They headed onto C.R. 62 toward the outskirts of town where her grandmother's friends were gathering for their weekly Wednesday card game. After a mile or two, Susie's muscles stiffened up. She groaned and tried to stretch in the cramped car.

"Are tired you, Susana?"

"Si, estoy cansada."

"You mama work you too hard."

With a yawn, Susie nodded, but then whipped her head around to look at her grandmother with narrowed eyes. "Estas hablando ingles?" Susie's grandmother had never seriously tried to speak English before.

"Yes, I is."

"Am," Susie corrected. "Yes, I am."

"Aay, ingles es muy dificil."

"Yup," Susie laughed. "English can be hard, but if you keep at it, you'll be speaking like me soon enough."

"Aay, si." Her grandmother laughed.

"But why are you speaking English, Abuelita?"

"I learn English to speak to your Marlee."

The warmth that overtook Susie came straight from the center of her heart. In the seventeen years her grandmother had been in the states, nothing had motivated her to learn English. Not answering the telephone, not shopping in stores, not communicating with the family's English-speaking friends. Susie took her eyes off the road long enough to smile at her grandmother. "Thank you, Abuelita. That's really nice."

"She nice girl. Un querubin."

Susie grinned. "A little angel." I think so, too.

"Si," her grandmother tapped her on the arm, "you have happy glow when you talk of your Marlee."

Susie gulped. How much did her grandmother know?

"Tu mama, she no see yet. Aay, she no see that you fall in love with el querubin"

Susie swallowed hard. Her grandmother knew she had fallen in love with Marlee. Maybe she had been too careless the other day when Marlee came to the house. Miguel figured it out, too. Aay, but then again, he had seen them kissing--kind of a dead giveaway. She'd have to be much more careful in the future.

But wait, Susie thought, her grandmother wasn't freaking out. In fact, she sounded, what was the right word? Supportive. That was not a word she ever expected to use when her family found out she liked girls, and liked one blue-eyed blonde-haired girl in particular.

Her grandmother tapped Susie's arm. Susie jumped at the touch, she had been so lost in thought. "You mama will see the light soon. She no want you take tough path in life. She no want you hurt. You," her grandmother wagged a finger at her, "be honesty to self, then all is good."

Susie took a deep breath, and willed herself not to cry. If her grandmother accepted her, could her mother and father? For that, she'd need a miracle.

Chapter Nine.

In the Closet THE NEXT COUPLE of days were filled with all kinds of chores. One day Susie pressure washed the driveway, and the next she started cleaning out the basement. The basement job would take at least three days, but since the late July days were starting to heat up, she didn't mind having to spend time in the cool space.

It was Saturday, her third and, hopefully, final day in the basement. Susie looked at the clock on the wall over the washing machine. It was a few minutes past noon. The Nor'easters' game had started at ten o'clock and should just about be over. She'd wait a few more minutes and then call Marlee to see how the game went. She took a cardboard box off the dusty shelving unit and brought it to the now cleared worktable to sort through it. Half the stuff in the basement was junk, which most likely included the stuff in the box. She was just about to toss a broken toaster into the trash bag when her phone rang.

She shoved the toaster aside and squealed when she saw Marlee's name on the caller ID. She flipped open the phone.

"Marlee?"

"Hi! How're you holding up in that musty old basement?"

Susie could hear Marlee's smile through the cell phone. "It is what it is. I wish you were here. Or I was there."

"Me, too. I miss you. The Nor'easters miss you, too."

"Uh, oh." Susie leaned her head on her hand. "What happened?" Through the phone she heard a car engine start up and figured Marlee was heading home.

"Coach Gellar had to move Rachel from center to left and, I don't know. Rachel complained that the balls came to her faster in left than in center."

"Did she make an error?" Susie cringed.

"More like three."

"Three? Aay, Coach Gellar's probably so pissed at me that she can't even think straight."

"We won though, so it worked out."

"Oh, good." Susie sat up straighter, and they talked about the game and how Marlee pitched and how Marlee couldn't wait for Lisa to play the following Tuesday.

"Sam'll be ecstatic to have Lisa on the team. They're so in love," Susie teased.

"I know. Are we all gushy and icky sweet like Lisa and Sam?"

Susie laughed. "I don't know. I think maybe we are."

Just then Susie heard a voice in the background yell something like, "Life is good!"

"Who was that?" Susie asked.

When Marlee didn't answer right away, Susie's radar went on high alert. Was it Bree? Was Marlee driving her home or something? Was Marlee driving her to some secluded place to be alone? Susie kicked the work table. "Ow," she said.

"What happened?" Marlee asked. "Are you okay?"

"Just banged my foot. I'm fine." But not really. "Are you on your way home?"

"I'm on the road, yeah."

Susie frowned. Her answer sounded kind of evasive. "Call me when you get home and settled. Unless you're working at D'Amico's?"

"Nope. No D'Amico's today. Tomorrow."

"Cool. I need a real job, too."

"You'll get one. Once you're off restriction, that is."

"Oh, hey, Christy called last night. She made it to California in one piece and moved into her apartment."

"That's awesome. I'm glad she's getting settled."

They talked a bit more about Christy, but then Marlee said she needed to hang up in order to concentrate on the road. Susie hung up reluctantly. She rubbed her eyes wondering if the voice she thought she heard had been her imagination. Maybe it had been the radio. But why didn't Marlee just say it was the radio, or someone in the next car, or whatever?

Her phone rang again jolting her out of her spiraling depression. "What's up, Sam?" There was no enthusiasm in her voice.

"Oh, that's nice. You sound like you lost your best friend."

Susie sighed. "I just talked to Marlee on the phone."

"You just talked to Marlee?"

"Yeah, I think she might be interested in that Bree girl."

"Bree? Who's that?" Sam sounded perplexed.

"That Southbridge pitcher."

"Oh, yeah," Sam said. "I saw her hanging around the field today."

"See?"

"I'm coming over."

"Why?"

"You need cheering up," Sam said. "I'll meet you in your room."

"I'm in the basement."

"Just go to your room."

"Why?"

"Just go," Sam demanded. "I don't want to go into that yucky basement."

"Okay, fine. Whatever." Susie thought Sam was acting really weird. Maybe there was some truth to Bree turning Marlee's head. Maybe Sam, good friend that she was, wanted to break it to her gently. "I'll see you in a few." Susie made her way up the basement stairs.

"Ciao." Sam hung up.

"Mami," Susie called, "I'm taking a break in my room for a minute. Sam's coming over."

"Not too long," her mother called back from her bedroom where she was organizing her closet. Apparently, watching Susie work so hard had motivated her as well.

"Okay." Susie was too tired to really care, but she'd have to make sure Sam didn't stay too long.

Susie trudged up the stairs to her room and washed her hands and face in the bathroom. She was about to throw herself on her bed in exhaustion when she noticed the rose quartz on the rock shelf. She held it up to the light and thought about Marlee. She gripped it tightly in her hand letting misery wash over her. She crumpled onto the bed, her back to the door, and tried not to think about Marlee alone with Bree.

After a while, she heard the unmistakable sound of Sam's Sebring pulling in to the driveway. The car door opened and then shut, but Susie didn't bother to roll over. Sam knew the way to her room and would let herself in. Susie stroked the smooth surface of the quartz she still held in her hand. "Marlee, don't break my heart."

"I won't."

Susie bolted upright off the bed. "You'd better not be a hallucination." She raced into Marlee's open arms. She kissed her lips and then held her face so she could kiss every square inch of it. "What are you doing here? How did you--" She glanced out the window toward the house.

"Don't worry. They don't know I'm here. Sam went inside to keep your parents occupied and to give us some alone time. I snuck out of her car and then up here."

"I didn't even hear you." Susie drank in Marlee like she hadn't seen her in months instead of days. "I thought you were on your way home."

"No," Marlee smiled and pulled Susie closer, "we just made you think that. I was in Sam's car when I called you."

"That was Sam's voice I heard?"

Marlee nodded.

"Not Bree?"

Marlee shook her head. "Susie, I'm not interested in Bree. She keeps calling me, at least twice a day, sometimes more, but I keep blowing her off. I told her not to call so much, that my mom needed the phone for business." She ran a finger down Susie's cheek. "I want to be with my latina girlfriend, Susana. Perhaps you've heard of her? Gorgeous girl, woman actually, with long brownish-reddish hair and biceps like granite?"

Susie put her arms around Marlee's waist. "Never heard of her, but you can be with me if you want."

"I want." Marlee pointed to the bed. "We've got five minutes, tops. Let's not waste it."

Susie's growl came from somewhere deep within. She grabbed Marlee's hand and pulled. Susie flopped on the bed and pulled Marlee on top of her. If her mother found Marlee there, especially like this on the bed with her, Susie was sure she'd be dead meat or worse. But at that moment she didn't care.

Marlee nestled herself on top of Susie and began stroking her face. She leaned down to kiss Susie's cheek and then kissed her way to an ear. She suckled the delicate skin of Susie's earlobe and then kissed her way along Susie's jaw line to repeat the torture on the other earlobe.

Susie, meanwhile, stroked Marlee's back and let her hands reach just above Marlee's butt. Oh, how she wanted to reach lower, grab two handfuls, and press Marlee against her, but Marlee was in charge, and she couldn't rush her. Susie's breathing got heavier as Marlee's lips trailed a path along the soft skin of her neck. She couldn't stand it any longer and pulled Marlee front and center for a full kiss on the lips. Marlee moaned which sent Susie's stirred up libido into overdrive. Taking charge, she grabbed Marlee by the waist and then with one swift move, flipped her over and scrambled on top. She strategically placed her thigh where Marlee would appreciate it most and applied a little pressure. Marlee's moan meant she'd hit the mark.

Susie kissed the same path Marlee had taken. She revered Marlee's sweet chiseled face as she went, but didn't stop there. She kissed her way down Marlee's neck trailing kisses along her collar bone, Marlee's moans spurring her on. She was just about to pull Marlee's shirt collar lower so she could kiss the sensitive skin there, when Sam's voice in the driveway stopped her.

"Okay, Mr. Torres, I'll tell her. It was nice to see you all again."

Susie heard the mudroom door slam and then Sam's footsteps on the driveway heading toward the garage.

Susie stopped her trail of kisses and groaned. "Aay! There's never enough time."

Marlee smiled sadly. "I know. We'll more than make up for it next time we're alone."

Susie pushed herself off of Marlee and then helped her sit up. They sat on the bed and laughed as Sam made her presence known. She stomped on the bottom stair and called up loudly. "Susie, are you home? It's me, Sam. I'm coming up the stairs now. One," bam she pounded her foot on the stair, "stair," bam, "at a time." Bam, bam, bam. "Okay, I'm at your door." She stood on the other side, but didn't open it.