The Story Thus Far
Chapter One: Mallory Kalvornek and her lover Julie Hanson have returned to Bronning, Minnesota, for the first time in years to catch up with friends and family. Meanwhile, their old friend (and occasional sex partner) paramedic Nettie Hastings fights to save a life, her lover Hannah drops by with an unexpected surprise, Terry Wilder grapples with writer’s block… and two little girls living in a trailer park named Heather and Gina are being carefully observed by a hidden stranger.
Chapter Two: Mallory and Julie get together at Nettie’s home with Nettie and her lover Hannah, Nettie’s friend Terry Wilder, Terry’s teen daughter Halee, and Mallory and Julie’s friend (and occasional sex partner) Cindy. Gossip is exchanged, memories shared, and an unexpected attraction between Mallory and Terry Wilder reveals itself. Meanwhile, the mother of the two trailer park girls Heather and Gina goes out for a night on the town, oblivious to the presence of the man spying on her home.
Chapter Three: At Nettie’s place, Nettie and Hannah leave the others to indulge in a bit of romantic pleasure, while Julie and her old friend Cindy get it on with Terry’s teen daughter Halee. As for Mallory, she has repaired to Terry’s place for one of her occasional bouts of heterosexual action. Appetites are indulged, confidences shared. Meanwhile, Heather and Gina are abducted from their trailer home by a mysterious and very scary man.
Chapter Four: At Nettie’s place, four women and Halee Wilder greet the morning after an evening of lesbian abandon. Later that day, Mallory rejoins Julie, Nettie, Cindy and Hannah for a day of fishing. Halee returns home and spends the day upgrading her internet in preparation for promised to be a fun night of video chat sex with her girlfriend Bethany. Meanwhile, Grace and Heather are in the custody of the mysterious man, who seems to takes delight in terrorizing them.
Chapter Five: After their day of fishing, Nettie, Julie, Cindy, Mallory & Hannah engage in a five-woman sexfest inside a tent… and with the use of Cindy’s phone, their old friend and occasional bedmate Emma attends the orgy virtually. In the midst of their abandon, Nettie has a weird, vague memory flashback that leaves her shaken, but she conceals it from the others. Back home, Halee and her new love interest Bethany (Hannah’s daughter) are having long-distance sex via their laptops.
Chapter Six: Nettie has a heart-to-heart with Hannah about her personal demons. Later, she gets a call from Agent Bridgett Ramscone, who has an unsettling request: for Nettie to go through the documentation of her own childhood kidnapping — and the murder of her sister — as a possible way to gain insight into the abduction of Heather and Gina (who are still being emotionally abused by their kidnapper, but are also taking steps to escape). Nettie is shaken, but agrees to do what she can.
Chapter Seven: Many years after the fact, submerged memories of Nettie’s kidnapping began to make themselves known — memories of a possible accomplice to the original crime. She shares her thoughts with Bridgett. Meanwhile, Heather and Gina work on a potential escape from their makeshift prison.
Chapter Eight: Nettie unearths more hints that kidnap victims Heather and Gina were abducted by the same man who kidnapped and brutalized Nettie and her deceased sister over a decade ago — but that man was known to have died in prison. Gina manages to escape captivity. But Heather can’t fit through the opening they dug, and must remain behind. Nettie gets a possible fix on the girls’ captor who, while out and about, gets a flat tire — then he discovers the spare is flat as well.
Chapter Nine: The man who kidnapped Gina and Heather must get his flat spare tire fixed, not knowing the police have been alerted to him and are searching the area. Nettie, who is also hunting for the man, manages to find his abandoned car — then, some time later, makes an even more startling discovery: little Gina, alone and weeping by an abandoned road. In the meantime, the kidnapper manages to make his escape from the area by phoning a mysterious woman to pick him up.
Chapter Ten: Mallory meets with her mother, Sharon, for the first time in months, but fails to learn the cause of the recent distance between them. Nettie is still obsessed with Jacob Brentshaw, the man who kidnapped her and murdered her sister Annamarie so many years ago, sensing he is also behind the recent kidnapping as well… but can’t get past the fact that Brentshaw was killed in prison. Her actions saved the lives of Gina and Heather, but she remains determined to keep working the case on her own. For the first time, Nettie tells her lover Hannah about her own kidnapping and Annamarie’s death, events she has refused to discuss with anyone for years.
Chapter Eleven: Terry finds himself at loose ends, questioning his current life path, and decides to open up to than his dear friend and former sex partner Nettie. She and Hannah lend a sympathetic ear, then their conversation turns to kidnappings — the recent one, as well as Nettie’s own horrific abduction over a decade earlier, when her sister was murdered. She is fast coming round to the conclusion that both kidnappings involved an accomplice.
Chapter Twelve: A sleepover is in progress at Terry’s place while he is out. When the girls retire to their rooms, Halee phones her girlfriend Bethany and puts her on speaker to hear her younger sister Naomi and Chelsey going at it through their adjoining walls, and a good time is had by all. Upon returning home, Terry does some work on an idea for a new novel after months of inaction. Mallory is still unsure what to do with the family farm, and Nettie runs some ideas about the recent kidnapping case past Agent Ramscone.
Chapter Thirteen: Four members of the Pussy Posse — Mallory, Julie, Jamie, and Emma — are spending quality time together, along with Julie’s younger sister Vicky. News, gossip, memories, and innuendo are bandied about. Vicky hesitantly speaks of a recent sleepover where she overheard a couple of the girls saying hurtful things about her, an incident that still stings badly. The four women offer her comfort and understanding, which soon becomes something more.
Chapter Fourteen: Mallory, Julie, Jamie, Emma and Julie’s younger sister Vicky are having a barbecue and sleepover. Vicky loves hanging out with the Pussy Posse, but feels a little self-conscious, knowing that the women will very likely be having group sex later that evening. But Julie boldly her sister to join the sapphic festivities. Vicky is hesitant at first, especially at the prospect of coupling with her older sibling, but Julie manages to put her at ease. The four women and one teen adjourn for the master bedroom. Clothes are removed, bare bodies mingle, pleasure is shared.
Chapter Fifteen: Halee and her new girlfriend Bethany (daughter of Nettie’s lover Hannah), spend time roaming the town, getting to know one another better. Later on, they spend time together in a more intimate way. Meanwhile, Mallory and her partner Julie get a piece of surprising, potentially life-changing news.
For a list of the characters from the story you are now reading, visit this page.
For a list of the characters from the previous two stories that you will encounter here as well, visit this page.
And now, dear readers, we make our way into the next installment. Read on…
by Rachael Yukey
Waiting for a new day
To wipe away
The uncertainty that flows around me
Once again to stay
Stratovarius (1996)
“It’s borderline, Antoinette,” said Hannah, shaking her head. “He’s managing his airway right now, but I don’t know how it’s going to be in an hour. And with that mask anxiety—”
“I’ll save you the trouble, Hannah. Either your CRNA can intubate him before I leave, or I’m going to. We both know it’s probably gonna have to happen, and it’s way safer to do it here than on the highway.”
Hannah pursed her lips. This hasty three-way consultation was being held in the hallway outside the stabilization room in the Johnstown emergency department. The third party was Dr. Murphey, an attractive blonde in her late thirties. She was the emergency department physician on duty.
“I agree with Nettie,” said Dr. Murphey. “The safest option is to just put his lights out and secure his airway before they go.”
“Fair enough,” said Hannah. “This is a new environment for me. At Children’s, we were getting patients from other facilities, not sending them out. If we were keeping him here I’d want to watch him for awhile before resorting to a tube, but if you ladies think pre-emptive RSI is the best option for transport, then that’s what I think, too. We’ll get it rolling for you.”
She inclined her head in Dr. Murphey’s direction. “It’s really your decision anyway. Your ER, doctor.”
“In a way, it’s Nettie’s decision more than mine. She’s the one who’s going to be managing him for the next three hours. This isn’t a level of trust I extend to just any paramedic, but if Nettie wants a tube before she rolls, we drop a tube. Anyway, it sounds like we’re all on the same page.”
Hannah slid the stabe room door open a few inches. “Jordan.”
Her nurse anesthetist looked up from the medication kit he was sifting through. “Yes, doctor?”
“We’re going with the tube. Are you set up?”
“More or less. What meds you want?”
Hannah looked to Nettie. “I’m thinking Ketamine and Roc. Does that jell with your treatment plan for transport?”
“Works for me,” Nettie replied. “I’ll be running a Ketamine drip for sedation maintenance anyway.”
“Perfect.”
Pushing the door the rest of the way open, Hannah disappeared into the room. Nettie unclipped the badge from her belt and tossed it in the general direction of her EMT partner, who’d been leaning against the wall off to the side while Nettie and the two doctors held their consultation. It was a bad throw, but Dana Frasier managed to pluck it from the air anyhow.
“I take it you want the narcs out of the truck?” said Dana. Her face was a mass of freckles under an amazing shock of red hair.
“Correct. This just went from BiPAP to intubated. Also, grab the ALS bag; I’m gonna need to hang a couple of drips.”
“Got it.”
Turning to the ambulance cot, which was currently laden with supplies and equipment, Nettie switched on the vent, catching a passing nurse by the sleeve with the other hand. “Lexi, I’m gonna need his height in inches, and his weight in kilos.”
Alexis Traynor disappeared back into the nurses station, returning moments later with some numbers scribbled on a scrap of paper. Consulting a chart, Nettie calculated the tidal volume she wanted, entering the parameters into the ventilator. Dana returned with the requested items, and Nettie busied herself drawing up meds and mixing a couple of bags. As she worked, she gave Dana, who had never participated in a ventilated transfer, a rapid-fire rundown of what she was doing and why.
Setting the last of her syringes aside, she peeked inside the room. Hannah spoke softly to the patient, then pushed the plunger on the syringe attached to the IV tubing.
Nettie tapped Dana’s shoulder. “Dr. Fletcher just pushed the sedative,” she murmured. “She’ll do the paralytic in a minute or two, then Jordan over there will drop the tube. You can go in and watch if you want; Jordan’ll probably even offer to let you assist. If he doesn’t, just stay quiet and out of the way.”
With a brief nod, Dana slipped by, leaving Nettie to take a couple of deep breaths, preparing herself for the three-hour one-way ride ahead. Getting stuck on a transfer on a Sunday night backup shift sucked to begin with, and a seven or eight-hour round-trip vented transfer departing at nine PM sucked even harder.
Her phone went off. Digging in the pocket of her tactical pants, Nettie pulled it out, hastily silencing the ringer. Studying the screen, she raised an eyebrow. Why the hell would Julie be calling at this hour?
She swiped the accept button. “Hi, Julie. I only have a minute. What’s up?”
“Oh,” said Julie, seemingly taken aback. “Um, that’s okay, Nettie. Can I call you in the morning?”
“Actually—” Nettie thought fast. “I might be able to call you back in half an hour or so. Would that be okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to. If you don’t hear from me, call in the morning.”
“Okay, that works,” said Julie.
Peering into the stabe room, Nettie saw a nurse preoxygenating with a bag valve mask, and Jordan the CRNA taking up his video laryngoscope. Dana was standing beside him, holding an ET tube with a preloaded bougie in a gloved hand. Only a minute or two until showtime.
“Gotta go,” said Nettie. “I’ll call back if I can.”
***
Nettie adjusted the rate on the ventilator, then tweaked the inspiratory time to get the ratio she wanted. Sitting back, she perused her equipment. Just over twenty minutes into the trip, things seemed to be settling into a steady flow. The patient was comfortably sedated, the vent was working flawlessly, and all the vital signs were well within the bounds of normal. She was down to minor tweaks now, and with luck the situation would remain stable for the next few hours. Making a quick note of the changes she’d just made, Nettie fished out her phone.
Julie picked up on the first ring. “Hi, Nettie. You’re on speaker with me and Mallory.”
“Hey Mal,” said Nettie. The vent beeped. Nettie flicked her eyes to the display, then dismissed the alarm.
“Where are you, anyway?” Julie wanted to know. “I’m hearing weird noises on your end.”
“In the back of an ambulance with an intubated transfer patient. We were just getting set up to take him when you called before.”
“Oh, hon—we didn’t mean to bug you at work.”
“No bother,” said Nettie. “I’m down to just keeping an eye on things for the next couple hours. What’s up?”
“We’re coming to Bronning tomorrow.”
Nettie blinked in surprise. “Uh—I don’t know how much time I’m gonna have over the next day or two—”
Mallory spoke up. “We’re coming for a different reason this time. We want to see you, but we’re driving up either way.”
“Well—okay. You can stay at my place if you want, I just might not be there the whole time.”
“We don’t want to impose,” said Julie. “We can stay someplace in Johnstown or—”
“Absolutely not,” Nettie said firmly. “If you’re in town, my house is your house. Always.”
“Thanks, hon,” said Mallory. She sounded strangely subdued.
“Is everything okay…?” Nettie ventured.
“You might as well know,” Mallory replied, her voice stronger now. “I’m pregnant.”
Nettie’s breath caught in her throat. “Terry?!”
“Yeah. He doesn’t know yet.”
“Holy fucking hell. I suppose you’re coming up here to talk to him, then.”
“That’s right,” said Julie. “Or Mal is, anyway. I’m mostly coming for moral support. But it’d be awesome if you have time to hang. If not, we get it. We didn’t really give you any notice.”
Nettie chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I’m gonna be out all night on this goddamn transfer, so I’ll probably be sleeping for a good chunk of tomorrow. Tell you what—I’ll leave my door open, and you guys can just come in. You know where the kitchen and the bedrooms are. I have some stuff going on over the next couple of days, but we’ll make time to do something.”
“Thanks, Nettie,” said Mallory. “If you can spare a few hours, I hope you’ll let us take you and Hannah to dinner. Least we can do.”
“Don’t sweat it. You gonna be okay, Mallory?”
“I’m fine. We’ll let you get back to work. See you sometime tomorrow, okay?”
“Sounds good. See you.” Nettie killed the connection, giving her head a hard shake. Unsure how to process what she’d just been told, she forced her mind back to the task at hand.
***
“Let me guess: you’re pregnant.”
Mallory froze in her tracks, her mouth dropping open. She and Terry were strolling along the same bike trail that Bethany and Halee had ridden days before. Terry checked his own forward motion, turning to face her.
Mallory found her voice. “Did—did Nettie talk to you?”
Terry’s eyebrows went up. “Nettie knows?”
“Her and Julie—no one else. But if she didn’t tell you—”
Terry resumed walking. Taking two fast steps to catch up, Mallory fell in beside him. “It was simple logic,” he said. “You called me up this morning to inform me that you’re on your way to Bronning, and there’s something we need to talk about, just as soon as I’m available. Considering that our history consists of little more than a rather sensational one-night stand which took place roughly a month ago, I could think of damn few points of discussion that would warrant a three-hour drive to facilitate an in-person conversation.”
Mallory elbowed him in the side and giggled. “Jesus. You really do always talk like that.”
They rounded a bend, and one of the park benches placed on the side of the trail at regular intervals came into view. Terry indicated it with a wave. “Pull up a chair?” Mallory sat, and Terry settled in beside her.
“So you’re pregnant,” he said. “And I imagine you’re reasonably sure it’s mine, or we wouldn’t be sitting here.”
“One hundred percent sure,” she said. “It’s been like two years since the last time I was in bed with a man.”
“I’m flattered. You’re sure about the pregnancy?”
Mallory bit her lip. “I haven’t been to the clinic yet,” she admitted. “But—” She began ticking items off on her fingers. “I’m never, ever late with my periods, the at-home tests were all positive, and I’ve been feeling—well, different for a couple of weeks and change. I knew something was up. I think somewhere in the back of my mind, part of me might have even known what it was. Believe it or not, I haven’t had a drink since the weekend we hooked up. It just sounded completely unappetizing to me.”
Terry nodded. “Given all those factors, I see little reason to doubt the reality of the situation. I can only assume that a critical mission failure occurred in the quality control department of the Trojan factory, because we certainly put their products to considerable use. That said—can I assume you’re planning a clinic visit soon?”
“I made an appointment in Johnstown for tomorrow morning. Wanna come with?”
“I might. Assuming that what we both believe to be true is confirmed, may I ask your intentions? If you were simply planning to abort and have done with it, I have to think this conversation would not be taking place.”
Mallory looked down at her hands. “I honestly don’t know. Having kids isn’t something I’ve given much thought to. It’s funny—when I told Julie yesterday, she was way more prepared for the conversation than I was. Seems she’s been thinking about how we’d handle it ever since I first started exploring my bisexuality. But that’s Julie for you. Contingencies are her thing. No matter what comes up, she’s got a plan for it.”
“That tallies with the impressions I formed on admittedly short acquaintance. What were her thoughts?”
“That if I want to keep it, we can mom together. If I don’t, she’ll support my decision.”
“That’s one hell of a partner you’ve got there.”
Mallory smiled. “You don’t know the half of it.” She met his eyes. “You’re part of this. What outcome would you prefer? If I decide to have it, what role do you see for yourself? Or do you need more time to think?”
Terry placed his hand on her knee, but his gaze drifted to the forest across the path from them. “Obviously,” he said, “whether you have it or not isn’t my decision to make. That said—”
He turned his eyes back to her. “I don’t want you to get an abortion. If you decide that you don’t want to raise a child at this point in your life, my preference would be for you to carry it to term, and I will gladly take things from there. I’m already raising four kids; one more doesn’t seem that much of an additional burden. Certainly, money isn’t an issue, and I wouldn’t expect child support or any other such. You could have as much or as little involvement as you choose.”
Mallory felt her chest loosen a bit. “That wipes out the adoption question, then.”
“It does.”
“And if I do want to raise it?”
Terry pursed his lips, gazing off into the woods again. “Then the situation becomes somewhat less simple, if for no other reason than the fact that I live in Minnesota, and you live in Colorado. I’m not particularly enthused about having a child I rarely interact with, and I suspect you feel the same. With our present living circumstances, a fifty-fifty custody split wouldn’t be even remotely reasonable. I mean, I’ve seen it done, but while it might be fair for the parents, it’s a lousy situation for the kids. I won’t even entertain such an arrangement.”
Mallory placed a hand over the one that he still had resting on her knee. “Then—what?”
Blowing out his breath, Terry looked to the heavens. “I won’t fight you over custody, if that’s what you’re asking. I would simply ask that you allow as much visitation as can be reasonably made to happen, and that’s with my promise that the child will be handsomely supported. If you need anything for her, you have only to ask.”
The corners of Mallory’s lips twitched upwards. “Her?”
Terry flashed her a grin. “Obviously, we have no idea in which direction the genetic pendulum might swing, but historically, my swimmers appear to be aggressively pink.”
Mallory lay her head against his shoulder. “I kind of want a girl.”
“So you do want to keep it. I think I knew that.”
“I think I did, too. At the same time—God, there’s just so many factors. I mean, financially, I’m in great shape to raise a kid. Even if you were a homeless guy on welfare, money wouldn’t be a problem. I’d have to scale back some of my work to make more time, but that’s doable. I guess I’m kind of doubting myself—am I the right person at this point in time to raise this baby?”
“That sort of self-doubt is normal, and in most cases unfounded. I suspect that between Julie and yourself, this kid would be in excellent hands, even if I were in fact an indigent dumpster-dweller. That said—I’m not, and should you decide that you’re not ready, I’ve offered you an off-ramp.”
Mallory lifted her head from his shoulder. “And I appreciate that—it does make a few things simpler. I won’t get an abortion. That’s all I can be sure of right now.”
“For now, that’s good enough. Shall we find our way back to civilization?” Rising from the bench, he offered her his hand.
“Yes, let’s.” Feeling at ease for the first time since she’d realized her period was late, Mallory allowed him to help her to her feet.
***
“Morning, sleepyhead. Coffee?”
Nettie blinked, her half-conscious brain trying and failing to process the sight of her cousin Julie seated in one of her living-room recliners, an expensive-looking gaming laptop perched on her thighs. Then she remembered. Hell, she’d even dropped Julie a text before she crashed. Door’s unlocked, it had read. Help ur selves to anything in kitchen. See u when I wake up.
“Did you just say ‘morning’?” she inquired, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. It was, in fact, just after two in the afternoon.
“So I can’t tell time,” Julie replied cheerfully, setting her laptop aside and rising to her feet. “I’ll put some coffee on.”
Nettie shook her head to clear it, then plodded across the hall and into the bathroom. When she emerged, Julie was making her way across the open concept space, setting two steaming mugs on the end tables next to the matching recliners.
“Keurigs for starters,” she said. “I started a half pot of the real stuff, too.”
Nettie settled in, taking a cautious sip of the piping-hot beverage. “Thanks. I guess Mal’s having the talk with Terry, then?”
Julie took a sip from her own cup. “Yeah. She met up with the Big Bad Baby Daddy out by the bike trails about an hour ago. I assume they’re still talking.”
Nettie set her cup down, regarding Julie with solemn eyes. “How long have you known?”
“Yesterday evening. It’s just an at-home test so far, but Mal’s periods are never late. I’m pretty sure it’s legit.”
“Does she know what she wants to do?”
“I don’t think so. She’s going to have to stop freaking out before she can make any decisions, I think. I’m hoping talking to Terry helps. How do you think he’s going to take it?”
Nettie lifted her cup again, cradling it in her palms. “It’s hard to tell how Terry takes anything, at least until you really get to know him. He’s good at putting up a front.” She sipped at her coffee. “But I do know this: he’ll want the kid to be born. If Mallory doesn’t want it, he’ll take it with no strings.”
Julie raised her eyebrows. “You think so?”
“Oh, for sure. But what about you, Julie? What do you want? Or are you still processing?”
Julie took a sip of coffee before answering. “I don’t need to process. I’ve been giving this on-and-off thought ever since the first time Mallory fucked a dude, back when we were sixteen.”
Nettie snickered. “You haven’t changed.”
The patented Julie Hansen Room-Brightening Smile emerged. “Nope, not really. Neither has Mal, I guess. I’m always pre-gaming every possible way to go around each corner, and she usually just goes with her feelings. That’s why she’s a musician, and I’m an engineer.”
“I guess. So what do you want her to do, then?”
Julie’s expression became serious. “I want her to keep it. Back when it was still a hypothetical, I just figured we’d raise it together or give it up, and I’d support her either way. Now that it’s a real situation, I want to raise the kid. Pretty damn badly, to be honest. I haven’t told her that yet, and I’m not going to until she has a clearer picture of what she wants.”
Both their heads swiveled at the sound of the front door opening. Mallory stepped in, Terry bringing up the rear.
“Hi, Nettie,” said Mallory, tossing off a quick wave before bending over to take off her shoes. “Did you sleep well?” Straightening, she made it halfway to the love seat before noticing the cups of fresh coffee.
“Ooh—is there more where that came from?” She turned back towards the kitchen, then came to an abrupt halt. “Never mind—none for me. Got anything without caffeine in it, Nettie?”
Nettie felt her eyes crinkle in amusement. “There’s a whole bunch of green tea flavors in the cupboard above the microwave. And to answer your other question, I never even heard you guys come in. When I saw Julie I was all like, what the hell is this bitch doing in my living room?”
With a peal of laughter, Mallory made her way to the kitchen. Terry, having unlaced and removed his hiking boots, made his way inside.
“For my part,” said Terry, “I’ll help myself to caffeine juice, if there is any. Do either of you ladies require a refill?”
Julie held out her mug. Terry crossed the room, plucked it from her hand, then followed Mallory into the kitchen. “Good to see you again, Julie,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“You, too, Terry.”
After handing Julie her freshly refilled cup, Terry made himself comfortable on the love seat. Mallory was right behind him, having gotten a kettle of water going on the stove. She settled onto the couch.
Terry was the one to break the silence. “Mallory tells me you got transfer-fucked last night, Nettie.”
Nettie took a sip of coffee. “Respiratory failure. They were gonna send him on BiPAP, but he ended up intubated. And of course there were no goddamn ICU beds open in St. Cloud or Duluth, so we had to take him all the way down to North Memorial.”
“They couldn’t fly him?”
Nettie rolled her eyes dramatically. “No-go. There was an unconfirmed sighting of a raindrop in southern Brazil, didn’t you hear?”
Julie burst out laughing. “I’ll make sure to tell Dad you said that.”
“Oh, that’s right,” said Terry. “Your father’s a flight paramedic, isn’t he, Julie?”
“Regional ops director for Lifelink,” Julie said, voice still tinged with amusement.
“Anyway, yeah, I got fucked,” Nettie went on. “Even worse, I was on backup. I was supposed to sit on my ass in town and grab 911s if primary got busy, you know? But Gail Andrews was on primary, and she’s still kind of a baby medic. Too green to send on a three-hour BiPAP, let alone an intubated.”
The room fell silent again. “Listen, you guys have stuff to talk about,” said Nettie. “I’ll make myself scarce.”
“We’re not kicking you out of your own living room, Nettie,” said Julie. “We can do this with you here, or if you’d rather we didn’t, we can go for a drive or something.”
“No, it’s okay,” said Nettie. “I need to get dressed, then we’ll go from there. I have to be out for the first part of tomorrow—something I was gonna do today, but fuck that transfer anyway. I’ll be around the rest of the afternoon.” Setting her empty mug aside, she got up, crossed to the hallway, and disappeared into her bedroom.
The three of them gazed at one another, momentarily at a loss for words.
“Before anyone says anything,” Terry said at last, “Mallory’s told me how well you’ve taken this turn of events, and how supportive you’ve been, Julie. She’s lucky to have you.”
The tea kettle began whistling, and Mallory got to her feet, making her way back to the kitchen.
“How are you taking it, Terry?” said Julie. “Are you okay? This has to be kind of a shock.”
Terry’s lips twisted in amusement. “Oh, I’m perfectly fine, thank you. When Mallory called and said she was coming all this way just to talk to me, it didn’t take a genius to work out what it was most likely about. I’ve had a few hours to mull things over.”
He shifted in his seat. “I’ll briefly recap what I told your partner here.” He waved his hand towards Mallory, who was returning with a steaming mug of tea.
“In a nutshell,” he went on, “Should she, or the two of you together, choose to opt out of child-rearing, I will accept full custody upon delivery, with no expectation of financial contribution on your part. If, on the other hand, she does want to keep and raise the baby, I will not engage in a custody battle, and will see to any financial needs. All I ask is that visitation be made as open-ended as reasonably possible.”
He sipped his coffee. “Let me clarify that I would view this as a poor sort of compromise, and welcome any ideas for a more equitable solution. I suggest it only because I don’t see a fifty-fifty custody split as being a fair arrangement for the child, not when the parents live such a considerable distance apart.”
Julie cracked a smile. “Nettie knows you pretty well.”
“Oh?”
“She said that you were going to want the kid, and would take all the responsibility if we wanted to opt out of parenthood.”
Terry chuckled. “Nettie knows a thing or two.”
“Anyway,” Julie went on, “I don’t think I have much to add to that. What you’re offering either way is more than fair—it’s damn generous.”
“What do you want, sweetie?” Mallory said, eyes on her partner. “I mean, you haven’t really said. Do you know yet?”
Julie smiled a tight little smile. “I do know, but until we have a better idea where your head is at, I refuse to make this even a little bit about me. All I’m going to say right this second is that if we decide to raise it, Terry’s right—it kind of sucks to be him. We’ll have to work out some way to fix that.”
Mallory nodded. “Then we’d better start thinking hard, because I’m about ninety percent sure I want it.”
Julie’s smile threatened to take her face off. “Goddamn, I was hoping you’d say that!”
Mallory and Terry burst out laughing. Realizing what she’d said, Julie joined in. Emerging from her bedroom, now fully dressed, Nettie looked from one to the next with lifted brows.
“What’d I miss?”
***
Diary of Mallory Kalvornek, June 27th, 2022
I can’t sleep. Big surprise, huh? Actually, it is, a little, because it’s been a fucking long day.
Overall, a good one, though, which is more than I would have dared to hope for under the circumstances. Terry’s being an absolute peach about everything, which takes a huge amount of the pressure off. No decisions have been made yet, but I’ve managed to rule out abortion. I’m not sure I’d have been able to go through with it, anyway.
I had a bit of a panic attack late this afternoon; got to thinking this pregnancy was all in my head, and I was getting people worked up over nothing. So I ran over to Bronning’s little drugstore and bought three different brands of testers. All three came up positive. So this is totally for realsies—as if I didn’t already know that.
And people are getting worked up, too. Julie, I realized, really wants a kid. I’m not sure she knew that about herself until I put that pee stick in her hand yesterday. But now that a baby in the house is a serious possibility, she’s more excited than I’ve seen her since her masters thesis was accepted. She’s trying to hide it, but I know her too well for that to work.
Julie, Nettie, and I had dinner at Terry’s house this evening. His daughter Halee, heard company was coming, and laid out this huge spread. Holy hell; that girl can cook! I scarfed down way too much, but I’m eating for two, right? Or is it too early to start using that as an excuse? I’m starting to realize that what I know about pregnancy wouldn’t even fill up one of those Planned Parenthood pamphlets. I should probably do something about that. For starters, maybe I ought to pick up a few of those pamphlets.
Anyway—clinic tomorrow morning in Johnstown. Me, Terry, and Julie. Nettie is going to be gone for at least the first half of the day, and she’s being kinda weird about it. Julie asked her what she had going on, and Nettie said she just had some stuff to take care of, in a way that most decidedly did NOT invite further inquiry.
Anyway, if she gets back in time, she’ll be joining us for dinner in Johnstown with Hannah, Terry, Halee, and Hannah’s daughter Bethany. We haven’t met Bethany yet, but she’s Halee’s age, and apparently, they’re girlfriends. Good for them, but in a way, I’m bummed. Being new girlfriends means they’re probably exclusive at the moment, and after hearing all the juicy details of Julie and Cindy’s bedroom tryst with Halee, I was hoping to get a taste of that myself before the summer was out.
And here I go again. I’m a horny little bitch at the best of times, have been since I was eleven, and my sex drive has been especially hyperactive over the past couple of weeks. I guess now I know why! Just the slightest thought of getting it on with Terry’s smart, sexy daughter just pushed me from zero to sixty in ten seconds.
As always in these late-night situations, I’m tempted to wake up Julie—but you know, I rarely do. There’s just something so damn hot about touching myself while I watch my lover sleep. The hand I’m not using to write this is already inside my pajamas, so I guess the choice for tonight has been made. Closing the diary for now…
On to Chapter Seventeen!