Free Turning the Page by Georgia Beers Page B

up. I first noticed her at a sorority party. She was
    loud and funny and the life of the party. People were just drawn to her. Kind of like Sam."
    Melanie nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.
    "I was just starting to realize my own sexuality. I mean, I'd had an inkling for a while, but
    college was really the first place where I actually interacted with other lesbians. Slowly, I
    started to understand just exactly why it was that I'd never quite fit in with my school
    friends, or why I was never quite comfortable with the guys I'd dated. I had no idea that
    Maggie was gay, too, not at first. She seemed to zero in on me and take me under her wing,
    like it suddenly became her responsibility to make sure I had a good time at college. We went
    to the movies together, she took me to parties, she introduced me to all kinds of popular
    people. She was terrific for me. Really brought me out of my shell."
    "Wow. Couldn't we all use somebody like that in college?" Melanie asked wistfully.
    "She was amazing. She was good-looking, with brown hair and these incredible green eyes that
    could burn right through you. She came from a pretty wealthy family, so she had lots of
    money, at least to the rest of us poor, starving college students. She was always buying me
    presents, taking me places. She treated me like royalty. The day she gave me diamond earrings
    was the day I realized that I was as in love with her as she was with me. We had been 'dating'
    for nearly six months, but I had refused to let myself just fall. I never had before and I was
    terrified, so I'd tried to prevent it from happening. I knew I was attracted to her
    sexually...she had a great body...but I was so scared to just give in to what I was thinking."
    She chuckled. "The first time I told Maggie I loved her, she let out this huge, relieved breath, flopped back in her chair and said, 'It's about fucking time. I've only been trying forever.'"
    Both women laughed as they approached the ice cream stand. They took their cones to a
    nearby bench and sat watching the seagulls swoop and dive.
    Melanie reached over and wiped a chocolate sprinkle off of Taylor's lip, ignoring the clouded
    look that passed over the brown eyes. "So, what happened?"
    Taylor swallowed hard, her skin still tingling where Melanie's fingers had grazed it. "Oh, the
    usual," she said, somewhat evasively. "We didn't have a lot in common. Our relationship wasn't nearly as smooth as our courtship. It just ended up not working."
    She was unaccustomed to speaking frankly about the drinking problem she had refused to see,
    both out of embarrassment as well as respect for Maggie. "It didn't work," she added again.
    Melanie nodded, sensing that Taylor wasn't tel ing the whole truth, but didn't feel important
    enough to push the point. Instead, she ate her strawberry ice cream and smiled at her newest
    friend. "This has been a great night."
    Taylor returned the smile, grateful that the auburn-haired woman had chosen not to press the
    issue. "It has, hasn't it?"
    "Thanks so much for the tour. Your city is beautiful."
    "Thank you, ma'am. The company made the trip worthwhile, that's for sure."
    They sat in companionable quiet, munching their cones and watching the waves, neither one
    able to remember when they had felt quite so comfortable with the silence of another.

Chapter Nine
    THE NEXT PHONE call from Samantha didn't come until Thursday evening. When Melanie
    heard the familiar voice on the answering machine, she snatched up the receiver.
    "Sam?"
    "Hi, Mel ie!"
    "Where are you?"
    "On our way to Vancouver. Can you believe it?" Her voice was positively giddy, and Melanie was immediately taken back to their childhood.
    "Vancouver? Sam, Vancouver's on the other side of the continent. What are you thinking?
    You've got no clothes, nothing with you..."
    "Melanie, we don't all have to have things planned out, you know," her cousin scolded her.
    "Don't you ever want to just...I don't know...fly by the seat of your