"Mom!" Aiden, for as much as Deborah hated his referring to her as mom, was always genuinely happy to see her. He wrapped her into a tight hug. "I'll go get her, she's in the nursery."
Deborah was left standing inside the doorway.
"Hey mom," DJ entered the room and waved her mother in. "Why didn't you sit down?"
"You were in the nursery?" Deb raised an eyebrow, but revealed nothing in her tone.
"Oh, that," DJ rolled her eyes. "Aiden and I are having a disagreement about whether the extra room should be a nursery or an office. We have no need for a nursery right now and every need for an office."
"Ah, I see," Deborah joined her daughter on the couch.
"I promise if there was anything new on the baby front, you would have heard about it," DJ assured her.
Nodding, Deborah said nothing which set off sirens for the daughter who knew better. Deborah Vance rarely chose silence over acerbic wit.
"What's up, Mom? You aren't dying, are you?"
"No, I'm not dying!" Deb snapped and immediately felt bad for having done so. She hadn't realized that sitting down with DJ to discuss Ava would put her on edge. Placing a hand on her daughter's, she chose to lean into the discomfort. "I wanted to talk to you about Ava."
"Oh, that," DJ waved it away. "I know."
"You know?" Deb looked at her suspiciously.
"Well, I don't know the dirty details, but yeah. I'm not blind."
"Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing…" Deborah dragged it out.
"You and your former writing partner are now partners of another kind, yeah, I get it. It's not like either of you kept your feelings hidden well."
Deborah was speechless. She retracted her dropped jaw and pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath.
"Who else knows?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, I don't think anyone. If they do, nobody is talking about it. I already warned Ava. It's all good."
Deborah was completely taken aback by DJ's ambivalence to the whole matter. She expected to be admonished at the very least.
"Hey, it's okay," DJ felt as uncomfortable being in the position of reassuring her mother as Deborah felt on the receiving end, but they allowed it. "Nobody that matters cares. The rest might not understand it, but they've never understood you anyway. You're just the standup who burned down her ex-husband's house."
"I love her, DJ," Deborah confessed and shock registered on her daughter's face.
"Wow, umm, I didn't see that coming."
"Neither did I," she admitted drily. It was without question the most vulnerable she had ever been with DJ. Even more so than when she asked for her daughter's permission before airing their dirty laundry in her 2,500th and final performance of her Palmetto residency. "But sometimes the things we least expect are the things we need the most."
"That sounded like a Hallmark card."
"Oh, fuck off," Deborah scowled at DJ.
"She loves you too," DJ's words were enough for Deborah to settle down. "I think she has for a long time, though I didn't see it right away. I saw it the night I got married. She was mad at you, but also sad for you. And she said something that night about you being her closest relationship. That she wasn't actually attracted to you. It didn't really make sense. Maybe she was high."
Deb snorted. That sounded like Ava. Looking back, she couldn't imagine anyone else doing what Ava did that night to ensure she watched her daughter's wedding. Only Ava would see the importance and force it on Deborah. Only Ava would have been forgiven for forcing something on Deborah.
"You are really okay with this?" Deborah asked the question again.
"It's a little weird, sure, but I like Ava. And I like when you are happy which you definitely are when she's around. Life is short. People are going to talk. Fuck 'em."
Deborah smiled at her daughter's attitude. Growing up with the press always watching had given DJ a healthy bit of cynicism. For her to not care what might be said was a credit to rehab, therapy and, Deborah hated to admit, Aiden. She might have to tip DJ off when it was time for the relationship to go public. If anyone deserved to and could make a few bucks off the tabloids' interest in late-in-life lesbian Deborah Vance hooking up with a woman who happened to be younger than her own daughter, it was DJ.
"While you're here, can we talk about Aiden's birthday?" DJ changed the subject quickly to avoid any more of the touchy-feely with a woman who had never really been that kind of mom. They had reached their limit. "It's his 40th and I want it to be memorable."
Deborah leaned into the couch and listened to DJ's outlandish ideas, shooting most of them down before finally agreeing to host her son-in-law's party.
…
"Kiki informed me I'm coming to a birthday party," Ava spoke into her phone as she laid on her back on the floor with her feet up on the wall. Somebody on TikTok claimed the position improved circulation and prolonged your life.
"I was going to talk to you about that," Deb was apologetic out of the gate. "I guess I shouldn't have dithered."
"You were dithering?" Ava smiled at the thought. She always thought of Deborah as particularly decisive. Maybe that was Deborah Vance, comedian and all-around badass, and this was simply Deb.
"Tell me how you really feel about people knowing about us."
Ava sat upright and leaned against the wall for support.
"I'm not ashamed, Deb," she answered. She would continue to repeat this for as long as it took for Deborah to believe it.
"We'll be amongst friends, mostly."
"How are you feeling about it?" Ava asked her in all seriousness. When the conversation between Deborah and DJ had happened, Ava hoped this would be the next step.
There was silence on the line that made Ava antsy. This was precisely why she hadn't fully embraced hope. Hope was a bastard.
"It's time," Deborah spoke only the two words, but the change in her breathing and tone suggested those two words left her feeling lighter. When she heard nothing in response she worried. "Ava?"
"Yeah, I'm here, I'm…" Ava was in tears.
"Crying?" Deb deadpanned.
Ava laughed and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"I'm proud of you, D," her voice was raspy with emotion.
"Because I waited until I was 70 years old to explore my sexuality?" she rolled her eyes at this.
"That and the way you are dealing with your life so honestly in your standup these days. Your bravery is inspiring."
Deborah felt tears welling in her own eyes. It pissed her off. "You little shit," she husked, her own emotions evident.
"How you want me—us—to behave at the party will be fine. Being in the same room with you is enough for me, you know that. If I can touch you, too? All the better."
"How long can you stay?" Deb heard the insecurity and desperation in her tone as well as the feelings as they resonated in her body. She thought back to Ava once assuring her that a visit wouldn't ever leave them alone together. Now all she ever wanted was to be alone with the girl. There's your irony, darling, she thought.
"A long weekend?" Ava wouldn't impose no matter how badly she craved being in the woman's presence. If she allowed it, a soul-crushing fear of again being banished would sneak in.
"Pack your bathing suit," Deb told her and laughed at the groan her instruction elicited.
The long weekend couldn't come soon enough.
…
"Ava!" Luna screamed as she wiggled away from her mother and ran to the redhead was was exiting the airport.
"Luna-bear!" Ava scooped her up and tickled her. "Hey, Keeks."
"Hi, pancake," she gave Ava a side hug and opened the back door for her to put Luna in her car seat. "How was the flight?"
"Short and sweet," she said, buckling Luna up. "Just like this girl."
"I have strict instructions to deliver you to Deborah's. Does this mean the two of you are over pretending you aren't…" Kiki whispered "…f-u-c-k-i-n-g like bunnies every time you see each other now?"
"Kiki! There is a child in the car," Ava said in mock outrage.
"I'm not buying it," Kiki wagged her finger at her friend before pulling out into airport traffic. Ava couldn't avoid blushing. "I love you, but you annoy me."
"Aww, I love you, too," Ava made fish lips at Kiki who laughed before turning up the radio and belting out the lyrics of the song she had on repeat.
…
"Thanks for the ride. You sure you don't want to come in?" Ava looked at Kiki and back at little Luna.
"That girl will turn into a monster if I wake her."
"I don't believe it's possible," Ava grinned. "You're coming to the party, right?"
"Of course," Kiki answered. "I have a great bikini to rock."
"Be still my heart." Ava fanned herself and Kiki swatted at her.
"Tell Deborah hello for us and we will see you tomorrow."
Ava hopped out of the black Rolls awkwardly and grabbed her bag, waving goodbye as she walked up to the house. For a long moment she stood there debating whether she should knock or go in. She lived in this house for a time, but it was no longer her home. While the sadness started seeping in, the door was thrown open and she caught Marcus walking away.
"Deborah is upstairs," he said flippantly.
"O-kay…" she mumbled.
Taking off her boots, she left them by the door, keeping her bag with her. Marcus hadn't said what Deb was doing upstairs so Ava was again left to debate what to do. She took a chance and began the climb to the second floor. She had forgotten how much of a workout this house was.
"Deb?" she spoke loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to disturb anyone.
"In here," Deborah responded from inside her bedroom suite.
Opening the door and entering the room, Ava found Deborah on the couch with a mess of paperwork. Her glasses were perched on her nose. A brief look up was all that it took for Deborah to have a smile on her face and for Ava to feel desire coursing through her body.
"Hey," Deb took off her glasses and rearranged some paperwork so she could stand.
"Why does it look like you brought your entire office file cabinet up here?" Ava moved closer and was pleased when Deborah kissed her. She hummed against the woman's welcoming lips.
"I missed you," the legendarily guarded Deborah Vance admitted. Ava felt the words as surely as she heard them.
"I missed you, lady."
They part before their emotions and hands can get too far afield.
"I did bring the office upstairs. The pool people were here and it was too damn loud to get anything done," Deborah explained, moving over to the foot of the bed where they could both sit comfortably. She was surprised that Ava hadn't launched into her spiel about the value of noise-cancelling headphones. Those arguments always ended with Deb defending the quality of her wigs.
"Is that why Marcus is in a mood?" Ava asked.
"Is he?" she linked their hands without the slightest hesitation.
"Ah, maybe it's me."
"I haven't talked to him," Deb was embarrassed.
"Hey, it is okay. You talked to DJ."
Ava started tracing patterns on the back of Deb's hand to keep herself from being lost to the woman's magnetism.
"Marcus is like a son and if you repeat that to DJ, you won't have to worry about her breaking your legs because I'll do it myself," Deborah threatened.
"Damn, D! Why do I find it so hot when you are threatening bodily harm?" Ava joked. Was it a joke? she felt her body warming to the thought.
"Dream on, Daniels," she winked and Ava lost the thread.
"Umm…I'll go put my bag in the guest room and then I can help you with whatever needs to be done for tomorrow." Ava was clearly flummoxed and Deborah laughed.
"I don't know what is more absurd about that statement—that you think you'll be sleeping in the guest room or that you'll be allowed to help Damien with party planning."
"We didn't really talk about where I'd be sleeping," Ava stated. The way she shrugged was sheepish, but not disappointed.
"I thought we were past needing to."
At this, Ava kissed Deborah fiercely. When they parted, they were left staring at one another. It was only when they heard Josephina coming through the door that they fully separated.
To be continued…