A Bakery, Ruminations & Fucking... Ch. 02

The day turned to sunset as we lay spent on the bed, wrapped around each other. Drenched in the sweat and the scents of our sex.

Jillian closed in and whispered in my ear, and I laughed, drawing her and Carla into my arms and tightly hugged these two extraordinary women to me.

"What is it?" Jillian and I giggled at each other as Carla asked.

"We're both a bit hungry, Carla. Would you care for Belgian Double Chocolate Waffles? I make them with berries, you know?"

Fifteenth part: "Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies..."

(In which Erin answers quite slowly, "A girl with kaleidoscope eyes...")

"You're an idiot, Erin! Shrooms?" Carla was incensed. "You're still on watch for TBI and you're fucking around with hallucinogens! Are you insane?"

"My body, my risk to take." Erin reached for the French Press and poured another cup of coffee. "Besides, I'm tossing back wine and coffee and nobody questions how alcohol and caffeine affect TBI." She challenged Carla, fixing her with a glare, daring her to bite.

Carla sighed and shook her head. "Are you high now? Were you tripping on psilocybin while we made love?"

Erin grinned and sipped her coffee, cut off a corner of dark chocolate waffle, dipped it in the warm berries syrup and teased it towards her lips. She arched an eyebrow before fixing Carla with a smirk and tongued the steaming morsel into her mouth. "Nope, only did psilocybin once while watching Jillian do herself the other night."

Jillian gasped and covered her blushing face with her hands. "Damnit, Erin, you creepy bitch." She giggled as Erin moved in and tickled her tummy. "I can't believe you watched me jilling my ass and cunnie. Jesus, that's so fucked up..." She looked up. "Actually, it is kinda hot. I never thought about you getting off watching me..."

I grinned and petted her cheeks, leaned over and kissed her sweet pouty lips. "You have no idea how hot and bothered you make me, do you?" Jillian flushed a deeper shade and I enjoyed the delicious evil of making her squirm.

"I didn't do a boatload, Carla, just a few. Just enough to take the edge off my anxiety."

"Yeah. Well you could have taken Xanax or Klonopin. Shit, you've got scrip for both of them. You don't need to fuck around with hallucinogens on top of a concussion."

"Come on, you know my drug tolerances are off the charts. Look how much morphine y'all pumped into me in the ICU and it barely numbed the pain."

"Okay, I concede that point. You've got the constitution of a fucking T-Rex. Still doesn't give you the right to risk your life."

"Like doing a swan dive off the roof with that "shit-for-brains" wasn't risking my life?"

"Damnit, that's not the point and you know it, Erin. Stop playing mind games with me. I'm worried about you."

"I appreciate that, Carla. Really, I do. Just cut me some slack, okay?" I reached for her hand and stroked her fingers. "You helped me get through this. Please, try to understand how grateful I am."

Carla shook her head, and we all fell into eating. Erin made two kinds of waffles, hot and rich chocolate waffles peppered with white chocolate chips and bits of caramel, and thick toasty cinnamon glazed waffles with sweet raisins and sticky sugar. The mix of rich chocolate and spicy cinnamon was truly decadent.

The sauce, a mix of blackberries and raspberries was delicious as well as colorful and we were quickly lost in the sensual meal that teased and sated us. Bowls of hot chocolate sauce and freshly whipped cream were a wonderful addition but the waffles didn't need help to be amazing. The coffee was a piping hot strong dark roast whose bitter sweetness gave a perfect accompaniment to the intense chocolate and cinnamon waffles.

Carla grinned. "So, what bothered you the most? What was the real obstacle?" She wiped some chocolate and cinnamon drizzling from her lips, licked it into her mouth and smiled. "Oh, damn, this is so tasty."

I shook my head. "Honestly, I don't know. It was the thoughts that were my biggest obstacle I think. Once I was able to block the thoughts and preconceptions and just allowed myself to go with it...it stopped mattering what the tastes might be or what the smells might be. Actually, if you take the time to bathe and prepare yourself, the tastes are fresh and musky and smell natural and earthy. Rich, like fresh sweet compost, kinda like coffee grounds. Delicious, actually." I shook my head, at a loss for words to explain the turnabout in myself.

I looked at them both and smiled. "You know this was incredibly special, but we can't do this again."

Carla looked at Jillian and smiled, then stroked my cheek. "This was amazing and I'm grateful to have been part of it." She shook her head a bit wistfully. "But it stays a fond memory now. It is just for us."

Jillian smiled and kissed her gently. "Not even one more play date, Nurse Carla?" Sighing, she looked at me and stroked the hair from my eyes. "I don't know what to think, what to say to you, Erin. But I don't regret what we did."

I smiled. "Maybe it's better to say nothing right now. Maybe we should just savor this for as long as we each need to. We can struggle with processing it all later. Right now, I think it's best to just...let it be."

"Dealing with cancer is toxic enough. I won't let this special moment be sullied or polluted."

I looked at Jillian and sensed she was wrestling with her own inner turmoil, but I couldn't help feeling that something else was gnawing just below the surface of her awareness. Something weird, almost sinister, and I shivered, wondering what I'd unwittingly summoned into our lives.