It’s nice to be home, Judy thought, as she pulled into the driveway of their charming one-story beach bungalow-style house. She put the car in park, turned off the engine, and started to get out, but then paused. It had been a long day at the senior home, and she had promised Michelle she would cook tonight, since Michelle cooks all the time. Normally Judy loved cooking, and found it to be a nice way to unwind after work, but, truth be told, right now she was tired, and she would really be happier ordering in. But, true to her nature, she wanted to take care of everyone, so she remanded herself to just do it. She sat in the car for a moment and then looked down at her purse. Just one hit, she thought. She reached into her purse, pulled out a joint and sparked it, then drew in a deep pull and exhaled. Much better. She got out of the car, walked up to the door and went into her purse for her keys.
“Shit, where are they?” she said to herself, then looked back at her car. “Seriously?” she said, then walked back to the car and looked in. There they were, inside the ignition. Right where she had left them.
“Dammit”, Judy swore, and started up towards the house, when the front door opened and out came Michelle.
“Hey babe”, Michelle said and flashed her gorgeous smile. “You alright? I heard you swearing.”
Judy stared at her for a moment and then smiled slightly. Just being around Michelle had a way of making her relax. “Hey hon. I’m fine. My dumb ass just locked my keys in my car, that’s all.”
“Alright, no stress – I’ll get the spare set”, Michelle said. She smiled, went back inside, and came out a moment later.
“Thank you”, Judy said as Michelle handed her the keys. She took the keys, but kept a hold of Michelle’s hand, and then leaned in for a kiss. They stayed like that, lips locked for a moment, and then Judy pulled back and sighed.
“Babe – it’s okay. You’re home”, Michelle said. “It’s not like you locked your keys in your car like – being out somewhere.”
“I know, but still…” Judy said. She gazed at Michelle and said, “I feel like…you’re always saving me.”
Michelle laughed lightly. “Well, you saved me, too. From a lifetime of singledom, with a crazy ex and a tough mom.”
“So I guess we saved each other”, Judy said with a slight smile.
“Indeed”, Michelle said back, then smiled and brushed her lips against Judy’s. She lingered on the kiss for a moment and then smiled slightly, “You smell like weed. We should stay out here for a minute so you don’t track the smell into the house.”
“Ugh”, Judy said, smiling slightly back, their faces close. “Sorry. It was a long day. I needed a smoke. And I still have to cook dinner.”
“You don’t have to cook, babe”, Michelle said.
“But I told you I would. I mean, you cook all the time. I don’t want you to have to cook on your day off.”
“Oh, I’m not cooking”, Michelle said with a slight smile. “I just said you don’t have to cook.”
“Well, if I’m not cooking, and you’re not cooking, are we ordering in, or-” Judy stopped mid-sentence when a loud metal clanging sound emanated from the house.
“That’s who’s cooking”, Michelle said, her smile widening.
“Really?” Judy said, and giggled.
“Yeah. They wanted to cook dinner for us tonight. But we may want to get in there, or we may indeed be ordering in. And calling the fire department”, Michelle said. She smiled at Judy and planted a kiss on her lips, then rubbed her fragrant hair in Judy’s face. “Here – that will help cover the weed smell”, she said. She took the keys from Judy’s hand, unlocked the car, got Judy’s keys from the ignition, then took Judy by the hand and led her inside. They walked in the door, and Judy dumped her purse onto the counter in the foyer, then followed Michelle into the kitchen.
“Hi guys!” Judy said with a big smile.
“Hey Mom, welcome home”, Miguel, their 8-year-old adopted son, said to Judy and smiled.
“Thank you handsome. What do we have going on here?” Judy exclaimed wide-eyed as she looked around. It looked like a small bomb had gone off in the kitchen.
“I’m making polenta with roast pork, Mama’s recipe”, Miguel said, stirring the pot, which was starting to boil over. The lid was on the floor.
“Think that might have been what caused the loud clanging noise we heard outside”, Michelle said to Judy, pointing to the lid, then turned to their son. “Scorched is not my recipe, honey. Turn the heat down. You’re gonna burn it.”
“I got it, Mama”, Miguel said, continuing to stir, and Michelle put up her hands.
“I’m sure it will be fine, hon”, Judy said to Michelle. “As long as there’s butter, right? I mean, that’s the secret.”
Michelle laughed. “Yes, true. Butter. Culinary school summed up right there”, she said, nodding her head. “Butter can fix anything.”
Judy giggled at Michelle and then looked over at their 6-year-old adopted daughter, Jennie. “And what do we have going on here, Munchkin?” she asked, smiling wide.
“It’s a frittata, Mom”, Jennie said proudly. “Like you make.”
“Oh”, Judy said, her smile cooling a bit. It looked more like a disaster in a pan, but she resumed her wide smile and said, “Looks wonderful. Do you want some help?”
“No, I got it”, Jennie said, putting the pan in the oven.
Judy put her hands up. “Independent children”, she said to Michelle. “Guess we done good.”
“Yeah”, Michelle said, then looked at the frittata. “Looks pretty mean”, she mouthed to Judy with a smile.
“Borderline cruel”, Judy mouthed back.
“Abusive, even”, Michelle mouthed, but said it slightly louder.
“How is a frittata abusive, Mama?” Jennie asked, looking over, confused.
“Its…nevermind, honey. It’s…a cooking term”, Judy said. Michelle laughed, and Judy looked at her. “Can butter fix this?” she mouthed and pointed to the frittata, and Michelle laughed again.
********
“This is really good”, Judy said, taking a bite of the frittata. Despite its appearance, it had actually turned out decent. Ditto the polenta. For an eight year old and a six year old, they had done an exceptional job.
”Excellent job, both of you”, Michelle said, beaming at the kids. “Polenta and frittata are both delicious.”
Jennie smiled and Miguel said, “Thanks.” He looked at his parents proudly and then looked at Michelle., “When can I come work in your restaurant?”
Judy laughed and Michelle said, “Well, I think you’re a few years off, honey. You need to finish school, and then you need to go to culinary school, and then you can come work for me.”
“Or you can just use butter”, Judy said.
“Touché”, Michelle said, and Judy giggled. She looked at their kids for a moment and smiled, then took a sip of her wine. “How’s Nana?” she asked Judy, referring to Flo.
“She missed my art class this morning, she had physical therapy, so I checked in with her after”, Judy said. “She seems fine. We talked about art for a bit. It was nice”, she said and smiled.
“Good”, Michelle said, and smiled back. “I’m glad you guys get along.”
Judy gazed at Michelle and smiled. “Me too.”
“I want to be an artist, like Mom”, Jennie said.
“Well, like Miguel – you’ll have to finish school, and then go to art school”, Judy said.
“Can’t you just teach me?” Jennie asked.
“Well, I could…” Judy said, “But you really should go to school. You’ll learn a lot there, more than I can teach you.”
Jennie smiled and nodded her head and then said, “When can we have Nana over? I want to paint something for her.”
“And I want to cook for her. Maybe this weekend?” Miguel asked.
Judy smiled at the kids and then looked at Michelle. “Mama?”
Michelle smiled and looked at Judy and then the kids, and then back at Judy. “We can do lunch on Saturday if you guys can go get her”, Michelle said. “I’ve got to get to the farmer’s market in the morning, but I’ll be home around noon.”
“Yay!” Jennie said, and Miguel smiled and nodded his head.
“Alright – we’ll go get Nana on Saturday and bring her here for lunch”, Judy said. She smiled and looked at Miguel and Jennie. “Better start thinking about the menu and the decor”, she said and smiled, then looked at Michelle.
“Thank you”, Michelle mouthed.
“Of course”, Judy mouthed back.
********
“Alright munchkin, time for bed”, Judy said to Jennie as they entered Jennie’s bedroom. Jennie climbed into bed, and Judy tucked her in. Michelle walked in a moment later. “Goodnight, munchkin. I love you”, Judy said, and then kissed Jennie on her forehead.
“Goodnight Mom, I love you too”, Jennie said.
“Goodnight, honey. I love you”, Michelle said, and kissed Jennie on the forehead.
“Goodnight Mama”, Jennie said. “I love you too.” Judy and Michelle gazed at Jennie for a moment, then shut off the light, closed the door, and headed for Miguel’s bedroom. Miguel was playing on his iPad.
“Alright, handsome, time for bed”, Judy said.
“C’mon, Mom, five more minutes”, Miguel started to whine, but then stopped whining when he saw Michelle.
“Are we having a bedtime issue?” Michelle asked with a light smile.
“Nope. No issue”, Judy said with a smile. She turned to Miguel and raised her eyebrows, and Miguel set down his iPad and got into bed.
“Good”, Michelle said. She smiled at Miguel and then looked at Judy. The good cop / bad cop routine was something that they employed at bedtime. It’s funny, Judy mused - cops in general are still a bit of a touchy subject, but the routine helped get the kids to bed.
“I don’t understand why I can’t stay up later”, Miguel whined. “Jennie’s two years younger than me, and she gets to stay up as late as me.”
“Well, when you become a chef like Mama, you’ll be working late hours, so you’ll get to stay up late then”, Judy said. “For now, you need to get some sleep.”
“One day, you’ll be working a double shift, you’ll be bone tired, and you’ll be wishing you could go to sleep early”, Michelle said.
“Alright”, Miguel sighed and rolled his eyes. He was a good kid, but he was at that age where he was starting to test his parents.
“Goodnight, honey”, Michelle said. She bent down to kiss Miguel’s forehead but he put his hand up.
“I’m getting too old for kisses, Mama”, Miguel said.
“You’re never too old for kisses”, Judy said. “I would have done anything to have my mother kiss me goodnight every night when I was your age.” She stared at Miguel, who then nodded, and Michelle smiled and leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “Thank you”, Judy said, then leaned down and kissed Miguel on the forehead as well. “Goodnight handsome, we love you.”
“Goodnight Mom and Mama, I love you too”, Miguel said. Judy and Michelle gazed at him for a moment, and then Judy shut off the light, and they walked out into the hallway.
“Too old for kisses”, Judy said in mock dismay as she closed Miguel's door.
“Well, he might be, but I’m not”, Michelle said, smiling, and leaned in for a kiss.
Judy giggled, then said. “I still got some of that joint left…”
********
“Finally”, Michelle said. She and Judy were sitting outside in their backyard. It was a clear summer night. Well, as clear as the sky can get in southern California. She took the joint and inhaled deep. “Mmmmm”, she said and exhaled, looking up at the stars.
“Puff puff pass, Chef”, Judy said and giggled. Michelle gazed at Judy and then leaned in for a kiss. Judy pressed her lips to Michelle’s, and the two of them lingered like that for a moment, then Judy took the joint and inhaled, then looked up. “Do you ever think about where you are, look back, and marvel at how you ended up where you did?”
Michelle chuckled softly. “All the time”, she said.
Judy chuckled softly too, and then said, “I can’t believe that things worked out. Like, after all of the crazy shit, things actually worked out.”
“Yeah, I hear that”, Michelle said. “And like, sometimes, things that start off bad…well, they lead to something good.” She gazed at Judy in the moonlight. “Like my mom breaking her hip, and me taking her to a nursing home”, she said with a small smile.
“Yeah”, Judy said. I mean, I’m not glad your mom broke her hip, but I am glad that-”
“I get it, babe”, Michelle said, and smiled slightly.
Judy gazed at Michelle for a moment and then smiled back. “We have a family. And I’m with someone whose mother actually likes me”, she breathed out, almost to herself as much as Michelle, and almost as if she still didn’t believe it was true.
“You’re also with someone who really likes you”, Michelle said. “Like, really, really, really. Well, looooves you, actually”, Michelle said, smiling. Judy smiled, and Michelle leaned in and kissed her. She gazed at Judy for a moment and then looked down. “I love how you still wear this, after all these years”, she said, fingering the moonstone on Judy’s necklace.
“Of course I do”, Judy said. She gazed at Michelle and then pressed a kiss against her lips. They stayed like that for a moment and then Judy pulled back.
“You okay, babe?” Michelle asked.
“Yeah, yeah – everything’s…amazing”, Judy said. “Sometimes I just don’t believe it’s actually all real. Like, even though it’s been years since all the craziness…I guess I still sometimes feel like I’m just waiting for the next axe to fall, or whatever…” she trailed off.
Michelle gazed at Judy for a moment. “Well, it’s like the Titanic, I guess. I mean, sink or swim…you know…we just need to make the most of life, while we’re here, and not worry about the shit that might happen, you know?”
Judy gazed at Michelle for a moment and then smiled. “You always know what to say to make me feel good, hon.”
Michelle smiled back and shrugged. “That’s my specialty – making you happy. You know that.”
“I do”, Judy said, then leaned in for a kiss. They stayed like that for a moment, and then Judy pulled back and yawned.
“Tired, babe?” Michelle asked.
“Yeah, it’s been a long day, and I’ve got an early start tomorrow.”
“Alright, we can head in”, Michelle said, and was about to get up when they heard a car drive by, its stereo blaring.
Look at the way…we gotta hide what we’re doin’. Cause what would they say…
“Ohhh”, Michelle said and chuckled. “Remember that one?”
Judy giggled. “How can I forget”, she said. She gazed at Michelle, who was already gazing at her, and then put her hand to Michelle’s cheek and planted a deep kiss on Michelle’s lips.
“I love you”, Michelle said.
“I love you”, Judy said back. Michelle smiled and pressed her lips against Judy’s. Judy opened the kiss, and they stayed like that for a moment. "You know, I think I do have a little energy left", Judy said with a flirty smile. Michelle smiled back and re-engaged the kiss, and then they got up, still kissing, and opened the door and headed inside to their bedroom.