Juicy Secrets Forbidden Tales of Lesbian Love

 

Author’s note: A little context might be necessary for part 3.

It features cameo appearances by two characters from a previous series of mine that suffered a tragedy in the final part of that story. This chapter deals with the aftermath of that tragedy.

It’s not as depressing as it sounds.

No, really, it isn’t…

***

by BlueJean

The church fête was held on the village green once a year and drew people from far and wide. Traditionally the fête had been a way to raise funds for church repairs, but these days it was more about community, people showcasing their various skills and selling homemade goods.

I wasn’t all that concerned about the community part. I’m not exactly a people person. But it was a good way to sell some of our honey and other apiary products.

I had a little stall set up on the green, and the girls were enjoying playing at being shopkeepers. Freya used the calculator on her tablet to work out the cost and change, and Millie put each item into a paper bag and handed it to the customer.

Even Bee got in on the action. The puppy had her soft bed down by the side of the stall, and spent the day making lots of new friends as people made a fuss of her and gave her treats.

Other people from the village and the surrounding area were selling their own products. Fruit and vegetables, chutneys and preserves, lemonade, artisan bread, alcohol, knitted goods, pottery. There wasn’t much you couldn’t find here.

A couple of years back, a middle-aged couple from the neighboring county had set up a satanic stall, selling pentagram beer mats, Ouija boards and homemade 666 Cider. I thought it was absolutely hilarious, but the vicar didn’t agree. They weren’t invited back.

Sadie had a go at making damson jam this year, and we sold it for her on our stall alongside my honey. She had apologised profusely about masturbating during our Zoom call, and we’d both laughed about it afterward, but I couldn’t help feeling there was something different between us now. Something that couldn’t be put back in the box.

I could see the vicar moving towards my stall and groaned. He was a squat little man in his sixties, hair combed over his head in a futile attempt at hiding his baldness and beady little eyes that betrayed the lack of humour in his pretend smile. I didn’t like that he was a bit over friendly with little girls and boys either. I had no proof that he’d done anything wrong, but people had been talking for years.

“Hello, Georgia and Sadie!” he cried, his eyes on Freya and Millie, rather than my friend and me.

“Afternoon, vicar,” Sadie said pleasantly.

“Vicar,” I said, not so pleasantly.

“And hello, Freya and Molly!”

“I’m Millie,” Millie corrected him, looking a little offended.

“Millie, yes. And aren’t you both looking pretty today?”

Just you try it, you slimy little weasel, and I’ll rip your spleen out via your arsehole, is what I wanted to say, but instead opted for, “Say hello, girls.”

“Hello,” the girls chimed in unison.

“Ha ha!” the vicar chuckled. “Oh, thanks muchly for helping me organise again this year, Sadie. Your assistance was invaluable.”

“Always glad to help,” Sadie said, all smiles.

“And I hope to see you at church one day, Georgia. I haven’t given up on you yet!”

“Oh, I’m pagan through and through, vicar. There’s nothing I enjoy more than sacrificing a goat, or burning some poor soul in a wicker man.”

That cheap smile was wiped off the vicar’s face in an instant. He gave me a shocked look, then the smile was back. He waggled a finger at me. “Ah, I see! You’re having a joke with me. Haha! Very good, very good! God loves a sense of humour!”

“Yes, those biblical plagues and genocidal floods were a right side splitter,” I said, sarcastically.

“Ha ha! Well done! Well done!” the vicar chuckled as he slunk off to annoy someone else.

“Twat,” I said under my breath.

Sadie swatted my arm. “Don’t call him that, he’s a man of the cloth!” she said, a combination of shock and amusement on her face.

As the day wore on, I began to wish that the rest of the honey would hurry up and find a good home. It was getting hot, and I was becoming weary of the incessant chatter of people as they strolled about the village green. Freya, Millie and Bee were getting bored too, by the look of it.

I almost decided to call it a day when a lady and a young girl with blonde curly hair approached our stall.

“Heya,” I greeted them.

“Hi,” said the woman. “Did you make this honey?”

“Well, the bees made it, really, but I helped them put it into jars,” I replied, but the woman didn’t seem to find that funny. I don’t think I was shopkeeper material.

“Shall we take a jar, Peanut?” the woman said to the sombre looking girl beside her. The child, who looked to be about Freya’s age, nodded.

“We don’t have any jars of peanuts, just honey and some beeswax,” Millie said, helpfully.

“Shhh, Millie!” Freya hissed at her sister.

“What?” Millie said, confused.

“That’ll be £8 please,” I said.

Millie took one of the remaining jars of honey and popped it into a paper bag. The flimsy bags really weren’t much use, but Millie insisted that bagging up the jars was an extremely important part of the whole honey selling venture.

“That’ll be £8 please,” Freya said to the lady.

“Mummy already said that,” Millie reminded her sister.

“Shut up, Millie!” Freya said under her breath.

“Kids,” I said to the woman and rolled my eyes. She smiled and handed me a £10 note.

“Now I’ll just work out your change on my calculator,” Freya told her customer.

“It’s £2 change, you don’t need a calculator for that,” Millie said.

“Stop it, Millie! This is my job, not yours!”

“Stop arguing and give the lady her change, please,” I said, embarrassed.

Bee climbed out of her bed and jumped up on the blonde haired girl, wagging her tail.

“Down, Bee! Down!” I commanded the puppy, but she pretended she couldn’t hear me.

Millie walked round to the front of the stall and held a finger up. “Down, Bee. Good girl,” she said softly.

Bee sat down on the grass obediently.

The young girl knelt down and stroked the pup behind her ears. “She’s so cute,” she said in a quiet voice.

Millie knelt down too. “Her name’s Bumblebee, but we just call her Bee,” she told the girl proudly.

I pulled out a £2 coin from my bag of change and gave it to Freya, who handed it to the lady.

“Thank you,” the lady said and Freya went to give her the bagged up jar of honey.

“No, stop! That’s my job! Get away from it!” Millie shrieked, flapping her arms up and down, scrambling up to hand the honey to the lady.

“Well, give it to the customer then! You’re so embarrassing,” Freya said, hiding her face behind a hand.

I shook my head and smiled at the lady. “Are you local?” I asked her.

“No, we’re just down here for a break. We rented a little holiday cottage a couple of miles away,” she told me.

“Oh, that’s nice. It’s a beautiful part of the country, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it really is. It’s just what we needed.”

“Have you been to Habbernack Island yet?” Millie asked the girl, who shook her head. “It’s like this really tiny island on a pond, and there’s a boat that anyone can use to get there, and sometimes my sister and me camp there. Don’t we, Freya?”

“Uh… yeah,” Freya replied and stood on tiptoes to peer over the stall counter at the girl kneeling on the grass below. The newcomer glanced up at her and Freya darted back behind the stall, a mortified look on her face.

“You guys can go and show her the island, if her mum says it’s okay,” I said to the girls.

“Would you like that, Peanut?” the lady said to her daughter.

“Okay,” the girl replied, standing up.

“I’ll have a look round some of the other stalls until you get back, then.”

“Come on, Peanut! Follow me and Freya!” Millie said and marched off.

I gave Freya a gentle push. “Off you go, then.”

Freya didn’t seem thrilled about her new role as tour guide, but she reluctantly followed her sister and the blonde-haired girl. Bee tried to go with them, but I called her back to me and gave her one of her rawhide chews. I didn’t want her going near the pond, just in case the girls weren’t watching and she got into trouble in the water. Bee was still very young.

“I’m Georgia, by the way,” I told the lady and held out a hand.

“Sarah,” she replied and shook it.

***

I wasn’t sure about this girl called Peanut.

For a start, she had just about the silliest name I’d ever heard. Who would call their kid Peanut?

Second, she was very quiet and I hadn’t seen her smile even once. That was a bit suspicious. There was this one boy at school who never spoke to anyone and didn’t laugh or smile much and one day we found out that he’d been stealing cheese from some of the other kids’ lunch boxes. Just cheese, nothing else. Weird, right?

I’m not saying Peanut stole cheese, she probably didn’t, but I was definitely keeping an eye on her.

As we left the village green, we saw Mr Dalliard walking in the opposite direction. He looked a bit smarter than usual, wearing a navy blue blazer on top of his usual shirt and tank top. I was surprised he didn’t melt in the heat with all those clothes on. He wore his flat cap too. I don’t think I had ever seen him without it. I wondered if he wore it in the bath and when he went to bed.

“Hello, Mr Dalliard!” Millie shouted as we walked over to him.

“‘Ow do, young’uns,” Mr Dalliard said and doffed his cap at us.

“Mr Dalliard, this is Peanut. We’re going to take her to visit Habbernack Island,” my sister told him.

“‘Ow do, nipper.” Mr Dalliard winked at Peanut.

“Pardon?” Peanut said, looking confused.

I translated for her. “Mr Dalliard says hello.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“Mr Dalliard is the oldest man in the world,” Millie told Peanut.

“He’s not,” I said to Peanut quietly so Mr Dalliard wouldn’t overhear us.

“He is,” my sister insisted.

“He’s not!”

“He is!”

“I is, young’un, ’tis true. I’s older than old, me,” Mr Dalliard told Peanut.

“Pardon?” Peanut said, looking more confused than ever.

“We better go, Mr Dalliard. Nice to see you,” I said, trying to end the conversation before it got too embarrassing.

“Aye, hop along then, littluns. Have fun,” Mr Dalliard said and we headed off in the direction of Habbernack Pond.

The pond was a nice spot to come and watch the ducks swim about. Usually at this time of day there would have been a few people walking their dogs or maybe sitting on the benches that had been carved into old tree trunks and varnished, but because of the fête, we had the whole place to ourselves.

To me and my sister, Habbernack Pond was a great ocean and the Island was our pirate fortress. There was a little jetty with a rowing boat tied up to it, and that was our pirate frigate The Millennium Falcon. Millie decided on the name. She loves Star Wars.

“Peanut? How old are you?” I asked as we walked down a hill towards the jetty.

“I’m nine,” Peanut replied.

Nine. Good. I was older than her, which meant I was in charge.

“Peanut? How come you’re called Peanut?” Millie asked.

“Um… I’m not, that’s just a nickname my mum uses sometimes.”

I knew her name wasn’t really Peanut. What? I did!

“What’s your real name, then? I said.

“Kerry.”

“I’m Millie and that’s Freya,” my sister said, pointing at herself, then me.

“Would you like to play pirates with us?” I asked Kerry. I still didn’t trust her and if she tried to boss me around I’d definitely fight her, but I’m nice so I was willing to give her a chance.

“Pirates? How do you play that?” Kerry asked.

I cleared my throat. “Well, usually we find some sticks to use as swords, then we fight each other until Millie surrenders and then I tie her up and put her on the pirate frigate and then we sail to Habbernack Island which is our pirate base and then…”

I wasn’t sure if I should tell her the rest because the pirate game had turned a bit rude lately and I didn’t want Kerry to tell her mum on us.

“And then we just mess about doing piratey stuff,” I finished.

“It’s really fun,” Millie told Kerry.

“Okay, I don’t mind,” Kerry agreed.

“Cool. I’m Freya the Fierce and Millie is One-Eyed Millie. Who do you want to be?”

Kerry shrugged. “I dunno. You think of a name.”

“Captain Peanut!” Millie squealed.

Perfect. “Is Captain Peanut okay, Kerry?”

“Yeah, I s’pose,” Kerry said but she didn’t sound too happy about it. Maybe she was just shy.

“Do you mind being our captive?” I asked her.

“No, I want to be the captive!” Millie said with her hand in the air. “You two capture me and drag me off to your pirate lair.”

Millie liked being the prisoner for some reason. I think she liked being tied up too but I’m not sure why.

My sister ran off to look for some good sticks that we could use as swords while me and Kerry just stood around and waited. I felt a bit awkward.

I took a quick peek at her from the corner of my eye and looked away fast when I saw she was peeking back at me. I tried not to look again but sometimes the harder you try not to do something, the more you end up doing it. I glanced at her and she peeked at me again.

“What?” I said.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay.”

I wished my sister would hurry up.

“Do… do you like pirates?” I asked her, not sure what else to say.

“They’re okay.”

“What do you like better?”

“Um…” Kerry said, thinking. “Dinosaurs, probably.”

“Oh, I quite like dinosaurs too.” I said. I wasn’t that keen on them, to be honest. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if a pirate rode on a dinosaur?”

Kerry looked at me like I’d gone completely mad and I suddenly wished I hadn’t said something so weird. “Yeah, I guess,” she said.

“I’m back!” Millie shouted, running towards us with three big sticks in her arms. Her feet got tangled, and she stumbled and fell. “Owies!” she squealed and looked up at us with a dopey grin on her face.

So embarrassing.

***

“She’s rather beautiful, isn’t she?” Sadie said to me as we watched this woman, Sarah, pottering around the stalls.

“Yes, very glamorous,” I agreed, handing over my last jar of honey to an elderly couple.

“Shall we seduce her?”

“No, we’re not seducing her. What’s wrong with you lately?” I said to my friend.

“I’m bored with my fingers, okay?” Sadie pouted, stamping her foot.

“You’re a school teacher, not a lesbian seductress.”

“Can’t I be both?”

“I suppose you can. Just not at the same time.”

We both laughed.

“What do you think her story is?” Sadie mused as we watched Sarah holding up one of Roy Sutton’s finely knitted cardigans. Roy was a whiz with a knitting needle and also the campiest man I’d ever met. He sometimes came round for tea and scones.

“I wouldn’t like to pry,” I told my nosy friend.

“Hmm… icy cold businesswoman with a young daughter who’s packed off to boarding school most of the time, but gets to spend a few days with her mother on holiday each year.”

“Wow. Way to give a complete stranger an unflattering backstory.”

“I’m only kidding, I’m sure she’s lovely.”

Yes. She was most certainly that.

I wondered why my libido was gravitating more towards other women of late. Perhaps it softened the guilt. Sleeping with other men still seemed like a betrayal of my late husband, but fooling around with other girls felt like a more acceptable proposition. More casual, less committed, perhaps? I wasn’t sure. But I got the feeling that Tony wouldn’t have minded me sleeping with other women.

He would have wanted you to move on, and you’re not moving on if you keep asking yourself what he would have wanted, some part of me told myself.

***

“Let me go, you ruffians!” One-Eyed Millie squealed as she lay tied up on the deck of the Millennium Falcon.

“Silence, cur!” I shouted and poked her with my foot.

Me and Captain Peanut were rowing towards Habbernack Island, our base of operations. Normally we would have unfurled the sails but we didn’t actually have any because… um… they burnt down in a previous battle and we were having trouble raising funds for new ones. Besides, we agreed that it was nice to get some exercise.

Captain Peanut wasn’t very good at rowing, to be honest. I had to explain to her that we were supposed to pull the oars at the same time or we’d just end up going round in circles. Sometimes she would miss the water completely.

But eventually we reached shore and tied our ship up to the little wooden post sticking out of the ground, so it wouldn’t float away. You usually drop the anchor on a ship this size but we couldn’t because… er… it fell off? Nightmare.

“On your feet, ye scurvy dog!” I ordered our prisoner and we marched her over to the willow tree that grew in the middle of the island. The canopy spilled down around us and it was almost like a tent inside, shading us from the sun and hiding us from prying eyes.

“Tie her to the tree, Captain Peanut,” I commanded. I was actually an admiral, so I outranked her.

“Okay,” Peanut said and tied our captive up to the trunk of the tree with the spare bit of rope that we kept in the ship. Captain Peanut was a woman of few words but her cruel and vicious reputation was known throughout the Caribbean. Probably.

I wondered if she could keep a secret though.

I decided to take a chance. If she told on us, I would have to shoot her in the back with my pistol and then bury her on the island.

“Captain Peanut, I think we should have our wicked way with the prisoner,” I declared.

“Huh?”

“Don’t you dare!” One-Eyed Millie wailed, trying her best to look horrified. She couldn’t quite hide a little grin, though.

I undid the button on Millie’s shorts and slowly pulled them down to see how Kerry would react.

Kerry stared at my sister’s white panties and then looked at me.

“Do you think we should pull her knickers down too, Captain?” I asked my second-in-command.

“Yeah, I think you should,” replied Kerry.

“You won’t tell, will you?” I asked her, just to make sure.

She shook her head. “No, I promise.”

Satisfied that our new playmate wouldn’t dob on us, I reached for the waistband of my sister’s panties and slowly pulled them down round her knees. Kerry was staring at Millie’s private bits.

“Watch this,” I said and rubbed my fingers all over Millie’s kitty, her lips parting as I slid a finger between them.

“You should lick her there,” Kerry said.

Wow, licking kitties was a lot ruder than anything me and Millie had tried. Maybe Mum was right when she said all girls were interested in this kind of thing.

“Lick it? I never did that before,” I told her.

“It tastes really nice.”

“You’ve licked someone’s kitty before? Whose?” I asked.

Kerry looked away. “Oh, just a friend,” was all she said.

“Shall I lick it, Millie?” I asked my sister.

“You can if you want, I don’t mind,” Millie replied with a giggle.

I knelt between my sister’s legs and gave her kitty a little lick. It did taste kind of nice, and I felt really naughty and sexy doing it too. I licked it again, for longer this time.

“Put your tongue between her pussy lips,” Kerry suggested.

“Okay,” I replied and pushed my tongue through Millie’s slit. That tasted even nicer.

“It feels funny,” Millie said, looking down at me with a big grin on her face.

“Do you want a go, Kerry?” I said.

Her eyes lit up. “Yes, please,” she said, quick as a flash.

“Is it okay if Kerry licks it, Millie?” I asked my sister. It was her kitty, after all.

“Mm-hmm,” Millie said, nodding.

Unlike me, Kerry didn’t hesitate. She just dived right in and began lapping away at my sister’s kitty.

“Oh, wow!” Millie gushed as Kerry’s tongue flickered back and forth over her slit.

“Does it feel good?” I asked my sister.

“Yeah. It’s like… it’s like… well, I dunno what it’s like actually, but it feels amazing.”

Kerry used her fingers to spread my sister’s lips apart. She pointed to a little bump at the top of Millie’s kitty. “Lick her there,” she said to me.

I licked right where she told me to, and Millie nearly jumped out of her skin, giving a surprised cry. “Shhh! someone might hear us,” I told her and went back to licking her little nub.

My sister was gazing down at me with this really dreamy look on her face and she kept pushing herself against my mouth. I could smell her kitty, and wondered if it was normal to like it.

“I think we should make our captive lick our pussies now,” Kerry said and loosened the rope a bit. “Can you kneel down please, Millie?” she asked my sister. I didn’t think pirates were that polite to their captives but I was too interested in the things we were doing to care.

Millie knelt down against the willow tree, then Kerry pulled her skirt and panties down and stepped out of them. I craned my neck to get a look at her kitty but tried not to make it look too obvious.

Kerry saw me though. She turned to me, pushed her hips out and spread her fanny open right in my face. “Is this what you want to see?” she said in a voice that was sort of mean but for some reason I didn’t mind. I had no idea this quiet girl could be so rude. It was awesome.

I stared at her kitty and noticed that she was really, really wet. She smelled even better than my sister.

“I’ll let you lick me later, but first you should take your shorts and panties off and then we can make your sister do it to us,” Kerry said.

I was the oldest so I really should have been in charge, but Kerry seemed to know what she was doing and she had some really cool ideas so I was happy to follow her lead. I wasn’t even sure we were still playing pirates anymore, to be honest.

I had a quick peek through the willow leaves just to make sure no one was on the other side of the pond, and then quickly pulled my shorts and knickers off.

“Do your worst, you salty sea dogs! I won’t ever talk!” Millie wailed and then Kerry pushed her kitty into my sister’s face.

“Lick my pussy,” our new friend said but Millie didn’t seem sure.

“Shall I?” my sister asked me.

“Yeah, go on. It tastes nice,” I said. I really wanted to see her do it.

Millie stuck her tongue out and gave Kerry’s kitty a little lick, then another, and then a third, longer one. “This is really rude,” she said, grinning.

“Lick it really fast, like I did to you,” Kerry said to my sister and Millie did her best to flick her tongue over Kerry’s kitty, putting a lot of effort into it.

I couldn’t help but stare at Kerry’s bare bum cheeks, which were clenching in and out as my sister licked her and there was a drowsy look on her face. “You can have a go now,” she said to me.

I didn’t think I needed her permission to put my kitty into my sister’s face, but I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t want to spoil the fun.

I bent my knees slightly, thrust my hips out and brought my kitty really close to my sister’s face. “Okay, Millie, do that to me now.”

I felt Millie’s tongue flicking over my kitty lips and it was just about the best thing ever. It was like being tickled with electric shocks, which doesn’t sound that awesome but it really was.

Kerry reached out and spread my kitty open. “See that little lump at the top, Millie? Lick her there.” And when she did, I understood why my sister had cried out like she did. It felt amazing, kind of like a nice stinging, tickling feeling that spread out through my whole kitty.

“My turn,” Kerry said and I nearly told her she would have to wait but I guess it was only fair that she had another go.

We went back and forth like that for a while, taking turns at having Millie lick us until my sister told us her tongue was getting tired.

“Shall I lick yours now, Kerry?” I asked our new friend.

“Let’s lick each other at the same time,” Kerry suggested.

“How?” I asked her.

“Okay, you lay down,” she said and I got on my back.

Kerry stood over me and I thought she was going to sit on my face but she put her legs on either side of my head so that her kitty and her bumhole were right in my face. I’d never seen a bumhole up that close before.

“You can start licking me now,” Kerry told me.

“What shall I do?” Millie said, kneeling down next to us.

“Will you lick my bumhole, Millie?” Kerry asked my sister.

“That’s dirty,” Millie said, screwing her face up.

“It’s not really,” Kerry said.

“I don’t want to lick your bumhole. Shall I just help Freya lick your kitty?”

“Okay then,” Kerry said and put her face between my legs. Soon I could feel her tongue on me.

If having my sister lick my kitty was nice, Kerry doing it to me was about ten times better. It felt like her tongue was everywhere at the same time when she licked and sucked on me. She even fingered me while she licked my little lump and I wondered why I’d never thought of doing both things at the same time. She was really good at sex. I wondered where she’d learnt all this naughty stuff from.

I stuck my tongue out and licked Kerry’s kitty, trying to copy what she was doing. Poking my tongue in and out of her hole was my favourite. It tasted really nice. I was a bit embarrassed that my nose kept touching her bumhole but she didn’t seem to mind and it didn’t smell bad. Millie knelt down next to me and had a little lick too. We kissed each other, which made us giggle, and then I went back to licking Kerry some more.

I started to get that feeling again, the one where I was building up to something but didn’t know quite what. It was almost like I wanted to have a big wee and explode all at once. Only this time, as Kerry sucked on my little bump, I kind of went over the edge and everything was like a white flash.

“Ahhhh!” I moaned without meaning to. I’d never felt anything like it.

“Keep licking, keep licking!” Kerry begged us, so me and my sister kept running our tongues all over her kitty, which was really wet now. I felt her go all tense and I think that was when the same thing that happened to me happened to her too.

I just lay there for a while with Kerry on top of me, amazed by what had just happened, and then she climbed off me. Her mouth was all wet from where she had been licking me. “We just did an orgasm together,” she said.

I knew what an orgasm was, some girls at school had told me about it, but I thought only older girls could have one.

“I’m gonna go look for fish,” Millie said, putting her shorts and knickers back on and stepping through the willow leaves.

Things didn’t seem as awkward between me and Kerry now that we’d done rude stuff together. We sat down against the willow tree, still naked from the waist down. I smiled at her but she didn’t smile back.

“Kerry?” I said.

“Yeah?”

“How come you hardly ever smile?”

Kerry looked down at her knees, then at me, then back at her knees again.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“Something bad happened to me a while back,” she told me in a quiet voice.

I waited for her to continue.

“My best friend died,” she said and burst out crying.

I didn’t know what to do. I just sat there with my mouth open.

Then I remembered how Mum used to rub my back when I cried, so that’s what I did to Kerry. “It’s okay,” I told her softly.

“It’s not okay. I really want her back. I just want her back!” Kerry sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

“Shhh, shhh,” I said as I rubbed her back. I knew you were supposed to say ‘shhh’ too.

I felt really bad for her. So bad that I nearly started crying too.

When she calmed down a bit, I took hold of Kerry’s shoulders and gently pushed her down. “Lay back for a minute,” I told her.

“Why?” Kerry asked, rubbing tears from her eyes.

“It’s okay, trust me.”

I took my t-shirt off and then took Kerry’s off too, so we were both naked. I lay on top of her and started to rub my kitty on hers, up and down, up and down, the wetness from our licking and our orgasms making it feel really nice and slippy.

Kerry started crying again, but not so loud this time. Just a quiet sobbing, her eyes peering at me as tears ran down her face. She cupped my bottom and rubbed herself against me and I kissed her tenderly on the lips.

“Shhh,” I kept saying as I rubbed against her. “It’s going to be okay, Kerry. It’s going to be okay. Don’t cry.”

We rubbed and rubbed, sliding our sticky kitties together. Kerry wrapped her legs around me and we ground against each other harder, little squelchy noises coming from between our legs. We kissed each other like grownups kissed, our tongues touching, tasting one another.

We both orgasmed together again, not as big as last time but softer and nicer, like there was no rush for it to come out.

I wiped away a tear from Kerry’s cheek and she closed her eyes. I closed mine too and rested my head against her neck. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered and we fell asleep together.

***

I’d collapsed my stall and packed everything into the boot and back seat of my yellow and black striped Volkswagen Beetle, then Sarah strolled over.

“Do you think the girls are all right? They’ve been gone awhile,” she said, looking a little concerned. Bee sniffed around her feet and wagged her tail and Sarah bent to tickle her under her chin.

“They’ll be fine, but I should have told them not to be too long. They tend to lose all track of time.”

“Are you going home now?” Sarah asked. It was early evening and most folks had departed; just a few stalls were still being packed away and loaded into vehicles. Sadie and a few other volunteers were helping the vicar clean up.

“Yeah. Listen, do you want to come back with me? The girls may have already gone home and if not, we can head over to the pond and pick them up,” I suggested.

“What if they come back here?”

“My friend Sadie is going to be here a while longer. If they come back, I’ll get her to send them home.”

“Okay, sure, as long as you think they’re all right.”

I lifted Bee up onto what little space was left on the back seat, closed the door, then opened the passenger side for Sarah. “You don’t need to worry, it’s safe around here. The girls are out running around all the time. Back in a sec,” I said and ran over to Sadie who was taking some signs down.

“Sarah’s coming back home with me to wait for the girls. If they turn up here, can you send them home?” I asked her.

“Sure will.”

“Thanks, see you later!”

“I’m jealous, but have fun!” Sadie trilled as I jogged back to the car.

“Oh, stop,” I said and rolled my eyes at her.

Sarah was sitting in the passenger seat as I climbed in the other side and turned the ignition, the engine sputtering into life. “I couldn’t imagine letting Kerry go out on her own where we live,” she told me.

“That’s why I left the city and moved out here with the girls. It’s a different way of life,” I said as she struggled to clip her seatbelt on. “Sorry, it’s always been a bit dodgy. You have to sort of do it at an angle and then push down hard.”

She was still struggling to clip it in as I drove along. “Can’t seem to get it.”

“Yeah, wiggle it about a bit, it usually clicks in.”

I pulled over and turned the engine off.

“Oh, you didn’t have to pull over, I would have got it eventually,” Sarah said, still fighting the stubborn seatbelt.

“We’re here,” I told her.

Sarah looked up and noticed our thatched cottage. “Oh. Right,” she said and we laughed together.

We left the car behind and strolled up the garden.

“Girls?” I shouted up at the treehouse but there was no answer.

“Wow, it’s so idyllic here,” Sarah remarked as she gazed out across the poppy field.

“Yeah, I love it. Our apiary is over there in the orchard,” I said, gesturing toward the hives.

“It makes my home look like a Russian gulag,” Sarah said as we made our way over to the cottage.

“Girls? Are you here?” I shouted up the stairs but only silence greeted us. “I guess they’re still over at the pond. Would you like a glass of wine before we head over there, or are you keen to pick Kerry up right away?”

“I could manage a glass of red wine, I think,” Sarah said.

“Oh, I don’t have red, I’m afraid, just rosé.”

“Rosé is fine.”

I fed Bee quickly, then grabbed a cold bottle of rosé from the fridge, along with two glasses. “Let’s sit outside,” I suggested and opened the french doors up so we could sit on the rattan couch and look out over the fields.

I wound the awning down to give us some shade, but it was stiff again. I reminded myself to spray some lubricant on it when I had a chance.

“Do you want a hand with that?” Sarah said and grabbed hold of the crank too.

“Thanks,” I told her.

I could smell her perfume, a subtle but pleasant bouquet that reminded me of my wildflower meadow. She glanced at me and smiled as we turned the crank, and suddenly I had an urge to kiss her slender neck.

The awning wound out to its full length, and we sat down to enjoy our wine. It was almost 6:00 PM, and thankfully the heat of the day had subsided a little. A refreshing breeze blew in from across the fields.

“So you’re a city girl, huh?” I said, my feet curled up on the couch.

“Yeah, but we’re right by the coast so we get to enjoy the beach. But nothing as beautiful as this.”

“If my husband was still alive, I’d probably still be living in the city now,” I told her. “I think I’d take him instead of all this, though, as wonderful as it is.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sarah said.

I settled my gaze on her. “You lost someone too, didn’t you?”

She looked out across the barley field, her fingers idly caressing her glass.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” I said. I really should learn to keep my mouth shut.

“How did you know?” Sarah spoke again, after a long silence.

“It’s all in the eyes, I guess.”

Another long silence and then she turned to look at me. “How… how do you move on?”

I sighed. “For me… for me it was starting afresh somewhere new, I suppose. Leaving the old life behind, you know? Or trying to…” I said, trailing off. Was I moving on, really? “Maybe it’s different for each person. I really don’t know.”

Sarah smiled bitterly and shook her head. “How could I be so stupid? I thought she was still there, in that old place. I thought I was near her there. But she isn’t there anymore, is she?”

“There aren’t any easy answers, I don’t think. It’s… messy. And ugly. It’s supposed to be messy and ugly,” I told her, aware of how clumsy my words sounded.

A commotion in the sky above us drew our attention — a flock of starlings flying as one across the evening sky, a great undulating cloud of blackness, rattling and chattering.

“Wow,” Sarah said in amazement as we watched them disappear over the trees. And then she looked at me again. “I’m lonely,” she told me.

“Me too,” I said and moved in to kiss her.

She put her fingers on my lips and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I — I can’t.”

I sat back and smiled warmly at her, trying not to let the moment turn awkward. “I understand.”

***

“Look, the starlings!” I heard Millie shout and woke with a start.

Kerry opened her eyes and blinked at me.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” she replied and smiled at me.

I climbed off her and started to get dressed. “We should head back to the fête. I’m not sure Mum will still be there, though.”

“Will we be in trouble?” Kerry asked as she put her clothes on.

“We’ve been out this late before, but your mum might tell us off for kidnapping you.”

Kerry smiled again. She had a nice smile.

We emerged from the willow canopy to find Millie standing by the boat with a strange look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

My sister looked past me and settled her gaze on Kerry. “Your grief is my grief, child,” she said in a weird voice.

I slapped her on the arm. “Oi! Don’t say creepy stuff to Kerry!”

“Huh?” Millie said as Kerry and me walked past her and climbed into the boat.

Somewhere, up in the willow tree, I could hear a crow cackling down at us.

“Hurry up, or we’ll go without you,” I said to my sister and she jumped into the boat with us.

As we were rowing towards the far bank, I could see Mum’s Beetle parked in the gravel car park up on the hill. Mum, Bee and Kerry’s mum were waiting for us near the water. Kerry’s mum put a hand up to wave and Kerry waved back.

Mum drove us to the train station where Kerry and her mum had a ticket back to their holiday cottage. I would’ve liked to have invited Kerry back to play with us again but her mum told us that they would be going back home tomorrow. Kerry and me looked at each other and made sad faces.

The station was home to a lovely old steam train that travelled between a few local stations in the area. It was mostly for the tourists, but my sister, my mum and me liked to ride it every now and then for fun.

We stood on the platform as Kerry and her mum climbed aboard the old locomotive and soon the train blew its whistle to let us know it was leaving. Millie put her fingers in her ears like she always did.

As the train slowly pulled away from the station, steam puffing out of its smokestack, I ran along the platform, trying to keep up with it.

“Kerry!” I shouted and she pulled down the window.

“You’re going to be okay! Okay?” I hollered.

“Okay,” she said and smiled.

“Okay?” I shouted again.

“Okay!” she shouted back.

“OKAY?!” I shouted as loud as I could.

“OKAY!!” she shouted and bounced up and down, laughing.

I slowed down and came to a halt, out of breath, the train chug-chugging out of the little village station and away into the distance.

She would be okay. She would.

I headed back towards my sister and my mum, who were waiting for me at the other end of the platform.

On to Chapter Four!