Forget Me Not: A Lesbian Romance, page 2
of them. A plane ticket wouldn’t be that expensive. She’d only
have to stay in a hotel for a few days. There was literally no
reason why she couldn’t go back.
There was nothing stopping her except for her own
self, and Dallas knew that even her regrets and what happened
in the past weren’t a good enough reason not to go.
It was ten years ago. Maybe she could just get in and
get out. Maybe. She hoped. Because it also was pretty clear
that by having the lawyer call her after the funeral and
everything, that no one wanted to see her.
Chapter 2
Quinn
“She’ll call. Just wait for it.” Danica ran the straightener
through her already sleek, shiny hair yet again and grumbled
when a crimped line appeared at the top of the strand. “God.
This thing. I’m going to have to get a new one.”
Quinn bit down on her bottom lip. It was trembling, and
her eyes were doing what they’d been doing constantly over
the past three weeks. Tearing up. She also was trying to bite
back anything that wasn’t nice. She loved her sister. She and
Danica had never done the regular sister thing and fought all
the time. They were two years apart. Danica was older. She
was a great big sister. Quinn just didn’t understand how
Danica could move on like she had.
“You don’t- uh- you just- you look so happy.” She winced
as soon as she said it. She was sitting on the edge of Danica’s
bed, watching her do her hair. She’d been watching for the
past half hour.
Danica was going on a date shortly. She set the
straightener down on top her dresser and turned, surprised.
“Why not be happy? That’s what Grampy would have wanted.
He told us when he found out that he was sick that he didn’t
want us moping around. He was eighty-nine when he died and
he said to us that was a good long life and we shouldn’t be sad.
I’m just trying to do what he said.”
“I don’t know how to do that.” Quinn brushed at her eyes
with the back of her hand. It didn’t really help. The water just
kept on coming.
“Jeez, Louise,” Danica muttered. She came and sat down
beside Quinn and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“I don’t know why you always say that,” Quinn snorted.
“We don’t even know anyone named Louise.”
“Easier to blame her then, I guess.” Danica squeezed
Quinn’s arm. “It’s going to be okay. He wouldn’t want us to be
sad, so I’m trying not to be. Grampy would have kicked our
butts if he was here now and he saw us moping around. We
had two years with him after he found out he was sick. He did
everything to prepare us and provide for us.”
“I know,” Quinn sniffled. “It’s just hard. I’ve reached for
my phone like fifty times to call him and then I remember that
he’s not there. He’s never going to be there again.”
Danica reached up and brushed at her eyes too. “For pity’s
sake. Now I’m starting.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I guess maybe Grampy would understand a few
tears. I guess he’d think that we were just being reasonable.
We just need time to get over the fact that he’s not here. It’s a
big adjustment. I feel like there’s a huge hole in my life now
too. But like most holes, it’ll probably start to fill up and get
smaller and smaller.”
“Yeah, probably in like twenty years.”
“Way to think positive.” Danica punched Quinn lightly in
the shoulder and stood. “Holy cactuses, I forgot to turn that
straightener off. Lucky it doesn’t get that hot anymore.” She
ran over and yanked the cord from the wall by the dresser.
“We were talking about you know who, though. You know
she’s going to call. She’s going to come for that money.”
“She won’t call. Why would she? It’s been ten years. She
probably also knows that we didn’t tell her about the funeral.”
“That was mom and dad. They thought it would be too
hard on you to have her there. On everyone. She was like part
of the family.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” Quinn groaned. “If
anyone knows what Dallas was like, it’s me. We were best
friends for years and years. And then we dated. Remember?”
Danica snorted. “Oh, I know. Believe me. I remember. All
of us remember. That’s why she’s going to call. Because
there’s no way that she doesn’t remember too. And, if I
remember correctly, she’s totally insensitive all around and
will call for sure just to chew us out for not telling her about
the funeral before it was too late, at the very least. If and when
she does call, give her my address and send her around so I
can snap her in half for the shit she did to you.”
“Stop. It’s not her fault. Sometimes people’s feelings
change. We were both really young. We weren’t even out of
high school yet.”
“That’s no excuse. And I swear that her family moved just
to get her away from you. You know what her parents were
like.”
“Yeah. That’s why you should maybe cut a small amount
of slack into the deal.”
“They never accepted that she liked girls. They couldn’t
even get beyond that simple fact. They would have died if they
had to utter the word lesbian.”
“It was bad. I don’t know how Dallas survived. I mean,
they said at first that they were okay with it, but I could sense
that they weren’t. She never really said anything to me, but it
was pretty obvious.”
“She survived because she had us. Our family. She was
like my second sister. Grampy loved her. Mom and dad loved
her. Even Billy thought she was alright.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I was there. Obviously.”
Danica pasted on a smile and swiped at her eyes one more
time. She stalked to her closet and began pulling out dresses.
Quinn hated trying to help Danica get ready for a date, or
anything else. Her older sister had a completely different style
than her own. She loved taking hours doing her hair and
makeup and picking out the right outfit. She loved clothes and
shoes in general, far more than Quinn did. Even though she
wasn’t interested in helping Danica go all hurricane style on
her closet, trying things on and discarding others, arguing over
a stupid outfit, she actually didn’t mind the distraction so
much at the moment. It beat going home and being all alone in
her own condo.
That just left her time to think about all the things she
hated thinking about.
She didn’t want to think about her grampy being gone. She
wanted to think about Dallas coming back to Topeka to get
that money that he’d left her even less. Quinn’s parents had
been irate when they found out. Quinn’s brother, Billy, made a
few incredibly salty comments about Dallas at the will
reading. There were some uncles and aunts there, other
cousins too, and they didn’t really know Dallas, so they
weren’t sure what was going on, but there were some pissed
off, sour lemon faces when they realized that someone outside
the family, who clearly wasn’t in favour or liked by anyone
there, got left a butt ton of money.
“How about this one?” Danica produced a plain black
dress which surprised Quinn. It wasn’t her sister’s style at all.
It was clear that even on the hanger it was tasteful and would
fall below the knee.
“Yeah. I like it. It’s not too fancy, but still fancy enough.
Isn’t a black dress supposed to always be perfect?”
“No. No, that’s too easy.” Danica protested, as Quinn knew
she would. She wouldn’t be satisfied until half the closet was
discarded on the floor or the bed. “We can’t pick the first one.
How will I kill the rest of the hour?”
“I can’t believe you’re actually going on this date. I can’t
believe you went online to find one.”
“How else does anyone meet anyone? And if you mean
that it’s too soon after Grampy’s funeral, that was over a week
ago and also, see point a and b about the moping thing. We
went over that already. What should I do? Sit here and think
about all the reasons I should be sad? Become even more
depressed? Eat my feelings? Run out of ice cream and get
even sadder?”
“I’m going for option c, thanks,” Quinn huffed.
She watched her sister’s expression change. Danica went
from smiling to frowning in a few seconds. It didn’t make her
look any less pretty. Danica was tall and curvy. Quinn was tall
too, but Danica had always had a couple inches on her. She
had a couple inches on her everywhere. Quinn used to be
jealous about how much attention her sister attracted, from
both men and women, before she realized how much it
bothered Danica. Danica was actually quite shy and she got
uncomfortable fast when people stared at her. Danica hardly
ever had any dates. It wasn’t just the shyness. Quinn knew that
people were often too intimidated to approach a beautiful
woman. She could actually understand why her beautiful sister
still didn’t get many dates.
“What’s option c?” Danica asked. “Ignore all the good
advice that Grampy and everyone else gave you and sulk your
way into becoming a total spinster?”
“No! I’m just going to give it some time.”
“You never go on dates, Grampy’s funeral aside. Don’t
take your self-imposed spinsterhood out on me.”
“I’m twenty-eight!” Quinn nearly leapt off the bed. She
knew how that would look, her getting all huffy and stamping
her foot. Danica would just laugh at her and tell her that she
needed to work on getting laid. That was her usual go to
comeback. She’d probably make that option D.
“Spinsters can start being spinsters whenever they want.
It’s a mindset, not an age.”
“Oh for the pity of Pete.”
“We don’t know any Pete’s either.” Danica dug in her big
walk in closet again and appeared with a red dress that was
way too flashy with full beads and feathers on the bottom.
“No!” Quinn shook her head emphatically. “Definitely not.
Unless you’re going dancing. Then maybe.”
“We’re not. I can’t believe you don’t like this!” Danica
pretended to pout, but she went back to her closet and came
back with a yellow blouse and a black skirt. “Would this be
better?”
“Yes! And that reminds me. I have to give back your
dress.”
Danica shrugged. “You can hang onto it for a while if you
want.” It was the dress that Quinn borrowed to wear to the
funeral because she didn’t own a black dress.
“The color looks terrible on me. So did the dress. It was
too tight and too short. Luckily no one said anything.”
“You wore it with black tights and a black sweater. No one
would have said anything. I thought it looked good on you.
What’s wrong with tight and short?”
“Ugh. Nothing for you, but you know that I hate that. And
I look terrible in black. You got dark hair and an olive
undertone while I got mom’s fair skin and sandy hair. Black
makes me look like I’m sick, it makes me so pale.”
“You’re making that up. I’m sure you own black pants or a
black skirt.”
“I do. Of course. For work. But I always pair that with
something bright.”
“I thought you looked good in the dress. You could keep it
if you want.”
“I don’t want.”
“Okay. Can you get it dry cleaned then?”
“Oh my god. Yes.”
Danica laughed. “I’m kidding. You don’t have to do that.
It’s one you can just wash and dry at home. But I bet that all
this time we’ve been talking about color and clothes, you
haven’t thought about you know who once.”
“We should give her a code name. Pain In The Hiney or
Buttudey Bollocks or something.”
Danica grinned, getting into it. “How about Dickhead
Dallas? I like the alliteration of that. Or there’s Damn Dallas,
Disgusting Dallas, Danger Dallas, Decayed Dallas, Deceiver
Dallas, Decrepit Dallas, Degenerate Dallas-”
“Stoooooopppppp! No! I don’t want to actually say her
name. That’s the point.”
“I can’t believe we haven’t done this before. Evil
nicknames are so much better than saying you know who.”
Danica looked way too excited. “Douche Canoe Bugaloo.”
“Oh lord.” Quinn couldn’t keep a straight face. “I think
maybe you know who is better. This is just turning foul.”
“Mom’s not around.”
“Still.” All three of the Smyth kids had been trained not to
swear around their mom. She basically thought it was the
world’s greatest evil. No one shared that opinion, but they
were careful to keep swears and other vulgar words under
wraps when they went back to the house. “I don’t want to talk
about her. She’s not going to call.”
“I bet you five bucks she’ll call.”
“She won’t call. I have a new number anyway. She won’t.”
“The landline is still the same at home.”
“She would never call there. She probably figures that I
moved out years ago and would get a chewing out from mom
or dad.”
“Probably. But maybe she’ll risk it. I think she’ll want to
talk to you. She’ll probably say that she wants to give you a
freaking sympathy card or some bull crap.”
“Hmm. No. She’s too insensitive for that. She’ll just come,
collect the money, and get the heck out of town.”
“Go back to the hole she crawled out of?”
“Stop. I’ve made my peace where you know who is
concerned a long time ago.”
“Yeah. Right.” Danica rolled her eyes. “That’s why you’re
basically a spinster now. It’s her fault.”
“I have a thousand reasons that I’m single. I’ve dated! You
can’t say I haven’t! It has nothing to do with her. I just want to
concentrate on my career right now. And I broke up with
Leanne six months ago. I didn’t want to jump into anything
else.”
“Why not? You’re missing out.”
Quinn sighed and flopped back on Danica’s bed. She had
somewhere around three hundred thousand pillows on there
and they surrounded Quinn, threatening to just about smother
her. She shoved a few aside and stared up at the ceiling.
Dallas wasn’t going to call. She had no reason to call.
They hadn’t talked in ten years. They hadn’t been friends in
ten years. They hadn’t been anything in ten years. Sometimes,
that was the end of it, and endings, contrary to what most
people wanted to believe, weren’t usually happy. And what if
she did call? Quinn promised herself that she wouldn’t care.
Sometimes, endings- even the unhappy ones- were easier than
stirring up a bunch of new, unwanted crap.
Chapter 3
Dallas
Dallas breathed in the warm, summery air. The air was
different in Topeka than it was in Tampa Bay. Dryer. Way less
humid. She didn’t actually remember there being such a
difference after she’d left. It was crazy how quickly a person
could forget, or at least, become oblivious and indifferent.
When Dallas left Topeka, she wasn’t thinking about the
