Jaci Stone

While I showered, I calculated the amount of time it would take me to get to the shop by bus. I didn't want to use the debit card Gabrielle had given me for a cab, it was probably close to empty as it was. I set my alarm for five-thirty, dreaming of green grass and rainbows of flowers.

Cross-town fare for the bus ride had emptied Gabrielle's gift card. I really only needed a dollar in cash to finish the ride, but it was a good morning for a walk. Jimmy was just unlocking the doors when I got to the shop, waving me inside.

"You ready for Chuck?" He asked.

"Sure."

He went behind the counter and I heard his lock-box click. Before I knew it, he had tossed me the keys. "Here ya go, he's on the side."

"Huh?"

"Your mom came in and paid it off for you, even new tires so it would pass inspection. She said it was a birthday present, congrats."

"Jimmy, my mom died in sixty-seven."

Jimmy's face fell. "Jaci, I'm sorry to hear about that. This woman, her money was good and the work is done. I don't know what to say beyond that."

I fingered my keys. "I guess I'll take my truck, Jimmy."

"On the side," Jimmy pointed.

What in the world was going on? Francine, it had to be Francine, was doing all of this, but why? At first she was having somebody knock me on the head and drag me home, then buying me VIP memberships and fixing my truck for me? Chuck started up easy and purred like a kitten. A few engine revs later, and I was on my way.

I backed into my driveway, intending to hook up my trailer and go look for something to plant. I went inside to get into my self-designed uniform and fix a day lunch. There wasn't much food in the fridge, so I'd have to pick up some stuff at the local market. I pulled the balance up on the joint checking account, finding that Gabrielle's overdraft hadn't hurt as much as I thought because my check had been two hundred dollars higher than I thought it would be. I took most of the remaining money and put it into my 'business' account, which was basically just a separate checking account because I didn't really have a business.

Gabrielle was pulling into the driveway when I came out of the house. Kaitlyn was in the passenger's seat of her Explorer, and I wondered at that. "Hey babe."

"Hey." I waved. "You into taxi service too?"

"Can we talk about this inside?" Gabrielle asked.

"Sure." I let Gabrielle go first, then turned for a glance at her car before I followed. Kaitlyn did not look happy. "So, what's up?"

"Kaitlyn and I got carjacked last night. The cops recovered it and we're going to pick it up."

Gabrielle resisted when I pushed her against the wall. This was our normal prelude to sex, which usually ended up with her riding my face. Not today. "What's wrong?"

"I've just got to change..." Gabrielle protested.

"And in between one set of clothes and another you're naked, right?" I asked. "I need to do some flossing."

The look on her face was half-serious, half playful. "Okay."

I followed her into the bedroom and turned her around before stripping her down. I was undressing myself at the same time, ready to give her my big surprise. I nudged her up on the bed, and she got onto all fours right on the edge so I could do an oral doggie. Her crotch smelled okay, which was nice. Kaitlyn and her had obviously had sex that morning, probably scissoring because the insides of Gabrielle's thighs were sticky.

She must have been really horny, because she had an orgasm with just my fingers. I got closer and stuck my tongue into her, giving it some help with my fingers on her clit. After the third orgasm, I stood up and kept playing with her with my fingers while I pulled down my pants and panties. When I stuck my cock in her, she let out a moan. I pulled out and rammed it into her, getting the same response. I was in and deep, so it was time to speed things up. In and out I went, Gabrielle responding just like we had when we had first become lovers.

I brought her through another orgasm, her calling out Kaitlyn's name causing a small hiccup in my rhythm. There was warning of a fifth, and I was getting ready to let go...We climaxed together, Gabrielle shouting out Kaitlyn's name again, but I didn't care. I was unloading a day's worth of jizz into her twat and I was loving it. When she finally stopped quivering, I pulled out of her and flipped her onto her back.

A moment passed, and she opened her eyes. I was still standing, cock still hard and dripping juices. "Hey, babe."

The romantic look came over her face. "Hey, yourself."

"You seemed to have an itch. Did I scratch it?"

"Kaitlyn, you have no idea," Gabrielle sighed.

Oh, my, fucking, god.

"What's your wife's name?" I asked.

Her eyes widened, she sat up on the bed in shock. "Jaci?"

"Jaci."

"You've got a...hard as a...huh?"

"Yup."

"You tricked me," Gabrielle pouted.

"Sex is sex, right? Isn't that what you used to tell me when I couldn't get it up? Now I can and you're what?"

Days ago I wouldn't have recognized the diversion tactic. Gabrielle got up from the bed and put her hand on my face. "Can we talk about this later, baby?"

"Only if it's after another fucking session, preferably one where you don't call me 'Kaitlyn.'"

"I'm sorry," she said.

No, you're not. "It's okay. Again, later?"

'Not with that nasty thing. He fucking raped me!' "Sure, baby."

Gabrielle went into the bathroom still naked. I heard sounds of pee and flushing, and she emerged a minute later. I watched her get dressed and got a peck on the cheek before exiting the room. The front door opened and slammed, definitely a sign she was pissed about something. Was I imagining hearing her thinking?

I didn't know what hurt me more, Gabrielle calling me 'he' in her head, or thinking our sex session was rape. Had she always thought of me like that? Why was she even staying with me? When I looked out the window, I could see Gabrielle's SUV still in the driveway. There was an active discussion between her and Kaitlyn Then the discussion stopped, apparently was over for the moment, because the SUV backed out of the driveway and took off down the street. The cleaning company logo on the side of the truck was new, as was the trailer hitch on the back.

Thinking it was a good idea for a shower, I went ahead and took one. My areas didn't need shaving and I would pay for leaving my hair wet and just putting it into a ponytail later. Chuck was purring like a kitten now, much better than he was two months ago when he needed an engine rebuild. My uncle had left me the truck as well as his house when he had passed on twenty-five years ago...tomorrow?

My first stop was the grocery store. I didn't skimp on the food I would be having for lunch and dinner later, packing the rest of into my oversized cooler in the truck bed. Much to Gabrielle's chagrin, I had spent whole days gone from the house on gardening projects, so I kept myself in food and drink and sometimes slept in the cab of my truck.

The next stop was the cemetery where my Uncle James was laid to rest. He was my mother's brother, and the last living relative I had. When the Army had kicked me out of my father's officers quarters a scant week after they told me he had 'gotten too close to the show,' my only memory was that he lived 'somewhere in Los Angeles.' The MP's escorted me to the gate with my duffel and the clothes on my back and told to 'get lost, queer.'

Our family actually had a burial plot in the rather huge Los Angeles Cemetery. It was back in the corner of some forgotten section which rarely got tended before the downturn and even less afterwards. Pretty much everybody was here, Gramps and Gams, their numerous sons and daughters and very few grandchildren. My mother's grave had a marker, but she wasn't there, she had been caught in a massive electrical storm and vaporized when dad had been deployed to Japan. My dad's area hadn't been marked yet, as his body was still missing and he hadn't been confirmed dead. I didn't hold out much hope after thirty-one years.

As I cleaned and trimmed around the stones, I pondered how long it was going to be before I was going to join them. I'd have to pay my own way, crude as that sounded, and should probably start contributions to a funeral fund.

The trimmings went into a canister on my trailer, and I activated the motor to start churning them into fertilizer so I could take care of the flowers I had planted there over the years. It would take a few hours to do the conversion, but I had nothing but time. I pondered the morning, and what had happened.

Somebody, probably Francine, had paid for the repairs on my truck. Who would do something like that, and why? They had actually gone beyond the original engine rebuild and had Jimmy replace the tires and, I checked under the truck, the suspension as well.

Gabrielle had showed up early, very early, with Kaitlyn in her SUV. Kaitlyn at my house was unusual enough, her actually being a passenger was beyond that. Maybe it was the trailer hitch on Gabrielle's Explorer that was bugging me. When I had laid out the down payment for Gabrielle, I joked that we should get the hauling package, just in case my truck broke down. She had pointed to a newer model of my truck and said that truck was a good color for me.

"Your ears are smoking," Leigh's voice announced her presence behind me.

I turned around to face her. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Don't play coy, Jaci. The forgetfulness spell didn't keep. It took for a while, then all of a sudden it was gone. The elders say that Gaia reversed it because you and I are connected."

"Okay." Now what?

"I was drawn to you that night, I still am drawn to you. Your activation of that device sent up a beacon and told me where to find you. It's unusual that nobody else in the coven felt it but me."

"Leigh, I left because I don't want to join your coven," I said. "I still don't."

"They let me resign, Jaci. I couldn't stay with them and be constantly distracted by...well, your magic."

"You can't stay with me, Leigh. I'm married, you knew that going into this fling."

Leigh waved her hand. "Don't you worry about that. I'm not going to interfere with your marriage. That's bad mojo, Gaia will fry my ass if I do that. I do have one request."

"When Gabrielle goes to Kaitlyn, you ask that I come to you?" I offered.

"See, you are into this magic thing. You read minds like a pro," Leigh giggled.

"Yes," I nodded. There was no harm in that, no harm at all. "Speaking of reading minds..." I told her what had happened just hours ago.

"Jaci, um, I'm not going to offer any opinion on that. I do not want to bias you and cause a taint on whatever relationship we end up having."

"The tabloid press will eat you alive if they find out about me."

"They already know, there were stringers at the club last night." Leigh shrugged. "My agent already got a call from the president of the National Lesbian Alliance. I'm debating on whether to call her back or not."

A whistle on my recycler went off. That was to let me know the mixing was done and it was ready to do the enrichment. I read some gauges and set some dials. "You may end up with a broken heart," I warned.

"So be it," Leigh shrugged. "You don't need this device to do your conversion, Jaci. It doesn't take but a spell and some pixie dust."

"Leigh, let me do what I do, how I do it. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Leigh nodded. "Can I hang with you for the day?"

"Only if you want to get your hands dirty," I said.

"I know just the place," Leigh smiled. "To get my hands dirty, that is."

***

I picked up two dozen trays of tired and broken flowers on clearance at the local Lumber Mart. I gave them a healthy spray of my leftover biomass before we headed to Leigh's place. She came back out wearing a gardening uniform with some actual stains on it and a beat up floppy hat. "I had a role once. I really got into it, you know?"

"If the movie has you in it, I'll try it out," I said.

"They never released it. Those pricks at MountainTop were on a shoot-em-up-movie roll and killed it halfway through second unit filming."

"Bummer?" I offered.

"Yup."

Leigh gave me directions to a worn-out garden strip on the edge of Monrovia. I had been past it only a few times in the past, preferring freeway travel to reach the local parks. I shimmied my truck and trailer into a narrow abandoned lot and went out to study the strip. The gardens consisted of large concrete planters which contained a respectable amount of dirt, but no live plants at all. The biggest obstacle was that the garden was dividing a busy section of street serviced only by crosswalks. "Not a street I'd want to jaywalk," Leigh admitted.

"You're gonna sweat today," I teased.

"Jaci, as you have seen, I have no problem with sweating," Leigh promised.

"Here's what we're going to do. Grab some trays and we'll take them over. You do the area opposite me. I'm going to claw the dead plants out by the roots and use the tray carriers to carry the dead stuff back so I can convert it into fertilizer for the new plants."

"Do you have an extra claw?"

I grabbed some trays and Leigh did the same. Drivers on the street were slow to respond to the crosswalk light, two even going through as Leigh and I were crossing. On closer examination, I saw that the pad could use a good washing, and I'd give it one if I could find some water when we were done. I emptied the trays at one end of a planter and clawed the old, dry roots from the dirt and set it on the tray. Leigh took a moment to observe my technique, doing the same to the planter opposite.

When we returned to my trailer, we dumped the roots into my converter and repeated the process. On the third return trip, six people were idly milling around my truck. "Jaci, I'm sorry," Leigh whispered.

"For what?"

"You must be violating someone's territory."

"Do they look like a threat to you, wiccan?" I asked. "Watch."

I went to the trailer, emptying the tray and stacking it with the others. The woman leading the pack came over. "You're The Gardener, huh?" I nodded. "You don't seem so tough."

"You're Second Ave Eagles, right?" I indicated the bandanna on her arm. "Tag on the wall says we're on Devil's block."

"We did a merge month ago," the woman offered me a hug. I pulled her in and gave her a hug back. "Where'd you go? We sent out word far and wide."

"My truck broke down. You couldn't get ahold of Starr and Pete?"

"Your enforcers? Nobody from the group has seen them in awhile."

"They prefer not to be seen," I nodded. "Plus, they've been doing some work out in Burbank."

"Figures," she huffed. As she backed away from me, I got the arm's length once over. "You looking good, girl."

"Thanks Kari. This is my assistant, Leigh Landreau."

"Pleasure, ma'am," Kari offered her hand. Leigh was still a little shell shocked, but offered her hand anyway.

"Leigh, this is the head of Second Ave Eagles, Kari Hernandez."

"Gutierrez," Kari corrected. "Did that merge, remember?"

"Hi?" Leigh offered.

"Don't be scared, the sharpest thing we'll come at you with is a pen and paper," Kari joked. "Like your movies, Miss Landreau. You do good work."

"Thanks, I try to be a good role model," Leigh nodded.

"You need any help, Gardner?" Kari asked, now that the pleasantries had been exchanged.

"Three hundred gallons of water, maybe some compost?" I offered.

"Consider it done. We're already arranging a slow-down for you two," Kari blew me a kiss. "Be right back, Gardner."

As the six of them walked away, I went over to the truck and grabbed two more trays. Leigh was still frozen in shock. "What the hell?" She finally demanded.

"When you go around making things beautiful, people appreciate you," I said. "Want to get this done, Leigh?"

"Sure. What's this talk about merging and enforcers? That seems to go a little beyond appreciation."

"There's a time and a place to talk about that," I replied.

"You'd better spill," Leigh wagged a finger at me.

The slow-down that Kari was talking about was kids on bikes riding around the traffic split that Leigh and I were working on. To anyone watching from the inside of 'the social club' scene, it was a warning to leave us the fuck alone. To the drivers on the road, it was an awakening to watch the crosswalks.

Leigh was very meticulous in her planting, and we finished the plants before fourteen hours. Thirty minutes later, the whistle went off on my converter, telling me it was time to apply my fertilizer. Leigh helped me roll two tanks of the mixture across the street and went back for the other. The second round was brought across by a pair of Kari's enforcers. I looked over at my trailer, a shocked Leigh giving me a shrug.

With the men helping me, I got the fertilizer applied in record time. Next they brought over my power washer and a few tanks of water. When I finished washing the pad, I nodded my thanks to Kari. She snapped her fingers and everyone vanished into the alley behind the lot.

"That was certainly interesting," Leigh commented.

"It was nice," I admitted.

"We've got an invitation to City Hall," Leigh took my hand. "Smile for the cameras."

I had not expected news cameras. My first reaction was to check my hair. It felt unruly, probably a mess. "My hair!"

"You look hot, Jaci," Leigh pulled my hand. "Come on!"

The Mayor of Monrovia met us at the doors of Monrovia's city hall. The conversation was brief, him asking me and my wife to join him for dinner. He seemed dismayed when Leigh told him that she wasn't my wife, but he quickly recovered and said reiterated his invitation.

I dropped Leigh off at her building with the promise to call her if Gabrielle was bugging out for the night. "I'll be on my way just in case. If not, I can always hit a club or two on the north end."

***

As I was backing my truck into the driveway, events from the morning played back in my head. Leigh said she wasn't going to offer an opinion on what I had 'heard' from Gabrielle, but told me to trust my instincts.

I was going over my tools, making sure everything was in place and ready for tomorrow when Gabrielle pulled into the driveway. She studied me for a moment, then made her way toward me. "How did everything go today?"

What? Asking about my day?

"I did a split garden in Monrovia," I answered.

"The news was on in one of the offices I was cleaning this afternoon. It was only newsworthy because Leigh Landreau was with you."

"Surely there were more newsworthy things happening in the greater L.A. metropolitan area than me and Leigh planting flowers."

"So you were? With Leigh Landreau?"

"Sure," I replied. Next is how I met her.

"Neat. How did you two meet?"

"Leigh and I crossed paths at the Stonebrook plot."

"You met a movie star, in a cemetery?" Gabrielle asked.

Too focused on the movie star, not enough on the cemetery. "Leigh had lost somebody too. The groundskeepers have been slacking off all over and she was getting ready to accost me because she thought I was the help."

"Sorry."

"She asked to hang out with me for the day, I agreed. I didn't even know Leigh was a movie star until some girl asked for her autograph."

"Oh, yeah," Gabrielle snickered. She had never figured out why I shunned movies and television shows.

"While I have you here..."

"Jaci, I've got a..."

Time for the date. Take or flake? "The Mayor of Monrovia asked me if my wife and I would like to have dinner with him and his wife."

"Jaci, I've got a client meeting tonight. The owner of the building I'm working at was impressed with the work I was doing and wants to expand my area."