Chapter 1

It was just another night out with the girls. Since Samantha had returned to New York after her break-up with Smith, she was enjoying the nightlife and random assortment of men she had missed so much over her four year hiatus from her non-relationship lifestyle. The girls had all somehow managed to get away from their new lives to join Samantha at the opening of a brand new club she was PRing for. She had just managed to slip away from the front door to join the other three at the bar.

"Samantha!" Carrie exclaimed, reaching up to kiss Samantha on both cheeks.

"This place is amazing!" Charlotte exclaimed, seemingly excited to be out and about since the baby had arrived.

"Well, thank you, honey." Samantha grinned, kissing her on the cheek.

"It's a nice change of pace from Brooklyn." Miranda laughed, handing Samantha the rest of her martini.

Samantha accepted it gratefully and leaned over Miranda to get the bartenders attention. After ordering another round of drinks for the girls she settled into the seat next to Miranda. "I'm so glad to be back in New York."

"At least you're in the city." Miranda laughed. "No, I love being with Steve. And Brady."

"We know, Miranda." Charlotte grinned, seeming to have continued to glow ever since she had given birth.

"Well, John and I were thinking about having a huge party to break in the new apartment." Carrie announced, sucking the olive off the sword in her drink.

"That sounds wonderful!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"When were you thinking?" Miranda frowned, wondering when exactly it would fit in her schedule.

"Well we were thinking about next weekend."

"Oh, too soon." Charlotte cut in.

The rest of the conversation was lost to Samantha; words spoken by her friends fell on deaf ears. For Samantha had spotted someone whose beauty seemed to emanate from across the room.

But Samantha's beauty looked taken. The rock on her finger shown so brightly Samantha thought she might be blinded.

Samantha watched as the fantastic looking brunette lonesomely sipped her Cosmo, and pushed a stray curly lock out of her eyes. It was at that moment that a man swept down and appeared to be whispering something in her ear. Sam could see her face and she knew she wasn't comfortable or happy with whatever the man was saying. She watched as the man angrily grabbed the drink out of the beauty's hand and then stormed away.

The look on the brunette's face was so heartbrokenly sad that Samantha felt a strange mix of curiosity and longing for the woman.

It had been a long, long time since Samantha had been with a woman. Maria had been her last little lesbian experience, but she had always wondered if she could make it work again. But it couldn't be like this. Not with a married woman.

No, she was thinking nonsense. This woman was clearly straight, married, and…well not happy, but probably not interested.

"Samantha?" Someone was trying to get her attention. She nearly choked on her martini as she tried to turn to see who was saying her name. "Sam, what do you think about the 22nd?"

"For what?"

"Honestly, have you not been listening to our conversation?" Carrie bristled. Samantha looked lost and confused. Carrie laughed. "The apartment party."

"Oh, sure honey, I'm wide open." Samantha nodded, sipping her cocktail. "I'm going to be right back, okay?"

The girls nodded, and Samantha made her way across the room. She'd realized that if she was going to do this, she was going to do it right. And there was something about this woman that seemed like she needed someone. And Samantha was exactly the person she needed. Or so Sam had decided.

She approached the woman tentatively. Sidling up to the gorgeous brunette, she slipped into the seat beside her.

"Here alone?" Samantha inquired.

"Oh," The woman's dark, hazel eyes flashed at Sam, a faint smile dancing across her face as she looked at her. "No, I'm with my husband."

Samantha nodded, her eyebrow rising as she looked around for the man she'd seen with the woman earlier. "I see. Well you just looked so bored sitting over here all alone, so I thought I'd come say hello. I'm Samantha. Samantha Jones."

"Oh, you did the PR for my husband's business opening. Thomas Johnston."

"Oh, yes. I remember that party. It was fabulous." Samantha was suddenly glad she'd been with Smith during that party, for she knew she hadn't slept with Thomas.

"Yes, you're very good at your job." The brunette had a certain gleam in her eye. Or was it the lighting? "Oh, I'm Jennifer, by the way."

"Jennifer Johnston." Samantha repeated the name.

"Yeah," Jennifer suddenly looked uneasy. "He's coming." She whispered.

"Oh," Samantha was caught off guard, but she recovered quickly enough to extract one of her business cards out of her purse and slip it to Jennifer and leave the table all before Thomas reached the table.

Without looking back, Samantha arrived at the girls who all seemed to look her over questionably.

"What was that all about?" Carrie frowned.

"I don't know, I just thought she needed something." She sipped her drink, nearly murmuring her next statement into her glass, "someone."

"Samantha feeling…weird." Miranda laughed.

"Oh shut up. I did her husband's business firms PR." Samantha shrugged, taking another sip of her martini.

"Oh, well Charlotte was just inviting all of us over for some brunch tomorrow."

"Yeah, I want you all to see the new baby."

"We've seen the new baby," Samantha rolled her eyes.

Samantha was lying on her bed, reading through her plans for an opening the following weekend. She had a half smoked joint lying in an ashtray beside her, and her glasses seemed to be slipping down her nose as she tried to read the fine print on her assistant typed report. It was as soon as she flipped the page that her phone began to ring. She was almost happy to be distracted from her work plans. Taking off her glasses, she picked up the phone and answered, hoping it would be someone interesting she could call over and fuck.

But she was surprised when the voice on the other end was female. And not Carrie, Miranda, or Charlotte.

"Hi, Samantha. It's Jennifer."

"Oh, Jennifer. How are you?" Samantha grinned, settling back into her bed.

But a shaky breath on the other end alerted Samantha to the fact that this was not a happy call.

"Are you all right?" Samantha quickly questioned, feeling slightly out of her element.

"No…I mean yes. I'm fine. It's just…Thomas is going out of town."

"Are you going to miss him?" Samantha picked up her joint and placed it in her mouth. She lit the end and inhaled deeply.

"No, I mean yes. I suppose I'll miss him."

"You don't sound like you'll miss him."

"I don't…I don't really want to go into it. I just…I just wanted…I just needed-"

"A distraction?" Samantha guessed.

"Yeah."

"Well honey, I know a cute little place on 32nd. Would you like to meet me there in a half hour?"

"Yes, I would like that. Very much."

And so the date was set. As soon as they hung up the phone Samantha felt wired enough to quickly masturbate before slipping into a little Gucci number and then out the door.

Samantha approached the hole in the wall diner, stepping inside to find her beautiful brunette in a nice, warm colored sweater and jeans, sitting at a table. Her face was more natural than it had been the other night, and she was still just as beautiful. Samantha approached her and surprised her with a confident kiss to her cheek.

"Hi." Jennifer grinned; Sam noticed a faint coloring of her cheeks.

Samantha smiled as she took her seat across from Jennifer.

"Were you busy when I called?" Jennifer inquired, sipping her already filled glass of wine.

"No, not at all." Samantha shrugged, excited to find that Jennifer had ordered her a martini. "How did you know?" She laughed, sipping her drink.

"I guessed." Jennifer smiled. "So you don't have any fabulous parties tonight?"

Samantha shook her head, "no, honey. Parties don't happen every night."

"Well, isn't it fun to get to go to them when they happen? You know, to get out?"

"I suppose. But it gets old after awhile." Samantha grinned. "You're still young. You could get out there and party still."

"Thomas doesn't like it when I go out. Unless he's with me. And even then he doesn't like it." She seemed to withdraw for a moment and Samantha frowned, concerned.

Samantha knew it was time to change the subject. "Are you from New York originally?"

"Oh, no. I just got here three years ago. I've always wanted to be here, and when a job opportunity opened I jumped on it. But then I met Thomas…and he didn't want me to work."

"Oh, honey. What kind of work did you do?"

"I was an accountant." Jennifer shrugged, sipping her wine.

"A hard job. You miss it?"

"I miss working. Not really the job, just doing something. You know?"

Samantha nodded, remembering how she had felt so pointless when she'd sit around waiting for Smith to come home instead of working. "Well, tell Thomas you want to do something. Just get a blasé job."

"No, he wouldn't let me." She shook her head.

"But why?" Samantha was beginning to hate this man more and more.

"It's not important." Jennifer's voice was soft.

Samantha realized she was over-stepping her boundaries. "You're right. I'm sorry." She turned to her menu. "Now, the grilled chicken here is amazing."

Samantha felt relieved when a small smile crept across Jennifer's face. "That sounds fantastic."

TBC...