Getaway - SF7 Read online

  "What is it, Honey?" the smaller woman asked, pulling up a chair right next to Ryan.

  Taking a gulp of air, Ryan said, "The morning that you left for Rhode Island, your dad came to our house in Berkeley."

  Just that much of the story caused Jamie to clench her fists, her mouth a grim line. She said nothing, but it was clear that she was expecting the worst.

  "We had words," Ryan said, cutting to the chase. "Mostly about money, of course. The um…bottom line, Honey, is that he told me that I had to move out."

  Catherine cast a worried glance at her daughter as the young woman rose from the table, muttering a tense, "I’ll be back," before stalking out of the room.

  Ryan sighed heavily, shaking her head as she watched her partner depart. "Well, that went well," she said ruefully.

  "Why did she leave?" Catherine asked.

  "She doesn’t like to yell at me, so when she’s really angry she likes to be alone to blow off some steam," Ryan informed her. "I guess she also didn’t want to start hollering in front of Caitlin."

  "But why is she angry with you, Ryan?"

  "Because I didn’t tell her when it happened," Ryan said, having known the entire time that she was doing something her lover would be hurt by. "She hates to be treated like a child."

  "She always did," Catherine mused thoughtfully, "even when she was one." She looked out the large window, just able to make out her daughter’s shape in the distance. "You know, Ryan, I think that’s one of the reasons that I never took her to places like Disneyland. She never seemed like she would enjoy those child-centered places. Even at Caitlin’s age, she was rather serious and quite somber."

  Ryan sighed again, realizing that she had made a mistake in trying to control the flow of information that her partner received. "I think I’ll go find her to apologize," she said.

  "She’s on the tennis court," Catherine hazarded, even though she couldn’t see the court from where she sat. "That’s where she’s always gone to deal with her frustrations."

  As predicted, Jamie was trying to smash the covers off the fluorescent green balls that the electric ball machine shot at her. Sensing rather than seeing Ryan, she growled, "You’d better give me some time. I am not responsible for my mouth right now."

  Ignoring the warning, Ryan continued on her course, sitting down quietly behind her partner. A few minutes passed as she watched Jamie whip the balls down the line. "How about if I talk for a minute," she suggested. "I came to apologize, Jamie. I know that what I did was wrong, and I want you to know that I’m really sorry."

  "Do you know why I’m angry?" the blonde woman asked through gritted teeth, grunting with each hard-hit shot.

  "I think so," Ryan admitted. "I think you’re angry because I tried to think for you. I tried to determine the best time to reveal this to you rather than sharing it immediately. I think it really pisses you off to have me, or anyone else, keep you in the dark about something—especially something like this."

  "That’s about it," Jamie grunted. "Good answer for somebody that obviously didn’t realize that just last Sunday."

  Her derisive tone stung, and Ryan took a breath to control herself from snapping off a sharp rejoinder. "Jamie, I said I’m sorry. I will try never to do that to you again." She pushed herself up, walking dejectedly to the opening in the fence that surrounded the court. "I can’t do any better than that."

  She quietly closed the gate and had traveled about 15 feet when she heard her partner’s rapid footsteps scampering across the court’s surface. "Ryan, wait! Please!" she cried, flinging the gate open.

  Ryan paused, waiting patiently but not turning. Soon she felt Jamie’s damp hand on her own, and she turned to face her flushed partner. "I’m sorry, too," Jamie said. "I know that you must have had a good reason for keeping this from me, even though I don’t like it."

  "I’m not sure that I do, Jamie," the taller woman said softly. "I think part of the reason that I didn’t tell you was because I just didn’t want to deal with it. I was down in my little isolated cocoon, and I was able to put it aside by not talking about it. I couldn’t have done that if you were all upset about it."

  Snaking an arm around Ryan’s waist, Jamie laid her head against the warm chest that was presented when Ryan raised her arm. "That’s a pretty good reason, in my book," she said. "I know last week was hard for you, Baby. I’m sure you did the best you could."

  "I tried to, Jamie," Ryan whispered, placing soft kisses on the top of her head. "I’ll admit to being a chicken," she said quietly. "I just felt so odd and unstable being locked away down in Santa Cruz that I really went out of my way to keep things calm. I’m sorry if I made things worse for you."

  "It’s okay, Babe. Let me turn off the ball machine, and we can go back inside."

  Ryan gave her a firm squeeze and said, "Thanks for being so understanding about this. I know that I screwed up."

  "No you didn’t, Baby. You did your best…you always do."

  The rest of the discussion went very well now that Jamie was no longer angry with Ryan. Catherine reaffirmed that the house was in her name alone, and that she would not allow Jim to dictate who was allowed to live there. Jamie wasn’t very happy with that, not wanting her mother to be put in the middle, but since she didn’t see many options at this point she agreed.

  "I don’t think this is going to place me any higher on Jim’s favorites list," Ryan worried, knowing that the powerful attorney was not the kind of guy that she wanted to have angry with her.

  "He’s just having a tantrum," Catherine assured her. "This will all blow over quickly, Ryan. Don’t give it another thought."

  Wouldn’t that be nice? the dark woman thought wistfully.

  At three o’clock, Jamie stood in the doorway of Giancarlo peering down the street, looking for her mother. Luckily, she spotted the pair nearly running down the street, Catherine clutching the baby in one arm and several shopping bags in the other.

  Handing the baby to her daughter, Catherine panted, "I’ve got to put some money in the parking meter. Be back in a few." With that she was gone, heading in the direction whence she had come, at nearly the same pace. Ryan approached from the other direction, having spent the previous 15 minutes looking for the ever-elusive parking meter.

  Seeing Jamie enter, Carlo immediately came over to them and began to make over the baby in the most excessive fashion that either woman had ever witnessed. After a few moments of admiring the child as she shyly nestled in Jamie’s arms, Carlo shot an admiring glance at Ryan. "How did you do this?" he demanded, his hands on his hips. "Jamie tells me how talented you are, but this…" he indicated the baby, "is too, too much!" He turned to Jamie and said something in Italian that had her nearly in stitches. She replied with a comment that had him howling with laughter as he snatched the baby from her and took her over to the sink to wash her hair.

  "Okay," Jamie said as she leaned in close to her lover. "I promised I’d try to keep you in the conversation, so here goes. I’m not sure that I can do it, but I’m gonna try to translate this so it has the same punch." She took a deep breath, furrowing her brow a bit as she struggled to find an appropriate translation. "Carlo asked if you were a…gorgeous transvestite or an extremely talented lesbian who could produce a baby by the…um…skillful use of your tongue."

  Ryan rolled her eyes as a deep blush crawled up her neck. "Wha…what did you say?" she stammered.

  "I said," Jamie replied as she got even closer to Ryan’s bent head, "that I had explored every inch of your precious body and that I could assure him that you were a gorgeous, talented lesbian who could in fact do marvelous things with your tongue, but producing a baby was not one of them."

  Ryan pulled her head back as she stared at her lover for a moment in stunned silence. "Honey," she finally said as she slid an arm around her shoulders, "don’t bother to translate any more. I kind of like being kept in the dark."

  With Ryan still shaking her head, they walked over to where Carlo had set up s
hop with Caitlin. Much to the baby’s pleasure, he had stripped her completely naked and placed her in the deep sink used for hair washing. She held a short comb in each hand and was splashing around happily in the few inches of water that he had drawn. He looked over at Jamie and gleefully informed her, "The baby, she likes, no?"

  "She likes water very much, Carlo. Excellent idea."

  He washed her hair with a minimum of fuss and not too much splashing due to the depth of the sink. Jamie came over with a smock that she insisted Carlo put on after she saw one too many water droplets hit his Armani slacks. Since he was so well protected, he decided to cut her hair while she sat in the sink. Caitlin was very much in favor of this, as she giggled and splashed in her makeshift tub. Ryan sorted through the backpack she had brought to carry all of Caitlin’s essentials, and she found some plastic toys that the baby was particularly fond of. Now Caitie was really in heaven, and she barely noticed that a stranger was carefully assessing her hair.

  Carlo muttered to himself for a few minutes as he got a complete look at her current hairdo. He finally could not contain his wrath as he turned to Jamie, his nearly black eyes flashing as he demanded, "Who put the baby’s head in the fan?"

  "What?" Jamie asked, completely confused, assuming that Carlo must have mistranslated something.

  "Nothing else would explain this….this…" he fumed as he held up the longest locks, "butchering!"

  "Her mother has a hard time keeping her still," Jamie explained weakly as she watched Caitlin play placidly in the tub, looking like the calmest baby on earth.

  Crossing his muscular arms over his chest, he turned slowly and cast a baleful glance at the tranquil child. He obviously decided that his point had been made since he did not continue his rant. Instead, he began to sing a delightful, lilting melody that included little tickles and much splashing of water. He worked very quickly, but with a sureness of vision that was unwavering. In less than ten minutes the cut was finished, and all agreed that it was absolute perfection. Now Caitlin’s hair was a perfect one-inch long all over her head. The delicate golden locks framed her face perfectly and made her look positively angelic. Carlo drained the water and took the hand held sprayer and carefully rinsed all of the hair off her chubby little body, then he wrapped her up in a big fluffy towel and handed her to Jamie. "Sit," he ordered as he guided the twosome to a chair. He produced his dryer, equipped with a diffuser, and very gently blew the new style dry in a matter of moments.

  Both Ryan and Jamie were astounded at the transformation. The cut was absolutely perfect for Caitlin’s sweet little face, surrounding her beatific features like a gilt frame.

  Catherine entered the shop just as Carlo finished drying the baby’s hair. She gasped in delight, saying, "You are an absolute artist!"

  "Carlo, this is my mother, Catherine," Jamie said. "Mother, this is Giancarlo, who you’ve been hearing me praise for three years now."

  Slipping into her lightly accented Italian, Catherine proceeded to charm the easily charmed man all the way down to his Gucci loafers. They bantered back and forth for a few moments, complimenting each other on their clothing and their favorite restaurants, and agreeing on the superiority of all things Italian. A client was sitting in the waiting area, looking pointedly at her watch, and Jamie caught her mother’s eye, indicating that they should leave.

  "No, no, stay for a drink," Carlo insisted.

  "But Carlo, you have another client," Jamie reminded him, as discreetly as possible.

  He cast a quick glance at the woman, who now looked completely perturbed with him. Marching over to her, he pointed at his watch, at the assembled women gathered near his station, once again at his watch, and after a dramatic shrug of his shoulders, the woman’s face grew red and she stormed out of the shop.

  "Arrivederci," he muttered, adding a dismissive wave of his hand as he walked back to the group. "Now, who would like a drink?"

  Glancing at her watch, Catherine said, "A little Campari?"

  "But of course!" he cried, seemingly never having heard of a better idea.

  Over drinks for Catherine and Giancarlo, a bottle for Caitlin, and glasses of San Pellegrino for Jamie and Ryan, Catherine broached the subject of her own hair. "Carlo, I think I’m ready to make a change with my hair. What do you think?"

  "I think I will make the Botticelli’s Venus weep with envy," he confidently declared, taking Catherine’s hand in his.

  30 minutes later, three sets of critical, and one pair of vaguely interested eyes assessed Giancarlo’s creation. Catherine, Jamie, and Ryan all agreed that it was the cut that was designed for Catherine’s face, and Caitlin offered no objection, so they were essentially unanimous. In effect, the cut was a slightly longer version of Caitlin’s, with just a bit more length on the top and a little more tapering near the nape of her neck.

  As Ryan took another step back to look at the style, she mused that when she'd first met Catherine, she had decided that the only element of her polished image that didn’t work to perfection was her haircut. This new, more modern style was the antidote to that one flaw, and Ryan considered that Catherine now could easily pass for Jamie’s older sister. "It’s absolutely perfect," she said appreciatively, smiling broadly at Giancarlo.

  "Thank you, thank you," he said, sketching a bow. "I follow Michelangelo’s theory, you know."

  "Ah… no, I didn’t, Carlo. How so?"

  "I study the face and the personality of the woman, and then I take away all of the hair that does not belong," he explained, quite proud of himself. "Now that your mother looks even more beautiful, it’s your turn, Jamie," he said as he turned his attention to the younger Evans woman.

  "I know I need a cut, but do you have time?"

  "For you? Anything, cara mia. You’ve brought me such joy today that I should cut your hair for free." His face broke into a charming grin as he added, "But I will not!"

  Ryan was sent for more sparkling water, and she decided to take Caitlin along for the walk. When they returned, Jamie was just finishing up, and Carlo looked at Ryan and said, "Come on, lover girl, you’re next."

  "Me?" she asked, jerking a thumb at herself.

  "Yes, you," he said with his hands on his hips. "Jamie, please explain to the beautiful one that hair grows. It must be cut to maintain the perfection of my creation!"

  Ryan cast a helpless glance at Jamie but she just shrugged her shoulders in reply, knowing that Carlo would eventually win the argument. After a quick shampoo, Carlo set about removing no more than an eighth of an inch from his creation. Ryan ventured a suggestion that he cut her bangs a bit, but he sternly informed her that she was not allowed to have bangs any longer. He turned to Jamie and explained carefully with a lavish degree of hand gesturing why he would no longer allow the offending wisps of hair, and she nodded in agreement. The dialogue had gone on for at least three or four minutes, but when Jamie turned to Ryan she merely shrugged her shoulders and said, "No more bangs."

  Rolling her eyes dramatically, Ryan wisely kept her opinion to herself, reasoning that Jamie really did seem to prefer her hair blown back from her face, and that was really all that mattered.

  When they were all finished, Jamie went to settle the bill while Carlo carried Caitlin around the shop, introducing her to every other patron and stylist. She was having a ball and giggled nonstop as she met each person. She was snuggled up against Giancarlo as though she had known him all of her short life, and when Jamie returned, she was none too happy to leave his warm embrace.

  Her happy little face turned to a sad grimace as they tried to put her back into her baby sling, and Carlo insisted on taking her back into his arms. "You don’t want to leave Carlo, do you?" he crooned. As long as she was wrapped in his toned, tanned arms, the baby was the picture of bliss. Turning to Jamie he ordered, "You must bring her in at least once a month! She is magnifica! And she loves me! See?" he cried as the baby cuddled and batted her eyes at him shamelessly.

  "She certainly does," Jamie admi
tted. "I suppose we’ll just have to bring her over, Carlo."

  He sidled up to Ryan, asking, "Why don’t you have your brother bring the baby when he returns?"

  "Ahh, my brother is not gay, Carlo," Ryan informed him, surprised that Conor had not made a point of it.

  He blinked his dark eyes at her, cocking his head slightly in question. "This affects me, how?"

  Ryan blushed deeply, obviously misinterpreting Carlo’s intentions. "Oh! I thought you were…"

  "Very short hair must be cut more often, beautiful one. Your brother and Caitlin need their hair cut every month. You, however, can come four times a year. Since he must come more often, he should bring the baby. What of that don’t you understand?"

  "I understand perfectly, Carlo," she said, still blushing.

  "Lesbians," he scoffed. "Always with the sex…sex…sex!"

  After a tearful goodbye, the foursome left Giancarlo. Catherine wanted to do a little more shopping, so Jamie offered to stop at the store to pick up dinner. For some reason, Caitlin wasn’t unhappy to set off in a separate direction from her cousin, much to Ryan’s amazement.

  As the pair began the long walk to their car, Ryan commented, "Boy, Caitlin is just crazy about your mom. I’ve never seen her this happy to be with a stranger."

  "How many strangers is she ever around?" Jamie smirked, knowing that the Driscolls and the O’Flahertys took up most of Caitlin’s social calendar.

  "Good point," Ryan grinned. Deciding to get another bit of business out of the way she added, "Come to think of it, she warmed up to another stranger yesterday."