Sapphic Voices Romance

Rachel

Conclusion

by Rachel Metz
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Copyright © by Rachel Metz, February 2011

The airport’s driveway was thick with vehicles. The idling motors filled the air with steam and exhaust that hovered over the wet asphalt. Rachel pulled into an available space and parked the car at the curb. She left the engine running and got out to pull Sara’s shoulder bag from the back seat. She went to the sidewalk and held it out to her. She hadn’t said anything for the last ten minutes of the ride.

“Thanks,” Sara said. “Hey, I’m glad I came.”

“Me too.”

Sara stared at her, slowly taking hold of the handle of the bag. Their fingers touched as she did so. To Sara, the sensation was tangible. She let the bag fall a short distance to the pavement and grabbed hold of Rachel’s arms at the elbows.

“Keep the e-mails coming, okay?” she said.

Rachel nodded.

“What are you thinking?” Sara said.

Rachel was not thinking of the stares from passers-by, as she might have been, or the fact that the outside air was cold compared to her heated car and it was biting at her bare face. She was not thinking of how she was wearing no coat, or that her engine was running and wasting gasoline. She wasn’t thinking of the drive back or what she was going to find for dinner. She was only wishing for more time.

“I don’t want you to go,” she said. Her eyes were fixed on Sara’s, and Sara did not move.

“I know. I wish you could come with me. I wish you still lived in Sacramento. This visit has been so different from what I expected, but frankly I’m not disappointed. I’m very happy.”

She smiled. And Rachel smiled at her smile. Though sadness enveloped her, she could not help it.

Then Sara stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her. The warmth of her body and her smell made Rachel close her eyes. It was not possible that Sara Rose was embracing her. It was too fictional, too much of a fantasy. She allowed her own hands to follow the curve of Sara’s waist and felt her soft jacket. She was shaking. She didn’t know if it was because she was cold or because of what was happening.

As Sara moved back, she looked into Rachel’s eyes, and then leaned and kissed her, on the mouth, in front of God and the multitudes of people scuttling along the sidewalks and driving past in the street. Rachel could not breathe. She watched Sara smile, and pick up her shoulder bag, and turn and enter the terminal. And then she was gone.

Rachel was awakened by the telephone ringing. She had fallen asleep on the couch. She could not tell if it was morning or afternoon. Pale white light came from the windows, and none of the lights in her apartment were on. She labored into a sitting position so she could pull the cordless receiver from the coffee table.

“Hello?” she said, knowing the call was coming from her sister’s house.

“Hey,” came Melanie’s voice. “We’re not going to be able to get to Salt Lake for that outlet sale today. The news just said the storm is so bad they’ve closed the northbound freeway.”

Rachel looked at her window, but the blinds were closed.

“Really?” she said, standing and lifting a section of the blind so she could see outside. The snow was falling in heavy flakes and the ground was covered. She could see her car in the driveway under a white blanket.

“I was going to make cookies,” Melanie said. “Want to come over?”

“Sure,” said Rachel, feeling stiff and slow. “I’ll be there as soon as I dig my car out of the driveway.”

She hung the phone up and went through the kitchen to the bathroom. In the doorway she paused, looking back at the small table against the wall, where two tall, clear drinking glasses stood next to each other. One had an inch of water in the bottom, as if from melted ice. The other was full of clear water and looked as if it hadn’t been touched. Condensation had formed on the outside of the glass and had formed a small puddle around the base. Rachel looked down at the tiles of the kitchen floor and smiled to herself, and then went down the hall into the bathroom.

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