Scissor Link by Georgette Kaplan (novels to improve english .txt) 📗

her face touch the hand as it came in, feel the air give way, feel every softened molecule of Janet’s palm as it touched itself to Wendy’s face. Janet’s thumb swiped out, rolling with careful slowness over Wendy’s lip, and the tip of Janet’s forefinger tickled at the fringe of Wendy’s hair. Her face was burning. Janet’s hand was cool, and soft as velvet. Wendy wondered how long she should stand there, letting Janet touch her face like a very sensual blind person, and then locked her legs in place, determined to stand there as long as she could.

“Wendy,” Janet said quietly. “Does this strike you as an appropriate gesture for an office environment?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Fine by me.”

“It’s not,” Janet corrected ruthlessly. “While pleasant, perhaps even pleasurable—” (Wendy resisted the urge to squeak) “—within the workplace, it also distorts the boundaries of a supervisor-slash-subordinate relationship.”

Wendy tried to nod while not dislodging Janet’s hand. “I understand.”

A bead of sweat rolled down Wendy’s forehead, between Janet’s fingers. Janet moved one digit, spearing it on the end of a short fingernail, and watching curiously as the dollop of saltwater spread out to bridge Wendy’s skin to her enamel. Brusquely satisfied, Janet took her hand away. “I think you had best get back to work.”

“Yeah. Absolutely. Yes.” Wendy ran a hand through her hair. Walked backwards. “But, you know, if you ever want more chicken soup, I make a lot, so…I have lots of leftovers…or fresh soup, I could make you fresh soup, I have a lot of ingredients…wouldn’t want them to expire. Not that they’re going to expire anytime soon…” Wendy collided with the door to Janet’s office.

Through the window, Elizabeth looked at her.

Wendy gave her a quick, panicked look, then was back to Janet. Janet had sat back down.

“I buy very long-lasting ingredients,” Wendy said, and rushed out of the room.

“How do you accidentally hit on your boss?” Tina asked.

“Very badly,” Wendy replied, looking around the small outdoor café where she’d met her friend after work. The place was still largely undiscovered, if not uncharted, but the soup of the day was chicken noodle and that gave her flashbacks to wanting to spend the last week with her head in her hands. “I was just trying to do something nice for her while she was sick, but then she wasn’t sick, and it just got taken the wrong way.”

“Well, that’s what you get for being a kiss-ass.” Tina studied her menu. “You know, anyone allergic to kale would not have a good time here.”

“I was not being a kiss-ass,” Wendy insisted. “It’s not that she’s my boss, it’s that she’s kinda cool and withholding, but then also a little nice and gentle from time to time? And her hair is really nice and she wears glasses.”

“Ah yes, nothing sexier than not being able to watch movies in 3D.”

“I’ve had dreams about her nibbling on the earpiece. Every time she takes them off to clean them I have a little moment when I think she’s going to do the thing and—” Wendy paused. “It’s a good moment.”

“I’ve always wondered what lesbians fantasize about. I thought it was adopting cats.”

“Ha ha,” Wendy said sardonically. “I already have a cat.” She picked up her menu. Then set it back down. “So Janet has a puppy and it keeps running around Godzilla, trying to get him to play, and Godzilla is just like so annoyed, but in that cat way that cats do where it’s sorta cute, and eventually they start falling asleep on each other, and also they can talk…”

“I’m starting to see why the seduction didn’t go as planned.”

“I didn’t plan it!” Wendy protested. “I was just trying to do something nice for a friend. Acquaintance.”

“You’ve never brought me artisanal chicken soup when I was sick. Do I need to get a dog?”

Wendy fell back in her seat. “I’m going to die alone. I can’t crush on someone who lives across the hall, I can’t even crush on a celebrity, I have to crush on the most unobtainable person on the planet.”

“Oh, c’mon, I’m pretty sure Jennifer Lawrence is more unobtainable.”

“No, no, I haven’t met J-Law. If I met her, she might be into me. I’ve met Janet and she isn’t into me. Or a goodly portion of the emotional spectrum. So why am I having dreams about her?”

“What dreams?” Tina asked. “I still need to know what lesbian wet dreams are like.”

“I’m not telling you that.”

“I’ve gotta know.”

“I’ll send you an e-mail.”

“Subject: my big gay sex dream about my lesbian crush on my boss.”

“Any crush I have is a lesbian crush, so now you’re just being redundant.”

“I mean, haven’t you ever wondered what straight women fantasize about?”

“I saw Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey. I know way too much about what straight women fantasize about.”

“Also sometimes Kylo Ren.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah, I know. Hey, look at it this way, even if you’re not getting laid, you’re still working at your dream job with a hot boss. I can’t even work in the aerospace industry, because I’m from fucking Vietnam and I can’t get a security clearance. Engineering degree, graduated with honors, and now I build model planes. You know who else builds model planes? Children. Children with pieces of paper.”

“It’s bullshit, yeah. But think of it this way. Can you put a G.I. Joe in the cockpit of one of the planes you design?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t do it. Might have a spy camera in it. So there you go.”

Elizabeth came over right on time, buzzing to be let in just as Janet was taking out the steak she’d cooked. As soon as her oven mitts were off, she rushed to buzz Elizabeth up before Elizabeth could try her cell phone.

“I come bearing gifts,” Elizabeth said, referring to the 2005 Bricco dell’Uccellone with a ribbon tied about it. She held it out to Janet, then snatched it back. “Wait, is this good for a cold?”

Janet gave her a dead-eyed look. “You’re