Under Construction (3 page)

“Yes…Oh....Oh
my God,” Candace managed between explosions of blissful shudders.

Candace’s
entire body lifted from the bed. It took more strength than Jameson had
expected to hold Candace in place. Candace was still trying to catch her breath
when she felt Jameson begin again.

“Jameson….what…oh
God!”

Jameson
couldn’t stop herself. She savored every moment of Candace’s release and she
wanted more. She let go of Candace’s hands and swiftly entered her lover with
two fingers. Candace closed her eyes in a futile attempt to banish the flashing
lights that accompanied the orgasm that followed. It came in an instant,
without warning. Her entire body shook as Jameson’s finger’s twirled inside her
in time with the constant flicking of her tongue.

Jameson
finally stopped. Candace was still quivering and Jameson moved to take her
lover into an embrace. “Shh,” she whispered, kissing Candace’s head as Candace
folded herself into Jameson. “I just missed you so much,” Jameson said. Candace
didn’t answer. “Are you okay?” Jameson asked. Candace was trying to calm the
rapid beat of her heart and catch her breath. She didn’t know how to tell
Jameson that she was still reeling from the ripples of pleasure that had not
fully subsided. “Candace?” Jameson asked again. Candace was shaking in her
arms.

“Just
hold me,” Candace said. Jameson pulled Candace closer. “I don’t want to do that
again.” Jameson was alarmed. “Be apart for that long,” Candace clarified.
Jameson let out a nervous sigh. Candace finally moved to look at her. “Oh
no…you thought I meant,” Candace stopped and kissed Jameson. “Sweetheart, you can
wake me up that way whenever you want,” she said. “Unless I have to go to
work.” Jameson was confused. Candace chuckled. “I just woke up and I need a
nap,” she laughed.

Jameson
smiled. She would be happy to hold Candace, but she was feeling more aroused
than spent. “Oh,” Candace said as realization dawned. She raised an eyebrow.
“Not sleepy?” she asked.

“I’m
fine,” Jameson said unconvincingly. She startled at the feel of Candace’s hand
removing her shorts.

Candace
bit her lip to quell another wave of tremors when she was finally able to feel
Jameson’s arousal. “I see,” she said. Jameson’s breathing had become rapid and
shallow. Candace stroked Jameson tenderly. The warm wetness beneath her hand
was intoxicating. She kissed Jameson and then looked in her eyes. Candace moved
to her back and pulled Jameson over her. “Come here.”

Jameson’s
heart began to pound furiously as Candace gently guided her. She felt Candace
hold her hips and sighed when she settled above her lover. Candace groaned in
excitement at the first taste of Jameson. “Perfect,” she said as she explored
every inch of the softness that was Jameson. She heard Jameson’s frantic
sighs
. Even after all their months together,
Jameson’s boldness faded when Candace made love to her. It only made Candace
love her more; the raw vulnerability in Jameson that made itself known in these
moments. Candace drew lazy circles around Jameson with her tongue.

“Candace,”
Jameson urged softly.

Candace
could feel the frustration in Jameson’s movements. She reached up and fondled
Jameson’s breasts until she heard Jameson begin to faintly moan above her. She
sucked gently and then moved her tongue up and down Jameson
with
hard, deliberate strokes. It was only a
few seconds before she felt Jameson’s legs begin to shake. Wave after wave
pounded over and through Jameson. She felt as if she were caught in an
undertow. She would surface for a brief second, only to be held under again as
the waves crashed over her. She pulled away, fearing that if it continued she
would no longer be able to support her own weight.

“I’m
sorry,” she apologized as she crawled up beside Candace.

“What
are you sorry for?” Candace asked, stroking Jameson’s hair.

“I just…you
are amazing, you know that?”

“I love
you,”
Candace gave as her explanation.
Jameson held onto Candace and breathed her in. “Tired?” Candace asked. Jameson
was already asleep. “See what I mean?” Candace chuckled. “Good thing we don’t
work
until
Monday.”

Jameson walked into the kitchen.
Candace was at the counter making coffee and Jameson snuck up behind her to
cuddle close. Candace closed her eyes and leaned back into Jameson’s arms.
“Good morning,” Jameson whispered in Candace’s ear.

“Yes,
it is,” Candace said. Jameson was nuzzling her neck and Candace sighed.
“Jameson,” she giggled.

“What?”

“Are
you trying to send me to an early grave?” she asked.

“Why?
Is your heart beating faster or something?” Jameson teased. “You haven’t even
had coffee yet.” Candace laughed and finished the task before her with
Jameson’s arms still holding her. “What are your plans today?” Jameson asked.

Candace
turned in Jameson’s embrace. “That
depends
.”

“On
what?”

“On
what your plans are,” Candace said.

Jameson
smiled and kissed Candace gently. “I thought maybe…antiquing?”

Candace
pursed her lips and squinted at Jameson curiously. “Antiquing?”

Jameson
knew that Candace loved to wander in and out of eclectic shops. Although, she
was loathed
to admit it, she enjoyed it too.
Every item had a story and Jameson enjoyed imagining what those stories might
have been. Who had owned that lamp or that ring? How did it come to be where it
was now? And, she loved spending time with Candace. She felt a sense of pride
watching how people responded to her lover, and how Candace engaged people so
effortlessly.

“Don’t
you have to work?” Candace pointed to the plans still spread across the kitchen
table.

Jameson
shrugged. “I have more important things to attend to,” she winked. “So? What do
you say? Antiquing? Lunch? You and me?”

Candace
kissed Jameson’s cheek. “It’s a date.”

“A
date? Oh my God! I have
a date
with
Senator Fletcher!” Jameson exclaimed playfully.

Candace
smacked Jameson and rolled her eyes. “Lunatic.”

***

Jameson and Candace walked
through the front door laughing. It had been a perfect day for them both. They
had wandered through small shops, purchased a few items for the house, stopped
for lunch at a small, hole in the wall café. They spent time talking about the
renovation and even about their future. They traded playful banter on and
off
and sat on a bench under a large tree,
eating ice cream cones and talking about their families. Candace had decided in
May that they should start a new annual tradition and had been planning a large
Fourth of July picnic. She had even convinced Marianne to come for a long
weekend with Rick and Spencer.

Jameson
was a tad nervous. It was the first time their families would be together.
Candace seemed completely unfazed by the impending event. Jameson was
continually impressed by Candace’s ability to take a great many things in
stride. She asked Candace when they began planning the
barbecue
how she managed not to worry about what people said and
thought about her. Was it
from
spending so
many years in political life, Jameson wondered? Candace laughed.

“No. Well, I guess that is part of it,” Candace said. “You
have to have a thick skin in my job, Jameson. It’s true.”

“I don’t know how you do it.”

Candace laughed. “Mostly, it’s just a product of living,”
Candace told her. Jameson looked bewildered. “You grow up, you get married, you
work, you give birth to your children and you mourn your
parents
….I don’t know, you just learn along the
way that you have to be true to yourself. I’ve lived long enough to know that
some people will love me and some will loathe me. That’s life. I try to
concentrate on the ones in my life and not worry so much about the rest.”

“Yeah, but what about when they don’t approve?” Jameson asked
nervously.

Candace nodded. She knew that Jameson’s greatest anxieties
surrounded Candace’s children’s acceptance of her, and Jameson’s siblings’
acceptance of Candace. “In my experience, if they love you, they’ll find their
way to where you are. It just takes some people a little more time than others.
If they don’t? Well, sometimes you just have to accept that and move on.”
Candace watched tension etch Jameson’s features. “Relax,” she said. “You worry
too much about things you can’t control, sweetheart.”

They
had been discussing the impending arrival of their families on the way home.
That led to Jameson playfully calling Candace, Nana as they entered the
house.
 
“One title I will never earn!”
Jameson stuck out her tongue behind Candace’s back.

“Watch
it,” Candace warned. “You’ll be sleeping with Jinx.”

“Throwing
me to the pussy ca….” Jameson almost ran into
Candace,
who had stopped abruptly.

“Shell?”
Candace looked at her daughter who was fast asleep on the living room sofa.

“Shell?”
Jameson repeated in surprise. She put her hands on Candace’s shoulders and felt
the tension there. “I’m sure everything is okay,” she whispered in Candace’s
ear.

Candace
sighed and made her way to her daughter. “Shell,” she called gently.

Michelle
opened her eyes and immediately started crying. “Mom,” she sniffled and grabbed
onto her mother.

Candace
looked back at Jameson helplessly. Jameson sighed. “I’ll go start some coffee,”
she said softly. Candace nodded.

Jameson
made her way into the kitchen and started the coffee. She flopped into a chair
and sighed. Jinx hopped into her lap and Jameson chuckled. “This is about the
extent of my parenting skills,” she said. One of the things she admired most
about Candace was how she interacted with her children. It left her breathless
on many occasions, just listening to Candace talk on the phone with one of her
children. It wasn’t something she had ever shared with Candace. It was one of
those things that Jameson kept to herself and admired from a distance. It was
also one of the parts of Candace that Jameson was positive made her fall even
more deeply in love with the woman. It was interesting to Jameson; watching how
Marianne, Michelle, and Johan morphed from grown adults into small children in
their mother’s presence at times, each searching for her affection and approval.
She wondered how they could not realize that the sun rose and set in each of
them for their mother. Candace bragged about all of her children incessantly,
just like Pearl waffled on about Candace without even knowing it. Jameson
wondered if it was the same with her mother.

Jameson
was watching the slow drip of the coffee maker contemplating what she should
busy herself with when she heard Candace’s footsteps approaching. “She okay?”
Jameson asked.

Candace
let out a heavy sigh and Jameson got up and headed toward her. “It doesn’t get any
easier,” Candace said as she collapsed her head onto Jameson’s shoulder.

Jameson
held her close. “What happened?”

“I
don’t know.”

“She
didn’t tell you?”

Candace
sighed again. “She was too busy crying and apologizing for screwing up our
weekend. She didn’t think we would be here.”

“I
don’t get it,” Jameson admitted.

“I
don’t either,” Candace said with a shake of her head. “I think she just needed
to get away. Our conversation, or rather her crying was interrupted when I got
a message,” Candace said quietly.

“Don’t
tell me.”

Candace
pulled back and looked at Jameson apologetically. She cupped Jameson’s face in
her hands and smiled. “I’m not leaving. I do have to take a call in fifteen
minutes. I have no idea how long it will last.”

“Don’t
you get weekends off? I thought that was a perk,” Jameson tried to make light
of the sudden chaos in their romantic weekend.

“Not
when the president requests you, no.” Jameson’s eyes grew wide. Candace
couldn’t help but giggle. “We’re old friends. I’m not even
sure
what it is regarding,” Candace said,
pulling away from Jameson and taking a seat in one of the kitchen chairs.

“But,
you have some idea.”

Candace
groaned. “I do.”

“What
is it; secret squirrel stuff?” Jameson laughed. Candace grimaced. Jameson
sometimes did forget that Candace had knowledge of, and dealt with issues that
Jameson could not fathom. “That bad?”

“Nothing
you need to worry about,” Candace assured her lover. “And, I promise to make it
as short as I can.”

Jameson
nodded. She grabbed a large mug, poured in a dash of cream, and filled it with
coffee. She turned and handed it to Candace. “You might need this,” she said.

Candace
stood and accepted the offering with a quick kiss
on
Jameson’s lips. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“I’ll
hold you to that. Unless, of course, you are
too
tired from all the excitement, Nana.”

Candace
laughed. “Jameson, a twenty-five-year-old would need Geritol to keep up with
you.”

“I’ll
take that as a compliment.”

Candace
kissed Jameson on the cheek. “You should.” She started out of the kitchen and
stopped. “Will you…”

“I’ll
check on her in a few,” Jameson read her lover’s thoughts. Candace nodded with
a smile and took her leave.

***

“Hey, Shell,” Jameson wandered out
to the backyard where Michelle was lying in a lounge chair by the pool. Jameson
handed her
a beer
. “Thought you might
like one.”

Michelle
offered Jameson a halfhearted smile. “Thanks,” she said as Jameson flopped into
the chair beside her, taking a sip from her beer. “I’m really sorry J.D.”

“For?”
Jameson asked.

“Crashing
in on you guys. I thought Mom was still in D.C.”

Jameson
smiled. “Shell, this is your home. You don’t have to apologize for coming
home
. Not ever.” Michelle took a sip from her
beer and nodded silently. “Want to talk about it?” Jameson asked without
looking directly at the younger woman.

Michelle
took another long swig from her bottle. “Women suck.”

Jameson
laughed. “Sometimes, they really do,” she agreed. “Let me guess? Girl trouble.”

Michelle
sighed. “More like Shell is an idiot. Seriously, J.D., how can someone raised
by my mom be such a total pushover?”

“I’m
not sure I know how to answer that,” Jameson conceded. “But, I’m pretty sure
your mother would say when it comes to women, we are all a pushover at times.”

Shell
chuckled slightly. “I thought she loved me,” she said softly.

Jameson
turned her attention to Michelle. She was positive that Candace had no idea
Michelle was even seeing anyone. “Love, huh?”

“Yeah…I
know. Sounds crazy? Four months and I thought it was love.”

Jameson
laughed. “You do realize who you are talking to?”

“Okay,
point taken,” Michelle giggled.

“If you
don’t mind putting the backup lights on…”

“Lisa. Her
name is Lisa,” Michelle said.

“That’s
a start,” Jameson said. “And, how do you know Lisa?”

“We’ve
worked together for the last two years. She’s an art teacher,” Michelle
explained. “We were friends. It turned….well, it turned.” Jameson nodded her
understanding. “I thought this was it. I’m such a fucking moron.”

“I
doubt that
,”
Jameson assured Michelle.
“So? You two were dating?”

“Yeah.
Dating, sleeping together. I guess that’s where we took separate tracks.”

“You
lost me.”

“I
thought we were making love. She thought we were fucking.” Jameson
spit
out the sip of beer she had just taken.
Michelle couldn’t help but laugh. “I am of age, J.D.”

“Yes, I
know,” Jameson returned. “Okay, so different tracks. What happened?”

“Yeah….more
like different railroads. She was apparently making love to one of the science
teachers while she was fucking me.”

Jameson
was not accustomed to hearing Michelle swear like a sailor. She wondered what
Candace would say if she could
hear
Michelle now. Then again, she had heard Candace drop a string of ‘F’ bombs a
few times after a conference call. “Not good.”

“No.
Not at all.”

“Umm…and
the science teacher? Did she know about the two of you?” Jameson asked.

Michelle
let out a burst of caustic laughter. “Oh, he knew all right. I think he
encouraged it. Asshole.” For the second time in less than five
minutes,
Jameson lost the beer in her mouth
violently. Michelle giggled. “You are wasting that beer, J.D.,” she teased.

“No
shit, Shell,” Jameson rolled her eyes. “Are you telling me she was with this
douchebag
the whole time?”

It was
Michelle’s turn to spray beer through her nose. “Do you kiss my mother with
that mouth?” Jameson wiggled her eyebrows. “Don’t answer that,” Michelle held
up her hand. “I don’t want to know….at all.”