With Joni’s doctor’s appointments winding down to just regular check-ups, the weather took a turn for the worse, and so did Joni’s mood. She not only hated the cold but was heartbroken over the thought of leaving Nadirah in just a couple of months. She tried to console herself with the fact that she’d be back in a warmer climate, and that was always a good thing. Besides, she and Nadirah still fought too much and were more compatible in bed than anywhere else, so what difference did it make, right?
Nadirah came home earlier than expected one Friday afternoon and could tell that Joni had been crying as she removed her gun and holster and placed it on the floor in the corner of the living room. “What’s wrong, babe?” she asked, hugging Joni in the kitchen. “Cold weather getting to you?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that I might have a touch of seasonal depression.”
“Those red, puffy eyes say my little Joni is full of crap,” Nadirah said in a chastising voice as she kissed her on the forehead. “You may not like the cold, but do you really think I’d believe for a minute it’s got you in tears?”
Joni started to gather things to make them dinner, but Nadirah stopped her. “Forget it,” she said, guiding her into the other room and sitting her down on the edge of the bed. “Let’s talk first, and then we’ll go out for pizza. After that, I promise I’ll keep you warm all night long.”
Joni smiled.
“Come on, let’s have it. I want to hear all about it.”
“The year’s almost over.”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it? Time flies when you’re having fun. So, what’s on your mind, babe?”
“Well, we get it on like happy little rabbits on the weekends, and then we spend most of the week arguing.”
Nadirah laughed. “Yeah, I guess we do. Is there a point you’re trying to make by pointing that out?”
Joni nodded and said, “But I just can’t help but wonder why the thought of leaving someone I barely get along with has me feeling so down and out.”
“Shame on you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, not for how you’re feeling. For being stupid. I thought you were a smart girl, Joni Gilstein.”
Joni looked questioningly at Nadirah, who now had a more serious expression on her face.
“Do you really think I’m going to just let you go that easily, Joni? I gave up on you the last time, and I’m not so sure I want to do that again. We lost twenty years. So…” she added with a playful smile, “just because the courts dismissed you doesn’t mean I’m going to be so quick to dismiss you this time around. That is, unless you think that going out west to warm up would be more fun than sticking around so we can keep on fucking and fighting.”
For a moment or two, Joni simply gazed at Nadirah, slack-jawed. Then, faster than a bolt of lightning, she threw her arms around Nadirah and hugged her fiercely.
Nadirah happily returned the hug and held her snugly in her arms. Next, they kissed, slow and gentle at first, then in an eager frenzy.
Then Nadirah pulled back, rose from the bedside, and began to pull her shirt up over her head before yanking Joni’s off as well. “The pizza can wait an hour or so.”
Joni agreed.
Before Joni and Nadirah knew it, Joni was in her mid-forties, and Nadirah was in her early fifties.
As part of the honeymoon they never expected to have, they flew out to Vegas before stopping in NorCal to pick up Joni’s belongings from Mallory’s house.
“Anytime you need a place to stay, Joni dear, I’ll be here. Don’t know how much longer I have left, but I’ll always be here as long as I’m alive,” Mallory told her.
“Aw, thanks, Mallory,” Joni said, hugging the woman and kissing her on the cheek before they finished loading things into their rental car.
“Drive carefully,” Mallory told Nadirah.
Nadirah smiled politely and said, “Yes, ma’am. I will.”
On the way back to New England, Joni realized just how much she hoped she made the right decision by staying with Nadirah, for turning back wouldn’t exactly be easy at the point they were at now.
But the years did pass smoothly enough, and life went on.
And not much had changed.
“I’ve told you a hundred times in the five years we’ve been together to shut the bathroom window after your shower when it’s cold out!” Nadirah shouted.
“Jesus, who the hell pissed in your coffee this morning?” Joni shouted back. “I was going to get to it soon enough.”
“Yeah, after you wasted a ton of heat.”
“Get off my ass!”
“Then keep the damn window shut,” Nadirah said, sitting in her favorite chair by her computer.
Nadirah watched Joni as she brushed out her hair, which was now to her waist and back to its natural brown color—something she definitely preferred over the auburn color she had before. Auburn was nice, but Joni was a true brunette.
Despite the fact that they did a lot of arguing, the good times they shared easily made up for it. There was no denying that she loved Joni very much and couldn’t imagine life without her at this point.
Nadirah suddenly stood up, crossed the room to where Joni stood, and quickly snatched the towel away that Joni had wrapped around her. “Still want me off your ass?” she asked, playfully patting Joni’s backside and getting a giggle in return.
They kissed, and then Nadirah gently pushed Joni onto the bed. Nadirah took her time in slowly working her way down Joni’s body and to that most sensitive area that was crying out most for attention.
“Come on,” Joni urged. “You’ve been teasing me for over ten minutes now.”
Nadirah laughed, and then she teasingly flicked her tongue across Joni’s special spot before moving to tease her inner thighs.
“Come on!” Joni said again, growing impatient.
Nadirah laughed again. “In a hurry now, are ya?”
“Very much so.”
Nadirah was beginning to get rather eager herself, and Joni could tell this by the way she started licking and sucking at her pussy more aggressively.
“Don’t get rough,” Joni warned.
“You sometimes like it rough.”
“Not that rough.”
Nadirah savored Joni’s taste as she continued flicking her tongue up and down her sex until they both trembled in ecstasy a few minutes later.
They lay next to each other silently as their heartbeats returned to normal.
Yes, life was good, Nadirah thought.
Until Irene came around.
“Who’s Irene?” Nadirah asked, glancing at the screen of Joni’s laptop while Joni jumped up to grab a napkin.
Finishing up her sandwich, she said, “Remember that deli by Archer Street? Not the one you and I went to the day you told me who you were, but the other one. I think it’s called Family Deli.”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Well, that’s where she works. She owns the place, actually. She and I got to talking about computers one day when I was in there, and she’s been having some problems installing some software, so she’s been asking me questions about it.”
“Oh, I see. Is this Irene young and pretty?”
Joni just stared at Nadirah as if to say, “You’re kidding, right? Like I would even think of cheating on you?”
Nadirah continued looking at her expectantly.
“She’s pretty, but she’s not at all young. Don’t worry, boss. The worst Miss Strictly Dickly could be is a pest.”
“Does she know you’re married to another woman?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you know for a fact that she’s straight?”
“No, but the fact that she’s got kids kind of tells me something.”
“You never heard of adoption or artificial insemination?”
“I doubt she’s gay or even bi, okay? She hardly looks the type.”
“Do we?”
“Will you knock it off?”
Nadirah still eyed her intently and seemed to be pleased to have reminded her that not all lesbians “looked” the part.
Joni checked her latest email message from Irene, then said, “She wants me to go to her place some time and work on her computer, and says she’ll pay me for it, too. Think you can handle that, Officer?”
Nadirah simply shrugged.
“Fuck this shit!” thought Joni. “I have a right to have friends, too.”
“When are you leaving?” asked Nadirah.
“I’m not leaving. I’m simply going to help a friend, just like you sometimes hang out with your lady friends. I don’t know when, though.”
“And how do you expect to get to and from her place?”
“She’s going to drive me.”
“I’d rather be the one to do that, Joni.”
“That would be nice. But if she wants the job done when you’re not around, then she’ll drive me. If I can make a hundred bucks or so for just a few hours of work, why not?”
“Must it be on the weekend? That’s pretty much the only time we have to do things together.”
“It may have to be because she works during the week, too. A few hours one weekend won’t kill us. You sometimes go off by yourself, and you don’t hear me complain, so what’s your problem?”
Again, Nadirah shrugged, and Joni had had enough. “I’m going out for my run.”
Nadirah stood up and pulled another beer from the refrigerator.
“No!” Joni later shouted.
“Why the hell not, Joni?”
“Because you’re drunk, that’s why. And if you’re not drunk, then you’re pretty damn close to it, and I don’t like having sex with you when you get this way. You’re too hurried and too rough with me. Now stay away from me until you sober up! It’s Sunday night anyway, and it’s getting late.”
Nadirah took a final swig from her beer bottle and threw it into the wastebasket with so much force that Joni was surprised it didn’t shatter. “Why don’t you just go swap messages with your buddy Irene instead, huh?”
“That would be more fun than getting it on with you right now.”
“I’ll bet it would. I’ll bet you think she’s a real hottie too, but you just won’t admit it. You think I’m stupid and don’t keep tabs on what you do online? Yeah, I know about all your little cyber girlfriends, Joni, and the bullshit games you play. Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil…”
“Yeah, Nadirah, she’s really one to drool over since she lives right here in the U.S.,” Joni said sarcastically, sick of Nadirah’s paranoia. If she was going to pick on her, she was going to pick back. Then again, the look in Nadirah’s dark eyes told her she might want to think twice about opening her mouth.
But Nadirah was really pushing her.
“If that tongue of hers ever touches what’s mine, I’m going to cut it right out of her mouth.”
“Will you stop!” Joni screamed. “Just stop it already! Get off my ass and go fuck yourself!”
Nadirah shot towards Joni, and in a heartbeat, she was shoved up against the wall, terrified. “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again,” Nadirah hissed dangerously, breath reeking of beer as she pinned Joni’s body against the wall with her own.
“Then stop being so paranoid over nothing. Irene’s tongue hasn’t been anywhere it doesn’t belong.”
But that didn’t seem to matter right now to Nadirah.
“Don’t you ever, ever say anything so rude and out of line to me again! Do you understand, little lady?” She pushed Joni’s body harder into the wall.
For the first time since being with Nadirah, Joni actually felt a tremor of fear ripple through her. Despite the fact that they were close in weight and height, and she was the one who worked out, Nadirah was no doubt the tougher of the two, and she knew she could flatten her in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Part of her training included some serious ass-kicking lessons, and Joni was used to fighting more with her mouth than her fists.
“Please let me go,” Joni said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. “I haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t intend to start doing anything wrong either, and so I’d really like to go to bed now.”
Nadirah let her go and kept her hands to herself for the rest of the night, but Joni couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned all night as the realization sank in that she had made a mistake in marrying Nadirah. She should have let the past remain in the past where it belonged.
But now it was too late. Nadirah wasn’t the type to just sit back and let a person go. Not at this point in their relationship. If things didn’t get better, the only way out for Joni would be to run without warning.
ns216.73.216.247da2
