What The Heart Wants

Chapter 15

With a soft cry, Emily sat up in bed.

The juicy hard cover romance she'd been reading flopped to the mattress and shut with a snap. She'd left the lamp on. She shoved her hair back off her forehead and glared at the clock.

Ten past midnight - and she'd heard something, hadn't she?

A strange sound had jolted her from sleep.

The kids?

She sat completely still, willing her racing heart to slow a little, not even daring to breathe, as she listened.

No sound from across the hall - let alone from the baby monitor right there at her bedside by the clock.

Not the kids then.

Thump-thump.

There. That. It was coming from the backyard.

Another thump, followed by a clatter.

Distant. Rhythmic.

Thud-thud.

And then that faint clattering noise, like bowling pins toppling in on each other.

The thudding and clattering continued as she pushed back the covers and went to the window she'd left open a crack to let in the moist night air and the soothing, constant whisper of the falling rain.

She gazed out on the essentially the same view she'd had from her workroom - the dark backyard, the bright smears of garden lights through the veil of the rain.

Thunk-Thunk. Clatter...

Emily's gaze tracked the path through the trees, seeking the source of the sound.

She saw her. Alison. There. Revealed in the light by the woodshed door. Soaking wet, throwing fresh cut fire wood inside the shed.

Alison...

No she couldn't see her clearly, but she knew it was her by her height, by her blonde hair.

And who else would be moving, no, more like throwing chopped wood in the backyard in the middle of the night?

Those poor logs. She attacked them without pause or mercy.

A tiny stab of guilt pierced her. She shouldn't be watching this. She should leave this woman alone, let her work out her obvious frustration in her own way, undisturbed.

Yes, she should go back to bed.

But, well, what else could be driving Alison but her mother's utter tactlessness at dinner?

Maybe something at work?

No. It wasn't work.

Yeah. It was more than likely, Pam's big mouth. Her mother might have embarrassed Alison, but shouldn't she be past that by now? It was hours ago.

Whatever it was, she just couldn't stand to see the blonde punish herself this way. And maybe, if she went to her they could actually talk it over, get it out in the open, whatever it was that was bothering her.

Because however Alison felt or didn't feel about her as a woman, and whatever happened tomorrow when she told her she was leaving, she had called her a friend and she truly believed that she'd meant it. What kind of a friend was she if she just left her all alone out at the woodshed in the middle of the night? The least she could do was go to her, ask if she needed someone to talk to and then listen if she said yes.

Decision made, she whirled from the window, yanked an old green zip-up hoodie from the dresser and pulled it on over her pajama top. Barefoot, she opened her door to find Pepe right there, looking up at her expectantly.

"What? You want to go out?" She got a hopeful whine for an answer, from him. "All right," Emily whispered. "Let's check the kids, first."

She tiptoed into their darkened room and leaned over one crib and then the other. Both slept like little angels - angels who were unlikely to wake up anytime soon. And she would be back within minutes, hopefully dragging the dripping wet, unbelievably sexy- um Alison along behind her.

Off she flew, along the upper hall, down the stairs, to the kitchen and the mudroom beyond, Pepe trotting along behind her. Her red rain boots with the white polka dots were right there by the door. She shoved her feet into them, pulled the green hood up over her head and ran out across the deck. Pepe trailed her down the walk and then stopped suddenly.

Emily went on alone, racing down the lighten path to the back fence. Almost running to the object of her desire.

Her boots made splashing sounds, but Alison didn't seem to hear her coming. She just kept throwing the wood. It hitting the back of the shed loudly. She kept bending down, picking up another piece of wood and then throwing it with all the force she had - then turning for the next one as the piece fell. Never once did she look up.

Dear sweet Lord, she was a gorgeous woman, the beautiful, water slick muscles of her shoulders and arms shifting and bunching beneath her skin as she lifted and attacked each log as she threw it.

Emily stopped not ten feet away from the blonde, her hoodie already soaked through, her pj's clinging wet. Still, the woman she yearned for didn't look up.

"Alison!" she shouted as she turned and bent to grab another log.

Alison froze in mid-reach. And then, slowly, she rose to her height and faced Emily. Those ice-blue eyes found her, pinned Emily where she stood.

Both of them staring at the other.

"Emily." Her voice was a low, rough rumble, dredged up from the deepest part of her.

That did it.

As the blonde gazed at her, unblinking through the pouring rain, Emily knew the truth at last.

It was more than just her own wishful thinking and vivid imagination.

She wasn't alone in her need and her yearning.

Alison wanted her, too.

XXXXXXXXXX

Look at that, two updates in one night. I'm patting myself on the back. This one's short but thought I'd stop here.

Oh, my lovelies it's about to get good.... stay tune. Shit just got real.

~Andrea