“Are you sure you should do this again?” Gina asked me over lunch a couple of weeks later. Lia and I had gotten together nearly every night during those two weeks and it was like it used to be. Fantastic sex at night, friendly acquaintances during the day. “Why not?” I took a bite of my burger. “I just thought you . . . I don’t know.” Gina shook her head, then pushed her brown hair back behind her ears. “I don’t know eith...

Thankfully the next day was Sunday, because I couldn’t have functioned at work after the night before. I slept until close to eleven and might have slept later but for Lia’s slipping her hand between my legs and making me come. Waking via orgasm wasn’t a bad way to start the day. It was hard to get into the swing of things after sleeping so late, despite the way I woke up. Breakfast wasn’t worth mentioning, so we went str...

A couple of hours later, our little group headed out the door. The club was still open, but we’d had it and a couple of people—Gina’s sister, Annie, for one—had definitely had more than enough to drink. I stood outside, glad for the chance to breathe without bumping into someone as we said our goodbyes. Gina came over while I stood on the sidewalk and took a deep breath of cool air. “I’m so glad you came, Iris. It feels l...

Lessons Learned When I walked into the club for Gina’s bachelorette party, I was too frazzled from work to wonder who else might be there. I’d left the office closer to seven than six, ran home to change into my one appropriate dress, and now I was late. A broken chunk of sidewalk almost made me later, but I managed not to fall. I was sure I looked ridiculous as I stumbled towards the door, but I got in without further tr...

I pondered everything as I drove out to King's Bay the following morning. Did I really want to stay in California, or was I just overwhelmed with my current freedom, and Callie? Was I just caught up in the novelty in being somewhere different? I kept coming back to the fact that I wasn't sure what I had to return to. I could find a job out here, and Callie was here. Callie . . . I couldn’t sort out my feelings about her....

After that weekend, I went to King's Bay whenever I could. June somehow turned into July without me noticing. I spent as much or more time at Callie's place than I did at Manny's. Manny invited me to various parties and barbeques and get-togethers, but I always begged off. I wanted to be with Callie as much as possible. One day I came down with some kind of virus that made me as sick as a dog, and only Manny hiding my car...

We swam. We surfed, we rested on the beach and we swam some more. I'd never seen anyone as at home in the water as Callie. She was one of those people that made you think if mermaids were real, she'd be one. If she'd grown a tail and headed out to the horizon, I wouldn't have been a bit surprised. I noticed after a while that the beach wasn't as crowded as I had expected. That struck me as odd. Summer was in full swing. I...

The weekend was over too soon and we headed back to Manny's. I took a couple of days to explore at a more leisurely pace. I walked around to see what there was close by, used my bike to go farther away, and went to another beach or two. As beautiful as the California scenery was, I missed Ithaca. It was all just so different. Different trees, different terrain, even different smells. With Ithaca on my mind, I called Penny...

We arrived at King's Bay on Saturday morning somewhere between nine and ten. It was the kind of day and place where keeping track of time just made no sense. Why limit your enjoyment, even by noting the time? King's Bay was incredible. I'm no poet, but this place almost made me wish I was. The water was a cool dark blue out to the horizon. There were mountains to the north and the sun had risen behind them so that it hung...

King's Bay I worked like a dog for that company for eight years and what happened? They fired me. Bright side? Nice severance package. So screw it. Instead of diving right back into the overcrowded pool of job hunters, I decided to take it easy for a while. I deserved it; I'd barely taken a day off for the last eight years, so I was going to take that package and use it to fund a long, lazy summer vacation to make up for...

"Who was she?" Chelsea asked after Molly had gone. "A friend," Jake said shortly. It was all he could do not to run after her. God, how could this have happened? He had no idea what to do. Well, he decided, Molly was gone and probably needed time to calm down. So for now, he would deal with Chelsea. "A good friend?" Chelsea raised an eyebrow. "What did you want to talk about?" Jake went into the kitchen. "I wanted to talk...

Now this is the way to watch a movie, Jake thought. He sat on Molly's couch and she was curled up next to him. His arm was around her shoulders, and if he leaned his head down just a little, he could smell the light, airy scent of her shampoo. The lights were dimmed to make it easier to see the screen. He hadn't cared about the movie, he realized. He just didn’t want to stop being with Molly. Everything about the day had...

Molly had a great time with Maddy and her friends, Ginger and Sharon. She hadn’t had a girls' night of any kind in forever, and they all got along famously. Not a lot of jewelry got made, but they had a blast anyway, and made tentative plans to do it again. “Oh, that was fun,” Molly said with a happy sigh as she helped Maddy clear away the dishes. “I haven’t done anything like that in so long.” “Really?” said Maddy. “That...

"So, what do you do?" Jake asked as they walked. It was a nice late summer night. The temperature had dropped slightly and the humidity was low. A slight breeze fanned through Molly's hair. "Me?" Molly asked. "I'm, um, I'm a nurse." She managed not to say that it was a choice her family had not supported. It didn’t seem fair to lay that on him when they'd only just met. "No kidding?" Jake asked. "In a doctor's office or a...

Silver, Blue & Gold Author's note: This was one of my early stories, when I was still working on writing. Well, I still am, but had more to learn at this point. I hope you like it, even though it's a bit rough around the edges. Jacob Scott stared at his desk. He couldn't believe she was gone. It had been a week and he still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Chelsea had left him. "I'm sorry, Jacob," she had said, standing...