Beth commented, "I'll wear one."
The ladies pointed and made noises.
Amanda completely serious said, "But your dating our friend Sam."
Sam was playing pool with a friend she knew; this friend's girlfriend was watching the two play.
Beth being completely serious said, "It's not cheating if Sam plays too."
First looks, then an awkward silence, and everyone felt very uncomfortable.
Everyone who knew Amanda; knew she would be against a threesome. Amanda was a one time at a girl type who only had sex when she loved someone. The reason she was against cheating was because her Mom cheated on her Dad; she would never forget how much this hurt her Dad. Amanda was forever grateful she chose to live with her Dad instead of her Mom. A tough moment for her was when her Dad blamed himself for Amanda being a lesbian. There were times when she was still trying to convince him it was no ones fault it was just the way she was. She gave him credit he: never treated Amanda poorly, nor rejected her, and overall treated all her girlfriends respectfully. Amanda felt he treated her partners similar to the way he treated her Sister-in-law or her brother's girlfriends. She become angry with him when he suggested her last girlfriend was horrible for her. In hind sight he was correct. This relationship was so painful it was the reason Amanda was still uninterested in dating anyone.
Amanda was ready to walk out but her friend Stacy reached down and grabbed her leg.
Stacy defended Amanda by saying, "You know Amanda wouldn't be into that." And added, "I'm sure Sam isn't into it either."
They all looked over at Sam. Any woman who knew Sam would have never picked a fight with her. She was a very caring partner, but underneath this a Momma Grizzly was ready to charge.
Sam noticed everyone looking at her and yelled, "What?"
Beth decided the best thing was to leave the table and be by her side. Everyone at the table cringed when they kissed one another.
Kim looked over at Amanda, "Don't you say anything."
Amanda asked, "Why not?"
Stacy said, "If Sam doesn't figure it out in a couple weeks I'll talk to her."
All of the ladies felt better when Stacy said this.
Debbie stood up and snuggled up to her, "Maybe we'll take her out for dinner."
Kim advanced the idea, "It might be a good idea to be in a public place."
They all agreed with Kim's suggestion.
Amanda stayed for another half hour. She wanted to leave right away but felt this would have been tacky. She was grateful she stayed the extra half hour but was happy she excused herself before they all went to the next bar.
* * *
Amanda lived in a rural community of Wisconsin. She liked living on the border of complete pine forest. But was close enough to easily reach civilization. Besides Amanda there were only two out lesbians in town; they were older and had been together since the mid eighties. Because of her job and because of Wisconsin winters she owned a pick-up-truck. She wisely chose a longer bed than having an extended cab, but the cab was roomy. She often used this vehicle to maintain her large property. One of the reasons she liked living out in the boonies was because she could afford a big house and many acres. In the city the same house and property would have been triple the price. It helped knowing so people in the trades, construction business, and distributors. She was able to get everything she needed to build or maintain her house at discounted prices. She learned how to barter and seek out deals from both her older brother and her Dad. A brother who no longer worked construction but was selling real estate.
Amanda was grateful she dropped out of college and went to work for her Dad. She was making more money than most of her friends and wasn't living under heavy college debt. She was no longer involved in a lot of physical demanding work; she did if she needed too. She was known for being one of the best inspectors in the State and one of the best leads on any construction sight. Amanda was very proud off this. She correctly believed if she was cornered and in real trouble more than one of the other men on site would have backed her up. She had a reputation of taking care of herself. A legendary story was when she "accidentally" nailed an aggressive guy's foot to a wooden floor. There were many stories of her standing up to some of the toughest men. She correctly believed they backed down because they respected her. A moment that touched her heart. An employee who was: quiet, worked hard, knew more than he ever said, was intense, burly, never once mentioned anything about his personal life, spoke very little; approached Amanda and abruptly suggested she should date his sister. Without waiting for a response went back to work. You just had to know the guy to understand why this touched Amanda's heart.
While driving home she thought about Lily. She was one of those friends who seemed to never make a lot of money. This never mattered until her husband Brian died in a car accident. Lily tried to keep the house after he passed away by: teaching piano, selling some of her jewelry, being a singer in a local jazz cover band, singing in the Milwaukee Symphony, and by working part time at a local gas station. This didn't cover the house payment and other bills. Amanda was the one who suggested Lily move in to get caught up on her bills. As long as Lilly: worked, helped out around the house, and always tried; Amanda would never kick her out of the house. Their next goal was for Lilly to purchase a new vehicle; one that wasn't breaking down all the time. Lilly was smart enough to understand if Amanda found a steady girlfriend she was the odd person out, but this was fine with both of them. Amanda was feeling Lilly was getting back on her feet and would move out in a few months.
Amanda thought about what her friends said about Lilly. Amanda being honest with herself did acknowledge she was attracted to her, but she would never fall for a straight woman again. While attending college Amanda fell for a straight woman. It was a roller coaster ride she never cared to experience again. She did acknowledge two of the last three women she had a serious relationship with had similar traits as Lilly.
Amanda had to slam on her breaks. She took a couple deep breaths as three deer ran across the road. She looked both ways before proceeding to her house. It was ten minutes from this spot.
She pulled into her driveway. This driveway was a quarter of a mile long, It headed right for a short distance, made a wide upward curve, and back to the house. While driving up to her house she noticed the kitchen light was on and the security lights around the house were off. The kitchen was in the back of the two story house adjacent to the dinning room. On this side of the house were tall heavy duty windows and two sliding doors. These were in front of the large deck. Amanda felt it was odd to have this light on without the security lights on.
Their practice at night was to leave the living room light on and leave the outside security lights on. With it being so late and the security lights off this really concerned her. While driving up to the garage she noticed a strange car parked in front of the garage. This is when she turned off the lights of her truck. She drove slowly using the moon and her knowledge of the driveway; she pulled off to the right of the driveway. She hid the truck behind a few trees she planted herself. She was about fifteen yards from the garage door. She quickly reached underneath her drivers seat and pulled out a semi-automatic hand gun; she quickly unwrapped the holster and removed the gun.
She checked to make sure it was loaded and the safety was on. She holstered the gun around her waist. She stepped out of her pick-up-truck keeping the door open. She reached behind her seat and pulled out an M-1 rifle. Her Great Granddad used this rifle in WW2. This was the gun she learned how to hunt with. The gun was fully restored and on top of the gun was a scope. She leaned it up against the truck. She reached back into the truck: removed a mag-light flashlight from off the dash and reached in and grabbed a pair of binoculars from out of the glove box. She carefully shut the door. She wished she would have worn cargo pants instead of tights; she would have slipped the flashlight into one of the pockets.
She decided to place it between the holster strap and her body. She knew: her property, how far the lights from the kitchen reached into the back yard, how far her M-1 could shoot, and hoped if there was an intruder she would get a clean shot; the least thing she wanted was to shoot Lilly. She stepped over to the edge of her mowed grass and the line of trees surrounding her property. She followed this to the back of the house. As she made it around the house she was glancing at the dinning room, kitchen, and was glancing at all the back windows of this two story house. Only the kitchen lights were on.
Two acres of the back property were consistently mowed. She had: planted numerous trees, put in a bird bath, had more than one bird feeder, a large rhubarb plant, a lilac bush, and a small garden in the corner of the lot. The deck behind the house was shaped like a laying down smaller case "d"; it was from one end to the other. If facing the back of the house, the widest and most elaborate part of the deck was on the right side; this was where the kitchen and dinning room where. All along the outside of this deck was a tall railing except the three spots where stairs were. The widest set of stairs were in the center, a medium sized set was off to the right just at the beginning of the bulge, and a short set was on the left side just at the end of the deck. Along the deck were flower pots, flower beds, and outdoor decorations. Currently all of the outside furniture was neatly set to the left of the windows. The right half of the house where the dinning room started is where the tall windows started and the two sliding sliding glass doors where.
Amanda made her way across her property. She made sure she was unseen by someone on the second floor or someone in the kitchen or dinning room. As she made her way across she noticed no one was in the kitchen. She disliked this. What she noticed was, a few of the tall windows were opened, and one of the sliding doors was open; the screen was shut. She noticed the hallway light was turned on; there was a hallway between the kitchen and the living room. In this hallway was a half bath and a linen closet. She carefully picked a spot. She removed her flashlight and binoculars and set them on the ground. She herself laid down on the ground, and looked through her scope. She set the scope to where the hallway was. She was steady and waited; it would only take her a few moments to set the bolt action and fire.
What caught her off guard was Lilly singing loudly in Latin. The only time she did this was when she was practicing for the symphony.
She gasped when Lilly stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway.
She watched a topless Lilly open the linen closet and take out a shower towel. She was: wearing an old pair of light blue bootcut jeans, was without shoes, and was without makeup. She shut the door to the linen closet and headed into the kitchen. She stepped over to where the sink was. She: laid down the towel onto the floor, stepped onto the towel, grabbed a large plastic cup off the counter behind her, and seemed to take a long drink. Amanda was grateful she picked this spot. At the angle she was at; she was gazing at Lilly from a right front angle. The island in front of the long counter was just out of the way and the small kitchen table was closer to the windows. Lilly looked inside of the cup. She shrugged her shoulders, walked over to the refrigerator, opened it, removed an orange pitcher, and pored the contents from the pitcher into the cup. She placed the pitcher back into the refrigerator and closed the door. She stepped back onto the towel and set the cup back onto the counter. She picked up her cell phone and started to look down at it. While doing all of this she continued to sing; when her hands were not busy she was waving her arms to the song she was singing.
