Chapter 09 – Reconciliation
Jody stared out the window and swirled her hand in the warm soapy water. As it began draining from the sink. She laid the freshly washed soup kettle aside to dry. Her eyes remained focused on the distance below a sun still low in the morning sky. She dried her hands and leaned on the countertop and sighed quietly.
Three days had passed with no word from Melissa.
"Well, if Mohammed won't come to the mountain, I guess Mohammed will have to go to the mountain," she muttered quietly. She rehearsed silently for a time then dialled the familiar number of Melissa and George.
The phone rang a few times and she began to hang up. Just before the receiver hit the handset, she heard a voice and scrambled to get it back to her ear.
"Oh, sorry, I thought... is that you Melissa" she asked.
"Yes, hello Jody. Listen, I'm sorry I haven't called,..."
"No, no, it's my fault. Thought you might need a couple days to get over the jet lag,.."
"Well, that is true. I'm fine though. Fine."
"Good, I know how that can be."
There was an awkward pause and both began together.
"Sorry,... go ahead,... what were you.."
"I thought we should have lunch?..." Jody left the sentence hanging, a question mark suspended in air.
"Yes,.. today, you mean?"
"Today would be fine. I'm free. How about the club at noon?"
The time was set and Jody sat staring at the phone, relieved to have the ice broken. And it truly was ice, given Melissa's look when she walked in on their threesome on the bearskin rug. Jody rolled her eyes and took a deep breath remembering the uncomfortable scene.
"Gawd! Talk about being caught! Good grief, naked between their two husbands, holy cow!" she muttered, shaking her head in anguish.
She hated being caught off base at anything, but this was a big one. Jody thought about a hundred ways of starting the conversation during the rest of the morning. None of them were any good.
There was no need for her anguish. Melissa put aside any fears, as she extended her hand from the table she had selected in a far corner.
"How can we get past this? I apologize for being such a prig the other night! I know I'm in no position to be snotty after dropping out for nearly a year with a lover. If any one is to blame it must surely be me!" Her words came in a quiet rush.
"Melissa, it is so good to have you back!" Jody pulled her close in a hug. "I feel the same way,... but, I guess we have to talk about it, eh?"
Melissa smiled and looked down for a moment. "I guess it would be a bit strange if I didn't confess being curious." she said, finally.
"I think George and I are going to try to get through this. We aren't sleeping together yet, but, I think we both have decided we want to be together. Perhaps I've had more time with it than George, but I'm hoping he will come around soon and we can get on with it. We both still have a lot to lose, of course,... you know, Jennifer, and,...you know, family things."
"I'm glad of that, Melissa. That's great!"
Nodding her head, Melissa continued. " I have to explain what the past year has meant, and why I am back. It's good to have an old friend to unload on. I hope you don't mind?..."
"Not at all, I'm glad to have you back to talk with, too."
"I'm not apologizing. That's the first thing. It's just the way things are, that's all. I fell in love with Ellen. Completely and totally,.. in love! You will have trouble grasping that, I'm sure, but I tell you for sure it is the truest thing I have ever said."
She sipped the white wine and put the glass on the crisp white tablecloth, then twirled it idly between manicured nails with a clear polish.
"I would not change anything,... except perhaps the end of the story," she said, a sad little smile crossing her face. But, of course, the age difference should have told me that in the beginning, I suppose. Still, life dishes up strange situations. That's one thing I've learned. I am so much better as a person than when I left. More confident, more sure of myself. Really!... Am I rambling?"
"No, not at all."
"Well, it was idyllic for nine or ten months. You have no idea what it was like, a new start, a new and wonderfully loving lover, London, everything. Sex was thrilling once again. I,.. I,...there's no way to explain that part of it,... no way."
"But, in the end, it was clear that Ellen had to have her younger friends. And it was sadly clear that after awhile, I didn't fit into the young group. Any way, long story short, Ellen had a young man as a lover. We tried to make that work somehow, but,... well,.. it didn't really work,... so, I began examining my life."
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world, though. I decided that I wanted to come back. Wanted to get back the good things that George and I had. That's really where I am. Does any of this make sense?"
"I guess so. I think I understand." Jody said softly.
"So, here I am, stronger than I have been in years, asking George to take a chance on me. That's about it. I'm realistic that he might have trouble with it, but it is worth taking a shot. That's what I think."
Melissa looked around and lowered her voice. "To be honest, finding the three of you together,... while I was a little,.. er, a lot shocked, may actually be a blessing. The 'pre-Ellen' Melissa couldn't have handled it! I would have been back on the 'crazy ward'" she laughed. "That probably sounds stupid, but it's true. But, I do have one question. You and George didn't,... I mean before...?"
"No, we didn't have an affair before you left. Not at all. George and I have always liked each other, that's not a secret, but not an affair."
"Oh, yes, I know, George has always adored you, and I know that you thought he was super, too. You two are soul mates, I always thought so. I mean, ideas, the things you like to talk about. All that stuff. Jack and I always had our own discussions when you two would get going! Can I ask how,...?"
"What led to the bearskin rug?"
Jody sipped the last of her wine and signaled for another.
She began outlining what had happened during Melissa's hiatus. She tried to tell the whole story, but held back things that she thought should come from George. At the end, she felt emotionally drained. The lunch crowd had left and the two of them sat alone in the large dining room amid the clink of silverware being picked up and re-set.
Melissa nodded and reached for her hand.
"Thanks. Wow, it would make a novel, wouldn't it?" she smiled. "Sounds like, you and Jack were really supportive of George. Which is what I would expect, of course. But, wow!"
She was quiet for a while. Jody waited to see what was next.
"You know, Jody, I think I can understand it. Understand how it happened, between close friends. That's what I mean, without going off and doing what I've done, I know I couldn't possibly understand it, but,... today,.. today I'm comfortable enough with myself and sexually confident enough to understand it. I can see that it may be what has saved poor George."
They both leaned back in their seats and looked at each other for a long time, finishing their wine, fiddling with the silverware, waiting for one or the other to decide where the conversation should go.
"Listen, why don't you come to my house for awhile? It's a great day, let's have a swim, perhaps? George won't be home, he's out of town. Want to?"
Melissa said it firmly, decisively. Jody concluded that she really had been changed by the last year's experience. She had been so tentative and frightened of everything then.
Melissa poured more wine and slid open the patio door onto a bright sunlit afternoon of a sweltering Midwestern day. The secluded patio was enclosed by high bushes and looked out over a hilly forest beyond the end of the swimming pool.
"I didn't bring a swimsuit." Jody said.
"Want to be naughty? It's just us girls? I have become accustomed to swimming nude in Europe and I like it."
Jody shrugged and watched as Melissa stepped out of her dress and stood looking her in the eyes. Slowly, she unzipped her own dress and stepped out of it. She couldn't help staring as Melissa unsnapped her bra in the front and left it clinging to two grapefruit-sized breasts.
"Fine with me. I wish I had lost a couple pounds, though." She muttered defensively, looking at Melissa's sleek body.
"You look terrific, Jody, who are you, kidding?"
Melissa tugged at the two cups and then let one go, baring her breasts with a jaunty air.
"I hope it doesn't scare you to undress in front of a 'confessed' lesbian?" she said teasingly, but with a tinge of truthful concern. "We usually don't attack, you know."
Jody laughed, thankful for the tension being lowered a notch.
"Oh, my god, Melissa,... you're,.."
"Bald. Yes. Shocked? Ellen taught me that," she said as she dropped pink panties on the chaise beside her. She gazed with an unselfconscious grin at Jody, still looking prim in lacy white panties and bra.
"No, I... well, I've thought of it, but never done it." She laughed and had trouble taking her eyes off Melissa's shaved mound. "You look pretty. I like it! Wish I had the nerve."
"A little bit out of date, though." She said, rubbing her fingers over the stubble on either side of her slit. She dove into the pool with a tiny splash and swam off to the other end, then lazily backstroked back to find Jody laying her panties and bra in a neat pile with her shoes.
Jody slipped into the pool as Melissa returned, spitting water from her mouth and pushing wet hair back from her eyes.
"Would you like me to shave YOU? Would that be a surprise for Jack, or what?" she spluttered
They loafed in the pool, hanging onto the side and lazily kicked their legs in the clear refreshing water. Their conversation was mostly idle chitchat and local news, but interspersed with questions about the last year. They became more and more confident to discuss details of what they had experienced. For her part, Jody became more and more interested in how it felt, being in love with another woman.
"I'm turning into a prune." Melissa muttered, and bounced up out of the pool and sat on the edge, legs dangling. Jody stayed in, taking a languid backstroke across the narrow pool, then pushing herself off the other side to float, arms outstretched, back to the other side. When she emerged, her hands touched Melissa's dangling legs and she looked up at her friend and wiped the water from her eyes. When she opened them she was staring straight up between the Melissa's legs into smiling eyes high above the bald mound that captured her attention.
It would have been unnatural to move too quickly to the side, so she stayed there, hanging onto the side of the pool and squinting up at her friend.
"Isn't it dangerous?" she said.
"What?" Melissa asked,
