Dana rushed into the bookstore as she glanced at her watch, groaning as she realized she had a little less than two hours to buy the book she needed, go home and change, then meet her date. She didn't dare be late tonight. She'd finally scored a date with Rita, this incredibly hot woman who hung out at the same lesbian nightclub that she did. Dana would swear that, every night she was at the club, women were at least three deep at the bar trying to get Rita's attention. And Rita knew it.
Dana's date tonight stood about 5' 10", had a slim, athletic build, long, straight silky black hair and a light olive complexion. Rita was a classic Italian beauty and just oozed sex appeal. Dana was still in shock that Rita had even noticed her the other night. Oh, Dana knew she was pretty, but not a knock out, not like Rita. She was average height with thick, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Dana wasn't model thin, but considered herself slim and curvy.
She'd sat at the bar for hours the other night, watching Rita flick off potential dates like she was flicking lint off her sleeve. When Rita had turned her way, then offered to buy her a drink, Dana damn near fell of the bar stool. Seizing the opportunity of a lifetime, she started flirting with Rita, who seemed happy to flirt back, and Dana had scored tonight's date.
Now, her big problem was what would happen when the date wound its way back to one of their apartments. Dana was no novice, but she wasn't the Don Juan of the lesbian world, either. Deep down, she was terrified of not being able to keep Rita's attention in bed tonight, and then this would end up being their one and only date.
Sitting in rush hour traffic, her mind had created ever worse case scenario known to man. Panicking, she'd decided to seek help from the one thing that never let her down, books. So she'd made a last minute dash to her favorite bookstore, The Written Word. Luckily, the store was only ten minutes from her apartment.
Now she tore through the store, making a beeline for the adult books section. Once there, she started skimming the titles, plucking books off the shelf as she spotted those that seemed to meet her needs.
Within minutes, she had an armful of books and started flipping through them, speed-reading the back covers where they always printed the summaries. Juggling books, flipping them at an increasingly fast speed, it wasn't long before she lost control and they went tumbling to the floor.
Dana winced at the sound of books crashing, and quickly bent to pick them up. Suddenly, a hand appeared in her line of vision and Dana's head whipped up, her cheeks beginning to burn with embarrassment. Fear quickly added itself to the mix when she saw who was helping her.
Karen began gathering books, and didn't notice the look of horror that was spreading across Dana's face. The Written Word was her store, and she made a habit of getting to know her regulars. About ten minutes ago, she had been stocking books on the far side of the store, when she looked up to see Dana rushing in. Dana was one of her best customers, frequenting Karen's store at least once a week. Sometimes she bought just one book, other times she'd leave with bags bulging full. Karen would sometimes stop to chat with her whenever Dana came in. Karen believed that adding a personal touch was one of the things that kept her regulars returning to her store.
She'd noticed that Dana seemed to be in quite a rush, so she had hesitated from walking over to say hi, but when she heard the books fall, she hurried over to offer her assistance. Scooping up books, Karen's mind began to register some of the titles: "100 Ways to Drive a Woman Wild in Bed" and "The Lesbian's Guide to Better Sex". Looking up, Karen saw Dana's face was tight with embarrassment and tension. Not wanting to upset one of her best customers, Karen quickly handed the books back to Dana, careful to act as if she hadn't noticed the titles.
Dana accepted the books Karen handed her, returned Karen's smile with a weak one of her own, then muttered a "thank you" as Karen backed out of the aisle. God, she wanted to die! Karen was the storeowner and always went out of her way to say hello, or to talk for a few minutes. That's one of the things Dana always appreciated about the little store. It was about a quarter of the size of the big chains, but Dana enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and thought their selection was very well rounded. Dana didn't advertise, though, that she was a lesbian. People never guessed that about her unless she came straight out and admitted it. Karen had just played things very cool, pretending she hadn't noticed what kind of books Dana had, but Dana had caught her eyes skimming the titles. Dana was in her early thirties and judged Karen to be about ten years older. Because she was older, Dana wasn't sure how open-minded Karen was about sexuality, so she'd always been careful not to say, or do, anything that would tip Karen off about her.
But now the cat was out of the bag, and Dana felt like sinking right into the carpet and disappearing. Picking out two books that seemed to fit her needs, Dana headed to the cash register, silently hoping that today's events wouldn't effect how Karen treated her in the future.
Karen watched the slim brunette pay for her books, then rush back out the door, and noticed that Dana had kept her head down the whole way to the register and on her way out. She felt like kicking herself. She always thought of Dana as incredibly sweet and very intelligent. Karen often found herself wishing Dana would stop in, just so she could talk to her for a bit. Dana had a fantastic sense of humor, and was quick with a joke, or sarcastic quip that never failed to make her laugh. She never would have guessed that Dana was gay, but it really didn't bother her that she was. Besides, Karen knew she had no room to talk, since she'd spent the majority of her college years involved with another woman. Her senior year, the girl had dumped her cold, and she'd sworn never to get involved with another woman again. Instead, she had started dating several guys from the fraternities and eventually had ended up marrying one of them. Twenty years later, she was divorced, her son and daughter both away at college, and a small business owner. Karen had received a very nice divorce settlement, and she and her ex-husband had agreed to put enough money in a separate account specifically to pay for their children's education, but Karen wasn't well off enough to be able to afford scaring away customers, especially ones as loyal as Dana. Not to mention she truly liked the woman.
Karen sighed and returned to her stock work. Silently she vowed, next time Dana came in, to apologize and make clear to Dana that she wasn't one to judge others. Satisfied with her plan, Karen went back to work.
##
Three weeks later, Dana sat in her car in the bookstore's parking lot. Thanks to her books, and her own experience, that first night with Rita had gone quite well. The problem turned out to be that, out of bed, Rita was a diva and a complete bore. It had taken a week for Dana to figure that out, another week trying to ignore those facts because she really enjoyed the sex, then a third week to work her way around to breaking things off, which she had finally done last night.
She'd avoided the store this entire time, partly because she was embarrassed about the other day, and partly because she'd been too busy getting laid. This morning she'd gone looking for a good book to read, and realized she didn't have anything. She'd driven to the small bookstore automatically. Now that she was here, she suddenly felt unsure about going in. Dana was afraid that things were going to be awkward now. Well, she'd never know for sure if she didn't get out of the car. Sucking up some courage, Dana climbed out of her new G6 and headed for the store.
Saturday was always her busiest day, and Karen stood at the register, she and Chelsea passing each other every few minutes as they bustled around, checking out customers and bagging books. Karen only had two employees, Tim and Chelsea, who were both local college students. They both worked part-time, and Karen usually staggered their days, but on Saturday she always brought both of them in to work the registers. Tim was taking his break, so Karen was covering the counter until he returned. Hearing the tinkling of bells that signaled the arrival of a new customer, Karen looked up just in time to see Dana walk in, and wished Tim would hurry back.
Dana took a few steps inside and stopped, scanning the store for Karen. She'd almost turned in a complete 180, when she saw Karen working the register. She thought she saw Karen flash her a quick smile, but wasn't sure, because Karen had already turned her attention to the next person in line. Feeling slightly disappointed, Dana decided to go hunt for a good book.
Fifteen minutes later, Tim reappeared at the counter, and Karen hastily turned the register back over to him, in a hurry to catch Dana before she checked out, or just left. She'd kept one eye on Dana while she worked, tracking her as she wandered around the store. Dana had worked her way to the far, back corner, and Karen felt relief wash through her. She might have a chance to talk to her with a relative amount of privacy.
Dana was so engrossed in searching for a book, that it took a moment for her to realize that Karen was quietly standing only an arm's length away. Taken by surprise, she felt herself jump just a little.
Karen frowned at Dana's reaction, becoming upset with herself because she was the cause of Dana's skittishness. "Listen, I'm so very sorry about the other day," she blurted out. When Dana just stared at her, she rushed on. "I'm the last person who would ever judge you, and I'm not just trying to hold on to a customer. I think you're a wonderful, intelligent young woman and I feel horrible thinking you don't feel comfortable around me anymore. I'd love to see you continue shopping here, for obvious reasons, but also because I really enjoy our chats." Karen stopped to take a breath, everything she'd just said having come out all in one breath.
Dana found herself releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and found her heart melting a little at Karen's sincere, and desperate, speech. She never knew that Karen enjoyed talking to her so much, and felt herself warming up to the older woman. Actually, she'd always enjoyed checking Karen out from a respectful distance. Dana never knew exactly what it was, but she always found older women kind of sexy. To her, many of them seemed to have a kind of innate grace and inner confidence to them that she found very appealing. It was Dana's impression that Karen had those qualities in spades. Studying her, Dana finally noticed that Karen had cut her hair. Before, she'd worn it in a shoulder length bob, which Dana thought did nothing for her. Now, though, Karen's auburn hair was cut short, in a classic style, and Dana noticed that Karen looked so much better with it. It seemed to make her high cheekbones and hazel eyes more obvious.
"Stop," Dana ordered herself. Now was not the time to be checking her out, and Dana forced her eyes to meet Karen's, instead of working their way down Karen's impressive figure. She found Karen nervously watching her, and Dana berated herself for forcing Karen to wait on pins and needles for her response.
"It's ok, Karen. I really love your store and was afraid I wouldn't be welcomed here after the other day. After you…"
