Contretemps

Chapter One

Wednesday, August 26th

9:03 a.m.

Olivia let the pads of her fingertips rub circles of foam face wash into her cheeks, noticing movement in the left side of the reflection of the bathroom mirror. She moved her working digits to her chin and then forehead, now seeing her wife in her right peripheral.

"Sorry, Liv." Alex's voice was breathy.

Within seconds, the sound of liquid hitting water and a sigh of relief from her blonde wife.

Olivia smiled and continued lathering her face. "Don't apologize, Babe." She turned the faucet on now and squeezed her eyes shut, cupping water into her hands and splashing the suds from her skin. She repeated this action four more times before shutting the water off and blindly reaching for the baby blue and white striped face towel on the ring to the right of the sink. Patting her face dry, she finally opened her eyes and hung the towel up, looking at her wife. "Emergency situation, huh?"

Alex nodded, her eyes glued to her phone. "Lotta coffee." Her blonde wife was still sitting, knees together, red toenail painted feet spread, forearms crossed over each other, phone in her left hand, scrolling with her thumb. She was wearing her knee length chambray night shirt that was now hiked up to her upper thighs.

The brunette smiled at her and moved to the small shelving unit against the wall by the door and retrieved a small bottle of anti-aging serum. Squirting a small amount into her palm, she set the tiny bottle back down and then began rubbing her palms together vigorously.

"I'm surprised you brought that in here." Olivia pumped a couple of squirts from the Nivea bottle in the same location and began rubbing her hands together, smoothing her forearms and elbows, as well, still in her black jersey Henley night shirt, herself.

Alex looked up now, blinking a few times. "Brought what?"

Olivia raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the iPhone, looking at it before looking back at her wife's expression.

"My phone?"

Olivia nodded. "Mrs. the-toilet-projects-bacteria-as-far-as-six-feet-when-it's-flushed." The brunette began giggling. "I don't care, personally. It's not my phone. I don't put it to my face."

Alex threw her a snarl and then reached with her left hand to set her cell phone on the same small shelves before wiping and pulling her underwear up, standing, flushing, and moving to the sink. "I sanitize my phone three times a day, Liv." She rolled the bar of lavender soap in her hands a few times, water running, eyeing her brunette wife in the reflection.

Olivia smirked and moved up to her, placing a chaste kiss on the left side of her neck. "I know you do, Babe." She kissed her cheek now, grabbing the left side of her ass. "I'm just saying…"

Alex smirked and shook her head before finishing and wiping her hands on the same face towel.

Olivia took her robe from the hook on the back of the door and began slipping it on, now watching as her wife took an antibacterial wipe from the small plastic container and began wiping the screen and body.

She smiled as she tied the robe. "You're welcome."

Alex looked up from scrubbing the mouthpiece, her brow furrowed.

"For the reminder. I'm going down to make breakfast." Olivia winked.

Alex smiled. "See you down there, Babe."

10:31 a.m.

It was a nagging feeling she just couldn't seem to escape.

She sat, a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs having been eaten, the Lifestyle section of The New York Times in her hands, peering over the top, her eyes glazed over in the direction of her wife, thinking.

She narrowed her eyes and blinked, her eyes now watering from being open an unnatural amount of time.

Something was amiss.

She felt it.

She knew it in her heart.

One of the kids? Her brother? Her mother? She knew it wasn't Olivia because she was sitting across from her, currently reading the Funny Pages section, and laughing hysterically as she reached for her coffee.

"That Far Side…" Olivia shook her head.

Alex's gaze now focused more clearly, her wife's features coming into sharp, crystal clear view as her eyes adjusted. She smiled. "What does it say?"

Olivia tried around her laughter, "It's a dog and a cat and the owner is just about to come home, through the front door…"

Alex waited, smiling. She took a sip of her own coffee.

"…and the dog says, 'He's my best friend and he works hard all day. Couldn't you, at least, wag your tail?'" She threw her head back now cackling, her body jostling.

And Alex's smile broadened. Although she didn't particularly think the joke in the comic was that funny, she loved watching her wife laugh unrestrained.

Olivia looked at her now, still chuckling. "Funny, right?"

"It's funny, Liv," Alex said softly.

"Aww, you don't think so…" Olivia looked back at the paper, her eyes now scanning the page, "…that's OK."

Alex took a deep breath.

Olivia looked at her again, her expression now turning serious. "You OK, Babe?" She reached her right hand out now with her palm facing up.

Alex placed her own hand into it and they interlocked fingers. "I'm good, Liv. That's one thing I love watching…you laugh…"

Olivia nodded slowly and then brought their joined hands to her mouth and kissed her knuckles softly. "And I love watching you laugh, too." She dropped their attached hands in between them and leaned forward, moving closer to the blonde.

Alex repeated the action, their faces now aligned. She scanned those rich, warm espresso eyes, those arched brows, those freckles that were splattered across the apples of her cheeks, that golden skin, that pink, plump mouth that was now slightly parted and smiling.

"You know what I love?" Olivia asked.

Alex only shook her head ever-so-slightly.

"The moment right before we kiss…" Olivia whispered.

"This moment right here?"

Olivia's turn to nod.

"Me, too." Alex took another small, deep breath. "Me, too."

Olivia moved to lean even closer now, their lips only making brief contact before Alex's cell phone rang on the kitchen table to her right.

They pulled away and Alex eyed her wife, smirking and holding up her left index finger. "Hold that thought…" She lifted her iPhone and looked at the screen. The name Gwinnie was on the screen. Alex furrowed her brow before looking at her wife and simultaneously sliding to answer. "It's Gwinnie."

Olivia reciprocated the confused expression and lifted her mug again.

She tapped the green phone icon and put it to her left ear, the line on the other end picking up.

"Alexandra?" Gwinnie's uncharacteristically high voice questioned.

"Gwinnie? Is everything OK?" Alex looked at Olivia again who was looking at her with concerned intrigue.

"I'm afraid it isn't, Alexandra."

Alex swallowed hard and cleared her throat. "What happened?" She heard the shakiness in her own voice and closed her eyes.

"It's Cathy. It's your mother, Alexandra. She's…she's had a stroke, Dear. Just this morning."

"A stroke?" Alex whispered.

A small gasp from Olivia now and the blonde didn't dare open her eyes for fear of losing any amount of composure she had at the moment.

"When?" Alex asked.

"This morning…about two hours ago…we were cleaning up after breakfast…."

Alex waited, hearing her wife's chair moving now—wood sliding across hardwoods.

Gwinnie continued, "…and she stopped from rinsing the coffee pot out…and she just froze," Gwinnie's Irish lilt claimed. "I saw her and moved up to her and she was just standing there. All of a sudden, the coffee pot was dropped, cracked in the sink. I moved closer and took her by the shoulders. She just looked at me, but then she started shaking. I walked her to her bedroom, since it was closer and right there, and sat her down. After about ten minutes, she finally snapped out of it. She told me that she was very tired and I asked her if anything else was wrong. She said that she had had a headache all morning and she said she was only tired and a little weak."

Alex swallowed again, now feeling her wife directly next to her, the warmth of her body pressed to her left side, her hand rubbing slow circles on her back. "OK. Did you take her to the hospital? Call 9-1-1?" Alex leaned slightly forward now, her phone to her left ear, her elbow propped on the table, and held her forehead in her right hand, her eyes still closed.

"I called 9-1-1 and they came within about seven minutes. Thankfully. We're here at the hospital now."

"O—" Alex cleared the rasp in her voice. "OK. I'll come out as soon as I can. I can be there in two hours."

"I'll be there, too, Al," Olivia claimed softly from above her.

Alex finally opened her eyes and looked up to find the most concerned, empathetic expression on her wife's face, one that she had only witnessed a small handful of times in her life. This was one of those particular moments and it caused another lump to take up the diameter of her esophagus.

"OK?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.

Alex nodded quickly before returning to the phone call, her eyes never leaving her wife. "Liv and I will leave in about an hour…" She waited.

"OK, Dear. Call when you're here and I'll let you know where we are. The doctor says she'll be here for a few days."

"OK, Gwinnie. Thank you for calling." She continued to watch Olivia.

The brunette folded her arms, her eyes still on her, as well.

"We'll see you soon, Alexandra."

Alex nodded and disconnected the call. She set the phone down on the table and rested her elbow on the surface, placing her hand over her mouth as her eyes glazed over.

And there it was. Her sixth sense had been right once again.

"Babe?" Olivia's voice now.

Alex closed her eyes and took another deep, slow breath, hoping, praying that she could deal with this, but also knowing and understanding that this was just one more life event, one more thread in the fabric of time, that she couldn't, and would never, be prepared for.