Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

He got off the bed and walked to the bathroom. When he returned, he sat on the mattress, facing her. “What’s going on?”

Why did it always have to be like this? Why did they always have to care? It was her body—she should get to say what happened and what didn’t happen.

“I don’t understand,” she said, then smiled. “I enjoyed that.”

“Not enough.” His voice was flat, his expression wary. “You didn’t come.”

“Oh, that.” She waved her hand. “I liked what we did. It was enough for me.”

“Uh-huh. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing. I had a great time, isn’t that enough?”

“No.” His gaze locked with hers. “Is it because it’s our first time? Do you need to get comfortable? Or is this a regular thing?”

“I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking, but if it’s what I think it is, then not everyone is the same.” She glanced down and found the weave of the sheets to be fascinating.

Griffith touched his fingers to her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You don’t climax during sex?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Not ever?”

She held in a groan. “Nope. Which is totally fine.”

“Not even by yourself?”

She flushed and jerked her head free of his light touch. “I don’t do that.”

“You should. A lot. Get to know your body. If you don’t know what you like, how can you tell me what works best?”

Sven had been like this, she thought grimly. Determined to make things happen. After a few months he’d stopped trying so much and well, she’d gotten better at faking it. She supposed it spoke well for the men in her life that they cared about her pleasure. She just wished they would leave it be. She was fine. Happy. Content.

“You’re making too big a deal out of this,” she told him. “Not everyone needs to fly off into the universe. Some of us just like the closeness and intimacy. It’s that way for me.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Having an orgasm is a physical response to stimulus. It’s like sneezing. Unless there’s a physical problem, you should be climaxing.”

She groaned. “Can we please not talk about this? I beg you. Later, but not now. I have too much going on.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Thank you for tonight. Can you stay for a bit or do you have to get home?”

“Stay and do what?” she asked, trying not to sound wary. She so wasn’t in the mood for him to take a stand, so to speak. The thought of a half hour of him trying various things on her body would be a nightmare.

“I thought I’d get back in bed and we’d cuddle. You can tell me everything you like about me and I’ll bask in my wonderfulness. How does that sound?”

Her tension eased, which was probably the point of his humor. “Oh, could we?” She batted her eyes at him. “My hero.”

“That’s me. Your knight in shining armor.”

She held up the sheet. He slid in next to her and pulled her against him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“This is nice,” he said. “You know what would make it perfect?”

She grinned. “Either sports or food.”

“There’s a Mariners game on, if that’s okay.”

Later she would have to deal with all the crap in her life. Later she would have to confront her sister and feel all the horrible emotions she was currently ignoring, but it wasn’t later yet and she planned to enjoy every second of the reprieve.

She sighed and closed her eyes. “You go for it.”

*

Helen had thought the time between declaring herself to Jeff and having him respond had been the longest two days in her life, but she’d been oh, so wrong. The time between finding out Marilee was back and having the chance to talk to him was at least seven lifetimes. When he did finally make it to the café, it was nearly two o’clock, but she had three customers who wanted to linger and then Delja wouldn’t leave so it was forty minutes until they were able to sit down at one of the tables.

She felt sick to her stomach. Worrying about Marilee had been the best diet yet. She hadn’t been able to eat or sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she pictured them together. Marilee had always been beautiful and according to Kelly, that hadn’t changed. Trying to eat had made Helen sick to her stomach. Even now she felt uneasy churning where lunch should have been.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come by,” he told her. “Things have been complicated.”

She was sure that was true, but she wasn’t about to admit it to him. She and Jeff had become lovers, then his ex-wife had returned to town and she hadn’t seen him since. If anyone was going to do the talking, it was him.

“I want to be clear,” he said. “I had no idea she was going to show up and I’m not happy she’s here.”

Helen allowed some of her tension to ease.

“But,” he said, and the tension returned, “I think this is a good thing. Kelly and Olivia need to spend time with their mother.” He frowned. “Kelly does, at least. I’m still not clear on what Olivia has going on with Marilee. I knew they were in touch, but apparently they both live in Phoenix and work together.” He shook his head. “Regardless, the three of them need time to be a family. They didn’t have that before.”

“Because Marilee left,” she blurted before she could stop herself.

“You’re right. But I still feel badly that Kelly didn’t have a mother around as she went through high school. I wanted the two of them to stay in touch, but Marilee wasn’t interested. She disappeared. I found her once and she told me if I came looking for her again, she would make sure she was never found. It didn’t matter that I didn’t want her back, that I wanted her for the girls. She was always one to go her own way.”

Her own way? Was that what they were calling it?

“I made a lot of mistakes with my girls.” He stared at the table. “I should have tried harder with Olivia. I shouldn’t have let Marilee act the way she did.”

“I’m not sure how you would have controlled her,” Helen snapped before she could stop herself.

“You’re right. I suppose I should have divorced her rather than waiting for her to run off.” He looked at her. “The only thing I know I did right was to never bad-mouth their mother to my daughters. I haven’t said a word against her and I won’t. If she wants to spend time with them, then I’m in favor of that.”

Helen waited for the rest of the sentence. The part where he explained that the reunion was going to happen from the safe distance of a hotel. She waited for him to say that he’d been missing her and thinking about her and even though they’d just become lovers, she was important to him and he didn’t want to lose what they had. That he wanted her to know nothing was happening between him and his still-beautiful ex-wife who was sleeping just down the hall in the damn guest room!

But he didn’t. Instead he looked at her and asked, “Are you okay?”