“I just—need to get into that drawer,” Janice stammered, as they both kept moving in the same direction, unintentionally mirroring each other, trying to get by.
Carla relented and held up her hands in defeat. “How about I just stand still? Would that help?” She smiled and Janice seemed to relax some.
“I think so.” She walked around Carla and slid open a deep drawer close to the sink. She pulled out several wide candles and closed the drawer with her hip. When she tried to carry them, however, some fell. “Shit.”
“Here, let me,” Carla said, hurrying to her. They knelt at the same time, reaching for the same candle, and bumped heads and hands.
“Ow, shit,” Janice said, grabbing her head.
Carla winced and rubbed at her own. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She looked at Carla. “Are you?”
“I’ll live.”
They reached for the same candle again and hands collided. They both inhaled, reacting to the contact. Their eyes met once again, and Janice brushed her fingers along the back of Carla’s hand. Lightly, deftly. Almost as if it were imagined. Carla glanced down and lifted a single finger, wanting mutual contact. And just as her finger touched hers, Janice pulled away.
She gathered the candles, scooping them up against her chest. She hurried back into the living room and Carla watched from the kitchen doorway as she deposited them on the coffee table. Her movements were quick and deliberate. She was obviously flustered.
“It sometimes takes them forever to get the power back on, so I get the candles going right away, just in case.” She stood looking down at the candles with her hands on her hips. It seemed to take her a while to realize something was missing, her mind probably still back in the bedroom, replaying the scene between them.
“Where do you keep your lighter?” Carla asked.
She looked up. “Right. We definitely need that don’t we?” She ran her hand through her hair like she was still battling her nerves. “It’s in the kitchen. I’ll get it.”
“No, let me. I’m right here. Where is it?”
She looked uncomfortable, like she didn’t want to tell her.
“It’s in the big drawer by the sink.”
“The same drawer as the candles?”
She looked away. “Uh-huh.”
She’d overlooked the lighter that been right there in front of her. And it seemed she didn’t want Carla to know.
Maybe her mind really was back in the bedroom.
Could she not tell that Carla’s was too?
“Got it,” Carla said, turning to retrieve the stick lighter. She carried it into the living room and handed it to Janice, who took it quietly and lit two candles. Carla picked up the rest before she could fend her off.
“Where to?” She was trying to sound lighthearted to help ease the tension, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on Janice.
“Uh, the kitchen.” Her embarrassment showed with the flush of her cheeks as she confessed another visit to the kitchen was needed.
“Okay.” Carla set a candle on the counter and Janice followed. They lit one candle there and then walked down the hall to place one in the bathroom and one in each of their rooms. When they stood at the dresser in Janice’s room there was a noticeable silence, the aura of their encounter still palpable.
Carla felt it. It was almost like it was alive and had a heartbeat. And the bed behind her fed that pulse. It was calling out, beckoning with its heavenly linens, making Carla want to feel them all over again, a temptation much like she had every time she held an open rose. She could never resist touching the impossible softness of the alluring display of petals. She wanted to take Janice in her arms and lay her down on that open rose of a bed and make love to her amidst those soft petals, knowing that they were kissing and stroking Janice’s nude body in unison with her.
“What? What is it?” Janice asked, glancing over at her. She sounded apprehensive and must’ve felt Carla’s eyes on her. She clicked the lighter repeatedly with no success.
You.
You are everything.
“Nothing.” Carla placed her hand over hers, stilling her. She felt Janice react, even though it was subtle. She gently took the lighter from her and slid the small lever to the other fuel chamber. She pulled the ignition trigger and lit the awaiting wick.
“Lord, I am so absentminded today.” Janice attempted a laugh, but her apparent nervousness stifled it, especially when Carla didn’t laugh with her. The candlelight was teasing, illuminating and shadowing Janice’s face, mesmerizing Carla with the ever-changing contours and angles. Laughter was the furthest thing from her mind.
Carla wasn’t sure what she wanted more. To take her in her arms to the bed, or to continue to stare at her, lost forever in the undertow of her beauty. Janice pulled her from her inner dilemma by taking the lighter back. She was once again watching Carla curiously.
“I’m a renowned expert on lighter usage,” Carla said, hoping to explain her own obvious staring. “I get a lot of practice back home during monsoon season.”
“Monsoon season?”
“You haven’t read about it in all those magazines?”
She reddened further and looked away.
Why do those magazines make her so uncomfortable?
Carla smiled softly, confused by her discomfort but wanting more than anything to lesson it.
“Let’s go relax and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Carla led the way to the couches in the living room. She sat at the end of the love seat closest to Janice who sat at the end of the sofa. It reminded Carla of their first night together and how welcome and relaxed she’d felt. And then she recalled the night she’d sat directly next to her and how Janice had held her, comforting her, until they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
Her longing to feel her again almost took precedence, but she couldn’t go there at the present, even if just in her mind.
“We get storms in the summer,” she said. “Monsoons.”
“In Phoenix? In the desert?” She met her eyes briefly, showing an attempt to move beyond her current state of unease.
“Uh-huh. Every summer.”
“And I’m guessing, since they’re called monsoons, they aren’t like this storm.”
“They’re usually more powerful than your average thunderstorm. A lot of strong winds and blowing dust along with the heavy rain. Haven’t you ever seen those giant walls of dust on the news?”
“Yes,” she said, sounding more alive. “That’s what ya’ll get?”
“Sometimes.”
“They look so impossible, like they can’t be real.”
“They’re real all right. Pretty cool to look at too. But you do not want to get caught in one. Especially if you’re driving.”
“I would think not. Has that ever happened to you?”
“I’ve been caught in a couple of dust storms, but thankfully nothing that endangered my driving.”
“Are they ever dangerous? These storms?”
“They can be. The strong winds can cause damage and the heavy downpours cause flash flooding.”
“And power outages,” she said. “Hence your expertise on lighter usage.”