Gerri Hill - Pelican's Landing

“Follow me,” Annie said.

Jordan rubbed her face with both hands. Jesus…God…Annie told her? She stumbled into the kitchen and pulled down the twenty-year-old bottle of scotch she’d been saving for a special occasion. She’d dropped a hundred and fifty bucks for the Glenlivet, but it was without ceremony that she opened it now. Her hand trembled slightly as she poured a small amount into a glass. She barely took the time to savor the aroma of the liquid gold before drinking it.

“She kissed me in front of my mother,” she whispered to the empty room.

She poured another splash into the glass, then closed the bottle. She heard their voices and turned as they came into the kitchen. Her mother’s eyebrows rose.

“Kinda early for scotch, isn’t it?”

“I…umm…no. No.”

Her mother came closer and hugged her, then kissed her quickly on the cheek. “I love you, Jordan.” She pulled away and looked at Annie. “Don’t forget…dinner on Sunday.”

“We’ll be there.”

Jordan watched as her mother hugged and kissed Annie as well, then left with a wave of her hand. Jordan set her glass down, her mind spinning.

“I adore your mother,” Annie said.

Jordan blinked several times. “So…she knows?”

Annie smiled. “Yes, she knows.”

“Did she freak out?”

“No. In fact, she already knew. I didn’t have to tell her.”

Jordan’s eyes widened. “How?”

Annie shrugged. “Mother’s intuition, maybe. Doesn’t matter. We had a nice talk. I told her…well, I told her about that night with Matt. And then we had a good cry.”

Jordan ran her hand through her hair. “I can’t believe my mother knows.” She glanced at Annie. “Old habit…but I don’t normally expose my personal life to my mother.”

Annie walked over to her, close enough for their bodies to touch. She met her eyes, then leaned closer and kissed her. “Your mother loves you, Jordan. No matter what. I didn’t see the point in lying to her.”

Jordan pulled Annie closer, relishing the embrace. “No, you’re right.” She kissed Annie gently. “But are you okay with her knowing? I mean—”

“I’m okay with her knowing.” Annie pulled out of her arms. “This is all new to me, Jordan. But I don’t feel I want to hide it. Do you?”

“What about your mother?” she asked.

Annie smiled quickly. “Now that’ll be fun,” she said sarcastically. “Can you see it?”

“She’ll hate me.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I hate to tell you this, but I think she already does.”

Jordan stared at her. Sweetheart . Had she ever been called “sweetheart” before?

“What?”

Jordan smiled. “Nothing.”

“Okay. So do you want to see what all we bought?”

“Sure.”

Annie wiggled her eyebrows. “I’ll model for you.”

Jordan grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, kissing her. “Then you won’t get past the first outfit.”

Annie looped her arms around Jordan’s neck, their kisses no longer gentle. “I’ll let you help me dress.”

Jordan smiled against her lips. “How about I help you undress?”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“So you’re really leaving, boss?”

Jordan nodded. “Yeah. You know, I do have a real job.”

Brandon wiped the blond hair off his forehead. “Gonna be kinda strange here without you.”

“I’m trusting you to handle things,” she said. “I will be back, you know.”

“Annie’s gonna be here though, right?”

“She’ll be working part-time this fall. Come January, well, her baby is due then. She’s also got student teaching lined up. So when she’s not here, you’re in charge.”

Brandon lowered his voice. “I don’t think your dad likes me.”

Jordan laughed. “He thinks you’re a hippie.”

“A hippie? Really?” He laughed. “Cool.”

“Just…don’t do anything too crazy,” she said. “I don’t know when I can come back. I’ve got to get somebody else in here by January.”

“You can trust me.”

“I know.”

She sat down behind the desk when he left. The office felt empty without Annie there. Jordan wondered how her first day back at school was going. She knew Annie didn’t want to go, but she was so close to finishing, Jordan had told her the semester would fly by. But would it? Or would it crawl by?

She couldn’t believe the summer was over, couldn’t believe she’d be leaving in four days. The last two weeks had been a blur. She and Annie had tried to cram as much time together as possible. Other than dinner with her parents the one night, they’d spent every evening at home, sharing cooking duties and sharing stories. It was so easy being with Annie. They could talk for hours, like friends did. And they could make love for hours, like lovers did. There were never any awkward moments between them. It was too easy. How could she not fall in love?

Yet, Chicago was calling. Summer fun was over, and it was time to get back to her real life. She tried to tell herself that being apart from Annie would be good for both of them. Being in a relationship with another woman—it was all new to Annie. Separated, maybe Annie would take the time to fully evaluate it and decide if this is truly what she wanted out of life.

Jordan felt a tightness in her chest, a slight pain in her heart. What if Annie decided just that? That this wasn’t what she wanted. What if she couldn’t live with the thought of her mother finding out? Or what if with her being away, these feelings fled? What if—

“Stop it,” she told herself.

She could go on for hours with “what-ifs” and it would solve absolutely nothing. She was leaving. She had accepted that. So had Annie, despite her tears.

She was leaving.

Chapter Forty

Annie wiped at her tears, standing in the driveway long after Jordan’s SUV had faded from view. She’d told herself she would not cry. At least, not in front of Jordan. But she felt like her heart was breaking, and she let her tears flow at will now.

“It’ll be okay,” Jordan had whispered.

“No. No, it won’t be.”

“I’m a phone call away.”

Another hug…another desperate kiss…and Jordan was gone.

She looked down the lonely driveway. Yes, Jordan was gone. Oh, she promised she’d be back and Annie believed her. Didn’t she?

Yes, of course she did. They’d made love with such abandon last night, as if Jordan was trying to imprint her touch on Annie’s body. Jordan had loved her so thoroughly that Annie had been in a state of pure bliss by the time they had finally given in to sleep.

Being with Jordan was so different than Derrick, than Matt. Jordan was soft where they were hard. Jordan was slow where they were quick. Jordan was gentle where they were rough. And even though it could be slow and gentle, that didn’t mean it wasn’t intense and passionate too. It was.

So, yes, surely Jordan was coming back.

Annie felt a small smile tugging at her lips. She remembered Jordan kissing her belly—kissing the baby—telling him that she’d be back soon. Real soon.

But what was soon? A couple of weeks? A month? Two or three months? Her smile faded at that thought. Could she make it for two or three months without her? Again, that nagging thought that Jordan would disappear—that she would stay away like she used to do—was lingering in her mind.

“I love her.”

Then why didn’t you tell her?

Because she was afraid to, that’s why. And without Jordan here, it almost seemed like a dream—this crazy, crazy summer. A glorious, delicious dream…but still only a dream. Did she really get pregnant? Did she really fall in love with a woman?