interrupted her dozing and she automatically stretched an arm across the bed beside her. Empty.

"What's she doing, Prissy?"

181.

She threw the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her first steps toward the closet for her robe reminded her of muscles she hadn't used in a while-over two years in fact.

Carmen donned her robe and padded out of the bedroom.

When she reached the kitchen doorway, Judith was bent over peering into the refrigerator. She was wearing the denim s.h.i.+rt Carmen had worn last night, and from the looks of it, nothing else.

"Why are you up already? I thought I killed you."

Judith turned and grinned. "I'm afraid it's going to take a lot more than that."

"But I kept you up doing unspeakable things until three in the morning. That was just five hours ago."

"I'm starving."

Carmen enveloped her in her arms and kissed her firmly.

"How can that be? You ate all night."

Judith wriggled loose and reached for something on the kitchen table. "Speaking of eating . . ." She held up one of her socks, now riddled with chew holes.

"Welcome to my world. I warned you about that when you kicked her off the bed last night."

"I think she did this because you have nothing in this house to eat."

"I never eat breakfast here. I usually wait until I get to work."

"What do you do on the weekends?"

"Starbucks is around the corner. So you can cover that beautiful a.s.s of yours and come with me to walk Prissy, or you can leave that beautiful a.s.s just as it is and I'll bring something back."

"I'm going with you. You might go out there and meet some cute thing and not come back." Judith headed for the bedroom, and Carmen grabbed her s.h.i.+rttail and pulled it up.

"Not a chance. She might want to have s.e.x with me and I'm too sore."

"What a sob story."

182.

Twenty minutes later, they emerged from Starbucks with breakfast. Prissy, who was tied to the leg of a cafe table, was the center of attention for a small group of children and their mothers.

"How can you leave Prissy tied up outside like this?" Judith asked. "She's so cute. Somebody's going to steal her one of these days."

Carmen shrugged. "Whoever got her would bring her back the next day and tie her to the table."

"You liar. You'd be heartbroken. I saw you two cuddling when I got up."

"We were not cuddling. She hogs the bed. I was just holding her in place so she wouldn't keep pus.h.i.+ng me over." She untied the leash and hooked it through her hand.

"I would have given anything for a camera. One picture would have cracked that charade once and for all." Judith sipped her latte and took a bite of her bagel.

"I'll admit she's pretty good company when she isn't eating something expensive. She's gone through shoes, throw pillows, furniture, you name it. Healey says it's because she doesn't like to be left alone."

"Healey's Brooke's daughter, right?"

"Her oldest, my G.o.ddaughter. She's the one who told Priscilla I needed a dog."

"Why would she do that?"

An honest answer would launch a discussion of her relations.h.i.+p with Brooke and her daughters, something that probably needed to happen eventually. There was no escaping the fact that Brooke and her girls were an important part of her life, and it wasn't fair to Judith to try to push it all under the rug after the problems it had caused for them already.

"I got the girls a puppy from the pound back when we were all living together. But I'm the one who ended up taking care of him, and I missed him when they all moved away."

183.

"You used to live with Brooke?"

"Yeah, about ten years ago. Let's cross here and go into the park." Carmen wished they had better weather to show off her beloved Chicago. It was nippy and threatening rain. That didn't bode well for a boat ride, but she was game for whatever Judith wanted.

Judith finished her bagel and hooked her free hand through Carmen's elbow. "So tell me about when you lived with Brooke."

Carmen let Prissy set the pace, and they slowed to a stroll as the dog stopped and sniffed the gra.s.s along the path. "She came to me one night and said she was scared of Anthony. He was her husband, and I knew they were having some problems, but I didn't know things were that bad. I told her to go home and get the girls and come back to my apartment. She did, and all h.e.l.l broke loose."

"He snapped?"

"He never got violent, but he got mean. He went to court to get custody because he didn't want his daughters being raised by lesbians. But we were never lovers, no matter what anyone thought."

"But she got custody."

"Yes, but Anthony tied her up for two years before settling on support. She had nothing to live on and nowhere to go, so I bought a four-bedroom house near where my folks live in Evanston and we all moved up there."

"You really came through for her."

"It made me happy . . . in my own demented way. Then she met Geoffrey. They went to Vegas one weekend and came back married. That was the end of it." Her efforts not to sound morose probably failed, because Judith gripped her arm tighter and leaned a head on her shoulder.

"Does she know how you feel about her?"

"She knows I love her. I suppose she'd have to be stupid not to have figured out what that means, but we've never talked 184 about it. I know she considers me her best friend."

"You've been friends for that long and never once told her how you felt?"

Carmen sighed. "I always thought it would make things awkward. There wasn't anything either of us could do about it." The first raindrops began to fall and she turned them back to her building. "This might not be a great day for a boat ride."

"What do you like to do on a rainy day?"

She wrapped an arm around Judith's waist and pulled her close. "Lie in bed with a pretty woman."

Judith stripped off her wet coat in the elevator. "Did you see your doorman do that double take?"

"Next time we go through the lobby, I'm going to say something about the cloning experiments. That'll get the grapevine buzzing." She leaned over and delivered her traditional elevator kiss. "Sure you don't mind missing the boat tour?"

"If you're nice to me, I'll come back and we can do it another time."

"So you aren't mad about the sock thing?"

They stepped off the elevator and turned toward Carmen's apartment. Prissy led the way, dragging her leash along the floor.

"The sock thing was my fault. I should never have left my suitcase unlocked."

"I'm glad you understand. Lock it and keep the key in your bra." Carmen opened the door and immediately tossed their coats over a chair in the foyer. "Although I predict I'll be helping you out of that soon."

Judith was more than ready to return to bed, but something else was on her mind, left over from their conversation in the park. "Can I see a picture of Brooke?"

Carmen gave her a half smile. "I was hoping you might forget about that."

185.

"If you don't want to-"

"No, I'll show you. Let's go in my office." She nodded down-ward. "But don't leave your shoes there."

Judith chuckled and placed them on the shelf beside Carmen's.

As her computer booted up, Carmen retrieved a framed photo from the credenza. "This is all of us. It was taken about seven years ago, just before Brooke married Geoffrey."

Judith's breath caught as she got her first look at the woman Carmen called her best friend. Brooke's hair was lighter and wavy, and she was trim and fit. Otherwise, they could have been sisters. "No wonder everyone you know stares at me."

"It's just a first impression."

"She works out, doesn't she?"

"Constantly." Carmen grabbed her hand and pulled her close to the computer screen. "But I've seen that body of yours up close and personal, and you're no slouch."

"Mine's from hauling things up four flights of stairs."

Carmen clicked a folder to display a set of thumbnails.

"Here's a close-up."

"Wow." The resemblance wasn't as obvious in this photo. But Brooke was a dazzling beauty, with crystal blue eyes, perfect teeth and dimples. "She's very pretty."

"You're prettier."

"Yeah, I bet." She hadn't meant to say that aloud.

"Thank you, Carmen. What a lovely thing to say."

Judith laughed, leaning over to wrap an arm across Carmen's chest. "Thank you, Carmen. What a lovely thing to say."

"That's better." She clicked on another thumbnail, which showed Brooke in Carmen's kitchen. "She came over last weekend and the first thing I thought was how much she looked like you. It was weird after thinking you looked like her. I've gotten used to you."

"I should hope so." Judith hadn't even considered that 186 Carmen might still be thinking about Brooke, but she should have realized that the issue hadn't simply vanished.

Carmen must have read her look because she closed the photo folder and stood to face her. "This is all about you and me.

I hope you believe that."

"If you say it, I believe it."

"Does that go for anything?" It was said seriously, as though Carmen had more truth to tell.

"Yes." She waited with antic.i.p.ation as Carmen seemed to ponder her next words.

Suddenly, Prissy appeared in the doorway with Carmen's leather wallet between her teeth.

"You little s.h.i.+t!"

The moment shattered, Judith followed the action into the living room. Whatever Carmen had started to say was lost.

Carmen peered over Judith's shoulder as they watched out the window for the limo. They were so much closer now than they had been on Friday night, and the mysterious emotion of their initial hug had been unveiled. Carmen had wanted to share her revelation all weekend, but the timing had never seemed right. And now, her time was running out.

"I'm sorry you didn't get to see more of the city than my bedroom."

"Are you really?"

"No."