Mick’s hair. “You wanna beer, Lily?” she asked, when she caught Lily looking at her.
“Yeah, a beer would be great, thanks.”
Honey sashayed over to the fridge, which, along with a sink and stove, was in the far end of theliving room. It was a tiny apartment. Lily could give herself the grand tour while sitting in one place andpivoting her head. A closed door next to the couch led to what she assumed was the bathroom. A doorwith a beaded curtain led to the bedroom, where Lily could see a queen-size bed covered with one of thechenille peacock bedspreads Jack had described. It really was gorgeous, in a garish sort of way.
The walls of Honey’s apartment were hung with posters depicting dragons, unicorns, fairies, andwizards, and the small bookcase beside Lily housed a collection of science fiction and fantasypaperbacks.
When Honey brought Lily her beer, Lily asked, “You like Marion Zimmer Bradley?”
“Oh, lord,” Mick groaned, lighting up a Marlboro Red. “Don’t get her started talking about thatcrap.”
“Mick’s not much of a reader,” Honey explained.
“She don’t care about nothin’ but riding around with that big ole Harley-Davidson vibratorbetween her legs.”
Suddenly there was a pounding at the screen door and a gruff voice yelling, “I heard there was abuncha dykes holed up in here!”
Lily stiffened at the perceived threat.
Honey rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s just Jack. For somebody with a Doctor in front of hername, she acts like she don’t have a brain in her head.” She turned toward the door and hollered, “Get onin here, you crazy woman!”
Jack swung the door open wide. She was wearing faded Levi’s and a crisp white, button-downshirt. It was the first time Lily had seen her wearing something other than coveralls and mud-caked boots.
“Hey, y’all.” Jack yanked a can of Bud from the six-pack she was carrying and put the rest of thecans in the fridge. “Lily,” she said, grinning broadly. “Glad you could make it.”
“Glad to be here.” Lily watched as Jack made a quick circuit of the room, shaking hands withMick and Dale, giving Honey and Sue courtly kisses on the hand. To Lily’s surprise, Jack settled down onthe floor next to her, making the room a study in butch/ femme pairings.
Lily knew that Jack sitting next to her shouldn’t make her nervous — after all, Jack was the onlyperson in the room whom she’d met before tonight—but it still did, and she found herself knocking backher beer a lot quicker than was probably good for her.
“Hey, Jack,” Honey said, “you’ll never guess who I ran into over at the Piggly Wiggly the other