Kristin walked over to her and threw her arms around Sheryl’s neck. “Do you have caviar in there as well?”
Sheryl shook her head. “I have to draw the line somewhere.” She pulled Kristin into a closer embrace. “Congratulations on a successful coming out. I’ll be on my best behavior when we meet.”
“It would have been better if you were a doctor or a lawyer.”
“Once I finish my PhD I will be a doctor.”
“I’m not sure they fully understand what it is you’re getting your PhD in.”
“That’s something we can sympathize over then. I’m not always sure myself,” Sheryl joked.
Kristin laughed. The sound of happiness reverberated through Sheryl’s tiny apartment.
“Are you, er, okay with meeting them? It’s not too soon and…” A pause.
“And what?” Sheryl handed her a glass of champagne. She’d poured a tiny amount into a glass for herself.
“I’ll tell them in advance not to ask about your parents.”
Sheryl held up her glass. “I can handle any questions that come my way.”
“I’m sure you can, but what I’m trying to say is that if you want to talk about it, I’m here. Perhaps meeting my parents will stir up some unwanted memories for you.”
“First, certain issues should not be discussed on your birthday.” There was a sharpness to Sheryl’s tone that Kristin hadn’t heard before. “I told you about my mother and father because I wanted you to have that information, not because I want to discuss it. I’ve had the required therapy. I’ve done all the talking I want to do about it.” The hint of hardness disappeared from her face. “I appreciate your concern, I really do. But it’s unnecessary. I’m a big girl, one who doesn’t dwell in the past. And I don’t mean to brag, but parents usually love me.”
Kristin swallowed all the questions that burned in her mind. She had many, and they’d only grown since they’d returned from the cabin, but if Sheryl didn’t want to talk about it, then she wasn’t going to push her. If anything, Kristin felt honored that Sheryl had confided in her, had shown her vulnerability so quickly and so openly. She clinked the rim of her champagne glass against Sheryl’s.
“I’m sure you’ll charm the pants off them.” She took a sip. “Exactly how many girlfriends have taken you to meet their parents?”
Sheryl smirked. “Only one. And they were completely besotted with me.”
Kristin wasn’t keen on interrogating Sheryl on her past girlfriends on her birthday. She’d keep that conversation for another time.
“This stuff isn’t half bad,” Sheryl said, and swallowed the liquid in her glass in one go. “And no, I don’t think it’s too soon for me to meet your parents. I think it will be good for them to meet me, if only to put their mind at ease that I’m not some vixen from hell who has seduced their daughter to cross over to the dyke side.”
Kristin chuckled.
“Happy birthday,” Sheryl said, put their glasses to the side, and pulled Kristin close.
Chapter Nine
“Monogamy all the way for you?” Caitlin asked Sheryl.
Sheryl shook her head in despair. She should have known. “I don’t want to be with anyone else.”
“I don’t know, Sher.” Caitlin leaned back in her seat, tipping a glass of wine to her lips, not a hint of hesitation about what she was about to say on her face. “You seem kind of pussy-whipped to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re meeting her parents. You told her about your family. What’s next? Shall I call the moving company, or do you want to do that yourself?”
“We’re in love. What’s so bad about that?”
“Oh, nothing at all, but, hm, don’t you think everything is moving a tad too fast?”
Sometimes, Sheryl wished she had the sort of friends who didn’t feel the need to analyze everything and could just be happy for her. “What is too fast, really? Maybe what is fast for you is slow for me. Everyone is different. Besides, I clearly remember someone telling me not long ago that this might be the one, that you just never know.”
“Guilty as charged, but I just don’t want you to rush into something and end up hurt. That’s all.”
“You don’t get it, Caitlin—”
Caitlin held up a hand. “Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say, being that I don’t get it because I’ve never felt this way.”
“Would I ever say something like that?” Sheryl shot her friend a big smile. “What I was trying to say before being rudely interrupted, is that I know. And which one of my dear friends was it again who coined that phrase? I do wonder. It must have been a wise woman, that’s for sure.”