Mrs Blackwood (lesbian romance)

CHAPTER TWO

Julie checked again when the following reservations were, determining she had an hour break until the next players arrived. She picked up a small card from under the counter where the inscription "FOR RESERVATIONS PLEASE PRESS THE BELL" was written, along with a drawn arrow pointing to the red button on the counter. She placed the card next to the electronic bell so the customers could not miss it. Vin had devised it well; the bell rang like the normal bell of the front doors, except with a different melody, so Julie was able to take a break, eat breakfast, and perhaps ask Vin what he thought of the Blackwoods. This last question was still up in the air, left for consideration; she didn't want Vin to read her mind. He always saw everything, so she wondered if he would be able to notice her current state.

Julie knew she should have breakfast, but somehow she wasn't hungry, because of the heat, were her thoughts while stepping toward the front door. She sat down at the kitchen table, trying to analyze the recent event. How could she have been drawn so strongly to a woman she had never seen before, about which she knew absolutely nothing, and with whom she had barely exchanged two sentences? She was trying to explain that to herself but did not succeed. She looked at the refrigerator, concluding she had no appetite and took only a banana from the bowl of fruit in the middle of the table. Grandma would bring her breakfast if she was hungry later, so it was no use forcing down food now. She bit the soft top of the yellow fruit, staring at the sea from the window.

"Julie, you're not a very good worker," Vin called from the corridor, and continued, "is Grandma back yet?"

She quietly responded, not even turning to look at him. "Where is Grandma anyway? I didn't even know she wasn't home."

"Ah, she went out with Flora to buy me some necessities for the trip, and I forgot to tell her that I ran out of razor blades. I'll call her now."

In the background she heard Vin talking on a phone, "... and please buy some breakfast for my valuable worker. She's eating a banana, and there's no plate on the table. Buy her..." then he walked away so that Julie couldn't hear him, but she knew he had told their grandmother to buy a little pastry with chocolate and cinnamon, her favorite treat since childhood.

Vin peeked again through the doorframe.

"Julie, thank you again. I love you a lot."

With a full mouth, she mumbled some unarticulated words which Vin assumed to a declaration of sibling love.

"And the Blackwoods, Vin?" She had decided to ask a few questions, but when the kitchen stayed in silence, Julie looked back at Vin. He was long gone, without being touched by the sound of her question.

Good thing he didn't hear me given that I don't know what to ask him, she concluded. Married women are forbidden to even think about. She cut off any future thought by throwing the banana peel into the trash.

She picked up her laptop and opened a book about young Uta to pass her time outside while waiting for clients to finish with their matches. She had felt a pain in the shoulder for some time now, but couldn't remember if she had hit it somewhere.

Julie directed clients to the courts, served juice, listened to music on the laptop, and occasionally read the book about a courageous girl in a settlement in which she was surrounded exclusively by women. Noticing a small swelling beside her collarbone, she tried to treat it with ice, while managing all her duties. Even though she tried to occupy herself with various activities, Mrs Blackwood was still standing somewhere in the back of her mind. It was almost lunchtime when her grandmother returned with a pastry more delicious than the most hidden pleasures.

"Granny's dear, you've been sitting here all morning, are you tired?" Not waiting for an answer she just continued, "Are you hungry, Julie? Here I brought you that one you like the most—" She abruptly stopped, taking the paper bag with the exquisite smell out of her canvas bag. "Juliette, for the love of god! What's with that injury? What happened?" This time, she kept silent after her questions, waiting for an answer with a worried expression.