Ruby and Mia. Home Alone.

~ * ~

Thursday, June 25, 2026. Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 4:00 pm

"We're home!" Jack yelled, walking through the door, shaking off the wet folder at the doormat, the front door slamming shut with a crash.

"In case you have no situational awareness!" Beth yelled louder, ribbing her dad.

"Inh khase you have no shichuational awareness..." Jack mocked her in a quieter voice, as he kicked off his shoes and went inside.

"Hi, hon!" Ruby said from the counter, flipping on the kettle. She came around the kitchen island to kiss him. "How did it go?"

Jack was looking at the robe. At her wet hair. Then at the stairs, where Mia was coming down. In another robe.

Oh. Fuck.

Mia's hair also wet, pushed back, her rubbing it dry with a towel. "Hiya!"

"Hi. Yeah," Jack replied.

Nobody said anything else. Jack had not counted on having to act today. It had been a good day so far.

Jack's mind was doing laps in his head, making no particular progress. Nothing made sense. He snapped at himself. Forget ever doing anything with Mia and look at the situation as if you never have. That's it. Right? So...

"You girls having fun over here?" Jack grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and peeled it. He thought having something to do with his body would prevent doing something dumb with it out of desperation.

"You know what, I could've gotten absolutely drenched two less times today, but other than that, yeah," Ruby said, looking at Mia, shrugging, "we had a fun day, right?"

"Yep, fun day." Mia smiled, hands in the pockets of her robe, standing on the stairs, leaning on the railing. Not a fucking care in the world.

Jack thought maybe this really was just an innocent thing then?

Beth joined them, having removed her wet jacket and shoes.

"Hi, Mom! What... are you guys up to?" Beth asked as she took in the full scene then.

"Whatever do you mean, daughter?" Ruby put on an exaggerated fake face and voice, clear that it was on purpose.

"Where are your clothes?" Beth asked Mia.

"In the dryer," Mia said.

"Yeah," Ruby said.

Beth looked at her. At her mother. Roscoe was at Beth's legs, poking her hand with his nose. She leaned over slightly, without looking, to give him a little scratch.

Jack could not take his eyes off Beth, expecting the worst.

"Oh my God, is that my robe?" Beth said.

"Sorry, B." Mia looked down at it. "I hope you don't mind. It was the only one in the bathroom."

"I don't care. It's just funny. You look like a cat someone failed to drown." Beth chuckled.

"Oh-kay," Mia said.

Jack chewed the banana.

"So what's this whole thing about - you two hanging out?" Beth asked, not having moved.

"Oh, nothing," Ruby said.

Jack realized she must be using the supposed-to-be-secret birthday planning as cover for whatever happened here.

Beth shifted from one leg to the other, hands crossed. "You guys are being weird."

"No, we're not!" The kettle clicked off and Ruby poured the water into a teapot. "Now, how about you stop poking, before you ruin any surprises that are definitely not being planned?"

Beth squinted. At her mom. At Mia. At her dad. A smile sneaking in. Not to replace the confusion and suspicion on her face, maybe, but at least to join them.

"How did you guys get on?" Ruby asked.

"Well..." Jack said, as if accompanied by a drum roll.

"No!" Ruby's eyes went wide.

Jack's mouth full of banana. Tingles of relief spreading to his feet all of a sudden.

"What?" Mia asked, looking around, excited.

Now the smile seemed to fully replace the other emotions on Beth's face. "Oh, you know..." She raised her hand with a set of car keys hanging off the index finger, a little Honda logo on it. "I got a mothafuckin' caaaaaaaaaar!"

Ruby and Mia screamed. Mia hugged Beth and they jumped around.

Jack patted Beth's head, laughing, as he passed them on his way to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he just stood for a bit. Drank some tap water. Listened to the happiness through the door.

He heard the girls pass the bathroom, on their way down the hall.

"I gotta chuck these in the dryer," Beth said.

He came out of the bathroom, feeling the need to hide from everyone. He clicked on the TV, took his folder and sat on the couch. Maybe he could pretend to be busy.

Beth's voice could be heard from the laundry room. "...thinking we go for a drive? I'll give you some clothes."

"Hell yeah, let's do it." Mia's voice.

Beth opening the dryer. "Oh, never mind, look. Your stuff's dry already."

"Sweet! I'm thinking Wendy's?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, shit, can I borrow shoes? Mine are soaked by the door."

Jack tried to genuinely focus on the preliminary geotechnical engineering report for a proposed development, but, of course, he could not. Site plans, test boring logs, soil results, Mia and his wife in robes, foundation and earthwork recommendations. The supposed head of Dauwalter Excavation was too far down a rabbit hole of his own making.

~ * ~

Thursday, June 25, 2026. Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 10:40 pm

Jack put on music in their bedroom. Some piano lounge jazz thing.

"So am I going to have to start giving you a heads up for when I'm coming back home in case you're here with Mia?"

Ruby chuckled. "Shit, I got carried away, baby, I'm sorry. I definitely should have let you know. We'll need to start thinking a little more strategically."

They kept their voices low, just in case, but the music was loud enough and the house was such that they knew they weren't going to be overheard outside their bedroom.

"So, come on." Jack looked at her as they got the bed ready, taking the covers off, folding them over the end bench. "Tell me everything."

"Take those off." Ruby meant his pants. Jack obliged, of course. By the time they were in bed, all he had on was a white tank top. Ruby wore her black satin nightgown, nothing underneath.

Jack sat with his back to the headboard and his wife got on his lap, touching his cock, getting it hard. Dripping saliva on it to get it wet. Jack reached around her to touch her pussy and found it dripping wet.

"You're really about to tell me something, huh?"

"It's been a bit of a day, hon."

"No complaints from me." Jack smiled.

"What a gentleman." Ruby smirked.

She rubbed his cock against her hot, wet pussy a couple times and sat on it slowly.

"Fuck," they both said at the same time, foreheads touching, eyes closed.

"Jinx, you owe me a Coke. So," Ruby said, not waiting for her quote-unquote joke to land.

Jack was fully inside her, and now she sat on his lap, moving her hips a little.

"We met up at Lonnie's around 10:30."

Ruby told him about the cafe, the spa, the way back to the house, how neither she nor Mia had said anything the whole drive. He listened to all of it, having trouble focusing at times, almost cumming once or twice. The sauna bit was especially difficult and he had to have Ruby stop moving for a while or the story would have to come to an end.

And he didn't want that.

~ * ~

Thursday, June 25, 2026. Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 1:15 pm

"Buddy!" Ruby yelled, her voice high, at Roscoe who greeted Mia and Ruby with his usual enthusiasm as they kicked off their soaked shoes. "How's my little buddy? You fuck shit up while I was gone? Look who's here!" She pointed at Mia.

"Roscoe!" Mia called him over and he jumped toward her, wagging his body along with his tail, twisting himself up. "Hey, buddy!"

"I'll put on some water, you want tea?" Ruby asked, as she walked to the kitchen, leaving Mia with Roscoe.

"Tea would be great. Green?"

"Sure!"

"Thanks!"

Ruby put on the kettle and as she came back, she noticed Mia looking at something on the doorway, still halfway bent down scratching Roscoe's head.

Oh. Right. The doorway. Beth's height marks. And a couple of Mia's in there, too.

Let her be, Ruby figured. It's weird, Mia needs to process. Who's kidding who? So did Ruby.

Ruby opened the freezer and took out a frozen pig's foot. "Roscoe!"

Roscoe ran over. Ruby showed him the pig's foot. "Sit." Roscoe sat and licked his nose. Full attention. "Here." She handed him the foot. Roscoe gently grabbed it in his teeth and settled in, middle of the living room. Chewing and crushing and cracking away at it.

Ruby washed her hands and went to get Mia.

"Come with me, sweetie."

They walked down the hall and into the laundry room. Familiar smell of mildew and washing liquid. Jack's tennis outfit hanging, semi-drying on the standing pull-up bar. He never hung it out properly.

"Take those off," Ruby asked, gesturing at Mia’s clothes.

"Right here?" Mia asked.

"Yeah." Ruby swung herself around, gesturing at the space they were in. "Good a place as any."

Mia peeled off the T-shirt. Then the pants.

"You're enjoying this."

"Enormously."

Mia stood now in fancy black lace underwear the rain had soaked all the way through. Twice. Ruby had noticed them in the locker room at the spa, but hadn't had the chance to really take them in. Take in her in them. God, Mia was so beautiful.

"Can I borrow something?" Mia asked.

"No."

"Ruby."

"What?" Ruby laughed.

"You want me to walk around naked?"

Ruby shrugged and unbuttoned her pants. Noticing, as she did, Mia's hands uncrossing and coming down. Ruby pulled off her blouse and before long they were both in their underwear. In the laundry room. Like this was The Sopranos or something. Like Ruby was going to check Mia for a wire.

"I see how it is," Mia said.

Ruby gathered up their clothes, threw everything in the dryer. Turned it on. Click. Low rumble. Fan under it. The buttons and rivets of their pants clacking irregularly as they tumbled.

"You cold?" Ruby asked.

"No. You?"

Ruby shook her head no.

Mia came over to her. They'd been standing at what must have seemed to Mia like a weirdly cordial distance. But really Ruby was just using the distance to admire her and to enjoy the feeling of Mia looking at her.

Mia put her hands on Ruby's stomach. The way she did it reminded Ruby of how she always imagined Reba from Red Dragon touching the sedated tiger. She traced cool fingers on Ruby's ribs. Ruby wore eggshell lace underwear, not entirely see-through everywhere, but some parts of it.

Mia looked at her own fingers moving on Ruby's skin.

Ruby felt like she was on a swing. With her eyes closed. And the downswing was carrying on forever.

The panties were light, with a thin elastic band at the waist. Mia’s finger slipped beneath it easily, pulling it down just a little. Exposing just a bit of tan line. Ruby was clean-shaven, just that morning, still smooth. She hoped Mia wouldn't judge her about it.

She caught herself. Judge? What judge? About what? Come on, what's this silliness?

But she cared. Fuck, she cared what Mia thought.

"I keep wanting to say something," Mia said, barely. It seemed to Ruby like she maybe wasn't fully saying anything. Just speaking.

"What?"

"Nothing in particular." Mia was still looking at Ruby's body. Her hands so gentle. Wherever they went, they barely touched Ruby's skin. "Just to say something."

"You don't need to fill the silence with me, sweetie."

"I like it when you call me that."

"Sweetie?"

"M-hmm." Mia nodded, biting her lip, looking up at Ruby finally. She moved into her, chin on Ruby's chest. Deep brown eyes, almost black in the dark laundry room. Rain pouring outside. So warm between them.

Ruby could barely keep her own fingers off herself. She was so worked up from the anticipation and the one-sided spa adventure. Thank God for that cold plunge.

"Can you get naked?" Mia asked, surprising Ruby.

She did. Get naked. Unclasped her bra, pulled down her panties, not letting them drop. She bunched them all up in her hands, put them behind her back. Can't just drop them, need to think about evidence. Plus, she knew hands behind her back usually gave a view to Jack that evoked a certain response. Sometimes the response was childish, sometimes like he wanted to do something terrible with her.

"How's this?" Ruby asked. Completely naked. Exposed. Not sure if she felt confident or played at it.

She watched Mia watch her. Mia wasn't hiding anything. It was clear that she was nervous, the fingers always looking for something to do, thumb folding into the palm to feel around for the calluses. She was also excited. Mia's eyes giving a glimpse into what her attention was on. It was one hundred percent on Ruby and nothing else.

That’s why the pose did nothing, she figured. Mia was already… affected. Any pose or move was just a drop in a bucket now.

"You're so..." Mia's eyes shot up to Ruby's for just a moment, back to the body again, head tilting, fingers fidgeting slower now. The two of them standing at a slightly awkward distance again. "Ruby, I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Ruby smiled, genuinely interested. So excited and on edge she could... she didn't know what she could.

Damn it, this girl was making Ruby so stupid and Ruby loved every second of it.

"God, you're beautiful!"

"What do you mean?" Ruby laughed.

"I mean look at you--"

"No, I meant - thanks, sweetie - but I meant... you said you didn't know what to do?"

"I did?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, so full of glee. This girl was so flustered. And that made Ruby even more... She ran one of her hands up to her own chest, rested it below her collarbone, making sure a pinky brushed and pulled her nipple. Fuck, that felt good.

Mia shook her head, eyes closed. "Sorry!"

"What for?"

"I don't know what happens. I get lost."

"When you're nervous, you mean?"

Mia squinted, as if to correct her a little.

"Horny?"

Mia nodded.

"Jack said something like that, yeah."

"Oh, no!" Mia grabbed her face. Looking at Ruby then through parted fingers. Ruby chuckling, moving in closer, putting her hands on Mia's ribs. "Your husband!"

"No, no, stop that."

"I keep forgetting you two are not separate people. No, I mean, of course you are, but you're like almost the same person to me, like some sort of a shared entity or something and I slept with him that night in the car before you even - or I didn't exactly SLEEP with him, sleep with him, but you know what I mean, and I felt so guilty and I also felt so good and then you--"

"OK, sweetie." Ruby laughed.

"You--"

Ruby had Mia's head in her hands. They looked at each other. Ruby leaned down, Mia tiptoed up to meet her and they kissed. Slow. The soft wet parts of Ruby’s lips smothering Mia's lower lip. Letting go with the softest little sound.

Ruby opened her eyes. In a moment so did Mia. Mia took a deep breath and let it go.

"I've never been with a woman before," Mia said. "Before you, I mean."

"Coulda fooled me."

"Really?"

Ruby nodded. Smiled.

"Did it feel good? When I licked…" Mia asked.

"I have not stopped thinking about it since."

Ruby thought that if Mia had been a blusher, she’d have blushed just then. Then Mia’s lips curled up a little at the corners.

"Take me somewhere."

"Where?" Ruby asked.

"Where I can… go down on you," Mia said, looking up at Ruby through her eyebrows.

Ruby could tell Mia was powering through nerves. It made it that much better.

"Come." Ruby turned and asked for Mia's hand.

Ruby realized she'd been counting on having to seduce Mia. She had not quite considered that Mia would need no seduction. She didn't need to be coaxed or guided. She wanted all of it, it seemed.

"I guess we're not having tea then?" Mia chuckled.

As they walked to the second floor, Mia asked, "Have you been with a woman before?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ruby replied, going to the bedroom, thinking then that maybe the bedroom would not be the place for this. Not without Jack.

"What's that mean?" Mia asked.

"Jack and I, we've had a few threesomes over the years with other women."

The guest bedroom, she thought. Yeah.

"Oh, OK," Mia said. "Did you like it?"

"Sure. Well... it's a little complicated, maybe I can tell you later?" Ruby turned around, inside the guest bedroom. Realizing all of a sudden just how completely fucking naked she was, as she found Mia's eyes locked on her body.

"Sure, sure," Mia said, looking up then, maintaining eye contact, as if caught cheating off of a classmate’s test.

Ruby sat down on the edge of the bed. Mia standing in front of her, still in her black lace set. She looked almost blasphemous. Ruby didn't know why she thought of that word. She leaned back on her arms, putting one foot up on the bed.

"I didn't think I'd be back here again," Mia said.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Mia knelt down. One hand rested on top of Ruby's thigh, the other one on the inner thigh of the raised leg.

Ruby was so wet. She could sense the slightest breeze on her pussy. It felt like it literally dripped, she thought. When was the last time that had happened? She was almost ashamed at how wet she was. Not because of the wetness, but because it was caused by Mia. And a girl half her age. Her daughter’s best friend since, Christ, middle school or something?

It’s so wrong, she thought.

"It's so pretty!" Mia was looking at Ruby's pussy.

Ruby followed Mia's attention. It was all over the place, but mostly on Ruby's body. Mia seemed to be forgetting her nerves.

Ruby herself, with every passing moment, was having a harder time focusing on anything but Mia.

Mia let go of Ruby, putting her hands instead on the floor, it seemed, no longer touching her at all. On all fours.

And Ruby finally felt it. The heat of Mia's breath on her pussy. Fuck! The wet, hot tongue touching her clit, sending tingles throughout her body. She was so close, already. She could not for the life of her remember the last time she had been this sensitive, this close to the edge, for this long.

Mia's still-wet hair lightly grazed the insides of Ruby's thighs.

"Fuck." Ruby's hips rolled and stomach flexed. She wasn't doing any of it.

Mia stopped.

"No, no. Don't stop, sweetie." Ruby laughed. Breathless. Desperate, somehow?

Mia continued.

"Yeah."

Ruby watched her for a moment. Mia's eyes were closed. Concentrating. Her tongue moved slowly over Ruby's clit, then wandered lower.

It felt so fucking good and she wanted to let Mia do whatever she wanted, but Ruby needed the release, otherwise there was no way she could think clearly.

"Up a little, sweetie," Ruby instructed. "Lick my clit, baby."

Mia obeyed.

"There."

Fuck. There.

Ruby fell back on her elbows. She had imagined this. Imagined teaching Mia, telling her what she liked, watching her figure it out. In her imagination, she was not this close - what, twenty seconds into it?

Mia sped up a little too much.

"That's it, sweetie. A little slower."

Mia made a quiet sound against her. Ruby felt it resonate in her body.

Jesus Christ.

Ruby's foot slipped off the mattress and hit the floor. She wanted to chuckle, but Mia’s tongue was doing things to her that she was too scared to interrupt for anything, let alone humor.

"Yes... Keep going..."

Ruby closed her eyes.

For a little while she could still follow what was happening. Mia's tongue. Her breath. Hair brushing the insides of Ruby's thighs. The unusually soft skin of Mia’s face. The pressure building low in her stomach every time Mia passed over her clit.

But soon enough she couldn’t follow anything anymore.

"Keep going…" Ruby swallowed. The words barely came out sounding like the words she was trying to say. "Don't stop."

One of her hands reached forward and grabbed Mia’s hair, but let go. She realized there was no way she could control anything there. Ruby couldn’t operate a push-pull door at this point. She grabbed the sheets instead.

Mia kept going.

The sheet twisted tighter in Ruby's fist.

She felt nothing distinct, no specific touch she could recognize anymore.

"I'm..."

Her whole body tightened. There was a moment where it was almost too much, almost unbearable.

Then it broke.

Ruby came with her fists wrapped in the sheets, hips lifting despite herself, a sound coming out of her that she would probably have been embarrassed by if there had been enough of her conscious self left to be embarrassed.

Mia didn't stop. And for a while it was heaven. Then it got to be too much.

"Fuck. Fuck, OK."

Ruby reached down blindly, but her hands were still caught in the twisted sheets, so she used her legs - pushing them together lightly on Mia's head and turning her hips a little - to let Mia know it was over.

"OK, sweetie. Jesus."

Mia pulled away.

Ruby dropped flat onto the bed.

Completely. Fucking. Undone.

Mia climbed on top of her. Looking down at her through a laneway of dark hair. A sweet smile that seemed to expect something?

“Did I do good?”

“Sweetie!” Ruby took her face, pulled her down, kissed her. “You did so fucking good!”

“Do you cum easily as well?”

“Not always.”

Ruby needed a break.

“You…” Ruby said, one hand on Mia’s hip. Catching Mia’s face in the other, holding it rough, folding Mia's skin, wanting to keep her here. As hers.

Don’t say it, she thought. Keep your shit together, woman! “You really do something to me, Mia.”

Ruby was sorely disappointed in herself. She's not supposed to swoon and hand over all her power. But seeing Mia’s eyes, so happy at Ruby’s words… ah, fuck, it was worth it.

She made a little squeal, maybe putting it on a little then, and dropped into a snuggle on Ruby’s body, nuzzling her face in Ruby’s neck.

But it wasn’t just cute. Mia was grinding.

“I need a little breather, sweetie!” Ruby said, hugging Mia.

Mia hugged back. “Of course!” Then she gave Ruby’s nipple a great big lick and sucked it into her mouth. A few circles around it with her tongue and she let it go - a little pop. Looking at Ruby then as if to say ‘how about now?’

Ruby chuckled. Most of the timid tics and nerves were gone from the girl at her side now.

Mia got up to her knees and undid her bra. The wet lace fell.

Had Ruby not seen breasts before? Even Mia’s - she’d seen them before. But not like this. She felt grateful for the situation they were in. Alone, naked, vulnerable. Ruby wanted Mia so bad it was embarrassing. But Mia wanted her right back.

“We can take a break,” Mia said. “I can keep it together.”

She sat down on Ruby’s thigh. She kept moving her hips around ever so slightly.

“You keeping it together, there, huh?” Ruby asked.

“Are you complaining?” Mia asked back.

Ruby shook her head. Feeling that the break might be nearing an end for her too.

"But, seriously, is there anything you'd want me to do differently?" Mia asked, hips circling a little, grinding back and forth, fingers kneading Ruby's body in a gentle way wherever they went.

"Are you worried you don't know how?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely!" Mia said.

Mia's curiosity and honesty excited Ruby. Mia was not pretending at all, it seemed. She was just here. Fully in the moment.

"OK," Ruby said, bunching a pillow under her head, so she could look up at Mia more easily. "Did you make me cum the way you make yourself cum?"

She thought about it.

"Yes?" Mia said slowly.

Ruby laughed. "Where's the confusion?"

"I guess you came from what I also cum from. As in, rubbing my cl- your clit."

"OK..."

"But I guess different women cum differently? Some from stimulating the clit, right? Some from--"

"Penetration, yeah."

"Yeah, right! So, anyway, I, honestly, I cum like crazy from almost anything," Mia said, looking at Ruby's stomach, shooting a glance up at her once in a while, clearly feeling awkward.

"Oh?"

"I've orgasmed a few times just from touching my nipples and squeezing my thighs together."

"Whoa!"

"Is that weird?"

"No! No, sweetie," Ruby said. "It's just a little unusual, and... well, how do you feel about it?"

"Sometimes awesome," Mia said, thinking. "Like if I need to get off quickly, it's easy to do. I've heard some girls say they struggle with that. I don't."

Ruby listened, nodding.

"Some other times I worry a little. Like what if I'm a crazy nympho and it drives all my decisions in life?"

"Do you have a ton of sex all the time?" Ruby asked.

"No."

"When was the last time?"

Mia smirked down at Ruby.

"I mean before now." Ruby slapped Mia's thigh and Mia chuckled.

Mia's happy energy was filling Ruby's body and mind with something volatile. She could just burst out in a weird scream for no reason, if she let herself. What the hell is this idiocy? It's nice, of course, but damn.

"Last Friday, then?" Mia was clearly nervous to say it.

"With Jack?" Ruby asked, not changing her expression or tone.

"Yeah." Mia's hands got slower, more absent.

"And before that?"

"Umm..." Mia thought. "I guess... Well, in the closet with you, but that was not... I dunno, does that count as sex?"

"Not for you, I wouldn't think." Ruby smiled. "I'll count that for myself, though."

"So then with Jack in the car," Mia looked guilty. "That was June 6th, I think? It's the 25th now."

"And in between those, how many times did you masturbate?"

"Maybe once a day, but skipping a day here and there, probably?"

"Congrats, sweetie!"

"Hmm?"

"Not only are you not a nymphomaniac, but most women on the planet would die to be you! That includes me, as well."

Ruby raised her palm and Mia hit it with hers, slow, confused.

"Look, sweetie," Ruby said, "you orgasm easy. That's a good thing. You're not a sex-crazed maniac who can't stay in school or has to go to Sex Addicts Anonymous. That's good. Do you get horny a lot and easily?"

"Easily, yeah, but I guess not necessarily all the time or a lot... Just when there's reason for it, I guess. And the occasional random one."

"The horror!" Ruby said. She continued, slow, coming up with unnecessarily colorful words as she went. "A young, drop-dead motherfucking beauty with a healthy sex drive, who has people lining up - with burnt feet, on broken Tabasco bottles - to ruin their lives to be with you?"

Mia laughed. Ruby didn't really speak like that. Sometimes she thought like that. With Mia it had come out so easy, she was surprised it came out so well. Mia dropped down, taking Ruby's jaw in one hand, her other hand on the headboard, and slipping her tongue in Ruby's mouth.

"I guess that doesn't sound too bad, when you put it like that," Mia said after the kiss.

Ruby grabbed her and rolled her onto her back. Mia smiled, looking at Ruby. The smile read like a challenge to her.

"Hey, you know, about Jack and--" Mia started.

"Would you like to cum first?"

"Yes, please, ma'am!" Mia screamed.

Ruby laughed and went lower, Mia pushing herself up higher, to sit up against the headboard a bit.

Ruby said, "To answer your question about making me cum, you did really good. I'm no expert at making women cum either, but I am an expert at making myself cum."

Mia listened, it seemed, though, her mouth was getting a little slack, as Ruby got closer to her stomach, then down low to her pussy, pulling her panties down as she went, ending up between Mia's legs.

"And I figure, there's no man who has the toolset we have. By default, we have to be better at making each other cum, right?"

"Yeah... I guess that makes sense," Mia said. "But I might not be the most challenging bust, as they say."

"Bust?" Ruby chuckled.

"Never mind, sorry, just..." Mia said, her hips rolling, face growing a little pained and distant.

"OK, sweetie, come here." Ruby lay down on the bed, legs off the end.

"Oh my God," Mia sighed, feeling Ruby's finger run from her clit gently down to the soft, slick skin below her pussy.

She leaned down and opened her mouth over Mia's pussy. She made sure to taste her. She planted her lips wide above the clit down to below her pussy, sliding her tongue gently inside her, but being met with tight pressure.

Ruby could hear Mia moan quietly: "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Almost crying, it sounded like.

She looked up to see her squeezing her own breasts, knees curling up, feet sliding around the bed.

Ruby moved her head side to side, moving her lips and tongue between Mia's smooth pussy lips, found her clit, sucked it into her mouth hard and flicked it up and down with her tongue. She sucked hard, but licked light and slow.

"Holy fuck, Ruby!" Mia said loudly. "I'm gonna cum! You're gonna make me cum!"

Mia grabbed Ruby's hair. Ruby was so excited, another clench in her stomach, building to something more.

It was over fast. Ruby kept a steady rhythm on Mia's clit, but Mia's body, her legs most of all, shook out of control. Her face contorted. She covered her own mouth as the orgasm shook her.

The sight of Mia like this. The thought of it. God, it drove Ruby mad.

She let Mia calm down. Ruby climbed up as Mia was still shivering and panting, but instead of waiting, Ruby pulled Mia down flat on the bed and swung her leg over her. Ruby's pussy was now in Mia's face, and Mia's was, oh - not quite at Ruby's. Ruby did have about seven inches on her.

Ruby thought it might be too much for Mia and she expected to be stopped, shooed off. She would have stopped. But Mia, though still getting back her breath, hugged Ruby's bottom, hooking her hands through Ruby's inner thighs, around to her hips, pulling Ruby's pussy down onto her face, kissing it, licking it.

"Fuck, Mia!" Ruby yelled.

Surprised again. Who the hell is this girl?

Ruby was still on her hands and knees, but she got up for a little, just to look back at Mia. As she did, Mia moved her tongue from Ruby's pussy to her asshole.

"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed.

Mia didn't stop for another few seconds. Then she asked, still panting, "You don't like that?"

"Do you?"

"Do I like licking yours or do I like..." Mia asked.

"Both?"

"I love to play with my ass."

"Oh..." Ruby said, thinking, but the thinking was interrupted by Mia pulling Ruby in and her tongue finding Ruby's asshole again.

The feeling was... foreign, a little weird. She'd never done anal. Jack had touched it many times with his hand, but never anything inside and she always moved his hand away. She figured anal was off the table with Jack due to his size and she’d never been too curious about it herself.

But this... Ruby was definitely... getting into this. As Mia licked her ass, tongue pressing against the asshole harder and harder every time, Ruby touched her pussy, which was dripping all over with Mia's spit and her own juices. It was dripping on Mia's chin and throat.

Ruby rubbed her clit, fingered herself a little, one finger only. Holy Jesus, she was... she was probably going to cum again. Maybe not now, but... And at this point it was not clear what it was. Was it Mia? Was it Mia's tongue on her asshole?

Just then Mia moved one hand to Ruby's pussy, letting her thumb work Ruby's clit as she continued licking her asshole.

It was all she could do to just sit there propped up on Mia's body and keep from collapsing. She could feel pressure building, the tremble in her thighs signaling.

Ruby wanted to bend down and lick Mia's pussy too, but she didn't want Mia to stop licking her ass and they couldn't do both at the same time. What the hell was happening to her?

So instead she put her hand over Mia's pussy and slid her middle finger between her lips. Mia raised her knees, opening her legs wide, even pushing her hips up and down a few times. Ruby used the very tip of her middle finger to push against Mia's pussy. It slid in a little, through the pressure.

"Fuck, you're so tight." Ruby blurted out. She had meant to just think it.

"Mmm..."

In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought. "How did you take Jack?"

Mia didn't answer, but she did slide her thumb up to Ruby's pussy and pushed it inside her.

"Fuck!"

Ruby kept going deeper inside Mia. To which Mia responded by moaning louder and it was clear Mia was having trouble focusing on what her hand, tongue or any other body part was doing.

But Ruby didn't mind. Quite the opposite. She wanted to see what Mia would do. She wanted to torture her just a little. Just to see.

"Keep licking my asshole, sweetie," Ruby encouraged her, as her middle finger was inside Mia as far as it would go. "God damn it, Mia, your tongue back there... you keep surprising me."

Again, with the words, she thought.

Ruby hooked her finger and felt the soft front wall of Mia's pussy. She circled it a little at first, then fixed her hand in one position, her finger pressed against the front wall, and tried to move her hand back and forth in short, rapid strokes, almost like a vibration.

"Ruby!" Mia screamed. Her free hand was hanging on to Ruby's leg so tight. "I'm gonna... fuck, Ruby, you're gonna make me..."

Ruby sat down a little on Mia's face, smothering her a little. Not hard, just to get Mia to lick her some more.

Mia did, but she was having trouble. She was losing control. She went silent, just panting, hugging Ruby's legs and ass, her face buried in Ruby's pussy now. She vibrated into Ruby a muffled "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fu--"

Mia went silent and still. Her strong hands gripped Ruby so hard it almost hurt. And then she squirted.

Ruby's mouth went slack. She didn't know what to do so she just kept going. Her cramped hand moved back and forth as rapidly as she could make it move.

Mia was still completely silent and motionless as it happened, her whole body tensed. And just a few seconds later, Mia quickly straightened out her legs, which now violently shook and squeezed Ruby's hand. She slapped Ruby's ass and grabbed onto Ruby's skin. A grasp for some kind of control.

Mia inhaled a large breath. And let out a quiet scream.

Ruby smiled, surprised, eyebrows up. Then turned back to take a look at Mia. Mia was on her back, eyes wide, catching her breath, looking at Ruby. Ruby got off her and as she turned, Mia grabbed and pulled her down, gave her a wet, quick kiss and went back to panting. Mia was squeezing Ruby everywhere her hands went, her movements not making any sense.

Ruby rubbed her own clit, slow, almost without thought, while Mia got her balance back. They kissed, smiled, laughed, sighed, but it was a while before anyone said anything more than a fuck or a God.

"I'm so sorry," Mia finally broke. She looked down to where there was now a large wet spot. "I'm sorry."

"Mia! What do you have to be sorry for?"

"It just felt so good! I could have stopped you, changed to a different... but..." Mia put her face to Ruby's chest. "I wanted to cum, I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, sweetie!" Ruby laughed.

"OK."

The clock on the wall ticked. It was a gift from Jack's parents. Even over the rain outside, she could still hear it tick. Normally the sound would aggravate Ruby. That's why it lives in the guest bedroom, not Ruby and Jack's. But now. Tick. Tick. Tick.

"After the closet..." Ruby moved her attention from the ceiling to the window behind Mia. "I asked Jack to go down on me."

"Oh?" Mia ran her hand up Ruby's forearm, leaning her head back to look at her.

"Yeah." Ruby laughed, a little embarrassed, only shooting a glance at Mia here and there, otherwise looking out the rain-streaked glass at the black trees outside. "I had him get on his knees and lick my pussy. I stood up in our bedroom against the wardrobe, sort of like you had me in the closet that night."

"Stop!" Mia squeezed Ruby's arm. Eyes wide, clearly excited and flattered, Ruby thought. "When was this?"

"That same night, after you left."

"After the dinner?"

"Mmhmm."

"God!" Mia said, loud. She put her head back down, turned away from Ruby, scooting backwards into her arms. Ruby stroked her hair. "I... Man, I really..."

Ruby shut up and let her think.

Mia didn't move at all. Ruby couldn't see if she was looking out the window or what. Then Mia said, "I was afraid it was just a one-time thing with us that night."

"You didn't get the note?"

"No, no, I did, yeah." Mia nodded. "But I thought maybe, I dunno, like maybe you saw me more like a plaything or something, I don't know."

Something tugged in Ruby's chest. She said nothing, but held Mia tighter.

Mia looked back over at Ruby. "I'm just being silly. Like..." She sat up a little. "I'm not saying this is or isn't anything serious or anything like that. Don't get me wrong." She spoke quickly, as if anything said would be misinterpreted and needed clarification. "And I know we're in like a very weird situation here with... gosh, Jack and Beth and everything and I'm not even saying I want anything serious or that I don't want anything serious. Or that anything serious even is, like... on the table or anything--"

Mia stopped. Ruby had let her ramble, smiling.

"You're enjoying this, huh?" Mia pushed Ruby's shoulder.

"Oh ya."

"Well, it's not funny!" Mia laughed despite herself.

"I'm not really laughing, am I?"

Mia just watched her, trying to decode Ruby's expression, maybe?

"You said..." Ruby put a hand on Mia's. "You thought you'd never be back here."

Mia stared.

"What did you mean?"

"I don't want to say." Mia looked down, fingers brushing Ruby's hand.

"OK, I won't pry, but if you wanted to--"

"I said it because I thought it and I thought it because I honestly never in my wildest dreams thought you'd be interested in me." Mia looked around the room, scoffing out a little chuckle. "God, this is so awkward to say out loud." She turned to Ruby. "You're like a fucking magical unicorn to me, lady!"

Ruby laughed. Mia too.

"What does that mean?" Ruby snorted as she laughed.

Mia lost it. "What the fuck was that?" Then she imitated Ruby's snort.

Ruby laughed harder, air leaving her and refusing to come back. She tried to avoid snorting again as she sucked in air, but it happened anyway. Which made Mia laugh even more.

That carried on for a while.

They wiped tears. Ruby's face hurt. Roscoe was outside the door, sniffing around and doing his little inside barks.

"Oh, Jesus," Mia said, laughter aftershocks still holding her as she wiped her tears.

"You were saying?" Ruby was in the same state.

"Yeah, what was I saying?"

Ruby pushed out her chest. "Something about me being a magical fucking unicorn?"

"Nah, never mind." Mia laughed again and got up. "I need a drink."

"There's a glass in the--"

"I know," Mia said, as she went through the door into the adjoining bathroom.

Ruby heard her fill up a glass, drink, fill again, tap off.

"Here." Mia came back in and handed Ruby a glass of water.

"What I meant was..." As Ruby drank, Mia spoke. "You've always been - and still are - I don’t know… a role model. To me. An older woman, I'm sorry." Mia shrugged and widened her eyes, as if to say 'sorry to point it out, but who are we kidding.' "And you're so composed, in charge, classy, always have the right thing to say, the perfect life, the style, the grace, the everything!"

Mia sat down. Close to Ruby. Their bodies touching.

"You're like a fucking rock star to me, you know?" Mia said.

Ruby felt Mia's vulnerability. She let things sit for a bit. Thinking what to say. Thanks? No.

Instead of saying anything, she reached up and touched Mia's face. Her hair. God, her hair. There was nothing she could do to make it look bad. Wet, dry, down, up.

A short run of buzzes sounded from downstairs as the dryer had gone silent. Done. God, had an hour passed already? How? She looked at the clock. 2:20 pm. They really should get up.

Mia seemed to notice Ruby thinking about it. "Should we...? Get going?"

"No," Ruby said, changing nothing, still stroking Mia's hair. "When Jack told me about you two that night in the car." She looked at Mia. "I was very excited, but also hurt."

"God, I'm so--"

Ruby shook her head and looked at Mia, asking for her to listen. "I was hurt because you'd betrayed me. You'd done something you knew would hurt me."

"Ruby, I'm so sorry." Mia's eyes were getting a little red.

"But it had to hurt, there was no other way. I chose that. Does that make sense?"

Mia shook her head, a tear ready to fall from one eye, the other filling too.

"Before that night, a while before it, a few months, Jack and I realized, both of us, that we had feelings for you. That we could not keep our eyes and thoughts off of you, Mia."

Mia swallowed hard. The clock ticked. The rain pelted the window. It was so warm and comfortable inside.

"Even before anything happened, Jack and I talked about it. A lot. Planned for it, even, as weird as that sounds. But because we thought about it for so long, we both knew that the only way we could both have anything with you was that one of us would have to go first. You would have to hurt the other one."

Tick, tick, tick. No more dryer. Just the rain and the clock.

"Mia, I..." Ruby wiped a tear from Mia's cheek. "I think the world of you. I like you so much. So, so much, that I was willing to be the one that got hurt in the process. Just to get a chance at maybe someday us being in this situation."

Mia turned, bringing more and more of her body toward Ruby.

"And if this is too much, too weird, I totally get it, and we can--"

"You guys... wanted me?!" Mia smiled through tears.

Ruby nodded. "You have no idea, Mia."

Mia leaned in and kissed Ruby. She sniffled between kisses. "God." Mia looked up and chuckled, wiping tears. "Sorry!"

Ruby pulled her back down gently and kissed her.

They hugged and Ruby pulled Mia over herself, rolling into the bed, and they laughed again, legs tangled, hands playing with each other's bodies.

"This is really great," Mia said.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"I wish I didn't have to leave."

Ruby didn't reply. She agreed. But too many words had been said already, maybe she didn't need to add to the tally?

"Well," Ruby said, "you don't have to go anywhere yet."

Mia squinted up at her. "No?"

Ruby shook her head.

"What did you have in mind?"

Ruby's hand reached around Mia's body down to her ass. "I was thinking maybe I could lick you some more."

"Oh?" Mia was playing coy. Ruby was already kissing down her arm, then back. "Is that so?"

Ruby went lower on Mia's body, Mia on her stomach, propped up on elbows, looking over her shoulder, running out of angles, but not reactions. Mia's back arched and hips moved up and down. Slow, but jagged. Like she was not quite in control all the way.

Ruby had Mia's body under her now. Mia's butt. So... God, perfect? She was envious. And grateful. And, fuck, so incredibly horny, again. Ruby thought maybe this was what men felt like. They sure blabbered on about it a whole lot, but if they were really in this kind of state of need constantly, as they claimed - maybe she owed Jack an apology or two.

Ruby massaged Mia's thighs, pushing up and down over the muscle. Mia moaning and groaning, now having put her head down on the bed, eyes closed. Ruby moved her hands over Mia's ass. She rolled her knuckles on the cheeks a few times. She spread her cheeks. So pretty.

"So pretty." God, did she say it out loud?

"You like it?" Mia asked, eyes still closed.

Ruby dripped saliva on Mia's spread ass. Mia inhaled.

"I do, sweetie."

Ruby leaned down, watching her saliva pool at Mia's asshole and drip down to her pussy. Ruby licked it.

"Fuck, Ruby!!" Mia groaned.

Ruby kept Mia's cheeks spread and kept licking, surprised at Mia's asshole sort of... twitching? Moving a little, tightening and letting go. And Mia was losing her mind. Her hips moved up and down now, Ruby holding her ass down on the bed as much as she could, Mia moaning and groaning and almost screaming.

"God, Ruby!" Mia tried to open her legs, but Ruby had her own around them, trapped. "Finger me, please! I need you inside me, Ruby!"

Ruby let Mia open her legs and she helped her scoot up. Mia was now on her knees, ass in the air, head down on the bed.

Ruby licked her up and down, clit to asshole, asshole to clit. Multiple times, breathing and groaning into Mia as she went.

"Fuck, Ruby, I'm gonna cum!"

Ruby licked Mia's asshole and used her thumb and palm to finger Mia and rub her clit. It was a bit awkward having never done these things in this position, but intuitive enough.

This time Mia's ass and legs were the first to tell Ruby. The muscles in Mia's glutes started spasming, and her legs shook. She straightened her legs and dropped down on the bed, legs wide. Ruby followed her.

"Fuck," Mia moaned.

Ruby lay down, spreading Mia's cheeks, Mia's thighs under Ruby's arms, and she kept licking Mia's asshole as she came.

Ruby kept going, but slower.

And slower. Until she was just barely moving her tongue and Mia was still shaking, but much less intensely.

Ruby had expected Mia to let her know when to stop. But Mia did not. She just lay there, still rolling her hips a little and breathing moans in and out, steady.

Ruby's tongue got tired. She bit Mia's cheek.

Mia didn't yell, just exhaled another little moan. As Ruby got up next to Mia, Mia slowly rolled over, her eyes so barely open they may as well have stayed shut.

"How was that?" Ruby asked.

"You have to ask?"

"I've never done that."

"I've never had that done to me."

"So," Ruby said, "it was good, then?"

Mia jumped up to kiss Ruby. "Who's insecure now?"

"I never said you were insecure!"

"I just am, you don't have to say it." Mia smiled at Ruby, as she licked Ruby's lip and smooched her.

"You don't seem overly insecure to me."

They snuggled up, Mia at Ruby's side, Ruby sitting up on pillows a bit, looking over Mia. Admiring her body and savoring the fact that they were here. Finally.

"So you've never been with a woman?" Ruby asked.

"Can't say that anymore."

"How was it?"

"Oof." Mia sighed. "So much better than I expected. You?"

"Same."

"Oh, but you've been with other women, you said?"

"Eh, kind of. With Jack, in threesomes, just a few times. But this is different."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, missing a cigarette all of a sudden. The last time she had one was before getting pregnant with Beth. "The threesomes never felt personal. Between Jack and me, sure, but never so much with the other woman. That's why we haven't done them in a very long time."

"You're not jealous?" Mia's hand moved slow on Ruby's stomach. "Seeing Jack with another woman?"

"A little. Not as much as it turns me on."

"Interesting..."

"OK, here's something," Ruby said. "How would you feel if you saw Jack fuck me?"

"Oh!" Mia sat up a bit. Thinking. "Shit, I think it'd be very weird, but also hot."

"So maybe you understand me."

"Yeah, I might." Mia sat up on Ruby's lap, pinning her back by her shoulders. "Are we going to do that?"

"Do you want to?"

"Yes," Mia said.

Mia's eyes. Still the same girl, but something a little more daring in them now.

"Do you miss having a cock in the mix here?" Mia asked.

Ruby chuckled. "Yeah, you know, this is awesome, but I do really like Jack's cock."

Mia bit her lip, holding a breath. She let it just fall out. "Fuck, I do too!"

"Jack himself..." Ruby shrugged.

"Take it or leave it, yeah! Totally."

Ruby broke first and Mia joined her. As Ruby laughed, Mia jumped backward on the bed, landing with her knees around Ruby's ankles.

"Whoa!" Ruby's eyes widened and she was left all alone up there.

"Don't worry, I got you!" Mia smirked.

Mia moved in between Ruby's legs, lay down on her stomach, lifting Ruby's legs a little by the backs of her knees. She didn't wait, she licked Ruby's pussy.

"Oh," Ruby was taken by surprise. Again! "Right... OK!"

She settled in, held her legs up herself, running her heels over Mia's muscular back, holding Mia's hair bunches in her hands. She let Mia do all of it. Fuck, she was so taken with this girl.

She thought about Mia, about all the times they'd been face to face lately, all the glances and touches and situations. The cafe, the spa, the dinner, the closet. Here, now. Some other times flashed too, how she had spoken to Jack about her multiple times, how they planned their approach after they finally had dared to admit to themselves and each other that they were incapable of seeing Mia in any other way any more. They wanted her. She wanted her. And now she had her between her legs, licking her clit.

And now, again, she could feel the senses, having heightened almost to the point of overstimulation, start to drop out of her perception. She was cumming again.

"Mia!" She grabbed Mia's hair, held her head. She managed to squeak out a quick "I'm cumming!" and her body fell away. Her legs twitched a little, hips rode up and down without her meaning for them to do that. There was a complete absence of all thought, pure experience of nothing. Bliss.

She returned and Mia had slowed her licking to almost nothing. Perfect. A quick study, Ruby thought. But who's kidding who, this girl had taught Ruby more today than Ruby had taught her.

"Holy!" Ruby said. "You can give Jack a run for his money with that, sweetie."

Mia chuckled. "Stop!"

"There's that insecurity!" Ruby teased.

Mia slapped Ruby's thighs and Ruby twitched, her hands going up, expecting Mia to come in to tickle her. She didn't and Ruby realized she was expecting it because it was a Jack thing. To tickle her whenever he felt teased.

"Sorry, I keep bringing up Jack." Ruby pulled in Mia's hips as she came back up to straddle Ruby again. "This is our time, it doesn't need to be about anyone else."

Mia looked at Ruby, thinking, it seemed. "You know, I don't mind it."

"No?"

"I like you both. I want you both. I wish he was here."

A quick chuckle left Ruby, without her say so, something between hurt and relief. "That would be fun!"

"He was so sweet, after the whole Fairleigh-mixer-Beth-Jean-Jacques thing, you know? The next day he, well..." Mia put a finger to Ruby's chest. "First he said some really nasty shit, which sucked, but then he turned it around and I could tell he really meant it. He said he thinks about me all the time and the way he looked at me..."

Ruby didn't know that. She had to work a little to keep it together. Not put Mia in the middle of it. But Jack had skipped these details in his retelling of the events. Maybe it was innocent.

"I coulda melted, fuck. And now that I'm here with you and everything, I can see that you guys really care about each other and... me? And - I don't know." Mia trailed off.

No, not innocent. Ruby knew how those words would leave his mouth and why. Motherfucker doesn't have it in him to fake that. For better or worse. She told herself it was fine, the words were true for her too and it's not a big deal, but she knew there was a part of her - and not a small part - that was hurt by it. Not that he said something to Mia, or that he meant it. That he didn't fucking tell her.

OK, Ruby thought, this is not about him. She filed it away for now. Back to enjoying her moment.

"What do you think... I don't know, like, what the next time might be? Can we, all three of us, meet, you think?" Mia asked.

Ruby wondered the same. She didn't want to admit to herself or Mia that she'd not planned that far ahead. She thought this had been too remote a possibility, the day they just had.

"I would love for that to happen, so let's make it happen. This is all very new for me too, so I don't have any really satisfying answers for you right now, I'm sorry." Ruby shrugged.

~ * ~

Back in Jack and Ruby's bedroom
-- 11:15 pm

"Wait, so she actually said..." Jack took his eyes away from Ruby's chest for a change. It was difficult. Her nightgown was more of a belt around her waist now. "'I like you both. I want you both. I wish he was here'? Meaning me?"

Ruby chuckled. "Yes, baby. That's what she meant."

Jack pulled his face into an impersonation of the Grinch. Quite happy to hear that. But he noticed, now that he was looking at Ruby, that her look was... something in it.

"Is everything OK?"

"Oh yeah. Why?" Ruby got off her knees, grabbed the headboard and squatted on his cock instead of sitting on it. She knew that drove him crazy. "You're not having a good time?"

"Shit, baby." Jack looked down, head cocked, watching his beautiful wife slide up and down on his cock, gripping it tight. "I love you so much."

She kissed him. "I love you too, baby!"

"But you gotta slow down and finish the story."

Ruby looked at him. He knew the look. 'Fuck what you want, buddy,' was the message. She swung her hips and rocked up and down on his cock faster and harder.

Jack didn't even think to put up a fight. As Ruby fucked him, making maybe a little too much noise, harder than she had in a little while, he grabbed her throat with both hands. He pulled her in and their tongues met. He squeezed her throat a little, just enough for her eyes to close in pleasure, mouth open, lips slack, face getting to be a shade of red above normal. She continued. And she didn't need to for long.

He came, and as he did, after the first few pumps, he stopped her on an upswing to watch his cock pulse more cum inside Ruby.

"Fuck, baby!" Ruby whispered to him, her voice raspy from the choke.

Then she fucked him. Slam, slam, slam. Definitely too loud. He didn't care. And he knew she didn't either.

After, they stayed like that, but Ruby sat on her knees again, Jack still inside her, his head on her chest now, her chin on his head. Both panting, smiling.

Jack felt like the luckiest married guy in any neighborhood on the face of the planet. "God, I love you!"

Ruby kissed him. "I love you, baby!"

When they got their capacity for speech and thought back, Jack asked, "Was there more?"

"Yeah." Ruby ran her hands through her hair and stretched her neck. "OK, so she tells me she likes us both and wants us both and wants you, and I said I would love for that to happen..."

~ * ~

-- 3:23 pm

"This is all very new for me too, so I don't have any really satisfying answers for you, I'm sorry." Ruby shrugged.

"That's fair," Mia said.

Mia rolled off and snuggled into Ruby's side. The light in the room had gone flat and gray-green from the storm and the clock kept at its ticking.

The better part of five minutes passed.

"Can I tell you something boring?" Mia said.

"Please."

"I started coaching little kids at the gym. Like the fives and sixes."

"That's not boring! Since when?"

"March. I'm just kinda helping out other coaches mostly. But I like it. There's one kid, Finny, can't do a forward roll to save her life. Goes sideways every single time. Every time. She's furious about it." Mia smiled at the wall. "So I told her she goes sideways because she's scared of her own head. Now she does it sideways on purpose, tells everyone she meant to."

"Mia! That's awesome!" Ruby said. "How come I've not heard about this?"

Mia was quiet for a bit. "I dunno. Coach says I'm good with them, though."

Ruby had a hand on Mia's back and could feel her breathing. Ruby knew Mia's 'I dunno' subbed in for the truth, but she didn't push it.

"I think that's so cool, sweetie. Can I go watch sometime?"

"What, me coaching?" Mia looked up.

Ruby looked back at her. "Mhmm." She smiled.

Mia put her head down. "I'd like that."

Ruby felt something then too. Mia thinking more than she said.

After a while Ruby changed the subject. "Can I ask about Nick?"

"You can ask about Nick."

"Was it bad?"

"No," Mia said. She fiddled with the sheets. "He didn't do anything. I asked him for more and he said no. He wasn't a dick about it. He just said no."

"That's almost worse, huh?"

"Right?" Mia turned her head to look up at her again, gesturing. "Everybody kept waiting for me to say what he did or who dumped who why or who cheated. I felt insane."

Head back down.

She felt perfect. Right there.

Ruby looked at the ceiling. She could have said several true things. She pulled Mia in tighter instead.

They stopped talking.

On the other side of the door, out in the hallway, Roscoe rearranged himself with a long sigh. The rain was still raging and the room had to it a heavy, warm, drugged quality. A used-up afternoon. Spent.

Ruby thought about the clothes waiting in the dryer. She thought about getting up and getting everything squared away, ready for Beth and Jack. There wasn't much to take care of, but still.

She thought about how she did not want the moment to end.

~ * ~

-- 3:50 pm

Ruby came up out of it, the way you do when you didn't have much say over falling asleep or staying awake. For about five seconds she had no idea what, where, or when she was.

The clock said ten to four. The room might have been a little dimmer.

Mia was awake, on her side, watching her. She had been watching her for a time, by the look of it, and had decided not to wake her up.

"God," Mia hugged Ruby and Ruby hugged back. "I wish I could stay here with you."

The ticking clock and the rain were interrupted by Roscoe's bark. Much louder this time.

"Fuck!" Ruby tapped Mia. "They're home."

"What?!"

Mia was off the bed, standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed over herself, looking at the window like she was, what? Doing the math on the drop?

"How do you know?" Mia yelled at a whisper.

"Roscoe - he's fucking psychic about it."

"They're not supposed to be back yet, are they?"

"Doesn't matter."

Ruby was moving. "Bathroom. Get your hair wet. Like you just got in from the rain."

"Ruby--"

"Do you want Beth to find out today?"

Mia swallowed and hurried to the bathroom. Ruby heard the sink going, water splashing. Ruby pulled out a robe from the cabinet and shoved herself inside, then grabbed the underwear, stuffing Mia’s in her left robe pocket - her own in the right. She quickly tugged the sheets of the bed neat, flipping and ordering the pillows. She picked up the empty glass and wiped the ring it left from the bedside table.

"Grab a robe, whatever's on the hook there!" Ruby called to Mia. "And a towel."

Wet spot, fuck. She threw a blanket over it, 45 degrees, over the foot of the bed, covering about half of it, looking like a decorative choice.

OK, done. She joined Mia in the bathroom.

Mia's hair was dripping.

"OK," Mia said and stepped away from the sink to grab the robe, as Ruby came up and did the same to her own hair.

Ruby turned, shaking her head, making her hair look naturally rained on. Mia had the robe belted too high, and she was breathing like she'd run up the stairs.

Ruby fixed her robe. She put both hands on her shoulders.

Just then they heard the whirr of the remote-controlled garage door ratcheting open.

"That's the garage," Mia said.

"Listen to me. Focus."

"I think I'm gonna throw up."

"You're not. Listen. This is very important. Remember all of it." Ruby spoke evenly, making sure it was as clear as she could make it. "One! Everything you say is the truth. We got caught in the rain, we went to the spa because of it, we bumped into Mary and Jessa, we made plans with Frank for Monday, we got soaked again, we came here to dry off. Your clothes are in the dryer. It's all true. You know all of it. Don't lie. Just say nothing else."

Mia nodded fast.

"Two! Answer the question they ask you exactly and not a word more. If Beth asks if we had fun, you say yes. You don't tell her about Frank or Mary or Jessa or who had what drink. Just say yeah, I had fun."

"OK."

"Three! Don't fill the quiet. If nobody's talking, let it be quiet. It will feel like it's your job to fix it. It isn't."

"OK."

"And keep your hands off your face. Don't gesticulate."

Mia's hand was already halfway to her mouth. She looked at it like it belonged to someone else and put it down.

"Tell the truth. Answer questions exactly. Don't fill silences," Ruby repeated. "You got this!"

Ruby touched Mia's face, gave her a small, soft kiss and went down the stairs.

She stopped two steps in. "Fuck, here." She laughed and shrugged as she dug Mia's underwear out of the robe pocket and handed them over. Then she turned again and went down the stairs, fast, turning into the kitchen.

Mia stood there, shoving herself into her wet undies and imitating Ruby's shrug to no audience as Roscoe barked at the front door.

~ * ~

Back in Jack and Ruby's bedroom
-- 11:40 pm

"And you know the rest," Ruby said, looking down at Jack.

Jack sighed. Fuck. Close call.

"Yeah, I know, I know," Ruby said.

"I didn't say anything." Jack smirked at her.

"We should have been a little smarter."

"You like the risk, don't pretend."

Ruby looked down, playing with Jack's chest hair. Then ripping one out and looking at him.

"See? You like to poke the bear."

"You're a bear, are ya?"

"I'd maul ya."

Ruby smiled, looking down again.

"It was reckless," she said finally. "I like a bit of risk, yeah, but there's risk tolerance and there's recklessness. I'm sorry about that."

Jack knew she was genuine in that. "It's alright."

Ruby kissed his forehead as she got off him. His now soft cock falling back on his thigh. Ruby magically producing a tissue to clean herself up as she sat down beside him.

They settled in, Ruby's leg on him, head on his shoulder.

"You told her about the... the deal we have and the others?"

Ruby didn't move her head off his shoulder. "I did." Then she did move. She looked up at him. "The others!?"

"What?" He chuckled.

"Like the past victims of a serial killer?"

They laughed. Jack figured she had a point. It did sound weird.

He looked at the ceiling for a bit, as it settled.

"You're mad," Ruby said.

"I'm not mad." He was something, though. "We didn't agree how and when to tell her."

"We never said we wouldn't, either."

"Yeah."

"Jack, she thought we picked her, sort of, you know, like an object?" Ruby said. "Off a shelf. Like a girl who was... just around! 'That one! That'll do!' She's been lugging that idea around in her head and when I saw that, I told her it couldn't be further from the truth. If you'd seen her, you'd have done the same."

She wasn't wrong. He couldn't really get a hand on what actually bothered him.

"But I had such a great day, baby," Ruby said. He could hear her smile without looking at her. She rubbed his chest. A moment passed, during which nothing became any clearer to Jack and Ruby continued. "You know... I don't know if I told you, but - and I guess it's pretty obvious - I looked at Mia as a bit of a rival. Especially since the first time you two did anything."

Jack listened.

"We both liked her, I know, but I wasn't sure she'd be into me." She looked up at Jack, so full of energy still, laughing. "God, I sound like a teenager."

"But you fuck like one too, so that's nice." Jack blurted out, not sure himself what that was supposed to mean.

Ruby frowned at him through a smile. "Gosh, you're so pretty, babe." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Back down to his chest. "Anyway, I couldn't help but look at her as competition at the same time as I, you know... wanted her."

"Right," Jack said.

"But today..." Ruby moved her hand on Jack's stomach. "I didn't feel like that at all. All day. Not even a little."

Jack heard her. He was happy for his wife.

"Is that bad?" Ruby asked.

"No, not at all. Clearly. Why would you want her to be a rival?"

"Yeah, right." Ruby nodded. Her hair tickled him a little.

"So how did you feel?" Jack looked out the window. The storm had passed. The sky was dark now and the wet rooftops caught the streetlights. "Instead of jealousy?"

"I felt..." Ruby got up. Sat next to him. Something vulnerable in her look. "I think I felt very close to her."

What was that feeling in Jack's stomach? "Close?"

"Jack, I've not felt anything like that toward anyone in more than 20 years."

"Oh. Close."

And the thought snuck in. To tell her. Tell her she just described what he felt for Mia. Don't be a fucking coward.

Jack smiled, looked at his wife. "That's great! Right?"

Maybe if he told her, she'd be happy for him too?

Ruby put a hand on his chest and looked at him. "You think so?"

"Yeah! Of course." Jack smiled. "I mean, if you don't leave me for her, obviously. I will clean you out in the divorce."

Stop joking around, you idiot. Tell her. Tell her you were scared. That you kept it from her. That you...

They smiled at each other.

~ * ~

Thursday, June 25, 2026. Maplewood, New Jersey.
-- 4:50 pm

"And! It has a button," Beth said. "For the trunk. On the key. Watch."

Mia, hands in pockets, smile plastered, eyebrows doing the work. "I'm watching."

They were still parked. Still in front of Beth's house. Beth had also previously opened the trunk from the driver's seat and turned around to look at it. It was like watching a proud mother. Or a grandpa amazed at the smartphone having satellite images of his house.

"That's sick," Mia said, doing some work to suppress the sarcasm in her voice.

It was a 2019 Civic, dark gray, ninety-one thousand miles. Beth talked about it the way people talk about a dog they rescued. She had already named three things wrong with it, making plans on how she was going to make it right. No, no, not right. Improved.

They drove, though, finally. Beth took the long way, out past the middle school and the ball fields, both windows down. The post-rain air was so nice.

Beth kept both hands on the wheel at ten and two and checked her mirrors obsessively.

Mia sat sideways against the door. She let Beth do the talking.

She was sore. Not in a way anyone could see, hopefully. The soreness was low and warm and it moved when she moved and every time it moved she was back in the guest bedroom and then, without any say in the matter, she was in Jack's car, and then she was in Beth's passenger seat again looking at Beth's hands on the wheel.

She was happy for her. That was about the only uncomplicated, no-need-to-question feeling Mia had left at this point.

"You're not even listening," Beth said.

"The alignment's off and the previous owner was a lady."

"OK!" Beth threw up a hand and scoffed.

Beth raised a finger. "And it coulda been a dude. It's just a hair-tie in the door, not a curling iron and a box of tampons. They coulda cleaned up a bit more, is what I'm saying."

At the drive-thru window Beth ordered for both of them without asking. Mia had no complaints.

They ate in the lot, the Wendy's sign casting a shadow over the car.

Mia wanted to go home. She'd had too much of a day and not enough time to process even a fucking second of it. Let alone to have to now be here lying to her best friend. Again.

She was tired. No. She was something else. But tired was a good word in the meantime.

Beth's phone lit up in the cupholder and she turned it face down without picking it up.

Mia sucked her Sprite through the paper straw, staring at Beth. The straw folded. She took off the lid and sipped. Still staring at Beth.

Beth ate at least four single fries one by one. Then a two-fer, dipped in honey mustard.

Mia huffed at her. "Bredda!" She put on a bit of a heavy accent she knew her sensitive bff would find distasteful.

Beth chewed, leaning forward to look up at the sky. "It's Christian."

"Oh-kay."

"He's been... Whatever. He's been texting."

Mia opened and closed the visor. "Ooh-kay-ahh." She dragged a raspy note.

"It's nothing. I'm not replying."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOH-key-doke, little buddy!" Mia yelled, her voice echoing halfway across the state.

Beth pushed out a quick huff of a chuckle through a poorly suppressed smile. "Oh, fuck off!"

Beth was now looking down at her spicy chicken sandwich. It reminded Mia of the way a person stares over the edge of a cliff.

"It's hard. Being single. You wouldn't get it, you're so independent, you don't need anybody, whatever - I mean, it's honestly great for you. But I'm not like that. I feel better when I'm in, you know, a relationship." She gestured with her eyes as much as her hands and shrugged with one shoulder. "Obviously he doesn't deserve it. Obviously. I know. But I don't know. Maybe. It's just, I feel kinda lost without, you know... someone to count on."

A car rolled past behind them, wet asphalt making the tires hiss.

"Didn't you say he lied to you?" Mia said.

"Yeah."

"To your face, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Told you you were crazy, imagining things?"

Beth nodded and deflated.

"So what do you think, B? He's changed, huh?"

Mia chewed on a fry, her actions being so far away from where her mind was. The fucking hypocrisy, man. She needed, more than anything else, for this day to end.

Beth's finger traced the volume buttons on the steering wheel.

Mia lifted the top bun off her half-eaten burger, letting it fall back into place. "Someone else can risk it and find out. Not you. Not again. You want someone to count on, you got me."

Mia looked at Beth. Beth didn't reply. But the wheels were turning in there, she thought. It wasn't too long ago she would have probably cried or not even been here, instead somewhere with Christian.

"You're annoying," Beth said.

"It's a pleasure."

"And right."

"I know." Mia leaned over and pulled in Beth's head for a little hug. "I wish I wasn't."

"I know." Beth hung on to Mia's arm. "You smell like my mom."

"I used whatever shampoo was in the bathroom," Mia answered quickly, but made sure not to sound rushed. Commanding her body to not hyperventilate. Her body obeyed, to her surprise.

They ended the hug. Mia looking at Beth as she leaned back to her seat. "Don't break. Don't text that dipshit." Mia bit her lips together and said the bee sound with her whole body: "Big gyal ting!"

"Mia!"

Beth looked around for anyone who might have overheard, which made Mia laugh. So she continued.

"Big gyal tings!" Clapping her hands on each word. "Ya dun know!"

Beth blushed, laughed and hurried to get the windows up, turn on the music. "I swear, you need a muzzle!"

Mia's head pounded. She had to keep the act going and it broke her fucking heart.

"Yuh cyaan muzzle dis big dawg! Big dawg nah go inna no muzzle!"

The speed and ease of it terrified her.

~ * ~

They were most of the way to Mia's house when Beth said, "Hey, how were your clothes dry?"

Mia's whole body went cold.

"Huh?"

"Your clothes. In the dryer. Your hair was still soaking when we walked in, but your stuff was done drying."

Answer exactly what is asked. Nothing else.

"Yeah? What's the question?"

"So did you come in from the rain with wet hair just before we got home? Or did you get back earlier? The dryer doesn't do its thing in a minute or two."

"Oh, yeah. We got back a while before you," Mia said. "I was so cold I took a bath."

"A bath."

"I couldn't get warm."

"In my house."

"In your house."

Beth made a face. "You took a bath in my house."

Mia smiled at Beth with a face that she hoped said 'yeah? what's the problem?' Her actual words to go with the face: "I'm sorry?"

"No, it's just weird." Beth checked her mirror. "It's fine. It's weird, but it's fine."

They carried on. Mia not knowing whether to be relieved or terrified.

"So what have you two come up with for my birthday, then? Seeing as you're hanging out so much."

"You jealous?" Mia poked her.

"No!"

"Think I'm gonna steal your mom?"

The words felt weird.

"Stop trying to deflect! My birthday. Plan! Spill!"

Mia frowned. "Pfff! As if, sniff!"

Beth was suspicious of something. But she probably didn't know what of, right? Just weirded out that Mia and her mom hung out just the two of them. Birthday party planning is a perfectly fine excuse and they've always been friendly. Mia told herself it was OK.

Mia sat there with her hands still where they felt comfortable: one in her lap, one on the window. She didn't move them and didn't fill the quiet.

Except. Ruby's hair had been wet too. Fuck.

Ruby's hair. Wet. Ruby was not supposed to have taken a bath. Or, wait, no, she could have taken a shower in the other bathroom, right? OK. See what happens, she thought.

They were at the light before her street. The same intersection where she asked Beth's father to take the turn so she could 'see his penis.' Fucking idiot, who talks like that! What, you thought it was naughty and cute?

Head in the game, almost home.

Mia's heart was going and she waited to be asked about it.

"Welp. Here we are, miss."

"Thanks, driver!" Mia leaned over and gave Beth a kiss on the cheek and hugged her.

"Love you," Beth said.

"Love you," Mia replied. "Don't fucking text him, please."

Beth didn't say anything, but she nodded at Mia after the hug.

~ * ~

Inside, the TV was on in the den and her dad was on a call in the kitchen with his laptop open, one hand doing shapes in the air. Her mom was at the table with a magazine.

"There she is," her mom said. "What'd you get up to?"

"Not much. Met up with a friend, covered a class, Danielle called out sick."

"Mm," her mom said, and turned a page.

Her dad put a hand over his phone and said, "Hey, kid," and went back to it. She didn't like it coming out of her dad. That word.

She went up the stairs.

It had taken her no effort at all. Damn, she thought, lies. They're coming out like she's not even trying. As if they were true.

She sat down on the edge of her bed without turning the light on. Just for a bit, she thought. It felt right.

She wasn't talked or walked or led into any of this. Nobody had made her do anything with Jack. With Ruby. Nobody had made her stand there in Beth's robe and lie. She made her choice, one thing at a time.

It was on her.

She was still sore. She thought about being in Ruby's hands. She imagined Jack fading in on the other side like some cheap Hallmark movie.

She fell asleep in her clothes.