Love On Call

Carson, a red-haired, green-eyed older version of Margie whose face had taken on an elegant beauty in adulthood, shot up straight. Her gaze swung from Presley and finally settled on Abby. “What? What has my sister done now?”

Abby chewed her lip. “Well, it’s sort of a secret—”

“Really,” Carrie said with mock sarcasm, “there are no secrets between besties. I hereby propose no secrets in our enclave. After all, we don’t want to miss out on all the good stuff.”

“Oh no,” Abby said, looking pointedly at Carson. “I’m not talking about sex in front of Flann’s sister.”

Carson clamped her hands over her ears. “I don’t want to hear it, either.”

Both Abby and Presley grinned.

Carrie pretended to pout. “Well, that’s no fun, then. If we’re not going to talk about sex, I suppose we could talk about—” She frowned. “Damn, that takes a lot off the table.”

“Stop trying to change the subject.” Carson poked Abby in the side. “What about Flann, and don’t mention any sex words.”

“You’ll find out tomorrow at dinner, all the details, but Flann and I are going to be planning a wedding pretty soon ourselves.”

Carson whooped. “That’s so great. My mom and dad will be thrilled. I can’t wait to tease Flann about it, the one who was never going to settle down. What did it take her, a hot second?”

Abby grinned. “More than a few seconds, but they were definitely hot.”

“Na-na-nanananna,” Carson singsonged, pretending to poke her fingers in her ears.

Abby smiled.

Enjoying the silliness, Mari tried to imagine telling her parents she was planning a wedding with another woman as if it would be a foregone conclusion everyone would celebrate. She couldn’t see a happy reception, although she didn’t have any difficulty picturing the woman who’d be part of her planning. Heat climbed into her face. She needed to stop thinking about Glenn like that, and she’d be able to, if she wasn’t surrounded by women who were in love with other women. That had never happened to her before. She knew lesbians and gay men, but only casually. None who were her close friends, anyhow.

Another seismic change in her life. Now her cousin was a lesbian and she was making friends with women who were completely comfortable with their sexuality and who seemed to have families who took it all for granted too. She wondered if her family would ever be able to do more than accept her, let alone welcome whatever joy she might find in her life with a woman. She pulled herself back from the brink of that abyss. She couldn’t change what her family did or whether or not they embraced her. All she could do was live her life as honestly as possible. She knew she was right, but that was little comfort sometimes.

“By the time dinner comes around tomorrow,” Carson said, “it won’t be much of a secret. I guess just Mom and Dad.”

“We haven’t told Blake about it yet,” Abby said. “We were going to do that this morning, but he had something he needed to talk to us about instead.”

“Is he okay?” Presley asked.

“He’s great,” Abby said. “He wants to go ahead with his top surgery, so we had to have a family discussion about all the details.”

“Wow,” Carrie said softly. “That’s a big deal.”

Abby nodded. “It is, but it’s also the next logical step, at least for him. He’s been moving toward this since he was fourteen, and the surgery—or rather the effect of the surgery—is important for him and for his sense of self.” Abby looked at Mari. “My son, Blake, is transitioning.”

“He’s lucky,” Mari said softly. “He’s lucky to have you, all of you. I…I wish…”

Carrie gave her hand a squeeze.

“It’s not exactly the same thing,” Mari said, tearing away another layer of self-insulating protection, “but my family has pretty much exiled me since I told them I was a lesbian.”

“It is the same thing—or at least, it’s all part of the same fabric of difference,” Abby said gently. “I’m sorry to hear about your family’s reaction.”

“Thanks,” Mari said. “I’m glad for you and Blake. He sounds a lot braver than I was at his age.”

“Me too,” Carrie muttered. “I was still trying to convince myself I actually liked kissing boys more than girls.” She grinned. “I quit that after a year of kidding myself.”

Mari smiled at her gratefully. She didn’t feel quite so clueless knowing everyone hadn’t known about themselves forever.

“Is Flann doing the surgery?” Carson asked.

“That’s part of what we talked about this morning,” Abby said. “Blake wants her to do it, and Flann is very experienced with the procedure. Glenn will assist, so I know they’ll have a good team. It’s pretty straightforward, and we’re all comfortable with it.”

“Well, I’d let those two operate on me anytime,” Carrie said in a suggestive voice.

Abby raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid at least one of them is off the table.”

“Ah, well,” Carrie said with an exaggerated sigh while shooting a glance in Mari’s direction, “I guess I’m totally out of luck, then.”

Mari pretended she wasn’t blushing.

“And I’ve already got my Rivers sister,” Presley said. “So there go all the hot, sexy ones—”