Page 45 of July (New Orleans #7)

W illa nodded and said, “I got it.”

She stared into Jill’s eyes, hoping to be able to read her face before Jill said something.

“You did? Already?”

“I told you, they needed to move fast. They need me to start in two weeks to get prepared for the semester and up to speed on the curriculum.”

“Two weeks…” Jill let out. “Right. Um… I should get dressed.”

“You’re taking a bath, Jill,” she said. “Stay in the tub.”

“We can’t talk about what happens now if I’m in the bathtub, naked,” Jill replied. “We have things to figure out.”

“Stay in the tub,” she repeated as she stood. “The food is going to take an hour, at least, according to the app.”

She reached for and pulled off her shirt.

“You’re getting in?” Jill asked.

“Yes. So, sit up because I’m going to lie behind you.”

“Will, we–”

“Just hold on, okay?”

She stripped completely, and Jill moved forward, allowing her to slide in behind her.

“We’ve never done this,” Jill said as Willa wrapped her up in her arms.

“No, we haven’t. Do you like it?”

“Yes,” Jill replied with a little laugh. “What’s not to like? My sexy girlfriend is naked and holding me.”

When Jill leaned back into Willa more, Willa kissed her shoulder and said, “You’re worried about me moving?”

“Yes,” Jill admitted. “And in two weeks? If my mom is really here for good, it’s like I just got my life back, but we only have two weeks to be a real, normal couple before you move.”

“We’ve been a real couple since the moment we met,” Willa replied, moving Jill’s partially wet hair away from her neck. “At least, that’s how it felt for me.”

“Me too,” Jill replied. “From the moment I saw you in the Square on the field trip.”

“What?” Willa laughed.

“Yeah. I just couldn’t stop staring at you.

All my friends were there, and they were talking, and I wasn’t really paying attention because I couldn’t stop looking at you.

You weren’t all that close, either, but there was something that told me I needed to keep staring.

And then, some maybe psychic came up to me and told me to pay attention, too. So, there’s that.”

“What?” Willa asked again. “A maybe psychic?”

“I guess she works the Square, and my friends have seen her around. Among my friend group, at least, she seems to have a one-hundred-percent success rate.”

“At what?”

“Relationships. She told Kyle and Mel. Then, Bridgette and Monica were predicted. I guess it went on and on from there. Even Enid said the woman told her I wasn’t the one for her, and Caroline was.”

“Oh. In that case, I’ll buy this maybe psychic woman a beer.”

Jill chuckled and replied, “Not sure she’s much of a beer woman, but she’s been right so far.”

“And she told you something about me?”

“To pay attention.” Jill nodded as she ran her fingertips over Willa’s arm that was over her stomach. “To you, yeah. I didn’t take her seriously until I saw you at the school. Then, I thought it was just a coincidence, but now, I’m not so sure. I think she might have a real gift or something.”

“Maybe,” Willa said. “We’re together, so she’s still got that one-hundred-percent success rate.”

“And you promise me we’ll still be together when you move?

I know it’s not that far away, but it’s just far enough away that it’s hard to get there every day, depending on our work schedules.

As a manager, I’ll be working different hours now, and I’ll have to see how that goes for a while because Mel has pretty much always just been the manager, and now, she’s going to be the owner, and I’m the manager, so it’s an adjustment. ”

“Babe?”

“Yeah? I mean, I know you said we’d figure it out, but we’re here now, and it’s two weeks away. How are you going to find an apartment in two weeks? Are you going to commute for a while until you do?”

“I’m not moving,” Willa told her.

Jill turned sideways in Willa’s arms as water went over the side of the tub.

“Babe!”

“You just said you’re not moving,” Jill said.

“Yes, I did.”

“You’re taking this job, Willa. If you want it, of course, you’re taking it.

We’ll do the commuting thing. It’s not a long drive.

I have a weird job that doesn’t have standard hours, but I just need to work out my schedule so that I’m not doing night tours or weekends or something, and I’ll get to you.

I’ll make Baton Rouge my bitch. I’m not getting between you and this job. You want it, right?”

“Definitely.” Willa smiled at her. “It’s twenty thousand more a year to start.

That’s huge, but the benefits are better, too, and the facilities are a whole lot nicer than the ones I have now.

I’ll probably still have to buy some supplies because every teacher ever does that, but not how I do now.

I’ll be able to afford to maybe save some money and take my hot girlfriend out to nice dinners to show her off to people. ”

Jill smiled back at her and shifted again until she was facing Willa in the tub, lying back on the opposite side.

“Well, I like all of that, but you can’t commute forever. Traffic isn’t always bad, but if you leave late or early to avoid it, that’ll add up. It’ll get to be too much.”

“I’m not commuting, either.”

Jill looked at her in confusion.

“I got the job, but not at their main campus.”

“Huh?”

“They have a new campus that’s opening up.

It’s a satellite school. It’s brand new this year.

I didn’t get the job at their main campus because they hired someone with more experience, but they were impressed enough with me to decide to hire me on there instead.

They didn’t post those roles as available, so I didn’t even know there was an opening.

They were interviewing for their main campus, but if they found someone they liked who might be a better fit for the new one, they were offering that instead.

They said that I could always work there for a while, and if it goes well and I want to transfer to the Baton Rouge school one day, I’d be able to. ”

“Where is this new school?” Jill asked.

“Metairie,” she said with a smile. “About fifteen minutes from where we are right now.”

Jill smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Really? This is what you want?”

Willa nodded and said, “Big raise, better facilities for the kids, and more time with you? Yes, definitely.”

“Suddenly, I feel very much like celebrating,” Jill said, her smile widening.

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Jill said, moving forward and spreading Willa’s legs.

“Babe! The water.” Willa laughed.

“I don’t care,” Jill replied as she leaned down and kissed Willa. “You’re staying.”

“Yes.”

“And I’m back at home.”

“Yes.”

“And we’ve never had sex in my bed before.”

“No, we haven’t,” Willa said. “Jill?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think your mom would consider letting Juni change schools?”

“What?” Jill sat back on her heels. “We were just talking about sex.”

“Yes. And we’ll get back to that. But do you think your mom would let Juni change schools?”

“I have no idea. But that school is private, right? My mom couldn’t afford that.”

“There are scholarships,” Willa replied. “And… well, I know she’s not technically my family, but I think I could get her in either for free or on a scholarship.”

Jill stood up and got out of the tub then.

“Shit. Did I say something wrong? Overstep?”

“No, you didn’t,” Jill replied and reached for a towel.

“You got out of the tub, Jill,” Willa noted and stood.

Realizing that there was no second towel, though, she wrapped her arms around her body.

Jill opened the closet door and pulled out an extra towel for her after wrapping her own around her body. She held it out for Willa and wrapped her up in it.

“Please talk to me,” Willa said.

Jill held her from behind and said, “I don’t know that I can explain it.

I know it wasn’t all that long, but I got used to making decisions for her, you know?

I was already thinking about how to deal with the new school year starting up along with my promotion.

I was thinking about lunches and dinners for next week.

I know I’m not ready to be a parent, and I’m glad I’m not, but I haven’t spent that much time with my sister since she was a baby.

As annoying as it was because I was totally unprepared and caught off guard by it, it was also fun at times, and I liked spending time with her. She’s a good kid.”

“She is,” Willa said and turned into Jill’s arms. “And you are an amazing older sister.”

“I haven’t been.”

Willa kissed her on the forehead and replied, “You are now, though.”

“You could get her in? The school thing, I mean.”

“I asked about the scholarship program as part of my interview and did some research on my own, too. Juni is a really smart kid. She’s only in summer school because she lost her father, and her grades suffered as a result.

The curriculum there would be harder, but I think she’d do great there, and it would be a better environment for her, too. ”

“I don’t know. She’d have to change schools.”

“It’s just something to think about,” Willa replied and cupped Jill’s cheek. “Babe, if you and I ever… have kids of our own – like, in a million years – they’d get to go there for free.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jill smiled and kissed the inside of Willa’s palm.

Willa nodded and said, “If we got married, Juni would be my sister-in-law, and while not our kid exactly, she could go for a substantial discount because she’d be family.”

“This better not be a proposal,” Jill told her with a smile. “We’ve been together for weeks.”

Willa laughed and said, “Not a proposal. You’ll know if I’m proposing to you. I’m only saying that the school has some benefits that both Juni and I can take advantage of.”

“I still don’t know if my mom would want that. Metairie is in the opposite direction of her work. She probably won’t want to make that drive every day.”

“Well, maybe we can help with that.”

“How?”

“The house will be on my way into work. I can take Juni. And at the end of some days, I could bring her here, and we could have dinner together so you can see your sister more. Maybe other days, you could pick her up if I have to stay late or something, or your mom could get her, but it wouldn’t be five days a week.

It wouldn’t work for every day because I’ll need to go in early at times or stay late, but it could help. ”

“I love the idea. But, Will, you and I just started dating. I hope this lasts, but if you ever get tired of me or something and we break up, Juni would be going to that school, and you wouldn’t be picking her up anymore.”

“First of all, the psychic said you should pay attention, so I think this is going to last,” Willa teased. “And we’d figure that out. I can be an adult and still pick Juni up if you get tired of me or something.”

“I can’t see myself ever getting tired of you.” Jill pulled her in for a hug. “You’re the only person I’ve ever felt this way about.”

Willa hugged her back and replied, “Me too, babe. Me too.”

“I love you for thinking about Juni when you get a new job.”

Willa heard those three words but decided that Jill didn’t mean them in the way that she loved her yet.

She just loved that Willa was thinking about her sister.

Still, Willa couldn’t help but smile against Jill’s neck because she knew those three words would come eventually, and maybe not all that far into the future, the way things were going between them.

“She might be my sister-in-law one day, remember?” she teased.

“God, that’s weird. She’s ten.”

“Well, if we get married, it probably wouldn’t be for a couple of years, right? She’d be twelve then. Would that be better?”

“Twelve tops,” Jill said as she pulled out of the hug.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I don’t want her to be any older than that.” Jill yanked at Willa’s towel, letting it fall to the floor. “So, now you know my timetable on the whole proposal and marriage thing.”

“Oh, I see,” Willa replied, yanking at Jill’s towel as well until it joined hers on the floor, and backed Jill up against the counter. “So, you want to be married by twenty-eight?”

Jill nodded and replied, “If it’s to you, yes.

I want to be married for at least a few years before kids enter the picture, if we decide to have them, and I’m not getting any younger.

You’re already older than me, so yeah, twenty-eight sounds about right.

Then, thirty or thirty-one, at least, before the kids thing.

I plan to travel places with you, and it would be hard to have sex on every surface of the hotel room if there were babies around. ”

“Every surface?” Willa asked as she reached between Jill’s legs, indicating that she would like her to spread them.

“Every surface,” Jill confirmed.

“Even bathroom sinks?”

“Especially bathroom sinks,” Jill replied.

“Then, sit down,” Willa ordered.

Jill pushed herself up onto the counter, legs spread for her, and Willa knelt in front of her and looked at Jill’s sex, sliding her tongue across her lips because she was about to taste her.

“I like it when you’re bossy. It’s such a turn-on,” Jill said.

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Jill let out as she ran her hands through Willa’s hair. “Big time.”

“Then, slide your finger up and down over your clit for me.”

“Babe, I’m sitting on the sink. I thought you were going to–”

“Touch yourself while I watch,” Willa interrupted. “It’s a big-time turn-on for me .”

“Well, I do love turning you on,” Jill said. But right as her fingers were about to touch her clit, the doorbell rang. “What the fuck?” she asked.

“The food,” Willa replied, standing up.

“You said an hour.”

“I might have lied because I was just going to talk to you in the tub and give you my job news.”

“Well, damn,” Jill said. “Now, I’m all–”

Jill couldn’t finish that sentence, though, because Willa quickly knelt back, moved her mouth to Jill’s center, and engulfed her clit, sucking it.

“Fuck,” Jill said as she placed her hand on the back of Willa’s head. “What about the food?”

“They’ll leave it,” she stated. “Or they won’t.”

She licked Jill’s clit hard.

“Yes, that’s–”

“Now, touch yourself,” Willa ordered.

Jill opened her eyes and looked down at her in disbelief.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” she asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Willa stood up again, walked the few feet to the opposite wall, and leaned back against it, spreading her legs a little.

“Do it,” she said softly.

Jill stared at her for a second and began stroking her clit. Willa licked her lips and moved her hand to her sex, stroking her own clit while she watched Jill touch herself.

“Oh, God,” Jill let out and stroked harder. “I’ll come if you keep doing that.”

“Good, baby. Come for me.”