“Really?” Lynnie’s eyes grew wide. “Thanks, Sam.” She hopped in the backseat.
Lisa’s heart wrapped itself around Sam when she saw Lynnie’s grin.
Once they drove home and put Sam’s groceries away, they settled themselves at the kitchen table to play Candy Land.
“Lynnie,” Lisa said, “can you go get a pen so I can keep track of who wins?”
“Okay.” Lynnie got up and looked in the usual spots for a pen, but when she couldn’t find one, ended up going to her bedroom for one. She handed Lisa a blue pen.
Lisa took it without thinking, but then realized it was her favorite blue extra fine gel pen. “Hey, this is—” Lisa cut herself short when Lynnie avoided her glance. “Lynnie, where did you get this pen?” She glared at her sister.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam shoot her a look of concern, but Lisa didn’t take her eyes off her sister. “Lynnie, look at me.”
Reluctantly, Lynnie looked up. Her cheeks were bright red as if she knew she had been caught red-handed.
Lisa held up the pen. “Where did you get this?”
“Sorry.” She lowered her head.
“Oh, you’ll be sorry when we talk about this tomorrow.” Lisa threw the pen on the table in disgust. Lynnie jumped at the suddenness of it. The pen was proof enough for Lisa that her sister had been reading her journal, but Lynnie’s quick apology sealed the suspicion. Lisa could only imagine how much the nine-year old understood from the things she’d written in there. She hoped Lynnie hadn’t read anything about William or about kissing Sam. Oh, God, she prayed Lynnie didn’t know what ‘getting to second or third base’ meant. She groaned under her breath.
The Candy Land game finally got underway, with Sam keeping track of the score with the discarded blue pen. After several games, the team of Bridget and Sam were declared the Candy Land champions with full bragging rights until the next Candy Land rematch. After a short trip to the playground, Lisa popped a Transformers DVD into the machine and turned it on. Bridget crawled into Sam’s lap on the couch and started petting Sam’s hair. “Wet’s wash your hair.”
“What?” Sam looked at Lisa.
“Oh, my mom has a haircutting studio.” Lisa pointed toward the back of the house. “My dad remodeled the back porch for her.”
“Let’s do it.” Sam stood up.
“No, Sam, c’mon. We don’t have to wash your hair.” Lisa laughed.
“No, c’mon. Let’s go for it.” She took the band off of her ponytail. She looked at Lynnie with a gleam in her eye. “Show me where it is.”
Lynnie leaped off the floor and headed toward the back. “It’s in here.” She led the way and then sat down in the hair washing chair. “You sit like this and then, oh, we have to get a towel for your neck first, but then you lean back and put your neck on the edge of the sink.” Lynnie demonstrated as if Sam had never been to a hair salon and had never had her hair washed before.
“Okay, I get it.”
Lisa wrapped a towel around Sam’s neck. “You’re crazy, you know.”
“I know, but it’s all in fun.” Sam sat down in the chair. “This is comfortable.”
Bridget stood next to her and patted her arm. “Okay, wean back and put your hair in the sink.”
Sam did as instructed, and Lisa turned on the sprayer.
Lawrence Jr. grabbed for the sprayer. “Me first.”
Lisa pulled it back. “Hang on, let’s make sure it’s the right temperature. We don’t want to freeze Sam on her first day here, right guys?”
“Oh, yeah.” Lawrence Jr. put his hand down.
Once the water was of adequate temperature, Lisa handed the sprayer to her brother. “Don’t get water in her eyes now.” To Sam she said, “You’d better close them.”
“Okay.”
“I want to shampoo.” Bridget gestured at the shampoo bottle.
Lisa pushed a squirt of shampoo into her good hand and then scooped some into Bridget’s. “Be gentle. Work it in, like this.” Lisa massaged the shampoo into Sam’s scalp with one hand. Bridget did the same, but with both hands.
“Mmm,” Sam said. “That feels nice, Bridget. Like a free massage.”
Bridget giggled.
“Do you want to help, Lynnie?” Lisa asked.
Lynnie shook her head.
“Tell you what. You can rinse the rest of the soap out once Lawrence Jr. thinks he’s done.” Lisa reached down to wash the long length of Sam’s hair. She had shampooed a lot of her mom’s customers, so she was used to the task.
Lawrence Jr. checked the temperature before using the sprayer to rinse out the shampoo. “Here Lynnie.” He handed the sprayer to his sister when he was done.
“Thanks.” Lynnie meticulously rinsed the rest of the soap out properly.
“Do you want conditioner?” Lisa asked Sam. “This is a full-service salon.”
“Sure,” Sam said and dared to open one eye.
Lisa took off her soft cast and flexed her hand. It felt good. She pumped some conditioner into it and began massaging Sam’s head with both hands.
“Mmm,” Sam said. “That feels good.”
A tingle ran up Lisa’s spine. It did feel good. Too bad the kids were around, because she needed to kiss Sam. She’d have to wait until they could steal a moment alone.
The Transformers video they’d left playing in the living room grew louder as the action intensified. Lawrence Jr. bolted out of room toward the television with Bridget scampering right behind him.
“Oh, shoot,” Lisa said. “Lynnie, can you go watch them while I finish this?”
“Okay.” Lynnie skipped after her brother and sister.
“Are they gone?” Sam snuck a peek out of one eye.
Lisa slowed her massage. “Yup.”
“Good, I want the full-service in this full-service salon. Kiss me.”
“Oh, I see how you are.” Lisa looked over her shoulder to make sure none of the kids had come back and straddled Sam on the seat.
Sam grabbed Lisa’s hips, pulled her down, and held her tight. Lisa braced herself on the edge of the sink with both hands, so she wouldn’t fall, and leaned down to touch her lips to Sam’s. Sam moaned, so Lisa kissed her harder.
“Why do you always have to be kissing girls?” Lynnie stamped her foot.
Lisa jumped off of Sam just as Lynnie punched a stack of clean towels to the floor and ran out of the room.
“Lynnie, wait,” Lisa called after her sister.
“Here,” Sam said, “rinse me out quick, and I’ll go talk to her, okay?”
“Okay.” Lisa turned the water back on and rinsed out the conditioner. “Geez, I am in so much trouble. My mom told me specifically not to let the kids see.”
“It’s not your fault, Lisa.”
Lisa knew it was, though. “Okay, you’re good.” She handed Sam a clean dry towel.
Sam wrapped her hair in the towel and dried it as she left the porch. Lisa cleaned up and then headed back to the living room.
Sam stood just outside of Lynnie’s closed bedroom door. Lisa sat down on the couch with Bridget and Lawrence Jr. who were mesmerized by the Transformers movie.
“Lynnie, it’s me, Sam.”
“Go away.” Her voice sounded far away. She was probably on her bed.
“Oh, c’mon. Don’t do me like that. It’s just me.”
There was no answer, so Sam persevered. “Listen, Lynnie. I love your sister, and when people love each other, sometimes they kiss.” Sam turned to look at Lisa and shrugged.
Lisa motioned for her to continue.
“Sometimes girls like to kiss other girls.”
“Does that mean I have to kiss girls, too?” Lynnie’s voice sounded closer as if she had moved closer to the bedroom door.
Sam laughed. “No, honey, it doesn’t mean you have to kiss girls, too, but if you ever wanted to, it would be okay.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Then you don’t have to. Do you want to kiss boys then?”
“Eww, no way.”
Sam laughed. “So, you have a few years to figure it out, right?”
Lynnie opened the door and must have nodded because Sam said, “I love your sister, and I think she loves me, too. I hope she does, anyway, so kissing her is no biggie, really. It’s natural.”
“Okay.” Lynnie took a tentative step out of the room. “I guess.”
“Hey, your mom and dad kiss each other sometimes, right?”
Lynnie nodded.
“See? It’s natural.” Sam smiled and then flashed Lisa a quick grin. She turned back to Lynnie. “Hey, I think it’s time for pancakes. Do you want to help?”
Lynnie’s face lit up. “Yeah.”
“Okay, c’mon everybody,” Sam announced. “It’s time to make Sam’s Supersonic Strawberry Supreme Pancakes.”
A cheer went up in the Brown house, and they raced to the small kitchen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Weddings
LISA’S MOTHER ADJUSTED a spray of white baby’s breath in Lisa’s hair. Tendrils of black curls bounced in front of Lisa’s shoulders.
“C’mon, Mama,” Lisa’s father said. “Stop fussing, so I can take a picture of the girls.”
“Okay, Papa.” Lisa’s mother stepped back and looked at Lisa and Sam standing on the front stoop under the archway. “You girls look so beautiful.”
“Mom,” Lisa said, “don’t start crying again, okay? We’re just going to William’s wedding.”
“I know.” Her mother smiled at them and sniffled.
Sam chuckled and looked up at Lisa standing by her side.
Lisa smiled back admiring the smooth lines of Sam’s blue sundress. The color complemented her own strapless silk chiffon bridesmaid’s dress perfectly. She reached up and rubbed her fingers on the new gold necklace that Sam had slipped around her neck when they were getting ready earlier.
“Smile, you two. This one’s for the family album.” Lisa’s father pointed his digital camera at them.
Lisa smiled as her father snapped the picture and couldn’t help the smile in her heart. She hadn’t yet spoken to her father about being gay, but she knew that he would be okay with it, at least she hoped so.
“Okay, little ones,” her father said to Lisa’s sisters and brother, “go ahead and get in the picture, but do not, I repeat, do not get Lisa or Sam dirty.”
“Okay, Papa.” Lynnie reached for Bridget’s and Lawrence Jr.’s hands. They crept up slowly as if Lisa and Sam would shatter if they got too close.
Sam put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, and Lisa clamped her lips shut as her siblings stood quietly in front of them. Lisa put a hand on Lawrence Jr.’s shoulder, but didn’t dare look at Sam, because that would send her into a fit of giggles. They didn’t have much time to spare since they had to head out for East Valley pretty soon. William and Evelyn wanted her at the church by one o’clock for the two o’clock ceremony, and they still had to drive all the way back to East Valley.
Her father lifted the camera. “Ready, everybody? Say ‘hot dogs and mashed potatoes.’”
He snapped several pictures while everybody laughed, and then handed the camera to Lynnie to take a few pictures of her parents with Lisa and Sam. Sam then reached for the camera and insisted on taking some pictures of the entire Brown clan.
“Okay, guys,” Lisa grabbed her clutch purse and white wrap, “we really have to go now.”
“Oh, Lisa.” Her mother gave her a quick hug. “Have a wonderful time.” She turned and hugged Sam, too. “Take care of my baby.”
Sam looked surprised by the request, but said, “I will.”
Lisa hugged her mother and then hugged her father tightly. She whispered in his ear, “Papa? You know you’re my number one, right?”
He nodded.
“And when it’s my turn for a wedding, you’ll be the one walking me down the aisle.”
He cleared his throat and said, “Thank you, Lisa Bear.” He nudged her toward the car. “You two had better get going.” He backed up toward her mother.
“Okay. I love you guys.”
They drove off in Sam’s car, and Lisa looked back to see her mother lean her head on her father’s shoulder. “Geez, you’d think we were eloping, the way my parents are carrying on.”
“This is emotional for them. You’re becoming part of your bio dad’s life now. I don’t think they were quite ready for that.”
“I know.” Lisa fanned herself. “I wish we could put the top down.”
“Oh, hell no,” Sam said with a laugh. “And ruin all that work your mother put into doing your hair? Not on my watch.” She turned the air conditioning on in the Sebring. “So,” Sam glanced at Lisa, “you never told me how the talk went with Lynnie this week.”
“Oh, the talk about her reading my journal?” Lisa grunted. “It went okay, I guess. At first she didn’t want to admit she’d read it, but we stared each other down for a while, and she cracked under the pressure.”
“Yeah, I know that Lisa Brown glare. Especially when I’m trying to steal second base on you.”
“Shut up.” Lisa stuck out her tongue.
“Now that’s mature.”
“I know.” Lisa sighed. “Anyway, Lynnie finally admitted that she’d taken my journal to her a room a couple of times.”
“Just a couple?”
Lisa shrugged. “Probably more than that, but at least she admitted it. She apologized, and I think she was genuinely sorry. I’ve found a new hiding spot, though, just in case.”
“Are you gonna let me read it?”
“My journal? No way!” Lisa grinned. “There’s private stuff in there.”
“About kissing girls?”
“Yeah. About kissing you.”
“Ooh,” Sam said suggestively, “I may have to pull the car over so I can get a better idea what you mean.”
Lisa laughed and pointed toward the road straight ahead. “Keep driving, missy. No way you’re messing up my makeup.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sam saluted.
Lisa reached for Sam’s hand and settled back for the forty-five minute drive to East Valley.
Several hours later, Lisa sat alone at her assigned table in the reception hall. She and Sam had just danced together to a fast Beatles song. Afterward, Sam escorted her back to the table, and then went up to the bar to get them some sparkling grape juice. Meeting William’s family, the wedding itself, the photographs with the wedding party, and the reception afterward were becoming a blur in Lisa’s mind. She was exhausted.
She smiled as she watched her new family on the dance floor. Her new instant grandparents insisted she call them by their first names, but Lisa still wasn’t sure if she could call them Shirley and Manny. Manny was tall with brown hair, and had a pot belly that he couldn’t quite hide behind his tuxedo jacket. Shirley, slim and tall, had a touch of gray in her deep black hair. Manny told Lisa she probably got her dark hair from Shirley. Lisa felt her cheeks get warm and then warmer still when Shirley told her she was their only grandchild. Oh, no pressure there. It was very confusing trying to figure out how these strangers fit into her life.