The sixteen quarters of Victoria's college years had passed quickly by. She soon held a Bachelor's Degree in Education and had no idea where she wanted to work. Ever supportive Lola, her wife of two years, decided that there was only one way to settle the debate.
"A pin?" Victoria asked, her mousey-brown eyebrows knitting together in a sudden moment of confusion. "You're joking." She was lying on her naked stomach, on top of Lola, their full breasts pressed together, in their Bellingham condo.
Lola shrugged. "Come on. We have a map of Washington State from our road trip to Wenatchee last summer."
Victoria sighed. "My apple phase got completely out of hand. I'm still apologizing for that..."
Lola smiled, leaning down to kiss her wife. "Come on. It's fine. Now get that little ass over there and take one of those pins and prick the shit out of a part of the map."
"You make it sound so easy..."
"That's because I neglected the most important rule of keeping your eyes closed," Lola replied.
Victoria nodded, heaving herself off of the bed and crossing the room towards the map. Cocking her head to one side, she reached out, selecting a pin with a red ball on one end. Shutting her eyes, she reached out, spinning three times for good measure, and stopping when Lola informed her that the map was directly in front of her again. Reaching out, she felt the pin stab something, and she opened her eyes.
"Where'd you prick?" Lola asked.
Victoria narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the microscopic writing on the map. "Port Townsend," she replied, shaking her head. "It's on the Olympic Peninsula. It's not so far from Forks."
"Hey, maybe we'll end up meeting some vampires," Lola joked as Victoria got onto their laptop positioned dead center on their cherry wood desk against that wall. Typing in "Port Townsend, Washington schools" into Google, she was presented with the following:
1. Port Townsend High School
2. Blue Heron Middle School
3. Grant Street School
4. Swan School
5. Jefferson Community School
"The last two are private schools," said Victoria. "I'm not about to do some extra schooling, not now. Grant Street School seems to be the elementary school there." She entered "Port Townsend" into the search box before clicking enter, and then clicked "Google Images". "It's a Victorian town," she said eagerly as Lola came and stood beside her.
"Wow. It's gorgeous. Maybe see what Wikipedia says about it..."
"Wow," she breathed. "Less than ten thousand people," Victoria said. She found the number for her academic advisor, Ms. Curtis, who told her to call if she had any questions. "Ms. Curtis? Hi, it's Victoria Collins. Yeah, I was wondering about an elementary school in Port Townsend. Yes, Grant Street Elementary. You do? You can? Jack Monroe? Okay, thank you so much! All right, bye."
"What'd she say?" asked Lola.
"Ms. Curtis gave me Jack Monroe's information. Apparently he's the principal over at Grant Street Elementary."
Lola raised her eyebrows. "Connections, connections," she hummed softly, giving Victoria a grin. "Come on. It's a Thursday in June. Two weeks before the school year ends. You'd better call him if you want an opportunity."
Victoria sighed, nodding. She put the numbers into her iPhone 8G and counted the rings. Gripping Lola's hand, her heart was in her throat as soon as the phone picked up.
"Hello?" said the voice.
"Mr. Monroe?" Victoria said. "Mr. Jack Monroe, Principal of Grant Street Elementary in Port Townsend?"
"Speaking," he replied.
"Hello, Mr. Monroe. My name is Victoria Collins. My school counselor, Samantha Curtis, gave me your number."
"Yes, Miss Collins-"
"Mrs.," Victoria replied swiftly.
"Mrs. Collins, I have received an email from Samantha and she's informed me of your academic achievements. You passed your six-month stay as an assistant teacher with flying colors. You got A's in every college course you took. You have numerous academic recommendations and many job offers, yet you call me? I am surprised, considering that Port Townsend is merely a small, Victorian town on the Olympic Peninsula. Why work here when you have so many job offers in Seattle?"
"I stuck a pin in a map," Victoria admitted, feeling as if she was confessing to the theft of an additional cookie at snack time. "Once I looked up the town, I felt I had to work there. It is just such a beautiful place..."
"Well," Jack Monroe continued, "I never have been let down by Samantha in my entire life. If she says that I should take a chance on you, I'll do it. Come into town next Tuesday afternoon. We can have an interview. And I'll need a background check of course, but let's see how the interview goes."
"Thank you, Mr. Monroe!" Victoria cried, excited.
"Mrs. Collins, really. Call me Jack."
"I'm Victoria," she replied.
"Nice to meet you, Victoria," Jack replied. "I shall see you and your husband on Tuesday."
"Wife," Victoria said.
"Wife," Jack said, and hung up.
Victoria and Lola got out of Bellingham and made good time to the Edmonds/Kingston ferry. They paid their fare and got in line, the kindly elderly man telling them that they'd be on the next boat, due to arrive in thirty minutes. Victoria spotted a small French café close by, so they got out of the car to investigate what they could have.
Heading inside, they were immediately assaulted with the heavenly smell of fresh croissants baking. They ordered a couple of crepes and chewed them on the back terrace, watching as the ferry slowly pulled up to the dock. They washed their hands before returning to the car, getting in just as the last of the ferry's passengers unloaded.
The thirty-five minute crossing was slow and steady. They arrived in Kingston and proceeded to look for the sign which would direct them to the small town of Port Gamble. Victoria pulled off at a gas station and filled up just before the turn off, returning to the car shortly thereafter. They were back on the road, navigating through the small, twisty, bayside town known as Port Gamble, complete with some gorgeous architecture as well.
They made a right after a mile or so after they got out of town and onto the Hood Canal Bridge. They made their way over the impressive bridge, resting on the surface of the water, and returned to the main road as soon as they were across.
"We're looking for a turnoff that'll take us past Port Ludlow and on to Port Townsend," Victoria told Lola.
"There," Lola said, reading the white letters on the green sign.
Victoria took the right turn and went past a building called The Visitor's Center and a deforested area. They soon passed a sign informing them that they'd passed by Port Ludlow and then another one further ahead announcing that they would soon encounter turnoffs for Port Hadlock and another called Chimacum. They made it to Chimacum and kept heading north, and soon saw the name, "PORT TOWNSEND" in bright white letters on a dark green sign.
Heading into town, they were an hour early for Victoria's meeting, so they decided to check in to their hotel. They went through the first part of town before heading up a hill and then parked in the designated parking area. The sign proclaimed the building to be The Old Consulate Inn, of which they'd booked the Master Suite.
Taking their suitcases out, they walked to the beautiful front door and went up to the front desk. They told the woman of their reservation and she handed over their keys and told them that their room was on the second floor. They made their way upstairs and found the room without issue, unlocking the door and setting their suitcases down on the carpet beside the bed.
Victoria rummaged through her suitcase to find the outfit she'd packed for the interview when Lola came up behind her, her hands enveloping her wife's hourglass waist.
"I fully intend to fuck you this evening in this bed," Lola whispered to her. "I want to take you out for an expensive dinner after your interview, and then I'll take you back here and fuck you into next week."
Victoria shivered with anticipation at the proclamation. "Please," she whispered to her. "Did you pack the strap on?"
"I did," replied Lola. "And I'm going to fuck you with it this evening."
Victoria drove into town with Lola and dropped her off on the main street so as she could explore the town. Victoria then dug in her bag and found the address of Grant Street Elementary School. She drove to the place and got out of the car, just a few minutes before the scheduled meeting.
Walking into the building, she found the main office and gave her name to the secretary. She sat to wait as another teacher walked in.
"Hey, Alex," said the young woman. "Did Jack get the forms for the exam next week yet? My class still needs the twenty copies."
"Yes, they were in the copy room," the woman named Alex replied. "Don't worry, Ella, I'll get them."
Ella turned around as soon as Alex had walked out to get the copies. "Hello," she said with a smile. "You're here about the teaching job, aren't you?"
Victoria nodded. "That's right," she said, getting to her feet. "My name is Victoria Collins."
"Oh, I know," replied Ella with a smile. It was plain to see that her eyes were predominantly brown, yet were tinged with green, making them an attractive hazel. Her hair was golden brown and shown in the light of the office. Her skin was a milky white, and Victoria wondered if Lola would object to a threesome with this Reubenesque drink of water. "Jack told me that you were coming in after you called him last week."
The office door opened and who Victoria presumed to be Jack smiled at Ella. He crossed the room and put an arm around her waist, kissing her deeply. Victoria immediately saw the flash of a large diamond on Ella's third finger of her left hand, as well as the glow of Jack's platinum ring on the same finger of his hand, as it swept around her body and into her hair. She couldn't believe that she'd been fantasizing about taking her potential bosses wife to bed...
Jack pulled back and lovingly caressed Ella's face. "How's the baby?" he asked softly, touching Ella's stomach.
"Fine. The doctor told me that it was progressing well. We get to find out the sex next week." She then pulled back and nodded at Victoria. "But Mrs. Collins is here now."
Jack Monroe looked Victoria up and down and gave her a smile. "Jack Monroe, how do you do?" he asked, keeping one hand around Ella's waist while using his other hand to shake Victoria's. "It's wonderful to finally meet yet another friend of Samantha's," he said kindly. "I see you've already met Mrs. Monroe."
"I have, yes," Victoria replied, returning Ella's smile. "How did you two meet?"
Ella and Jack shared a small giggle at that. "My stepfather is the director of the pharmacy at the hospital here," Ella said softly. "Jack was thinking of studying medicine for a while and was sent to my stepdad for some pointers and he became enchanted with our little town. He wanted an escort, but my stepdad was too busy, so he decided to send my mom..."
"Fortunately for me, her mother had other plans as well," Jack said, smiling down at Ella, full of love. "That was six years ago. We got married four and a half years ago and..." He shrugged. "I met and married the woman I love."
