By Design by J. A. Armstrong Read Free Book Online Page B

intended to check on her
mother, but the tender exchange between the two women she loved most in her
life had stopped her in her tracks. Something in Pearl’s words to her mother
had struck a chord within Michelle. She felt the need to reach out
somehow. “I’m sorry, Mom,” she said.
    “Sorry?
What are you sorry for?” Candace wondered. Michelle just hung her head. “Shell?”
    “I’m
sorry Marianne upset you so much.”
    Candace
nodded. “I’m all right.”
    “Mom?”
    “Yes?”
    “ Is… Jameson is important to you,” Michelle said
quietly.
    Candace
was surprised at the observation. “She’s a friend.”
    Michelle
let the response linger for a while. She returned her focus to the book in her
lap. She thought a different approach might be more successful. After she had felt a sufficient amount of time had passed to
lower her mother’s guard, she spoke. “Is she pretty?” Michelle asked a bit
playfully.
    “She’s
beautiful,” Candace replied as if the question had come from within . Realizing that it had come from Michelle, she flushed with embarrassment. “I … ”
    “I
figured,” Michelle commented with a smile.
    “It’s
not what,” Candace began to stammer. Michelle arched an eyebrow at her mother.
“Shell, it’s not like that. She’s a friend; that’s all.”
    Michelle
smiled at her mother. “I look forward to meeting her.”
    “You
want to meet Jameson?” Candace suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit her.
    “Some
reason that you wouldn’t want me to?”
    “No,
of course, not.”
    Michelle
giggled. “Don’t worry Mom, I prefer them short and blonde, or maybe redhead. I
guess I could…”
    “What?”
Candace interrupted.
    “What
do you mean; what?” Michelle laughed. “And, I prefer them under thirty.”
Candace’s jaw fell slack. “Mom? You did know that I like girls? I mean, you met Donna. You met Rebecca.”
    Candace
started to laugh. “Your sister will undoubtedly blame me.”
    “I
didn’t think I needed to spell it out for you,” Michelle laughed. “And, don’t
let Marianne fool you.”
    “Excuse
me?”
    “She
kissed more than one cheerleader under a bleacher,” Michelle winked.
    “Stop!”
    “Okay,
I made that up,” Michelle admitted.
    “Why
didn’t you tell me before now?” Candace asked.
    “You
mean you really didn’t know?”
    “No,
I knew,” Candace admitted.
    “I
guess I just was waiting for the right time.”
    “Why
now?”
    Michelle
went to sit beside her mother. “Maybe I just thought you should know that I
love you no matter what, just like I know you love me no matter what.”
    “I
know that,” Candace said.
    “So?”
    “What?”
Candace chuckled.
    “Come
on, Mom, the architect? Beautiful?”
    “Do
you have any idea how odd this conversation is?” Candace asked.
    “What?
A lesbian mom and her lesbian daughter talking about hot chics ?”
    “Shell,
I think I am past the hot chics phase.”
    “So,
Jameson isn’t hot?”
    Candace
threw a pillow at her daughter. “Are you sure you haven’t already met?”
    “Why?
Think she’d like me?”
    “Lunatics,”
Candace laughed. “I am certain she will.”
    “Good!
Let’s call her!” Michelle ran for the phone. Candace just laughed. “Chicken!”
Michelle taunted her mother. “You can argue with heads of state and you’re
afraid to call one little lesbian?”
    “No,
smart ass. She’s away for the weekend.”
    “What? She has no phone? Is she impaired
somehow; technically? How old is this woman?” Michelle narrowed her gaze.
    “No,
she’s not impaired; technically or otherwise,” Candace replied. Michelle waited for her mother to continue with a growing
smirk. “All right! She’s thirty-five!” Candace exclaimed in exasperation.
    “Oh
my God, my mother is a cougar! Senator Candace Cougar!”
    “What
part of she is a friend did you not understand?” Candace laughed at her
daughter’s theatrics.
    “A
young, smart, hot, happens to be a lesbian friend,” Michelle