Author's note: I started this chapter in September 2022 and was hoping to have it completed and published sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas because most of it concerns a workplace holiday party. Alas, it was not to be. But I hope everyone reading this had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, nonetheless.
In previous chapters, I had been deliberately vague about how old Kay is and what year this story is set in. But as I continue to write this, I realize I'm going to have to be more specific. Also, sticklers for consistency will notice that although I had Melissa say she was 37 in the first two chapters, she is now 36 in this chapter. Again, I had to change this to make the story end the way I want it to.
There is a character from my previous story "An Unexpected Friendship" and references to the things that happened in that story. It's not necessary to have read that story first, but I'd recommend it. I would also like to say that you need to read the first two chapters of this story before reading this one. Chapter 3 is optional as it is a flashback and contains a major spoiler, but there are also characters from and references to the events of chapter 3 in this chapter.
Standard disclaimer: All explicit sexual activity described in this story is between consenting adults 18 and over.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER 4
December 2018
Melissa and I had been dating for about 10 weeks. Since we'd had sex within a half-hour of meeting each other, we decided that subsequent dates would be dedicated to getting to know each other and not necessarily ending up in bed together. And as far as the latter was concerned, all our overnight dates were at my apartment. Melissa was insistent that she wasn't going to introduce me to her daughter until she was sure of her feelings. Angelina was still traumatized from losing her dad—even though he was abusive towards them both—and Melissa didn't want to introduce someone new into her life only to have them leave. I was already catching feelings for Melissa and wanted to be closer to her, so I was disappointed. But as a mother myself, I understood.
Tonight, we were going to meet a couple of my friends to introduce them to Melissa. We had decided to meet at a neighborhood bar with decidedly casual vibes. I was dressed in a light peach knit pullover, a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. Melissa, however, didn't do casual except when filming her commercials, for which she wore lighter than normal makeup, a polo shirt with the logo of her dealership, and khakis to give herself a wholesome all-American girl-next-door look. Tonight, she was wearing a green satin dress with a black leather jacket on top, black silk stockings with lines running up the back, and black high-heeled pumps that made her stand two inches taller than me. I found Betsy and Dave and I directed Melissa to the table where they were sitting.
"Melissa, these are my two best friends, Betsy Garcia who I've known since we were roommates in our freshman year of college, and her boyfriend Dave Edwards."
Betsy was a Latina woman who was 5'4" and a bit on the heavy side with a slight pot belly and a big pear-shaped bottom, but still attractive. Dave was 6'1" and looked somewhere between what George Clooney and Peter Gallagher looked like in their forties, but with a paunchy gut and his salt-and-pepper hair trimmed down to stubble as it was thinning on top.
As we were taking our seats, Melissa took off her jacket and draped it on the back of the chair, exposing that her dress for the evening was sleeveless, as was usual for her since we first got together. Even though it was cold outside (at least by the standards of the Southwest), she still wanted to show off her tanned, toned arms, which she'd had to keep covered for four years while she was with her ex-husband, who would give her bruises while beating her.
She stared at Dave and said, "Dave Edwards. That name sounds so familiar. And I swear you remind me of someone I know."
I helped her out some. "Maybe it's because you've already met William Edwards and Justin Edwards, his two sons who live with me."
Her eyes went wide. "Oh, my God! You're Kay's ex-husband! And you're dating her best friend! Isn't that some kind of violation of the girl code?"
"Not when it was my idea that they get together," I said.
"What the hell?"
Betsy started speaking. "It's kind of a long story, but it's worth telling. Do you want to hear it?"
"Maybe after we order."
We hailed a server, and I ordered a pint of Dos Equis lager while Melissa asked for a glass of their finest pinot noir.
"Well, okay," said Betsy. "I have to ask you first. Do you remember that woman Karen Wright who was running for Congress earlier this year as a homophobic anti-immigrant culture-warrior Republican, only to be outed as having a lesbian affair with her undocumented housekeeper?"
"Oh, yeah! In fact, when the news broke, my cousin Kelly reminded me that she and her best friend Cameron told me all about her when I was just a freshman in college. They'd caught me making out with my girlfriend and told me about Karen to convince me to come out of the closet. I've never met her, but Cameron says she's awful and she got what was coming to her."
"She's not wrong about that. I had to see her quite a bit in my professional capacity when she was the mayor of the town I live in, and we couldn't stand each other. Anyway, the reason she got outed was because her daughter Christi and my daughter Maria had been friends since the start of senior year. And eventually it got to the point where they came out to each other and admitted that they were both secretly in love with each other and they decided to start dating. Here's some pictures of them at prom. Don't they look cute together?"
Betsy took out her phone and showed off pictures of a tall girl with a face and body like a Barbie doll with platinum blond hair down to the nape of her neck and wearing a white sequined strapless evening gown. Except for Melissa, I'd never seen anyone prettier. In every picture she was standing next to a girl about four or five inches shorter who was basically a younger version of Betsy but wearing glasses and with too much gel in her short hair, looking decidedly uncomfortable in a lavender satin dress with puffy sleeves that reached just short of her elbows. In one picture they were cheek to cheek. In another one, Maria was handing Christi a bouquet. And in the one Betsy said was her favorite because it looked almost like a wedding photo, Christi was wearing the prom queen's crown and sash and they were kissing each other on the mouth with their arms wrapped around each other.
"Being with Christi has really helped Maria's self-esteem. I mean, can you imagine spending most of your life thinking you were nothing special, and then finding out that the prettiest, most popular girl you know is crazy about you?"
I looked next to me at the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life, and I swear I could see little pink hearts in the pupils of Melissa's dazzling aquamarine eyes as she smiled and stared back at me. "I think I can relate," I said.
"Well, anyway," Betsy continued, "Karen was ashamed of her own lesbianism, and she couldn't take that her daughter was gay too, so she threw Christi out. And three days later, an explicit video of Karen and the housekeeper was mysteriously sent to all the local news outlets, which forced her to drop out of the race, so now our district is going to be represented by a Democrat for the first time in forty years."
"How did Christi get away with that?" Melissa asked.
"Who said it was Christi?"
