Story Title - The Three of Us
Part - Part 1 of 2 or 1 of 3
Author - JustSkipIt
Feedback - Does anyone ever say no?
Spoilers - For real?
Rating - PG-13 for this part.
Glossary - I don't know how common the word
mulligan is if you're not a golfer (or former golfer).
You don't want to
Fall and not be able to get up.
Judiasm has very
specific mourning traditions. Of course these will vary depending on the denomination (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.) and the observance level of the mourners.
Willow stared at the phone as she set it in the cradle. The avocado green color might not have even been in style back when the phone had been installed in this community center a few hundred years ago. Ok, the phone was probably only 40 years old but the color made it distinctive. She pondered this as she stared at the offending appliance. For the moment it kept her from processing the information she had just received.
"Willow! Are you ready? We've got line of people down the block and..." Joe, Dr. Hampton, cut off as he got a look at his partner's face. "Willow? Dr. Rosenberg? What happened?"
Willow turned slowly to look at her friend. Her voice broke and tears filled her eyes. "My brother..."
--
Tara shifted the bag over her shoulder as she fumbled with the spare key. She knocked lightly on the door even as she realized sadly that there was no reason to do so. Trey wasn't home. He wouldn't be home. Ever. The key slid in the lock easily and she turned it before stepping into the apartment and letting the screen door close quietly. She pushed the door closed behind her and carried her bag into the kitchen. "Coco? Coco? Here girl. I've come to feed you. Now... how are you doing?" She reached over to pet the cat who had jumped onto the kitchen stool as the pet purred in approval of the movement. "Ok, let's see. You need some new water and some dry food. And I think Trey... Trey liked to give you wet food in the evening right?" She pulled the can out of her bag and had just pushed down the handle on the can opener when the door to Trey's bedroom opened.
Neither woman could say for sure who screamed first. Tara dropped the half-opened can of food on the counter as her mind simply would not register the slight woman wrapped very insecurely in a towel and wielding one of Trey's commendation plaques in one hand as the other attempted to hold up the towel. Willow screamed as she realized that she had not imagined hearing a strange noise while in the shower. A strange noise that had caused her to jump from the shower without rinsing the shampoo from her hair and which now resulted in the suds beginning to run into her eyes. Without stopping her screaming, she dropped the plaque and tried to rub the soap from her eyes. For her part, Coco ran across the kitchen counter, bounced off the pass-through counter, shot through the living room, and dove under the bed where she stayed for the rest of the day.
"What? Who? What?" Willow stopped talking to try and gather her breath giving Tara a chance to speak.
"Willow? Willow um... Rosenberg?"
The redhead tilted her head to the side. "Right. Ok. Willow. Yes. You're?"
"You look just like your brother. I m-mean ... not just like. So like. Obviously you're a w-w-woman and ... um... " She motioned toward the other woman's towel.
At the motion Willow attempted to refasten the towel around her chest. "We're twins. I mean we were twins. I... I don't know." She took a deep breath as tears filled her eyes noticing that the other woman was also starting to cry.
Tara continued staring at the other woman. If not for being different genders and the large scar running down the left side of Willow's face they were virtually the same. She would have known her best friend's sister anywhere. "I just came to f-feed Coco." She motioned lamely toward the counters and bed.
"Coco! I tried Blacky, Puff ball, Fluffy, Puss, Boots, even Alice and Cindy and Hortense... I mean but how do you know with a cat? You know? It's not like they come even if you guess the name right." She wiped at her forehead again.
Tara refastened the can onto the opener. "Do you want to go back to your shower?" Willow nodded. Before she could leave the room Tara called out behind her. "Do you w-want me to go?"
Willow turned and studied the other woman for a moment. "Would you mind staying?" The blonde just nodded.
Fifteen minutes later, the redhead emerged from the bedroom to find her brother's apparent friend sitting on a kitchen stool fiddling with a chopstick she had obviously picked up out of a canister on the counter. "Thanks for staying." She crossed the room to look at the other woman, noting that her eyes were red and puffy as if she had spent the last fifteen minutes crying just as Willow had done. "I'm Willow Rosenberg, Trey's sister. But I guess you already knew that."
Tara nodded and extended her hand. "Tara Maclay. Trey and I work together. Worked t-together. I don't know. He was my f-friend." She dropped the redhead's hand, rubbed her stomach in what Willow assumed was a nervous gesture, and looked at the counter again. "We didn't know you were coming. I ... my apartment doesn't allow pets so I've been trying to figure out about Coco."
Willow pulled out a chair and sat down. "I... The embassy called. I got a ride to the airport and a taxi from the one here and the manager let me in. I don't know that any of it seems real yet. I mean two days ago my partner and I drove into a new village and the mayor says he has a message that I have to call the embassy and I do ... and now I'm back in the States."
The blonde nodded. "You're in shock."
Willow laughed, half-way between a laugh and a smirk. "Is that what it's called? I don't think I understand how this happened. I mean... aren't there police here? I've been in South America for three years and I was safer than my brother in California. How does that happen?" She slammed her hand on the counter. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to yell at you and I'm not mad at you." She took a deep breath. "I haven't eaten. I got a ride on a plantain truck to the airport 36 hours ago so I had plenty of plantains but since then I had some peanuts and five or six cokes on the plane."
Tara stood and put her hand on the redhead's elbow. "I know a really good diner near here. Trey and I went there all the time."
Willow allowed herself to be stood up and led toward the door. "Are you his girlfriend?"
Tara blushed. "Uh... very the no. Just f-friends."
Willow shrugged as she followed the other woman through the door, taking the opportunity for a very inappropriate glance at the blonde's ass. "He must have been blind," she muttered as she pulled the door closed behind them.
---
Tara could only stare as she watched Willow eat. The redhead had gone through her first cheeseburger in about 3 minutes before ordering another one and was finishing off a plate of fries. Between bites she was eating a slice of cherry pie with ice cream and she was drinking coffee from a mug while downing a glass of coke. The blonde picked at the pita bread, celery, carrots, and hummus in front of her as she attempted to get a little protein.
The redhead wiped at her mouth with a napkin and noticed the look on the other woman's face. "Uh... I'm sorry. I'm a pig. I just... I haven't had food like this for three years, 2 months, 17 days, and ..." she looked at her watch... "9 hours give or take." She glanced down at the table in embarrassment, not wanting to offend her brother's good friend. In addition to wanting to hear about Trey and what had happened, the blonde was quite attractive. Hot even. So her stomach was a little poochy. It wasn't any big deal and sometimes Willow liked a little meat on a woman. Not that she'd had much of a chance to explore any preferences in the last few years. She mentally admonished herself for objectifying this woman so thoroughly before speaking. "Can you tell me what happened? I mean I got an e-mail from Trey last week. He said he had some exciting news and wanted to speak to me so I could hear his voice. Then the embassy and ... I mean. How can he be gone?"
Tara took a deep breath as she began to relay the information she'd heard from first her manager and later the police detective who came to the office. In short, Trey had made a home visit and determined that he would need to file a report and then return for a follow-up visit. He'd filed the initial findings from his car and then driven around the corner to get a soda at a convenience store. When he'd come out the suspected abuser was waiting for him. Both the Sunnydale Police and California Department of Safety were investigating the murder and the perpetrator was being held without bail. It was the first time the Child Protective Services of Sunnydale had ever lost an investigator and the entire staff was in a state of shock even with the counselors who had been brought in to talk to them. When she finished speaking, Tara wiped her eyes again with a napkin and looked down to notice Willow's hand in her own. "He... we was a good man and he was t-trying to make a d-difference."
Willow just nodded as she wiped at her own tears. "I have to go meet with a detective Harris in the morning. He said I have to... identify... you know."
Tara nodded and took a deep breath. "Would you like m-me to go with y-you?"
Willow looked at her hands as she considered the offer. "I'm ... I think I can do it. But can you... I don't know help me with the service? I know he has a folder with instructions but we didn't discuss what was in it. I mean where does he want to be buried? I need to call a rabbi. I mean his rabbi. I know he only went on the high holy days but ... " She stopped speaking and lay her head in her hands as she started to cry again.
Tara watched the redhead for a moment before moving to the bench seat across the table and sliding in next to her, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman. She was aware of the looks of other patrons but didn't care and felt grateful that the waitress kept her distance. When the moment, which had turned into minutes, had passed, Tara silently returned to her side of the table.
"Do you need to contact any family?"
Willow wiped at her eyes. "I guess my aunt Zelda. Other than that... our father died when we were kids, mom a few years ago, and now Trey." She motioned at herself. "I guess the great Rosenberg line will die with me." Tara raised an eyebrow in question but didn't voice it. "I had an accident ... once."
"Oh."
The redhead shrugged and pulled some bills from her pocket to drop them on the ticket lying on the side of the table. As Tara began to do the same she quickly waved off the offer. "Please. It's not often that I get the opportunity to buy a beautiful woman a plate of hummus and vegetables that she hardly touches."
Tara felt the blush rising in her cheeks and quickly looked at her hands. "I wasn't very hungry." She looked back up at the redhead and motioned toward the door. "It's getting late."
--
Respecting Jewish tradition to conduct a burial very quickly, Willow had done just that. At the temple service she had sat in the front row with only her aunt Zelda and prayed the Kaddish with fervor as if it could actually bring back her brother.
Tara observed all this as she had observed the determined woman for the past 30 hours. True to her word, Willow had called Tara after meeting with Detective Harris and signing the forms to have Trey's body released. The blonde had helped her make calls as well as helping compose the obituary, a process that had brought no small amount of tears to either woman. Occasionally the blonde thought her friend's sister was flirting with her but other times she seemed to withdraw into herself in such a way that she almost thought she had imagined it. Trey had never mentioned that his sister might be gay but maybe he didn't know or maybe she wasn't. The Temple service was followed by a graveside internment and announcement of the hours for Shiva over the coming days.
Finally seeing that Willow stood alone at the graveside, Tara approached. "Can I drive you home, Willow?" The redhead nodded and waited for Tara to begin walking before falling into step next to her.
Willow sighed. "We go home. Eat bagels and hard boiled eggs. Pray three times a day. I already covered the mirrors and pictures. It's a whole thing..."
The blonded opened Willow's car door for her and motioned toward her torn blouse. "And that?"
Willow barely opened her eyes as she settled into the seat. "It's ... " she trailed off as Tara slid into her own seat, bumping against the steering wheel as she did to, then placing her hand on the redhead's knee. Willow looked at the hand as if she didnt' understand how it had appeared there before raising her eyes to look at Tara. For a moment the blonde was tempted to move her hand but she didn't and after a few seconds she felt Willow's hand covering her own. "There are lot of rules."
Tara nodded.
"It ... makes it ... I don't know. Structured. Easier I guess."
The blonde nodded again. "And what after? Will you go back Dentists without Borders?"
Willow shrugged. "I haven't decided. My commitment was over months ago but they're always short and I just stayed on." She looked down at her hands. "But maybe it's time to start my new life here. Or somewhere. I guess I could move anywhere." She shrugged again.
Tara's voice was almost a whisper. "I think I might miss you if you did." Willow didn't respond and they rode the remainder of the way home in silence.
--
Tara closed a file folder with a sigh and looked at the clock, surprised to see that it was after 5:00. She quickly locked up the files on her desk, shut down her computer, and turned off the desk light. After gathering her bag and car keys she stopped at Trey's desk to run her fingertips over his computer, clock, chair, pictures, plants and other belongings in what had become a sort of ritual.
"Good night, Tara!"
"Good night, Mac!" Tara always found comfort in knowing that most nights when she left the office her boss was still there. He actually worked and actually liked his work. It made it easier for the entire department to have a supervisor who understood and supported their work and right now she knew his job was particularly challenging. She settled into her car and took a deep breath. It was hard not to think of Trey constantly. So many times they had left the office together, gone for a walk or to get dinner or to one of their houses to throw together some dinner and watch a video. She had frequently tried to convince him that he needed to get out and meet women more often but his response of Touche always stopped that argument and they had enjoyed their friendship. It wasn't that they didn't date - both did but they also enjoyed time alone or with each other. She laughed as she remembered a particularly disastrous double date with identical twins.
The ringing of her phone interrupted the memories of their "date with idiots" as Trey had dubbed it. "Hello?"
"I don't know how I'll manage to eat all this food."
Tara smiled immediately as she recognized Willow's voice. In the three days since the funeral service, she had gone by the apartment only once. Having arrived during the recitation of the Mourners Kaddush she felt somewhat awkward and clearly out of place and only stayed a few minutes among Willow and the seven men and three women praying together. "Is that your best opening line, Willow?"
She heard the redhead laugh and then exhale. "Can I try again?"
Tara nodded like you do when you are on the phone but feel like you're really there. "Please do."
"Hi, Tara! I was wondering if you wanted to come over and have dinner.... Um... with me?"
The blonde smiled as she put in her earpiece and started the car. "You know... I just happen to be in the mood for casseroles. Do you have anything in the pasta genre?"
Willow laughed back. "I can offer you an assortment of pasta. Pasta salad, Pasta and peas, Pasta and meat sauce. Pasta and Eggplant Parmesian. Also salad and green beans and brocolli and a nice bottle of wine or two. Ok, I went out and bought the wine but the rest just keep showing up. I gave some to the woman who lives next door."
"Paula."
"Huh?"
Tara turned right at the light and continued talking. "Trey's next-door neighbor. The one on the right with 3 kids? Paula."
"Oh. She told me her name but I forgot it. I have met so many people in the past few days. So I can hear you driving. Are you coming here? You never actually said yes."
"I'm on the way. Do you want me to stop and pick anything up? Ice? Garlic Bread?"
She could practically hear the smile over the phone. "I have everything I could need except a beautiful woman to share it with." Before the blonde could answer Willow joked. "Maybe I should have opened with that line."
Tara pulled into the parking lot across from the apartment. "That's the second time you've called me beautiful, Willow."
"Is it a problem?"
The blonde looked up to see that Willow must have seen her car arrive as the redhead now stood in the doorway holding the phone to her ear and waving. "Definintely not a problem, Will."
"Good." As Tara smiled as she saw that Willow was watching her climb the stairs. They had both disconnected the call. "Hey you!"
"You got a bike?" Tara nodded toward the bike chained to the railing in front of the apartment.
Willow closed the door behind the blonde as they both went inside. "Yeah. It's my big splurge so far. I mean I have most of my earnings from the past few years plus savings from both my parents's life insurance plus I'm apparently getting part of Trey's life insurance. I mean... why did he even have life insurance? He was a young single guy. Anyway, I got a registered letter today and it had an amount in it so I could afford a bike or I guess 100 bikes or something. You know? Plus it's wierd being in an apartment where I don't own anything at all. It's sort of like I'm just stepping into my brother's life." By the time she took a breath she had reached the kitchen and was pulling casserole dishes from the refrigerator. "Why don't you look in those or poke your index finger in or whatever while I open this wine." She held up the bottle.
Tara set down her purse and lifted the foil on a few dishes. "The lasagna looks good. No wine for me though, please."
Willow looked up from where she was pouring wine into the first of two wine glasses. "Really? Um... Coke? Sprite? Grape juice?"
The blonde picked up the spoon and began dishing a portion of lasagna onto her plate. When Willow pointed at it and then her plate, she did the same with the second plate. "You h-have grape juice?"
Willow recorked the wine and reached into the refrigerator to pull out the bottle. "Sure. For the blessings. I mean you never know when people will bring kids to the Shiva or alcoholics or whatever..."
Tara smiled warmly and pushed the plates toward the redhead who started warming them in the microwave and then replacing the other dishes in the refrigerator. "Trey always told me that Jewish kids drank wine in their baby bottles."
The redhead laughed. "Some do. Most drink grape juice until they're 8 or 9 and then toast with wine." She walked around the kitchen bar and handed Tara the wine glass of grape juice holding up her own. "Here's to beautiful women who say yes to dinner even when I have to play a mulligan on my opening line."
They clinked their glasses together and each took a sip. "Does it happen a l-lot?" Tara realized how jealous that sounded and could feel her ears starting to burn. She looked down at the floor as Willow leaned back to take a seat on one of the bar stools.
The redhead took another slow sip of wine and tilted her head as if studying her dinner companion. "Would it bother you if it did?"
Tara looked down at her skirt, picking off an invisible piece of lint. "Yes," she finally whispered.
She felt Willow touch her fingers and then entwine just the tips of their fingers. "Good." Tara looked up at the tentative smile on Willow's face. "No. It doesnt' happen often at all."
Before Tara could say anything the timer on the microwave sounded. Willow set down her wine glass and walked around the bar to check the food to ensure it was warm enough. "C-can I do anything else?"
Willow put one of the plates back in the microwave and pulled forks, knives, and spoons from the drawer just underneath it, handing them across the passthrough. "I thought we could sit on the balcony. It's the best part of the apartment." Realizing that Tara wasn't stepping up to take the utensils but was standing to the side of the bar she walked around and handed her the silverware. "Are you ok?"
Tara took the silverware and smiled broadly. "I can't remember having been better. Well... except for ... you know, Trey?"
Willow shrugged. "I think it might only hurt forever."
Tara looked away, the moment feeling a little too raw for them both. "I'll just set the..." She stood on the balcony for a few minutes thinking of the many times she and her best friend had enjoyed the view. The microwave finished and she expected Willow to come out. Then she realized the the other woman was giving them both a few minutes to themselves. Just as wiped her eyes she looked up and there the redhead was.
"This balcony is the best part of this apartment." She set the plates on the table then dashed back inside to grab the wine glasses. "I can see why he picked it. You hardly even know that you're in a city."
The both took their seats and tasted the food. "This is really good," Tara murmured. "Do you know who made it?"
Willow shrugged again and Tara realized with some affection that it was a all-purpose sort of movement. Like when she didn't know something or didn't want to say something. "It has a name on the pan but I don't know..." She took a deep breath. "It's weird." Tara nodded, assuming the redhead would continue. "I mean I've never met anyone before. He had this whole life. People from Temple and work and seven guys he played basketball with on the weekends came by. A huge Rastafarian who smelled like he toked up in the parking lot came over yesterday with a bucket of daises and six dozen golf balls and said that Trey saved his life. Three priests have visited. Catholic priests?" Tara nodded. "A girl came by in a shirt that barely qualified as clothing and sat down on the couch and cried and cried and then left without saying a word." She took a bite of the food. "And I'm sort of... visiting his life. Sitting Shiva. Mourning. Following the rules." She chuckled. "Does my hair look stupid?"
Tara laughed. "It looks quite adorable actually."
Willow smiled and stopped the fork half-way to her mouth. "I'll have to take your word for it. Bathing only for cleanliness, no mirrors, no hair product..."
"It sounds hard."
Willow shook her head. "No. I mean... I don't want to complain. It's not hard. Trey being gone is hard. This is just mourning. Just following rules. It's structure and I like structure. I appreciate structure."
Tara looked down to note that she had cleaned her plate. It was probably the best meal she'd eaten in a week. "I read through some things online about the rules." She wasn't sure if she could tease the other girl but then she realized that she would have opened with this were she talking to Trey. "... no sex for 30 days?"
Willow nearly choked on her bite of lasagna but quickly took a drink of wine. She noticed the teasing look on the other woman's face. "You don't know the half of it. My last three years have not exactly been a hot bed of... well hot beds. Or maybe they have but not in that oh... so... good ...way." She breathed the last four syllables.
Tara smirked at the very sexy and teasing answer. "What way was that?"
Her companion laughed as she stood up and took both their plates into the kitchen. "If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you again." She poured herself another glass of wine and then looked at the woman who had followed her inside. "Maybe I could show you in another ... 24 days or so."
Her flirtatious efforts were rewarded as the blonde coughed had to take a drink of the glass of water sitting on the table. "So you know what's weird?"
"Real Housewives of ... shows? The popularity of Lady Gaga? Performance Art?"
Tara laughed and sat at the bar as Willow loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. "Trey never mentioned that you were family." She she saw the puzzled look on the redhead's face she continued. "I m-mean most people they only need like ... 2 seconds with someone and if they know two lesbians they're like... 'hey, you should meet my sister/aunt/roommate's dog's littermate's owner and so on and so forth... Trey never even said you were gay let alone any of the standard 'you should meet my hot Dentist twin.'"
"Are there a lot of homeless people here?"
Tara scrunched up her face. "Yes but he never tried to set me up with them."
Willow laughed. "Want to go help me give them this food? We could wrap it up in foil and rubber band some plastic forks to it and make their night." As she spoke she began opening and closing drawers until she found a tube of aluminum foil and pulled it from the drawer.
"Ok." Tara reached across to put the aluminum foil between them. "Why don't you pull out everything you want to give away and two spatulas and we'll wrap it up."
Willow did as asked. "He set me up with this woman named Blanche when we were in college."
"Blanche? A lesbian named Blanche?"
"I think she was the prototype. Maybe a one-off." Willow set the last container on the counter and the two women began cutting and packaging the food. "It was a disaster. Actually to say that the date was a disaster would be an insult to disasters. You remember the Titanic? How it hit an iceberg and a few thousand people froze and drowned and Leo DiCaprio froze to death but Kate Winslet managed to get on a boat and steal a huge honkin diamond? That voyage was basically a success compared to this date."
"So not good?"
Willow pointed her spatula at the blonde. "Look here missy... I probably screamed at him for 2 hours after that. I made him vow that he would never set me up again. Never even mention that I was gay to anyone again. Never 'hey, you should meet my hot Dentist sister.' Never ever ever. Also I made him pay to get the tattoo removed."
Tara laughed. "Really? A tattoo? Of what? Wait! I want to guess. A butterfly? No, tiger? Barbed wire and flames? Spongebob Squarepants? Wait.... you're kidding about the tattoo, right?"
"I think I saw a card board box somewhere." She wandered into the bedroom and came back after a minute with a box which she began loading with the food. "Yes, I'm kidding about the tattoo but not about the date. He was duly admonished which is why he never sent me an e-mail saying 'so my best friend is this smoking hot social worker. You two should meet for what I'm very inappropriately sure would be hot monkey lovin'...'" Before Tara could respond Willow practically shouted. "Socks!"
"Yes, socks to you too."
"No," the redhead smiled as she went into the bedroom again and emerged with two packages of tube socks. "I saw these earlier. He must have just gotten them." She tossed them into the box with the food. Then noticing the look on Tara's face she asked. "You think it's ok, right?"
Tara nodded. "It's ... totally ok. It's just ... we went shopping last Sunday and he was teasing me about shopping 'like a girl' so I said he had to buy some clothes. He got those even though he didn't need them but he said they were a 'guy thing.'"
Willow chuckled. "That's my brother." She picked up the box. "Do you mind driving since I've had 2 glasses of wine and you know the city better than I do?"
Tara stood and picked up her keys. "I don't know. That grape juice is really hitting me hard. Are you sure you w-want to take your chances with me?"
"Maybe not for another 24 days but I'm definitely open to it." The redhead bumped her hip playfully against Tara's as she walked by her toward the door.
Tara chuckled as she picked up her keys. "You know just because your brother was my best friend, it doesn't make me a sure thing." She held the door open as Willow carried the large box out and then locked it behind herself. Before Willow could answer she looked at the key. "Do you want this key back? I m-mean I've had Trey's key for years but I hardly know you. Maybe you don't want a ... sort of s-stranger to have a key to your apartment."
Willow leaned the box against the railing for a few seconds as she adjusted her hold on it. "Oh I think you should keep it. I mean we've already established that I don't know anyone here. What if I fall and can't get up?" She took one hand off the box to pantomime reaching for a phone that she couldn't reach much to Tara's amusement.
"Please put your hands back on the box and be careful down the stairs, Willow, so you don't fall and can't get up in the next minute."
Willow giggled as she went down the stairs, reaching the bottom quickly and stopping to wait for her companion. As they walked it occurred to her that she didn't actually know what Tara did for a living. "Can you charge this time at work?"
Tara opened the passenger door and opened it for Willow who placed the box on the floor and then got into the car so her feet were on either side of it. "Thanks, Tare."
"Is that your w-way of asking what I do for a living?"
Willow waited for the blonde to join her in the car and shrugged again. "You didn't find it smooth and charming?"
Tara started the car and backed out of the parking space. "I'm a caseworker. It's the same thing that Trey did. Usually I'm in the field maybe 50% of the time but right now... we're all driving desks and starting to drive each other a little crazy."
Willow nodded. "I've never worked in an office. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it."
Tara pulled up to a stop sign. "I'll be right back." Willow stepped out of the car, taking a few packages of food to the teens she saw on the corner. She talked to them for a few minutes then came back. "They said that if we take the third right we can find basically a whole city of hungry people. Are you ok with that?"
Tara nodded and waited for the redhead to buckle her seat belt, then pulled away from the curb. "So where did you practice in the jungle?"
"It looks like right up there." Willow motioned toward a group of kids on the sidewalk. She stepped out carrying the box, telling Tara that she would be right back. As the blonde watched she saw the woman hand the box over to a tall boy who held it as she handed around the packs of food and socks. Word must have gotten out because within minutes a crowd of 15-20 people were taking the food packets before fading back down the nearest alley or into a doorway again. She visited with the kids for a few minutes before Tara saw her reach into her pocket and hand something to one of the girls before returning to the car. She got back into the car, waving at the kids and pulled the door shut. "Sometimes a community center, village leader's hut, we had a van that we traveled in and it was equipped but it was also really stuffy and you could smell the gas that another dentist was using. Occasionally we would just set up in a square."
The blonde laughed as she drove. "Do you always do that?"
"That depends on what I just did."
"Well I asked you a question and you got out of the car and were gone for 5 minutes and came back and started up the conversation as if you hadn't been gone at all."
"So what you're saying is that while I was gone you were watching my ass and you forgot what question you had asked?"
"Willow!" Tara sputtered as if she had never been accused of such a thing. "I refuse to answer on the grounds that ... "she glanced at the clock on her dashboard, "... it's after 10:30 and I have no obligation to answer."
Willow smirked. "You should be warned that failure to answer can be taken as a positive response and will be taken as such because it would make me happy." She saw the smile on the blonde's face. "And yes, I have that habit. I guess you'll get used to it?"
Tara nodded. "I'll certainly try." She pulled into the apartment parking lot. "What did you give the girl?"
"What?"
"The girl on the corner."
"Oh... all my money. I mean ... I don't know. Maybe she's going to get high or drunk or something. But maybe not. She said she wanted to call her mom and get a bus ticket home. Maybe she really will."
Tara turned off the car and reached out to pat Willow's knee. "I think you're a truly good person."
The redhead laughed. "Well, that's a relief."
"No. I mean it. I l-like it." She looked down again, letting the moment pass. "I should go home. I have work tomorrow and you have Shiva."
Willow nodded but didn't make any move to get out of the car. "Hey Tara?" Tara looked up at her and Willow looked like she was considering what to say. "I know you were ... um ... uncomfortable the other day but would you come Thursday morning? We'll break Shiva right after the morning Kaddish and ... you know... it gives me another chance to share a meal with a beautiful woman." She smiled hopefully.
Tara looked down again, feeling her ears start to burn. "You d-don't have to do that."
"Do what? Invite you to break Shiva? I just thought... I mean you seem to be Trey's best friend and I can't say he'd want you there because it's bagels and lox and cream cheese but still... it ends the Shiva." She wrung her fingers together. "Is it because it's a work day? It has to break when it breaks but maybe your boss would understand. I met him yesterday and he seemed pretty alright."
Tara looked back up at the fast-talking redhead. "I ... that's not what I meant. I'll come to the ... thing. I just meant you don't have to keep giving me compliments. Calling me beautiful and all that." She looked down again. "I feel a little like you're t-teasing me."
Willow was silent for a minute before reaching across the car to lift Tara's chin so she could look into her eyes. "There is no part of me that's teasing you. I think you're beautiful and I can stop saying it if it makes you uncomfortable but I won't stop thinking it just like you're not going to stop looking at my ass."
Tara giggled and pulled away, playfully shooing the redhead from her car with her hand. "I'll see you on Thursday, Willow."
Taking her cue, Willow opened the car door and studied the blonde for a few seconds before standing up. "Thanks for coming over tonight, Tara. I really enjoyed it."
Tara smiled and waited to call out after the other woman. "Me too, Willow. And not just because I got free food and grape juice and got to watch your ass."
Hearing her, Willow wagged said ass playfully then took the stairs two-at-a time, before unlocking the door and turning to wave to a watching Tara.
by guitar_girl » Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:01 pm 
I lost track of time..the conversations seem sooo real and sooo can't wait for the part 2..or 3.. 
)
I'm interested in Jewish culture, and while I've had a friend sit Shiva before (when her dad died), I didn't know an awful lot about it. Thanks for some insight.
But still . . . 
) But having joked and gibbered, let me be dead serious: your writing has grown from wonderful/sweet/good to wonderful/fascinating/great.
