Joan Eunice flipped the switch, made certain that the screen was dead, started undressing.
“Joan. Stop that.”
She went on removing her saucy, scanty clothing, heeled off her sandals, then stood facing him. “Jake, I refuse to be treated like a porcelain doll. You hid me expecting to be treated as a woman.”
He sighed. “I know. But the golden moment passed.”
“Well. . . I’m not going to dress. You’ve seen this body many times, we both know—and I want us both to get easy about it. Actually I’m shy, Jake; I’m only weeks old, as a woman, and not used to it. But I want to get used to it. With you.”
“Well— As you wish, dear; you know how beautiful I think you are. What shall we do? Read aloud to each other till my car arrives? Watch video?”
“Beast. If you were a gentleman you would at least take your clothes off. Instead you are a difficult, stubborn beast and I don’t know why I love you. Except that Eunice loved you—loves you, wherever she is—so I have to love you. Jake, if you won’t take me to bed, at least sit down in that big chair and let me crawl up into your lap. We can talk. We’ll talk about Eunice.”
He sighed. “Girl, you’ll give me a heart attack yet. All right, come curl up in my lap. On one condition.”
“Jake, I’m not sure I’ll agree to any conditions. I’m in a very unstable state.”
“You certainly are, dear. But it’s my lap. No ticky, no washee.”
“I should go back to the courthouse; I don’t think Mac and Alec would insist on conditions. .Might as well relax, Jake; I’m climbing into your lap with no more yatter. There! That’s better. Arms around me, please.”
“First the condition. That you not try to rape me in a chair—”
“Don’t think I could.”
“You’d be surprised what can be done in a chair, Joan.”
“Would not, I’ve done ‘em all. As Johann. But they require cooperation.”
“Mmm, so they do—and that, as soon as my car arrives, you dress at once and no nonsense, and we go home.”
“All right—since you made that ‘we.’ I was afraid you were feeling ornery enough to send me home alone. In which case I was going to have Rockford and Charlie take me straight back to Alec and Mac. Aren’t they delightful wolves, Jake? Hold me tight. The only way you can protect me from them is you-know-what.”
“Hmm. Joan, can you keep a chuckle to yourself?”
“Well…I promise never to tell anyone but Eunice.”
“Eh? Okay, I don’t think you would break a promise made that way. But, let me add that if you did tell, it would hurt Alec and Mac both—and Eunice would not like that.”
“No, Eunice certainly would not like that. Jake, you’re going to be able to hogtie me with that phrase the rest of my life.” (Don’t fret, Boss honey. Any time Jake is wrong, I’ll give you the ammo to change his tune.) “All right, I’ll tell no one but Eunice—and the old Man with the long white beard next time I see Him.”
“Safe enough. Okay, here’s the chuckle. Your two charming wolves—and they are charming—are as gay as Julius Caesar.”
“What? Jake, I have trouble believing that.”
“I won’t offer proof but I assure you that I know it beyond any reasonable doubt.”
“But— Look, dear, I’ve kissed them. I may be an ersatz female . . . but not where it matters, and I know those kisses weren’t phony. They were hot over me. Shucks, darling, I could tell it by Braille. Besides, they are married.”
“I said, ‘As gay as Julius Caesar,’ dear—not Governor Arkham.”
“Oh. Ambi gay, you mean. I still have trouble believing it. Doesn’t it show at all? Even in a kiss?” (I spotted it, Joan, the potential at least. But they’re still wolves . . . and we may be back there someday. To thank them.) (Eunice, is that the only way a female can thank a man?) (That’s the only convincing way, twin. This is news?) (No, beloved—but it was possible that your generation had learned something mine had not. They haven’t. Not in anything you’ve told me. Just more open about it.)