The Secret of You and Me - Melissa Lenhardt Page 0,107

toweled herself off, grabbed me by the hand and pulled me into her bedroom. “Are you inviting me to Charlie’s fund raiser?”

“Yes.” I pulled my maxidress over my head. Nora had unhooked my bra before the dress was off, and had started pushing my panties down.

“If you want me there, I’ll come.”

“Oh, I do.” We knelt on the bed in front of each other, our hands already exploring. “I want you here, there and everywhere.”

“Ditto.” She kissed the promise ring she gave me when we were seventeen years old.

twenty-nine

sophie

We couldn’t get enough of each other.

It wasn’t easy, but we saw each other every day. I’d skipped my AA meeting on Wednesday and met her in a hotel in Dripping Springs instead. I’d avoided Todd’s calls, texting instead that I was okay, no drinking, and that I’d told Logan. He told me to get my ass to a meeting and I promised to Saturday morning before the fund raiser. Thursday, I begged out of tennis, citing a recurring tennis elbow problem I hadn’t had in months, and went to her house, parking my car in her barn on the off-chance Charlie drove by. Friday, she’d driven out to Cooper’s to pick up dinner for my family, so we could spend the two hours I would have been on the road out near Comanche Springs. We parked on a secluded road and made love in the bed of Ray’s old truck, which Nora had taken to driving. Or tried to make love, at least.

“You’re a million miles away, here. What’s wrong?” Nora said.

I pressed my hand to my sweaty forehead and shook my head. “Nothing.”

Nora lay down next to me. Sunlight rippled back and forth across our bodies as the leaves above us danced in the wind. She lightly held my hand, the summertime heat too intense for extended skin-to-skin contact. “Come on, Soph. Spill it.”

“How do people sneak around like this all the time?” I said. “It’s stressful.”

“It’s easier in a city.”

“Right. You’re used to affairs with married women. Do you prefer married men, too? Or just women?”

“I don’t make a habit of sleeping with married men and women. Yeah, it happens sometimes. I don’t want to shock you, but people lie when they are out to get laid, and sneaking around to do it is easier in big cities.”

“Defensive much?”

“Tell me, are you accusing me of being a slut, or of being immoral? Or maybe it’s both.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Or maybe you’re just jealous that I’ve had multiple partners and you haven’t.”

I grimaced and looked away. That was exactly it, and of course Nora had seen through me. She’d always been able to.

Nora held my hand. “That was cruel of me. I’m sorry I snapped at you. But, we don’t have much time together and we don’t need to be fighting over petty stuff like this. We can’t change the past, we can only cherish the time we have now, and look forward.”

“I know you’re right, but I dread you leaving so much, and it makes me lash out.” I put my head on her shoulder.

“Come with me.”

“You know I can’t.”

“I know, but I keep asking, hoping the answer will change.”

I swallowed. “If I left Charlie now, would you stay?”

She stared at me for a long moment, the conflict clear in her eyes.

“You don’t have to come out when you leave him.”

“If you stay I will.”

“I’m not giving up my career.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m sure translators work from home.”

“I’m not that kind of translator.”

“Technical manuals require your presence in a particular office.”

“I work for the fucking government, okay?”

My mouth dropped open. “The government?”

Nora looked at the woods surrounding us, in frustration? Or was she searching for eavesdroppers?

“I can’t tell you what I do, but it’s not technical manuals.”

“Oh.” So much for that dream. Nora had always been a rule follower (well, for the most part), and was responsible to a fault. She’d always been as good as her word, and I imagined being in the military had only sharpened that part of her personality. I couldn’t compete with Nora’s sense of duty.

Nora straddled my lap. “Sophie, listen. I’ve been thinking about your problem, a lot.”

“My problem? Isn’t being together our problem?”

Nora sighed. “Will you please listen? I’ve been trying to figure out how we can both get what we want.”

“What exactly do you want, Nora? Your life, uninterrupted?”

“You separate from Charlie for the standard, boring reasons people get divorced, irreconcilable differences or whatever. People will ask questions, but will