#sbl03w20

[changingplumbob]

Art: Can I help you into the lounge? Now you’re all old and grey

Layla: *laughs* Shut up

Art: So you don’t want a ride on the chair today?

Layla laughed and sat down in Art’s lap.

Layla: Oh, I think you want a ride today by what I can feel

Art: I want you feeling comfortable with your age

Layla: Well menopause was a bitch, but somehow you’re still attracted to me so I guess I have to accept my role as woohoo goddess

Art: You do

Layla: *sighs* You don’t mind me being grey? Are you sure?

Art: Yes. It’s you, natural and beautiful, the woman of my dreams in my arms

So yeah Gran was an elder now but you wouldn’t know it from the way she and Gramp flirted with each other when they thought we couldn’t hear them. When Dylan told me her theory on why they got rabbit tattoos I just about died.

[changingplumbob]

Jennifer: Can I touch your face for a bit?

Delilah: Huh? Yes, why?

Jennifer: *smiles* I remember you’re sensitive about touch

She pulled my chin up until my eyes were looking directly at hers. Normally I found eye contact a bit uncomfortable but with her... I couldn’t make myself look away.

Jennifer: You need to stop caring about what others think, decide for yourself. At the end of the day, you are the one who has to live with your decisions. My mother, my brother, they can say what they want but they aren’t you. Here, now, what do you think about us?

I didn’t dare tell her what I thought. How I’d already had daydreams about what I wanted her to do with me. What I wanted her to tell me to do. But she must have seen it all in my eyes. She smiled and ran her thumb over my lips making me shiver.

Jennifer: Ask me if you can, or I won’t

Delilah: *shakily* Can... can I kiss you?

Jennifer: *tuts* Manners. Ask me again, better

Delilah: *sighs* Please, Jennifer, can I kiss you?

The words were hardly out of my mouth before her lips were on mine, stealing my breath and my heart away.

[changingplumbob]

Jennifer: So... no more pushing me away?

Delilah: No. That’s not what I want. But Jennifer my job-

Jennifer: We don’t have to tell anyone in the house! Not if you don't want to. They don’t need to know about us, especially when we’re not really sure what us would even be

Delilah: You really think you can lie to your family?

Jennifer: I am the black sheep of my family. At this point in life they don’t often ask what’s happening in mine. We’ll be keeping us private more than secret. I’ve made sure not to call you princess when you’re on duty right? You can trust me not to ruin your life. I want you to be able to make that dream dessert that makes the weight of the world go away

It was that. That point where she proved she had been listening to me, remembering me, that’s why I took the risk to trust her. I prayed it would be the right one.

Delilah: Alright. We can try

She smiled at me and I felt like I could fly. It made me smile to.

[changingplumbob]

My first date with Jennifer had been nice. We went to the food stalls in the park, and then wound up sitting on a bench chatting.

Jennifer: You’re really not mad that I have my gym clothes on?

I didn’t mind at all. She still looked hotter than hell. The clothes hugged her curves wonderfully. Several men we passed ogled her but she seemed not to notice. I guessed she was probably used to people falling at her feet.

Delilah: I’m not mad

Jennifer: Well Delilah... you look worried about something

Delilah: *sighs* It’s just me being silly

Jennifer: Hey, I thought I told you, you’re not a joke to me. What are you so worried about? Please, tell me

Delilah: I’m worried about what people might say if they find out about us

Jennifer: I thought you said you told your mama we had a date today?

Delilah: I did. I don’t worry about my family. I guess... I guess I worry about yours. Your mother is scary and Brandon...

Jennifer: He made a pass at you, didn’t he?

Delilah: After the interview as like some kind of test. I mean he took it back and hasn’t done anything inappropriate since but... he still tells me not to let my guard down around you

[changingplumbob]

CW: Death mention

Jennifer: *sad* Oh. I’m sorry if I scared you

Delilah: Romance is a bit scary for me but, you, you don’t scare me. That is what scares me. I mean your mother...

I trailed off. I didn’t know how to tell her what Katlyn had said to me. The person she had described never felt like the woman sitting beside me.

Jennifer: Let me guess. She said that I am reckless and untrustworthy. Irresponsible yet responsible for the death of my Daddy?

Delilah: *hesitantly* You know she thinks that?

Jennifer: Yes. She’s told me so herself. And I blame myself to. I didn’t like directly... *sighs* I caused him a lot of stress. If I hadn’t been being me then, maybe he wouldn’t have had the heart attack when he did

Heart attack? It had been a heart attack? How in the world could Katlyn blame her own daughter for that?

Delilah: I had worried you were maybe a secret axe murderer. I’m sorry that happened but Jennifer a heart attack couldn’t have been your fault. Damn your mother is a *switches to quiet* wait... do you think she has like microphones out here?

Jennifer: I wouldn’t put it past her

Jennifer smiled, chuckled and looked at me in a way I couldn’t figure out. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking but it made me flustered.

[changingplumbob]

Jennifer walked into her mother’s office feeling like she was on cloud nine. Delilah liked her back! Part of her had worried that it was impossible. She had checked at the fundraiser that Delilah was single but that didn’t mean she was guaranteed to be interested in her.

Katlyn: Did you hear what I said?

Jennifer: Hmm? No I wasn’t listening. But rarely for me it wasn’t deliberate

Katlyn: *sighs* You look like a slut. Not enough to show your knees in the workplace but half your thighs to? How do you expect to do business in that outfit?

Jennifer: Firstly, it’s like a thousand degrees outside. I am dressed for the weather. Secondly, am I or am I not the one who is overseeing the escorts? Why not dress like their mascot?

That earned Jennifer a snarl but she smiled. If she had to suffer her mother’s venom then her mother would suffer hers. She had no qualms about offending someone as immoral as Katlyn.

Katlyn: Jennifer, you are my daughter, you are not a prostitute

Jennifer: Huh, I hadn’t realised those were mutually exclusive. That must be a new development

[changingplumbob]

Yawning, I climbed into bed. My thoughts naturally drifted. I had been trying to keep my distance from Jennifer but it was hard. So, so hard. Every time she walked into a room I caught my breath as her smile disarmed me. But Nguyen was right, I needed to stay in the good graces of her mother and brother. Luckily she seemed to have been busy with work, and Nguyen served the meals to the family, so I hadn’t had a proper conversation with her since Bunny Day anyway.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds around me. The rain was still falling but I could also hear Isaac’s slow breathing. On top of that I could hear the hum of the equipment for Reginald’s tank. The sounds created their own symphony that lulled me back to sleep.

[changingplumbob]

Dylan: I am loving this development for you Delilah

Delilah: *smiling* I’m enjoying it to

Rina: I don’t know. It could be tricky

Dylan: What do you mean?

Rina: Well if Jennifer is Isaac’s aunt, doesn’t that make her your boss

Dylan: Oh damn, good point. That’s pretty unethical

Delilah: *laughs* Dylan people routinely say your love life is unethical

Dylan: Well yeah but I’ve never worked under any of my partners

Delilah: I don’t work under her. She isn’t my boss. Her brother is mainly, and her mother, but not Jennifer

Rina: Okay but couldn’t she get you fired? If the whim took her?

Delilah: *sighs* Honestly her mother could probably fire me for something random. That’s why I always make sure to dress him in the beige clothes when she wants a visit, I don’t want her accusing me of like messing with his brain by making him wear pink