Woman to Woman #9

This week in Tuesday Tales, the snippet comes from Woman to Woman. This story is a woman-to-woman romance, so scenes will be of a F/F nature. If this offends you, feel free to move onto to another Tuesday Tales snippet.

In Tuesday Tales, a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘question.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Dave pulled the truck into a shady spot near Paige’s favorite picnic table nestled in amongst a stand of tall, stately pine trees. It offered some relief from the intense desert sun and the scorching heat that had returned once the monsoon season had ended.

Paige bit into her sandwich. With each lingering moment of silence, the bread seemed to dry and shrivel in the ominous quiet. Finally, she couldn’t stand it and blurted out the question, “What’s the matter?”

Dave replied in such a quiet voice that she almost couldn’t hear his answer. “I found your magazines.”

The blood drained from her face. The last bite of sandwich, just recently swallowed, settled at the bottom of her stomach like a lead balloon. The portion she’d just bitten off lodged in her throat, threatening to choke her. Which maybe wasn’t a bad thing. Her life ending right now might be the easiest way out of this predicament.

She found the courage, or the brazenness to ask, “How’d you find my magazines?”

“I fell when I got out of bed this morning and caught myself on the dresser. Your drawer broke and when I took it out to fix, I found them hidden in the bottom of your drawer.”

Of course, Paige later discovered that this was a lie. She would discover later, the hard way, that he was systemically and repeating going through her belongings while she was at work. But what could she say? How do you fight the lies of one person when mistruths come out of your own mouth?

Years earlier, in the new beginnings of their relationship, Paige had struggled as she learned to cope with Dave’s dark, stormy, brooding moods. Those were nothing compared to what she had to live with now. Each day found each of them struggling to hold on to two realities that were incompatible with each other.

Dave wanted their old life back, their old relationship, the image he had of what it should be. All of a sudden, he now called her his ‘wife’, even though he’d had ten years to legally bind their relationship and make her his wife. Now, he pressed to proceed where he hadn’t needed to go in ten years.

Paige had her sights set on new territory. She’d been there for the past ten years, even without the legal bond of matrimony. She didn’t care to go on in the same situation for another ten years. She was looking at the proverbial grass on the other side of the fence. And it did appear to be greener. And this truly was ‘the other side of the fence.’ It was one she contemplated jumping every day.

Was this a fence that was worth jumping?

It seemed so at the time.

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Woman to Woman #8

This week in Tuesday Tales, the snippet comes from Woman to Woman. This story is a woman-to-woman romance, so scenes will be of a F/F nature. If this offends you, feel free to move onto to another Tuesday Tales snippet.

We’ve jumped a little bit in the story so I could get to a scene where I could work those lovely hydrangeas in. As Paige and her high school buddy find themselves getting closer, via instant messaging, life with Dave is decidedly not rosy.

This week we’re writing to a picture prompt. These snippets will be short. Each one is 300 words or less. There are several pictures to choose from and we each pick one to write to.

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

The next day at work, Paige stood watering the newest shipment of hydrangeas, splendid in their mottled shades of purples, violets, and pinks. She was immersed in their beauty, enjoying the sights of their gorgeous blooms, when she heard a distinctive diesel truck pull up in the parking space nearest to the nursery sales shack.

She looked up and spotted Dave sitting in the truck, engine idling. It didn’t surprise her. It was almost her appointed lunch time, and he often showed up to surprise her at lunch.

Dave turned the engine off but remained sitting in the truck instead of coming into the nursery grounds like he usually did when he stopped by.

Ed stood watering plants on the opposite end of the row. He pulled the rim of his straw hat down lower and called to Paige. “I see you have company for lunch.”

She frowned. “It appears so. He must have come into town to do laundry at his sister’s house.”

Dave remained in the truck.

Paige thought it was odd but reasoned that he was probably on the phone with one of his girls.

Ten minutes later, he still sat.

Paige punched out and walked slowly out to the white diesel, the icon of Dave’s masculinity. “Men and their vehicles,” she muttered as she approached the driver’s side. She almost dreaded what she would encounter when she got there.

A window rolled part way down.

“Are you here for lunch?” she asked.

A sober, smile-less face started back at her.

Oh, goody. One of his black moods.

Paige walked out to her car and retrieved her lunch before returning to the truck. “Want to go to the park?”

“Sure.” The diesel roared to life and off they drove, silence hanging thick between them.

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Woman to Woman #7

This week in Tuesday Tales, the snippet comes from Woman to Woman. This story is a woman-to-woman romance, so scenes will be of a F/F nature. If this offends you, feel free to move onto to another Tuesday Tales snippet.

In Tuesday Tales, a group of authors write to a word or picture prompt each week. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘paste.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Over the next few weeks, as Paige continued her emails with Anna, monsoon season arrived in the desert. Dave’s sister had warned them about monsoon season and the torrential rains that descended from the clouds.

But it turned out that she’d never seen rain like this before. It was if the sky unzipped and dumped every drop the clouds contained at once. Being an avid storm lover, Paige felt the thrill of excitement race through her when she watched the clouds start building, usually in the afternoons, getting thicker and darker, approaching as if it were a dark, angry beast. Lightening flashed, thunder roared, and water ran down the streets in a deluge.

The downside of the monsoon season was that the muddy ground now prohibited Paige’s evening ATV rides. For a place that looked so sandy, the ground contained more clay than one could imagine, leaving a muddy, slippery mess. On one of Paige’s walks out to the garden area that she and Dave were creating with fencing constructed from pallets, to keep the rabbits and deer out, she returned with a three-inch layer of mud pasted to the bottom of her shoes.

No outdoor activity was possible, Paige and Dave could only huddle in the RV, out of the rain and away from the slimy, clay mess that surrounded their encampment. More and more evenings found Paige on the computer. The emails from her old friend, Anna, were now a daily occurrence. Back and forth they went. Emails flew to Texas and were returned to Arizona in a flurry.

Memories of Anna in high school surfaced to the forefront of Paige’s thoughts; long blond hair flowing down her shoulders, the fun they had together, the afternoons spent in Anna’s pool, and the laughter they shared. The past came back like a tide flowing in. Even if she ‘walked like a guy’, as Paige’s mom always said, they’d still had a lot of fun together.

As the daily emails began to merge, other thoughts surfaced in Paige’s mind. Thoughts of Anna gradually replaced those of BJ. Soon, BJ became just another co-worker and she faded from the center of Paige’s existence. Thoughts of Anna’s long blond hair were more delicious than BJ’s short, cropped style. Paige imagined running her fingers through those long, silky tresses of long ago.

By now, Anna had taught Paige about instant messaging and the two of the chatted every night. This new-fangled method was much easier than hopping into email every five or ten minutes to check for new messages.

A few years before, Paige had watched her youngest son, Jack, on the computer every night with his friends instant messaging. She’d never understood the concept then. It seemed to be a new technology meant strictly for teenagers.

She’d been proven wrong. This was quite handy.

One day, in an instant message, Paige ventured: What if we were meant to be more than friends?

Anna answered back immediately: What do you mean? Like in a more physical relationship?

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.