Chapter 30

After lunch, we returned to the house where I showed Louisa around. She nodded as I showed her the upstairs and then the main floor. She gave me a small smile as she saw the supplies for dipping apples on the counter and promised that once the tour was over, she’d show us how they were done so she could clean up afterwards.

She was surprised at the downstairs, especially the bedroom and bathroom. She looked at the bed and then at me. “That’s a lot of room for just two people,” she noted.

I shrugged. “On the weekends, it sometimes gets crowded,” I admitted. “Dawn sleeps here too, though I’m thinking that should stop soon.”

She nodded in understanding and gave the bed another searching look. She looked like she wanted to ask something, but was struggling to find the words.

“You have questions about how it works,” I said knowingly.

She nodded. “I don’t want to insult you,” she said, frowning. “I just don’t understand.”

“I don’t sense any judgment or hostility in you,” I said gently, “so any question you ask is genuine. I won’t be insulted by that. I promise.”

“How can you keep up with that many girls?” she asked.

I smiled. “Until the shooting, I was in good shape. That helps. I’m also willing to do more than chase my own pleasure. I’ve learned a few tricks to keep the girls from feeling neglected. They’re also very well organized, deciding who’s in need of attention between them.”

“Still, how many girlfriends do you have?” she asked.

“Eight right now,” I said. “Two are out of town and two aren’t cleared to have sex yet. That leaves four that have been taking turns wearing me out. Even when they’re all back though, some of my girls are as attracted to each other as they are to me. I think that’s more at the heart of what you were curious about.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything more so I continued.

“We have a policy that no one ever does something they’re not comfortable with. I would have waited indefinitely to make love to Gina if she wasn’t ready. She was still welcome to be here with us and we loved her no less for not being ready. If she’s interested in girls in that way, she’ll be loved without fail. If she’s not comfortable doing that, she’ll still be loved without fail. They’ll respect that limitation from her and love her like a sister instead of like a lover.”

She nodded. “You’re not offended by the question?” she asked uncertainly.

“Not at all,” I told her. “You were respectful and genuinely curious. I hope knowing that the girls are capable of loving each other that way doesn’t make you think any less of us.”

She smiled at me knowingly. “I grew up in a big family,” she told me. “I learned most of what I know about boys and dating and kissing from my sisters, including how to kiss a boy. Gina never had any sisters, just a pair of brothers. Thank God she didn’t learn to kiss from either of them.”

I nodded. “I’m glad you understand us,” I said and grinned at her before taking her to see the bathroom, which she exclaimed over. It was admittedly spacious, allowing for four people to occupy the shower without too much crowding.

I showed her the furnace room, but told her if she gave it a flick with the broom once a week, it was fine. We used it for storage for the bathroom mostly as evidenced by the boxes lining the shelves.

We went upstairs and I called Patty to join us while Louisa took us through the finer points of dipping apples in hot caramel, letting them chill and then dipping them in chocolate. She made it look easy, but I could tell that she had the planning down to a science. Patty nodded as we watched and she was able to replicate the process perfectly when she tried it. The rest of us gave it a shot with varying degrees of success.

We put them in the freezer while Louisa melted the chocolate and then she dipped several to show us how it was done. We had fun, made a mess, ate a lot of the chocolate and caramel and filled the fridge with two dozen apples for us to try out and for her to take home to Miguel and Hector.

As soon as the chocolate had set, she took one out and cut it for us to try. Gina knew what she was in for and Patty looked like it was exactly what she’d expected it to be. The rest of us were in an unexpected Heaven.

“These are amazing!” I said in awe as the flavors exploded on my tongue. The tartness of the apple and the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate were perfect compliments to each other. Everyone agreed and savored the whole thing.

Louisa beamed. “Now you know how to make them, so you’ll be able to have them whenever you want to go to the trouble and expense,” she said. “But now everyone should let me clean up unless they want to help.

We all retreated, to leave her to work on the house in peace. Patty left and took Beck with her since Gina, Lana and I were going to cheer or in my case, to physio at the gym. By the time we were all packed and ready, Louisa only had to see where Frank’s was and get the tour from Tricia.

We drove over and did the introductions before we had to take off. I told Tricia about the meeting later and she promised to be there and gave each of us a hug.

We were a few minutes early for practice, but all the girls were there milling around, waiting for us. They wanted a hint about the case and they also wanted to find out more about Cheryl and what had happened.

“The DA found a lot of evidence at Marlene’s house,” I told them delicately. “I wanted to talk to everyone to let them know what he found and find out which of you want to go through some of the materials to try to piece everything together.”

“What did they find?” Jessie asked, curious what would prompt them to want input from the girls.

“Pornography,” I said flatly, my mouth twisted in disgust. “I don’t know how much or what specifically was made, but it’s online, so there’s a good chance that the leak wasn’t someone talking about it, it was someone sharing the pictures.”

They all looked shocked and upset. I understood only too well. We exchanged a lot of hugs and there were a few girls who had to excuse themselves to go to the bathroom. Gina and Lana followed them and I talked with the rest of the girls to make sure that they knew it didn’t change the way I felt about them.

“I suppose it was too much to hope for that they wouldn’t have taken pictures with everyone having cellphones,” I said. “Still, I HAD hoped that there wouldn’t be anything like this.”

They nodded and then Jessie brought up the other subject I was dreading.

“Have you heard from Cheryl since she went bat-shit crazy?” she asked, trying to get the girls to concentrate on something else.

“Is that what happened?” one of the girls asked. “When I read the email, I figured something went wrong. What ended it?”

I grimaced and gave Jessie a dirty look that she chose to disregard. “I really don’t want anyone to treat her poorly at school,” I warned them. “She told me that she was ready for sex, that she wanted it. Afterwards, she started having bad flashbacks and it got worse to the point that she accused me of being like those guys in September. She’s deeply tormented, NOT malicious. She didn’t do it to hurt me. She just can’t handle sex or a relationship and after being with me that way, she doesn’t see me any different than the Watermans.”

“That’s bullshit!” someone said. “After everything you’ve done for all of us, she thinks you’re like them?!”

I nodded. “Like I said, she’s tormented by what they did to her. Maybe it was a mistake for her to keep the baby, but it was her decision and it was important for her to make it so she could start reclaiming her life.”

They gathered around me and we all hugged it out. We were in the middle of a slightly awkward moment when Jessie spoke up again. “Well from the looks of your neck and Gina’s, not everyone was upset with how you treated them,” she said, taking hold of my chin to tilt my head back so she could see the marks clearer.

“Those are nothing,” I scoffed lightly, picking up her mood gratefully. “You’ll have to ask her what other marks there might be though. I don’t wanna be accused of bragging. After what happened with Cheryl, Gina breathed life back into me.”

That started them giggling and making fun of me for it and when Gina returned, they included her until she told me to take off my shirt and show my back. The girls all appreciated the scratches and especially when Gina went on in great detail about how amazing everything was.

They were still giggling about it when the coach came in and started calling practice to order. Diego was a few minutes behind her and we separated to start working on my shoulder. I talked to him about the other injuries and how the pain and discomfort had faded almost completely from them.

“That’s a little surprising,” he admitted. “I’d expect some of that pain to linger. How’s the shoulder been treating you?”

“It’s been good. I haven’t pushed the weight too much, skipped a few days over the holidays, but it doesn’t feel as weak as it did,” I told him. “You think we’re getting to that plateau you talked about before?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Normally, I’d use your other injuries to give me an idea how your body responds in general to the healing process. It sounds like you’ve made a lot of headway in a short period of time. You were still on the cane just two weeks ago and were JUST out of the chair, right?” he confirmed. “I think you’re pushing your recovery just a bit and I can understand that. Tomorrow, I want to get some new x-rays done and see what things look like in there. I’ll make the appointment for you and we’ll get a good look at how it looks.”

“Well, I go for tests every Tuesday at Harvard. If you want, I can ask them to do a CT scan on the shoulder while they’re doing the other tests. That won’t be until next week though,” I offered.

“If they’re willing, that would go a long way to determining how well it’s healing. Far better than an x-ray, but I still want the x-rays anyway.”

“Fair enough, “ I said lightly. I wondered if Victoria’s legendary technician was going to be giving me the once-over this time. “Diego, I’m told there’s one really outstanding tech in x-ray. I mean scorching-hot. You know who they’re talking about?”

He laughed and nodded. “Yeah. Ingrid,” he said lightly. “You hoping she’ll make all your dreams come true?”

“Nothing so grandiose,” I assured him. “I sort of have a running bet with someone as to whether she’s impervious to my charm since she gets so much attention. The last time I got an x-ray from her, I barely noticed her, so there’s some speculation about whether I’m immune to HER charm too.”

He chuckled a little. “Looking for me to do you a solid and assign it to her?”

“That’s up to you,” I told him. “I personally don’t care if a koala bear runs the machine so long as it’s qualified. I just get teased every time I go to x-ray and don’t come back with her on my arm, so I was curious about who she was.”

“I’ll make sure you get her tomorrow,” he said. “Diego delivers, man.”

“No pressure on me though, right?” I joked.

He made a scoffing sound. “You’re fourteen!” he said. “What are you gonna do with her?”

I lifted my shirt and showed him my back. “Not the warpaint of the unskilled,” I said dryly. “I’ve got that end covered.”

“Please!” he said dismissively and flicked my neck. “Next you’ll be telling me that these are all in the heat of passion.”

“Well I sure as fuck didn’t steal your dentures to make ‘em, Old Man,” I laughed.

“This ‘old man’ is doing you a favor letting you get your x-ray from Miss Fine!” he told me.

“That’s her nickname? ‘Miss Fine’?” I asked dryly.

“No, that’s her last name,” he laughed. “We just make a joke of it because it fits.”

I nodded, making note not to make a jackass about it when talking to her. I really wasn’t interested in picking up an older woman at this point, but I was tempted to just to shock Victoria. “So how’s the shoulder look from your perspective?” I asked.

“You’re good. You’re WAY ahead of where I thought we’d be. I’d say you can move up to a five-pound weight now. Be careful with it and take it gradually and stop if you get any trembling or numbness or you feel tearing in the joint.”

“Will do,” I said agreeably. “You figure we’re at about 40%?” I asked.

“I think we’re a little closer to fifty, actually,” he said. “You just seem to be blowing past all the lulls. Most times it happens when people are really motivated to get well, but I always caution them not to push it.”

“The only thing I’ve been pushing is running since my leg felt better,” I told him. I’m still not cleared for really strenuous work.”

“Good,” he said. “Running will keep you in shape and help you feel like you’re doing something. That’s all for today. I’ll let you off a little early since you’re doing so well. Just keep it up.” He patted me on the other shoulder and left me to go change. Practice was just finishing up and I went to talk to Tina.

“I think I’ll be ready to come back to this side of the gym soon,” I told her.

“You look like you’re walking better,” she commented.

“I can run on it now,” I confirmed. “Diego says he thinks the shoulder is about half what it was before the shooting. He’s sending me for pictures tomorrow to see how it looks and it’s possible that next week or the week after, I’ll be able to rejoin practice. I feel good now, but I know I still have a way to go.”

“Make sure it’s a hundred percent,” she advised. “I can have Naomi work with you on some tumbling since that’s part of what you contracted me for originally,” she said, referring to her daughter. “She’s worked with a few of the other girls and I think she’s coming to like it more than competing.”

“If she wants to do more coaching, I think I could use a little extra coverage since I have a lot of catching up to do,” I told her. “Ask her about it and let me know what she’d want to charge.”

She thought about it and nodded. “I’ll talk to her about it,” she promised. “I hope she doesn’t give up on competing at this point. She’s been training for the Olympics. I’d hate to see her give it up when she’s on the verge of getting there.”

I nodded in understanding. “An Olympic medal would make her very desirable as a coach. I’m sure that’s something you’ve considered.”

She nodded and told me she’d see me Thursday.

I got changed and met Gina outside. We’d decided that Lana should be around the house since the cheer team was going right over. We were catering pizzas for the team again. I’d left Lana with a small fortune and orders to save a pizza for us since we were going to pick up Emma at the airport.

I kissed Lana goodbye and got kisses from half the cheerleaders. Gina marking me seemed to spark a feeling that I was property of the team. I was saved when Gina called a halt so that we could go.

We decided have coffee while we waited for the plane to land, intending to get a late dinner with Emma once we got home so we could fill her in about the holidays in more detail. We checked the arrivals board and it wasn’t listed as delayed, so we figured we had about an hour before it landed.

We went to Starbucks and got coffees and sweets. I generally wasn’t a huge fan of Starbucks, but Gina seemed enthusiastic about it, so we went and she ordered something complicated while I just wanted coffee. I got a square and she got a different one, both of us nibbling at them as we sipped our coffee.

“Any idea what you’re gonna tell the girls tonight?” she asked quietly.

I shrugged. “I’ll break it to them as gently as I can and tell them that the option is there to see what images of them are out there. I don’t know how many of them will want to see them, but they should know that they exist.”

She nodded. “Will you come with me when I look at them?” she asked, looking at me intently.

My eyes searched hers and I nodded. “If you want, I’ll sit with you,” I promised.

She smiled at me and relaxed a lot. “Thanks. I know you don’t want to see those pictures, but you’ve been there with me for all the rest of it, I want you to be there for that.”

I nodded. “I never wanted you girls to have to relive it,” I told her. “If you feel the need to see those images, then I’ll hold your hand and look at them with you.”

“I do,” she said adamantly. “I also want you to know what happened that weekend, all of it. Not because I want to relive it, but because I want you to know how much you’ve helped me and how different it is with you than what they did to us.”