Radclyffe - Crossroads

“Hollis?” Annie said softly. “Something wrong?”

Hollis gave a start and realized she’d slowed until she was barely moving. She shook her head, feeling her face warm. “No, I’m really sorry. My mind wandered there for a minute.”

“I understand. Mine does that a lot lately.” Annie grinned ruefully. “Guess that’s going around too.”

“Well, I promise to stay focused the rest of the night.” Hollis quickly squeezed Annie’s hand but didn’t try to hold it. Annie would have to declare the limits first. But she let go of her anger—Annie didn’t need her anger. Annie probably didn’t need her to fix anything at all, although that was her default setting. It’s all she knew how to do—the only safe thing she could do. “Forgiven?”

“Of course.” Annie reached as if to touch her cheek and then let her hand drop. “You’re allowed one lapse an evening.”

Hollis wanted to grab her hand and tug her close. She wanted to kiss the smile that lingered on Annie’s mouth. “Noted.”

Callie skipped a few feet ahead. “Is it dinner soon?”

“You bet it is.” Laughing, Hollis hustled to the door and held it open for Annie and Callie. She followed them inside and a hostess came forward to greet them.

“No takeout tonight?” The busty twentysomething brunette in a low-cut white ruffled blouse smiled brightly, her dark-eyed gaze glancing briefly over Annie and Callie and settling on Hollis.

“Not tonight.” Hollis stopped by at least once a week to grab a quick takeout dinner, and the brunette— Kristi, with an i , as she’d reminded Hollis on several occasions—was very friendly.

Kristi leaned down and smiled at Callie. “Hi there. That’s a great coloring book you’ve got.”

“It was a present.”

“Well, it’s super. Have fun while you’re waiting for dinner.” She straightened and smiled at Annie before turning pointedly to Hollis. Her mouth lifted flirtatiously. “She’s adorable. Yours?”

Hollis glanced at Annie. “Ah—”

Annie leaned toward Hollis until their shoulders nearly touched. “All ours.”

“Well,” Kristi said, her expression midway between surprised and disbelieving, “let me show you to a table.”

Wending between the tables in Kristi’s wake, Hollis murmured, “Ours?”

“I don’t know what came over me,” Annie muttered, looking straight ahead.

Hollis laughed, pleased. Kristi took them to a booth at a window overlooking the canal that ran through Manayunk, a one-time blue-collar area that had benefited from urban revitalization and now hosted chic restaurants and eclectic stores cheek by jowl with neighborhood bars and coffee shops—the kind with long Formica counters and heavy white ceramic mugs, not the Italian espresso machine types.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Kristi said with one last smile for Hollis as she set the menus in the center of the table.

“I imagine you get that a lot,” Annie said, accepting the menu Hollis held out for her.

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

Annie laughed softly. “I’m sure you haven’t. Any recommendations?”

“Everything’s good. Want to start with nachos?”

“Great idea. You’ll like these, Cal.”

“Okay.” Callie knelt on the seat next to Annie, her coloring book open in front of her and her crayons splayed out beside her plate. She busily colored while Hollis and Annie made small talk. The wait for dinner was comfortable, the conversation light and completely non-work related. Annie asked Hollis about her renovation plans, and when Hollis realized she was monopolizing the conversation she asked Annie what she did for fun.

Annie stroked Callie’s hair. “You’re looking at it. We’ve got after-school events and swimming lessons and—”

“Don’t forget the zoo,” Callie said, pausing in the midst of coloring.

“The zoo…often,” Annie said.

“Sounds like you’re pretty busy.” Hollis noted the absence of any mention of a girlfriend. Welcome news. She also noted Annie seemed to take very little time for herself—her life seemed to be about her patients and her daughter. But then, neither did she, and she didn’t even have a kid to spend time with. She was all about work. Maybe that ought to change. The thought made her uneasy, and excited in a way she hadn’t been since before Rob…since before her family was torn apart and her girlfriend decided she wasn’t any longer. “Okay—tell me one thing you like to do that no one knows.”

Annie stared at her. “That’s rather personal.” Her eyes were dancing, as if daring Hollis to push a little.

“I know.”

“Hmm,” Annie said, tracing the tip of her finger over her lower lip.

Hollis’s breath stopped in her chest.

“I am completely addicted to…”

“Oh, come on,” Hollis groaned.

Annie laughed. “ Sons of Anarchy. I tape every show.”

Hollis laughed. Annie was always surprising her. “A secret biker babe, huh? What do you ride?”

“Nothing.” Annie glanced out the window, her gaze growing distant.

“Is that not allowed? By the church, I mean?”

Annie shook her head. “No. Some communities are very progressive about machinery use—especially farm equipment. Motorcycles too. I’ve heard of churches that even have motorcycle groups who worship and ride together.” She glanced at Callie, pain flickering in her eyes. “But that would be for the men. Some wives ride along, I imagine.”

“Well, you don’t strike me as the type who’d be happy being a passenger anyhow.”

Annie turned from the window and regarded Hollis. “Is that what you think? That I like to be in charge?”

“Not that so much,” Hollis said, taking another chance and wondering if she was about to push another hot button. “But I think you’d be happier making your own choices.”

“Well, you’re right there.” Annie took a short, fast breath. “I’d rather be driving.”

“So,” Hollis said, treading carefully. “I happen to have a sweet Harley Street Glide, and I’d be happy to teach you how to ride it.”

Annie’s eyes widened. “Really? Really!”

Hollis laughed, her heart soaring on the wings of Annie’s smile. “Sure. It’s not hard to learn. We’ll find an empty parking lot and I’ll teach you.”

“I don’t know,” Annie said, glancing at Callie, frown lines forming between her brows.

“And the first thing will be a safety lesson.” Hollis reached across the table and took Annie’s hand. “Hey. I wouldn’t take any chances with you. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t let you go out unless I was certain you’d be all right.”

Annie searched Hollis’s face as if looking for what lay beneath. Hollis hoped she couldn’t read the picture that had just popped into her head of Annie—her neck arched, her eyes closed in surrender—or sense the fierce urge she had to see that nothing and no one ever hurt her again. She took her hand away before her trembling betrayed her. “What do you say?”

“Yes.” Annie nodded, certainty erasing the tiny lines in her forehead. “Yes. When?”

“Whenever you want.”

“Good.” Annie nodded. “And then I want leather pants.”

Hollis choked on a mouthful of salsa and grabbed for her water. She gulped down half while struggling to erase the image of Annie in tight leathers straddling her. Not working. Sweat popped on her forehead. Every muscle in her body seized, some of them transmitting extremely pleasurable and highly ill-timed messages.

“Are you all right?” Annie asked.

“Fine,” Hollis wheezed. She wiped her face with the corner of her napkin and forced a smile. “Sorry. Hot—the salsa. You’re serious—you really do want to be a biker babe.”