Chapter 135

Before Tara, Rue and Paula arrived, Linda took the first step and called her boss to ask about long-term leave. Initially, her boss was worried, assuming there was some kind of problem, but Linda reassured him that there was no problem. Quite the opposite in fact! Without naming Richie, she explained that she’d been seeing a guy who lived out West, and he’d asked her to move across there, but before she just up and quit, she wanted to leave her options open. Linda was confused when her boss laughed.

“You’re not going to believe this, Linda.” He began, cutting off his own laughter. “I was going to wait until you came back from your few days off, but, well, the fact is, the department is being reorganised. We were going to be asking people to consider taking voluntary lay-offs, with benefits, before we had to look at terminating anybody.”

“Really?!” Linda couldn’t believe it. She knew the department was to be reshuffled, but this was the first time lay-offs had been mentioned. Sounded as though ‘somebody’ was looking out for her, for a change.

“Mmm. You’d need to come in, so we can discuss this more formally, but I can tell you that the intention would be to give full pay for a period of three months, with separation effective immediately. Don’t know that I really need to ask, but would you be interested?”

“Uh, yeah!” Linda blurted. Full pay would mean the mortgage was covered for three months, which would be long enough for her and Richie to decide if this was going to be permanent. “I could come in tomorrow, if you’ve time to sit down and talk about this?” Mentally crossing fingers.

“Fine. Come in at……..eleven? We’ll sort things out. And, if I forget to say it later, I’m glad you’re happy, Linda. Even if you couldn’t get your rockstar, at least you’ve found a nice guy.”

Linda just laughed - she’d worked with Frank, her boss, for long enough that he knew all about her Richie addiction. Well, not all, not any more, she thought, but that was something best explained in person. She agreed to come in at eleven, then as she hung up, she realised she’d better find some food, if the girls were coming over.

She’d only just thrown some snacky stuff into the oven when she heard the doorbell, closely followed by Cody’s warning woof. When she reached the door, she had to laugh, seeing each of her friends standing holding not one, but two bottles of wine each, waving them at her.

“Is this enough wine?” Tara asked with a smirk.

“Should do for a start, anyway. And it’s Yellow Tail Shiraz - my favourite! You’re trying to get me drunk, aren’t you?”

“Yeah - best way to get all the juicy details.” Rue said as Linda stepped to the side to let them in.

In just a few minutes, they were all sitting around in the living room, each with a large glass of red wine, and it was Tara who proposed the toast.

“To gutter girls who finally get the man of their dreams.” She laughed, and they all clinked glasses before sipping the deep red, spicy liquid.

“Okay - enough waiting!” Paula said impatiently. “C’mon, Linda - details!”

“What kind of details do you want?” Linda said, playing for time, still trying to pretend to herself that she was trying to decide about Richie’s offer, even though, deep down she knew the decision was made.

“What kind? Well, we already know how he can sing and how he can play…….so how about how he kisses - is your talkbox theory right?”

Rue snorted. “Yeah, and how is he with other ‘boxes’?”

Before Linda could answer, Tara laughed. “Okay, you don’t need to say a word, Linda! The color of your face says it all! Lucky girl.”

“I know I am.” The effort of trying to be cool about it all was too much, and Linda had to talk, to tell them about Richie now that the secret was out. “You know how long I’ve imagined how he’d kiss, how he’d…….well, y’know……”

“Well, yep, I think we know that. Did he meet your expectations?”

“Meet them? Hell, he blew them right out of existence! The guy is amazing, and I’m not just talking about the way he kisses, or what he can do with that mouth, or the way he makes love. I just mean in general - he’s wonderful, with enough imperfections to make him perfect, if that makes sense?”

“From you, yeah, it does!”

“So, where is he, then?” Tara was the first to ask.

“He’s gone back to LA. He has to be there for Ava.”

“And you’re going to commute, are you? One weekend there, one weekend here? Something like that?”

“No.” She shook her head, trying to hide the smile as she prepared to say out loud, for the first time, what she was planning to do.

“Huh? Are you bored with him already? Didn’t he make the grade?” Paula looked confused, and the confusion turned to a stunned incredulity as Linda answered.

“No, you’ve got it wrong, girls.” Deep breath. “I was actually just talking with Frank - my boss - and it turns out that the department is being restructured and they’re looking for voluntary lay-offs. Which works out well, as it turns out, because it means they’ll pay me for three months and it saves me quitting. You’re right - it’s too far to commute every other weekend. I’m moving to LA.”

“What the fuck?!” Tara narrowed her eyes as she looked at Linda. “Holy hanna! You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No. Richie asked me, this morning, to take a chance - give us a chance - and I’m going.” She laughed softly. “Well, that’s assuming he hasn’t changed his mind about me moving in. I only decided a few minutes ago - he doesn’t know yet.”

With perfect timing, her cellphone rang, and she flushed as she read the display - ‘Richie’.

“’Scuse me a second?” She said to the girls, and the three of them grinned.

“Just sit your ass there and talk to him!” Rue ordered her, and Linda smiled as she answered the call.

“Hi.”

“Hey, darlin’. Whatchya doin? Miss me?”

“You know it. The girls are here.”

Richie laughed, and Rue, Tara and Paula heard him from where they sat.

“And how are those fuckin’ whores?” Richie said, still laughing.

“Wait a second and I’ll ask them.” Linda giggled, tucking the phone down a little. “Richie wants to know how you fuckin’ whores are?”

“We’re great!” Paula yelled, then lowered her voice. “We’d be better if you’d just put the guy out of his misery, Linda.”

“I suppose I should go, let you get back to your friends, Lin. Just wanted to hear your voice.”

“I’m glad you called, babe. Oh, hey, can I ask you something, Richie?”

“Sure.”

“Well, I was wondering……..do you think Cody and the cats’ food bowls should go out on the deck or indoors?”

“Food bo………what are you saying, girl?”

“I’m saying ‘yes’, Richie, if you still want me to.”

“Hell, yes, I want you. Want you to. When?”

“I’ll call you tomorrow, after I’ve seen my boss. I just wanted to let you know I’d be coming.”

“Fuckin’ right you’ll be cumming, honey.” Richie growled, and she shifted slightly on her seat, blushing again as she saw the knowing looks on the faces of her friends.

“And on that note, I gotta get back to the girls. Bye baby.”

“Okay. G’bye darlin’. Call me soon as you can, okay?”

Linda flipped her cellphone closed again, then reached a trembling hand to pick up her glass, draining the wine in a single swallow.

“Congratulations.” Tara said, and the other two echoed her sentiment, Paula refilling Linda’s glass so they could toast the decision.


Over at Sara’s house, she’d woken early, but just left Jon to sleep while she went to make coffee, showering while it brewed. Once there was enough in the pot, she poured two mugs and took them along to the bedroom where Jon still slept. She was about to wake him, when she paused and quietly laid the mugs on the bedside table, creeping over to where her bags were still lying on the floor, finding one of her cameras as quietly as possible.

She took a few photos of Jon sleeping, just for her own enjoyment, loving the tousled hair on his cheek and his full lips soft and relaxed. Laying the camera down again, she returned to the bed and sat down beside him, gathering her wet hair in one hand and squeezing it out so that cold drops of water fell onto his bare shoulder. Jon gave a groan of protest, and Sara grinned silently as she dripped more water onto him, onto his face this time. Jon’s hand came up to brush across his own cheek, wiping at the droplets, then his eyes opened slowly, focusing on the closest thing, which happened to be Sara’s bare thigh.

“Hello.” He murmured, instantly awake and rolling to press his lips to her leg.

“Good morning.” Sara said brightly. “I brought coffee.”

“Kiss first.”

After a soft good morning kiss, Jon levered himself into a sitting position and took the mug of coffee from Sara, sipping cautiously.

“Rocket fuel.” He muttered. “What d’you want to do today?”

“I have to work.” She said sadly. “In fact, I need to leave soon.”

“What day is it?” Jon asked, frowning.

“Uh…..Thursday.”

“Shit. I have a meeting downtown this afternoon. Be a late one, too.”

“Well, you still have a key for here, so why don’t I just leave you to lock up?” Sara asked.

“I don’t think I’ll make it back here tonight.” He apologised.

“Baby, it’s okay. We both have work to do. Plus, you have a family.”

“Family! I have to sort out this Florida trip. How about…..” he thought quickly. “…..okay. How about you come over to the apartment tomorrow, whenever you finish at the studio, and we’ll leave straight from my place Saturday to fly down to see mom and dad. That okay for you?”

“Sure.” There was the sound of Sara’s back-up, last minute, ‘must go NOW’ alarm on her phone, and she rolled her eyes. “I have to get dressed and go to work.”

Jon caught a handful of wet hair and pulled her to him for another kiss, then released her reluctantly. “I know you gotta go…..doesn’t mean I have to like it, though!”

Sara gave him another soft kiss then forced herself off the bed and to the closet, dressing quickly and throwing her stuff into a bag, then grabbed her cameras and left. Well, after another trip to the bed for another goodbye kiss.