Authors: Kate Sweeney
“On the moving van, silly.” Helen rolled her eyes and looked at Bess. “What a silly nitwit.”
Kit glared at Roz when she laughed. “Did you know anything about this?”
“Are you kidding?” Roz laughed then. “I never would have thought of this. But it does bring up an interesting situation.”
“What situation?” Kit asked; she couldn’t hide the terror in her voice.
“Well,” Roz said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. “You’re basically homeless.”
Kit’s elbows hit the piano keys as she buried her hands in her hair. She then glared at her mother. “You hateful heifer.”
Helen raised an eyebrow. “You’re very welcome. Happy birthday.”
********
Kit hugged the life out of her mother when she heard Bess lay on the horn. “I love you,” she whispered. “Thank you for everything.”
Helen clung to her and laughed. “Everything?”
Kit pulled back and wiped her tears. “Yes, you meddling old woman.” She roughly tugged on the lapel of her blazer. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, dear. Now we have to go.” She turned to Roz and opened her arms. “You take care of my daughter, just as you always have.”
“I will, Helen. I can’t thank you enough,” Roz said, choking on her emotions. She pulled back and kissed Helen on the forehead. “God bless you.”
“He’d better,” Bess said from the doorway. “The meter’s running.” She turned to Kit and grinned. “Well…”
Kit pulled her into a monstrous embrace. “I love you. Thanks for a wonderful birthday.”
“I love you, too, kiddo. Take care of our idiot.” She pulled back and kissed Kit on the cheek.
“I will,” Kit said, drying her eyes.
Bess turned to Roz. “You are one lucky
sonofabitch
.”
“Don’t I know it.” She opened her arms and grabbed Bess. “Thanks,” she whispered.
Bess pulled back and wiped the tears away. “Okay, I hate goodbyes.”
“There are no goodbyes,” Helen said. She looked at Kit and Roz. “Only, ‘I’ll see you on the Fourth of July, then on Labor Day, oh, then Thanksgiving and…’ Well, you get the message. We’ll be back whether you want us or not. So keep our room open.”
“The suite is yours forever.” Roz put her arm around Kit.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Roz and Kit walked out with them and watched as they pulled away, frantically waving until they were out of sight.
“She’s gone,” Roz whispered.
“Yes,” Kit said. “But the insane woman will be back in a few months.”
Roz laughed. “To cause more havoc. God love her.”
“So now what?”
Roz struck a thoughtful pose. “Well, you’re still homeless.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Well, you are,” she said as they walked back inside. “I suppose you can stay here.”
“I wouldn’t be an imposition?”
“Nay,” Roz said. “I got plenty of rooms. But there will be a problem when the reservations start coming in.”
Chapter 19
“Hey, honey?”
Kit looked up from the kitchen sink and dried her hands on the towel. “In the kitchen.”
She smiled when Roz came through the swinging door, looking at a piece of paper, her black reading glasses perched on the end of her nose.
“Do you know what black cohosh is?” she asked, looking over her glasses.
“No, it sounds nasty, though.”
Roz sat at the table, and Kit joined her. “There are a bunch of natural herbs here they say help with menopause, especially hot flashes.”
“Really? I’m all for that.” Kit scooted her chair next to Roz as she read.
“Black cohosh is a plant. The Europeans use it for hot flashes. They say it’s just as good as estrogen from your doctor at preventing excessive sweating.”
“Hmm. How do you take it?”
“It’s all pill form, like a vitamin. Look at this one. Evening primrose oil.”
“That sounds better. What’s it do?” Kit leaned closer to Roz. “You smell good.”
“Stop it,” Roz said, trying not to grin. “Evening primrose oil is a tonic, I guess, and has a cooling effect on your skin. Says here it regulates your estrogen production. It’s also a sleep aid.” She looked at Kit. “You haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Well, if you’d leave me alone at night, I would.” She playfully bumped Roz’s shoulder.
Roz grinned and looked at the paper. “You’re the one who’s insatiable now with your hot monkey scenario.”
Kit laughed. “I told you my hormones were all over the place.”
“Thank God. Okay, this primrose oil is a sleep aid because of its high, yikes,” Roz stopped and reread for a moment. “High gamma
linolenic
acid count and increased prostaglandin production.”
“Gamma
lino
-what?” Kit asked. “
Prostawho
?”
“I have no idea. Here’s another one. Belladonna.”
“Now that sounds familiar.”
“Says it’s great for sporadic hot flashes. Hmm, and sage tea is supposed to help, too.”
“I had no idea there was so much natural help out there. We’ll give them a shot.”
“Good. Tomorrow we go to the health food store in Steamboat. They can…Hello.”
Kit suddenly sat on Roz’s lap. She took off her reading glasses and kissed her soundly. “All this medical talk’s got me very horny.”
“Any talk these days…” Roz moaned as Kit unbuttoned her shirt and reached in, cupping her breasts.
“Are you complaining?” she whispered against her lips.
Roz shook her head as Kit kissed down her neck. Roz sat back and looked into Kit’s eyes.
“Oh, I know that look,” Kit said breathlessly.
“Sit on the table.”
“What? Oh…I love it when you take control.” Kit scooted off her lap and struggled, but she finally did it. She’d been losing weight, little by little, but still she was happy she didn’t get a cramp… “Oh, God, Roz…” She sighed as Roz unzipped her shorts and sent them flying across the kitchen. The panties were next.
She lifted Kit’s legs onto her shoulders, then kissed her inner thigh. “I love you,” she mumbled against her leg.
Kit ran her fingers through Roz’s hair, pulling her closer. “Don’t tease this time. I—”
Roz obeyed and kissed her way up Kit’s leg, then stopped to briefly savor the moment. “I love loving you this way.”
Kit only nodded as she bit at her bottom lip. She cried out when she felt Roz’s tongue against her. She held her head in place. “Oh, yes,” she sighed. It was heaven just knowing it was Roz making love to her. She felt her orgasm begin in her toes and rise through her body. She arched her back off the table when it hit her. She thrashed around on the table, and in the back of her mind, she had a mental picture of it collapsing under the strain of them.
When the exquisite pleasure subsided, Kit wanted Roz. “Stand up, Roz,” she said frantically.
Roz, completely breathless, did as she was told and gasped out loud as Kit nearly ripped her shorts down her legs and knelt in front of her. “Good God.” Roz groaned and lifted her foot onto the chair.
Kit inhaled Roz’s scent, and it drove her crazy. She licked furiously, and of course, the hot monkey thing went through her mind.
Suddenly, they heard something. Roz froze and pulled at Kit’s head.
“Not finished,” Kit mumbled between her legs.
“Somebody’s in the dining room.”
Kit looked up with an owl-like expression. “What?”
“Shush,” Roz said.
“I didn’t hear…”
“Shush.”
“Roz? Kit?”
“Shit! It’s Stella,” Roz said in a terrified voice. She pulled on Kit’s hair.
“
Ow
,
ow
. Okay. Okay,
geesh
…” Kit said, equally terrified. “I can’t stand up. Oh, Roz. My back…”
“What?!” Roz asked and looked down.
“Roz?” Stella called again.
“Um, Stella? We’ll be right out,” Roz called out.
Kit slumped on all fours and groaned. “Roz, my back…” she said painfully.
“Honey, hold on.”
Kit looked up, “To what?” She must have looked ridiculous on all fours and naked from the waist down. “How did this happen?”
“Hey, kids, I just need my stockpot…”
“Don’t come in here!” they both called out.
Roz struggled into her shorts and had to laugh. “Are you okay?”
Kit angrily looked up. “Do I look okay?”
“Well, you look
kinda
sexy.”
“Roz…”
“Hang on. I have to get Stella’s stockpot.” She ran over to the cabinet and grabbed the pot. “I’ll be right back.” She then dashed out of the kitchen.
Stella had her arms folded across her chest. “What are you kids doing?”
“Nothing. Um…”
Stella took the pot, then looked at Roz’s shorts.
Roz followed her gaze and realized the shorts were on backward and inside out. “Uh…”
“That’s some nothing you two are doing.” Stella shook her head. “Don’t kill each other. Remember you’re not spring chickens anymore. And you have guests next week.” She left without another word.
“Gotta remember to lock the doors around here now,” Roz said. “Oh, shit, Kit.”
She ran back into the kitchen and laughed. Poor Kit was now kneeling with her hands on the table. “Oh, Kit, sweetie.”
“Is Stella gone?”
“Yes. Let me help you.” She took Kit by the hands and tried to help her up.
“All we need is an organ grinder,” Kit said painfully, but with Roz’s help, she stood. “Whew! That was close. But we really need to clean the floor.”
Roz laughed and picked up her shorts. “Are you all right?”
“A little stiff.” Kit shifted from side to side. “But okay. Boy, that would be an explanation to the ER nurse.”
“C’mon, my little monkey…”
“Ha-ha.”
“Let’s get you into a hot bath.”
“And hopefully get me out of it.”
“You and me both,” Roz said as they slowly walked down the hall to the bedroom.
“Just two old ladies,” Kit said and started laughing as she sat on the bed. “I must have looked ridiculous.”
Roz laughed along. “You? Look at my shorts.”
Kit looked and laughed so hard, she nearly wet her pants. “Oh, what an erotic pair we make.”
“How’s it feel?” Roz asked.
“I’m fine, really, honey. It was just a twinge. I’m not used to being on my knees.”
“Well, kiddo, I gotta tell you, better you than me,” Roz said, gently pulling her to her feet. “Let’s get that hot bath.”
“You got a deal.”
Kit lay in the hot soothing water with her back against Roz. “Hmm,” she said, swirling her fingers in the water. “This is heaven.”
Roz kissed the back of her head. “Who needs luxurious bubbles when you can have Epsom salts?”
Kit laughed. “Too true. You really know how to treat a woman, Maguire.”
“Only for you.” She ran her fingers across Kit’s shoulders and arms. She gently took her left hand and lifted it. “It’s a very good thing Helen remembered your wedding ring.”
“I’m so sorry I took it off,” Kit whispered. “I just honestly thought I’d never see you again. And the constant reminder of that was looking at the ring. And every time I thought about it, my mind just went all over. I couldn’t focus or keep a straight thought.” She stopped and sighed. “I went to the doctor, and she said it was, of course, menopause, and she wanted me to go on hormone replacement therapy, but I didn’t want anything like that. I know there are pros and cons. Anyway, I regretted taking the ring off.”
“
Shh
,” Roz said. “I don’t blame you, sweetie. But we never have to worry about that again.”
“No,” Kit said dreamily, reveling in the hot water and the soothing salts. “We don’t. Oh, by the way, I got a card from Judy with a picture of the kids and Sam in uniform, very dashing.”
“They still love the house?” Roz soaped up the cloth. “Sit forward, please.”
“Yep.” Kit sat forward and sighed when Roz gently washed her back. “Sam has an interview with the fire department for a job. The kids love the school. Oh, Sam says thanks for the lawnmower. It would have set them back to have to buy one.”
“I’m glad someone’s using it. And you know, I’m glad we’re helping a military family.”
“I am, too,” Kit said. “Enough washing. Thank you.” She leaned back against Roz and sighed.
“Hey, wanna ride the tractor with me?” Roz asked.
Kit turned around in the tub, which wasn’t an easy thing to do. “Are you serious?”
“I think so. I have to mow a huge area of overgrown grass behind the bait shop. Only the bush hog will cut through it.”
“You’re serious? I get to ride it?”
“Yes.”
Kit nearly killed herself getting out of the tub. “Okay. Let me get dressed.” She grabbed a towel and ran out of the bathroom.
“So easy…” Roz laid her head back and sighed happily. “All to myself.”