Solace & Taproots

3.6

She'd gone home for the winter holiday break, after staying local for Turkey and Capitalism Days. There'd just been too much homework to catch up on, and too much travel time for too little downtime. Jaime was originally just going to be her token relaxation before she went all-in on the books. Mom'd been cool with her skipping Thanksgiving that year, but dropped hints like anvils about December, so home she went.

Neither Rebecca nor Jaime thought they were at "meet the parents" yet — but she'd shown mom a few favorable joint selfies, and was telling her about him in the car as they went grocery shopping late on the 23rd. She'd left out the part about the hookup app and supplied a little half-truth about meeting him at a food bank volunteer thing Thanksgiving morning. It was... sort of true. That was where they first met in person, as something to do together before heading to Mr. Tse's hours later.

She could clearly remember the sounds of the snow tires crunching through the frosty crust as they clawed for the pavement beneath, and fiddling with the tasseled fringe of her velvety microfiber scarf when she nervously brought up his record, hoping that Mom wouldn't slam on the brakes on a patch of icy road and kill them both. The reaction wasn't so bad, really. After a few stressful moments of processing time, Rebecca answered a few carefully phrased questions about if his charges were violent, if he still hung out with the same folks and more importantly if SHE ever did, if she'd confirmed his version of things with public records, so forth. Rebecca's answer about being introduced to a couple of his acquaintances when picking him up from some of his weekly meetings was well enough received — Mom hadn't known there was an 'anonymous' group for gang members, but said one of her school buddies had found great success in AA for years.

They'd changed topics in the store for a bit — Rebecca was grateful that Mom hadn't passed judgment and was taking some time to mull it over — and not grill her in public, beyond a few safe questions about what other kinds of dates they'd been on, if he was a safe driver... things a parent would incorporate into their mental picture, but mundane to passers-by and low pressure for her daughter in the crowded store where locals might recognize her. Good ol' Mom.

On the way home came the cautious endorsement she'd been hoping for. A reminder about how Rebecca's dad, rest his soul, had dropped out of school, but finished his GED years later and built his modest but successful and well-reviewed cabinetry business, and they'd met after she'd been left hanging by a slimy contractor halfway through the remodel of the fixer-upper she'd sunk her first several years of income into. Sometimes good things came from second chances, and if the two of them were really good to, and good for, each other, maybe things really were that simple after all the careful consideration and thoughtful evaluations. That, risks weighed, sometimes love was love.

Rebecca had been sure to wait until a stoplight before leaning over and hugging her mother tightly around her neck and proclaiming her appreciation and adoration.

**

Rebecca must have sighed or something, because Sam had moved her hand to her check and was asking her what was wrong. Rebecca blinked back to the present and leaned into the light touch. "Hi, Rosie. Sorry, I was thinking about my mom, and when I was first telling her about Jaime. I think she'll... she'd... " Her voice broke, then trailed off and she swallowed hard.

"Oh, honey.... you don't know either, do you? Come here." Sam turned a little and lifted her arms towards Rebecca, who rotated into a kneel beside the cot and nestled into her embrace. Sam heard her sniffle a few times and just held her, petting her hair softly and murmuring quiet empathetics for the minutes it took Rebecca to raise her head again. Her eyes were damp and cheeks faintly blotchy when she did.

"I'm sorr..." Sam arched an eyebrow pointedly and Rebecca bit back the habitual apology. "Okay, I'm not sorry. Thank you. She was going to head to her brother's cabin in the hills. With all the infrastructure blown... yeah. I just have to hope. But, you're 'good to me and good for me', which is what she would care about."

"Oh, Remy. Come back here again." Sam pulled Rebecca's face close to hers again and kissed her repeatedly. Softly and gently, but things grew more heated, mostly with Rebecca starting the ramp-up. Sam briefly reveled in how important connection was in the face of loss as she told Rebecca she loved her... and then looked down for a moment and bit her lip playfully (her own lip, not Rebecca's, although she definitely set that thought aside for later...) when she saw the partially unbuttoned neckline of her own shirt on Rebecca, wobbling slightly as she leaned over the cot. Sam looked back up and held coy eye contact as she toyed with the next button holding the flannel closed a few inches below Rebecca's collarbone... at the same time she snuck a hand in the loosely dangling waist. Her smirk turned triumphant when Rebecca startled and Sam could see her own fingertips through the open collar.

"Told you I was going to steal second," she teased.

Rebecca's eyes narrowed at her. "You're very lucky that hand is warm, you little sneak!"

Sam taunted her with a feinted kiss. "Well... it can't be that warm. Otherwise, you're happy to see me." She rotated her palm just a centimeter or so in emphasis, and Rebecca squirmed and swatted at her hand half-heartedly.

Rebecca's eyes glinted. "Is that's how it's going to be?" Sam made one of her trademark squeaks as Rebecca tossed the sleeping bag back, exposing her legs below her PJ boxers to the air, and gasped when Rebecca ran a finger down and back up her thigh and dove in on her vaguely cinnamon scented neck.