Frosting on the Cake Read online

  Frosting on the Cake

  by Karin Kallmaker

  2010

  Copyright © 2001 by Karin Kallmaker Bella Books, Inc. P.O. Box 10543 Tallahassee, FL 32302

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

  Originally published by Naiad Press 2001 First Bella Books edition 2010

  Editor: Christine Cassidy Cover designer: Judith Fellows

  ISBN 13: 978-1-59493-179-6

  About the Author Karin Kallmaker’s nearly thirty romances and fantasy science fiction novels include the award-winning The Kiss That Counted, Just Like That, Maybe Next Time and Sugar along with the bestselling Substitute for Love and the perennial classic Painted Moon. Short stories have appeared in anthologies from publishers like Alyson, Bold Strokes, Circlet and Haworth, as well as novellas and short stories with Bella Books. She began her writing career with the venerable Naiad Press and continues with Bella.

  She and her partner are the mothers of two and live in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is descended from Lady Godiva, a fact which she’ll share with anyone who will listen. She likes her Internet fast, her iPod loud and her chocolate real.

  All of Karin’s work can now be found at Bella Books. Details and background about her novels, and her other pen name, Laura Adams, can be found at www.kallmaker.com.

  First and Foremost For my Readers And As So Many Readers Have Noticed, For Maria, Again

  Eleven is Heaven

  Also by Karin Kallmaker Romance:

  Above Temptation Stepping Stone

  Warming Trend

  The Kiss that Counted Night Vision / The Dawning Christabel

  Finders Keepers

  Just Like That

  Sugar

  One Degree of Separation Maybe Next Time Substitute for Love Frosting on the Cake Unforgettable

  Watermark

  Making Up for Lost Time Embrace in Motion Wild Things

  Painted Moon

  Car Pool

  Paperback Romance Touchwood

  In Every Port

  Erotica:

  In Deep Waters: Cruising the Seas

  18th & Castro

  All the Wrong Places

  Tall in the Saddle: New Exploits of Western Lesbians Stake through the Heart: New Exploits of Twilight Lesbians Bell, Book and Dyke: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians

  visit www.kallmaker.com

  Table of Contents

  In Every Port

  Conversations ...................................................................... 3 Touchwood

  Satisfaction ....................................................................... 17

  Come Here ...................................................................... 33

  Paperback Romance

  Key of Sea ........................................................................ 43 Car Pool

  Mechanics ........................................................................ 63 Painted Moon

  Smudges ........................................................................... 87 Wild Things

  Wild Things Are Free ..................................................... 95 Embrace in Motion

  The Singing Heart ........................................................ 133

  Hot Flash ....................................................................... 143

  Making Up for Lost Time

  Hacksaw Pastry .............................................................. 159 Watermark

  The Tapestry................................................................... 181 Unforgettable

  Unforgettable, That’s What You Are ............................ 201

  I Will Go with You ......................................................... 235

  And Now a Word…or Two ..................................................... 247

  To the Reader— The information below each story’s title tells roughly how much time has elapsed since the end of the novel. These stories are presented in the order that the original books were published. Some of you will undoubtedly want to read them in that order. You could, however, choose your favorite book and read that story first. It’s your cake. Eat it any way you want.

  —Karin Published: Characters:

  Setting:

  In Every Port

  1989

  Jessica Brian, management consultant Cat Merrill, hotel management executive San Francisco, California, 1978

  The First is for Filling Up

  Conversations

  (23 years)

  “I can’t find the remote.” Jessica raised her arms helplessly. Cat looked at her over black half-moon glasses. “Have you looked everywhere?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why do you think I know where it is?”

  Jessica gestured at the confines of the living room. Beyond the windows was the sleepy expanse of San Francisco, mellow in the late summer glow of a Sunday morning. The remote control was not out there. “Well I don’t know where it is, so I’m hoping that between us we have one brain.”

  Cat started to set aside her Sunday Chronicle.

  “Don’t get up! I’ll keep looking.” Jessica paced the living room and the kitchen, reciting her progress. “It’s not on the TV, it’s not on the coffee table. It’s not on the counter. It’s not in the refrigerator. It’s not on the breakfast table. It’s not—”

  “Oh, all right!”

  “Don’t get up!”

  It was too late. Cat stood up. She gave Jessica a longsuffering stare before she glanced around the room.

  Jessica studied the ceiling. Why watch? It was a genetic gift.

  Cat walked over to the library table and extracted the remote from where a large philodendron leaf had sheltered it.

  “Thank you,” Jessica muttered, holding out her hand.

  “I’m the one who found it. What makes you think I’m going to give it to you? We’re watching the ‘Niner game.”

  “We’re watching the Giants game,” Jessica said firmly. Septembers were always full of conflict and compromise with baseball and football vying for their attention.

  “That’s what you think.” Cat skipped back to the sofa and pointed the remote at the TV.

  Jessica tackled her and they wrestled, sinking into the receptive couch. Wrestling led to tickling, and Jessica lost her tenuous grip on the remote. “Oh, all right. Kiss me.”

  Cat came up for air a few minutes later. “You’re just trying to make me drop the remote—oh…”

  The phone chirped, interrupting a very pleasing kiss.

  “He did it!” Herine was so excited she didn’t stop for air. “I mean we did it—it was amazing, and—get Momma Cat on the other phone, I want to tell you both!”

  Jessica’s heart was suddenly pounding. She gestured at the phone in the kitchen. “Get on the other phone.”

  Cat pulled at her sleeve in alarm. “What’s wrong? It’s Herine—is she okay?”

  Jessica could only nod. She was certain Herine was fine.

  Cat hurried into the kitchen with a frightened backward glance. Jessica felt a little faint.

  “Mom? Good you’re there—oh my God—he did it!”

  Jessica held the phone at arm’s length as twin shrieks of pure exhilaration blasted from the ear piece. She could hear thumps as Cat jumped up and down in the kitchen.

  “Details, details,” Cat chanted after she’d caught her breath.

  “It was so romantic, oh Mom, it was just
amazing.” Herine was breathless and Jessica could hear tears threatening. “Last night we went out to dinner and had a really great talk, about the kinds of things we’re hoping to do before we get too old to do them, and then we went for a walk and I realized we were in front of the store where I bumped into him that first day. He reaches into his pocket and brings out the ring box—”

  “Oh my God!” Cat began jumping up and down again.

  “—And he said that the future is easier to get to if we have someone to help us along the way, and that we made a great team and we had wonderful dreams and he couldn’t envision a life without me and then he started to cry and I was bawling and he gave me the ring…”

  Jessica was only dimly aware of the rest. She felt cold and lightheaded. Herine was getting married. Twenty-one was too young. Thirty-one was too young. Forty-one was too young. She didn’t want to lose Herine.

  She had lost already, she knew that. The moment she’d met Rob she’d wanted to dislike him because she’d known how Herine felt about him. She could hear Cat’s frenetic questioning and Herine’s answers, but the words didn’t make sense. Three months in the future…Herine was getting married…a simple ceremony…first day of Christmas break… Herine was getting married…

  “Of course I’m excited. I’m just overwhelmed,” she managed to say, when Cat and Herine demanded to know how she felt about it.

  It was a long while before they all hung up, and Cat hurried back to the living room, her face glowing with happiness and tears. She took one look at Jessica and paused. “Oh, honey, it’ll be okay.”

  After a hard swallow, Jessica managed, “I know. It’s just too soon.”

  “I know.” Cat burst into the tears Jessica was bottling up and Jessica let her cry for both of them. They cuddled and said nothing for a long while. Jessica could feel Cat’s heartbeat against her ribs. She had always liked the sensation.

  “It’s probably the third inning.”

  “She’ll look wonderful in white velvet.”

  “Holly and roses will be striking.”

  “I’m sure it’s the second quarter by now.”

  “I miss Joe Montana.”

  “He really loves her.”

  “He’s the lucky one,” Jessica said firmly. She stroked Cat’s hair. “She’s her mother’s daughter and I know how lucky it is to be loved by you.”

  “Oh,” Cat said, sounding surprised. “That’s so sweet.”

  “It’s truth.”

  “Kiss me.”

  “Oh yeah,” Jessica murmured. “We were interrupted, weren’t we?”

  “I never said I’d pick you up in front of Starbucks. That was the plan last Wednesday and the construction made me late, remember?”

  “You said Starbucks.”

  “I said in front of the hotel.”

  “Was I in the room when you said this?”

  “I don’t talk to you when you’re in another room. You just

  forgot.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my memory. You said Starbucks. That’s where I was.”

  “There’s no Starbucks in front of the hotel and so you

  weren’t where I said I’d pick you up. I circled the block for

  twenty minutes.”

  Patiently, “Because I was in front of Starbucks, where you

  said you’d be.”

  “That was last Wednesday. The construction made it

  impossible to circle the block, so I would have never said

  Starbucks today because I knew it wouldn’t work.” “You weren’t late on Wednesday, I was.”

  “Don’t you remember how hysterical I was because of the

  traffic?”

  “I don’t think you told me about it.”

  “I was chewing the steering wheel.”

  “If you’d told me about it I would have suggested someplace

  other than Starbucks when you told me to meet you in front

  of Starbucks today.”

  “But I didn’t tell you Starbucks. I said in front of the hotel.” “Did you tell me that when I was in the shower?” “Yes, of course. I always wait to tell you important

  information when you’re in the shower.”

  “I’m glad we cleared this up.” Cat laced her fingers through

  Jessica’s. “How many times have we had this conversation?” Jessica grinned helplessly and pulled away from the curb.

  “Multiply the number of years we’ve been married times fiftytwo weeks in a year. Add six leap days and the number of times

  we both got our period on the same day.”

  Cat chewed on her upper lip for a moment. “That’s like

  twelve hundred and twenty-five times.”

  “That’s scary” Jessica negotiated the turn to the Geary

  tunnel that would whisk them from Japantown to the Cliff

  House at Ocean Beach. A quick glance at Cat caught a worried

  frown. “We’ll be fine, honey, everything will be fine.” “I know. It’s just—I like Rob a lot. His dad sounds kind of

  conservative though. I don’t want us to be an issue for Herine.” Jessica was worried about that too, but it wasn’t worth

  adding to Cat’s stress level. “They can’t help but love Herine.

  As for us parents? We don’t have to like each other. Just respect

  our kids’ choices.”

  Cat took her hand and squeezed for the next few minutes.

  They were both nervous but there was no need to say so again.

  Long ago Jessica had thought that worrying about whether life

  was kind to Herine would ease, when Herine was older. She

  was now beginning to suspect that it never ended. Marriage

  wouldn’t change anything.

  “I don’t care if she does get married,” Cat said fiercely. “I’ll

  never stop being her mom.”

  Me, neither, Jessica mentally echoed. She squeezed Cat’s

  fingertips. “I never said Starbucks.”

  “You have never looked so beautiful.” Jessica kissed the tip of Cat’s nose. The heavy powder did not really hide how red the adorable nose was.

  “Oh right. My mascara’s still running.” Cat turned back to the murky bathroom mirror. “Look at the bags under my eyes. And I’ve gotten so gray.”

  “What bags?” Jessica knew when to be blind. She backed up the lie with a full measure of truth. “And I love the color of your hair.” Every year the blond was lighter and the strands of silver at the temples grew more pronounced.

  “Rob’s mother looks half my age.”

  “If you ask me, Rob’s mother has had surgical assistance.” Cat made a face at herself in the mirror. “Maybe I should

  do that.”

  “Don’t you dare. I love everything about you, just the way

  you are.”

  Cat grinned suddenly. “Thanks. I needed that. It’s not fair

  that you’re not crying, you know.”

  “You cry at Star Trek episodes, my dear, and I love you for

  it.”

  “I was not crying when Kirk lets Edith die, not the last

  time we watched it. I had a lash in my eye.”

  “I understand.”

  Cat looked suspicious of Jessica’s sympathy. “You never cry

  at the movies, either. It’s not fair.”

  Jessica heard the organist change pieces. The old

  Carpenters’ tune was their cue. “It’s time for us to go in, you

  know.” She picked up the bundle of red roses and bright green

  holly and gently repinned it to Cat’s ivory and green gown.

  Her own corsage was being more cooperative.

  “I know,” Cat said tersely. She stuffed a paper towel from

  the dispenser into her tiny pocketbook. “I’m out of tissues

  already.”

  The walk down the aisle, hand in hand, was easy, even when

  Cat burst into tear
s and had to dab with the coarse, brown

  paper towel. They found a new box of tissues waiting when

  they reached the front pew—no doubt Herine’s forethought.

  Jessica tenderly dabbed at Cat’s eyes, mopping at the mascara

  Cat should probably have just skipped.

  Rob’s parents came behind them. They seemed to adore

  Herine, which was all Jessica required of them. They’d also

  not in any way indicated they were uncomfortable with their

  son acquiring two mothers-in-law, and Jessica was content

  with that.

  The music changed to Con Te Partirb, swelling with the

  promise of shared future. Herine had watched her mothers

  dance to it on their twentieth anniversary and had said then

  that she’d use it in her wedding someday, as a reminder that

  relationships can last forever.I will go with you,Jessica hummed.

  To all the unseen worlds of the future, she added to herself.

  Cat briefly rested her head on Jessica’s shoulder as if she had

  heard Jessica’s thoughts.

  Jessica abruptly realized that Rob had stepped in from the

  side room. He stood looking fixedly toward the back of the

  church, like an explorer sure that the Promised Land lay in

  that direction. Jessica turned in the pew to look to the rear

  doors.

  Jessica knew most of the girls who stepped in rhythm

  down the aisle; she’d known some of them for most of their

  young lives. Camille, the wicked one who was Jessica’s favorite,

  glanced at Cat, then pointedly rolled her eyes at Jessica. Jessica

  wrinkled her nose back. She and Camille shared the burden of

  loving emotional women. She’d seen less of Camille and the

  rest of Herine’s friends since Herine had moved to her own

  apartment. She supposed that now she would see them even

  less. She was losing more than Herine today. She felt old. The music changed to the traditional wedding march and

  all the guests rose to face the bride.

  Jessica kept her hand at Cat’s elbow, but she no longer

  noticed Cat’s tears.

  God, dear God, when had Herine become so heartrendingly beautiful? She looked so much like her mother. It