Andy's Song

  Andy’s song

  andy’s song

  Beth burnett

  Sapphire Books

  Salinas, california

  Andy’s Song

  Copyright © 2013 by Beth Burnett, All rights reserved.

  ISBN EPUB - 978-1-939062-15-4

  This is a work of fiction - names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without written permission of the publisher.

  Cover Design - Christine Svendsen

  Editor - Lee Fitzsimmons

  Sapphire Books

  Salinas, CA 93912

  www.sapphirebooks.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  Second Edition – March 2013

  Dedication

  Dedicated to my constant companion, Brutus. He is more than a mere dog; he is a super-dog. He’s a patient traveler and an uncomplaining co-pilot. He doesn’t question my music choices, and he never asks me if we are there yet.

  Acknowledgements

  A lot of people helped to bring this baby into the world.

  First and foremost, I want to thank Lucretia, who I lived with while writing this book. When finishing this book, I spent about a month doing nothing but eating the meals she put in front of me and drinking coffee in bed on Sundays. Thank you for stepping up while I fell into this book.

  My dear friend and beta reader, Wen, was a life-saver in many ways.

  Lee Fitzsimmons is an amazing editor. She did a thorough and professional job of fixing and polishing both “Man Enough” and “Andy’s Song.”

  My wonderful publisher, Chris, was patient and supportive when I needed it and kicked me in the butt when I needed it.

  My favorite professor and friend, Linda, who told me that giving birth to the baby is one thing, but raising it is quite another. I didn’t quite understand that until the second book.

  And again, my friend and spiritual adviser, Jenny Ritter was the epitome of love and faith. She let me call her again and again to whine about how I was never going to finish and she always knew exactly the right thing to say... every time.

  Chapter One

  I’m on the best date of my life. Well, it’s not exactly a date. I’m escorting a group of women to a fancy dress ball. It’s actually a charity benefit for The Care Center, a foundation that offers support to LGBT people, with a focus on children and teenagers. My best friend Davey has worked there for years. I had planned on coming to the benefit anyway, but I figured I would be bringing one of the women from my little black book. Davey recently broke up with her boyfriend though, so we’re here together. I’ve also got our friends Lynne and Sarah, and Davey’s mom, Leah. Glancing at the three of them in the rear view mirror, I catch Leah’s eye and we grin at each other.

  The ladies spent all afternoon primping. Lynne looks beautiful in a dress with cut outs on the side. Her wife, Sarah, is wearing a well-cut dark gray suit with a red power tie. Leah is wearing a one shoulder dress and her hair is all kind of crisscrossed in some elaborate braid thing that women like to do. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen her out of hippie garb and she looks fantastic. But Davey...Davey looks like a vision. She’s wearing the dress I bought her. It’s low cut in the back and plunging in the front. It swirls all around her in a kind of silky, creamy dream. She says it’s gathered in the front to cover her ginormous stomach, but those are her words, not mine, and they’re completely off base. Davey is about five inches shorter than I am, with long slender legs, rounded hips, perfect breasts and a beautiful face. Her tiny little nose is cute, and her huge brown eyes can turn dark in a second when she wants something from me. Yes, she has a bit of a belly, but it’s adorable and I love putting my hand over it when we cuddle. Besides, I like my women soft. I’m all hard angles. I need curves to fit against.

  I pull up to the valet station and hand off my keys to the porter. I come around to the passenger side and open the door for Davey. She swings one slender leg out of my SUV. I reach out my hand and she slips hers into mine. Even in her heels, she only comes up to my chin, and I resist the urge to kiss her forehead as I guide her out of the vehicle. I tuck her hand through my arm and then turn to Leah, taking her hand as well. Lynne and Sarah are already out and headed into the building.

  Leah looks up at me, grinning, as we head toward the entrance. “What are the chances of me picking up a hot, wealthy man tonight?”

  Smiling down at her, I give her arm a squeeze. “Knowing you, Leah, I’d say the chances are pretty good.”

  “If I had known this was going to be so posh, I would have shaved my legs.”

  Davey gives her mother a disapproving glance as I smile down at Leah.

  “Both of your legs?”

  Leah laughs. “Well...maybe one of them.”

  “Or maybe just an armpit.”

  “My hoo-haw.”

  I snort, as Davey hisses under her breath. “Seriously, you two! Try to behave in a civilized manner tonight.”

  “Civilized?” Leah puts her hand over her heart. “Civilized. Darling, sweetie, daughter of mine. I am always civilized.”

  Nodding in agreement, I give Davey’s hand a tug. “This from the girl who once dropped her rum bottle in the bottom of my jeep and started screaming that she couldn’t find it.”

  “Davey did that?” Leah’s eyebrow is raised.

  “A few years ago. We were driving down a mountain path on St. Thomas. Davey started yelling about how she had dropped her rum. I was on my cell phone, so I tried to ignore her, but she just got louder until I finally hung up the phone and started looking on the floor for the rum.”

  “She couldn’t have looked for it herself?”

  I shake my head. “She was driving.”

  “Davey! Drunk driving is reckless behavior!”

  “I wasn’t drunk. I was the designated driver!” Davey pokes me hard in the rib cage and glares at me. “My mother doesn’t need to know everything I have ever done.”

  Steve and Erik, Davey’s coworkers, come screaming out of the building to accost the ladies. I step back to avoid getting plowed down. Steve is spinning Davey around to admire her dress. I glance at the smooth skin on her back as she hugs the man. Her dress is made of some kind of silky material and it hugs her amazing curves like a second skin. I’m lost for a minute, thinking about sliding my hands over the smooth material, until she turns to smile at me.

  “Come on,” I smile, putting my hand in the small of her back.

  Steve is in a fit. “Leah! You look fabulous. I want to eat you with a spoon.”

  She laughs, tossing her braided head and looking coquettishly up at him. “Anytime, baby.”

  Erik puts his arm around her. “I claimed you first. I know I did. Total dibs!”

  Leah is in Heaven. Capturing the fawning attention of gay men may be her favorite activity in the world.

  Steve and Erik take off with Leah, so I escort Davey the rest of the way in.

  “Your mom is glowing.”

  Davey smiles over at Leah, as we walk into the ballroom. “She loves this sort of thing.”

  “You’re glowing, too.”

  She reaches up and adjusts my bow-tie. “Andy, you look amazing.”

  I shrug. “Well, I do wear a tuxedo extraordinarily well.”

  “You could have ditched the leather boots.”

  I hold out one foot to admire my Doc Martins. “I needed lift. I didn’t want you to Amazon it over me in those killer
heels.”

  She laughs and shakes her head. “Well, you’re the best dressed butch this side of the Mississippi.”

  “Both sides, I should think.”

  Davey is accosted on all sides as we make our way to the table. We make our greetings and manage to make it to our table. I pick up some little glass bowl thing from the table.

  “Ostentatious. Imagine how much more money could have gone to the charity if you didn’t have these.”

  Davey slaps my hand. “The stuff here is donated.”

  Lynne looks up and smiles at me affectionately.

  “Andy, people who pay two-hundred fifty dollars for a dinner expect extravagance.”

  I usher Davey into her seat and slide in beside her. Her long neck looks perfect with her short haircut and the low cut dress. I’m fighting an urge to press my lips to the top of her spine.

  “I would have donated two-hundred fifty bucks just to dance with Davey—regardless of the setting.”

  Davey grins, delighted. “Gram and Gramp’s basement is still available.”

  Gram and Gramp’s basement. That was senior prom. Davey’s boyfriend had broken up with her just a week before prom to go with some fluffy cheerleader. Davey was devastated and I was bewildered. All I wanted was to make my best friend feel better and all I could do was awkwardly pat her back as she cried her eyes out night after night. Finally, I came up with the idea that I would rent a tux and take her to prom myself.

  “You? But you’re a girl,” she had said, laughing. “We can’t go to prom together.”

  “Why not? Other girls go with their girlfriends.”

  “But you’re talking about going as my date.”

  “So what?”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment. I remember staring at her as she rolled the idea around in her head. She was so cute as a teenager. She hadn’t grown into her curves yet, so she was kind of chubby, and her slender, oval face still had those cute, round cheeks. Her big brown eyes were framed with those long, thick lashes, and her tiny little nose was so cute I had to constantly remind myself not to lean over and kiss it.

  “Davey? What do you think?”

  She looked up, grinning. “People will probably make fun of us.”

  “People already make fun of us. I’m a big old homo and you’re my best friend. You should have stopped hanging out with me long before high school.”

  Davey shook her head. “Don’t do that.”

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re mocking yourself.”

  “I am a big homo, Davey.”

  “You don’t have to say it with scorn in your voice.”

  “I’m a freak of nature.”

  “Leah says that homosexuals are a part of nature and that you are obviously part of the goddesses’ plans because you are so beautiful inside and out.”

  “Your mother just spent six months living in a Yurt in the desert, eating shrooms, and having sex with a man who reads people’s auras for a living and calls himself ‘Wise Wing’. I love Leah, but there is the smallest possibility that her freak meter is a little off.”

  Davey laughed, shaking her head. “Well, I love you just the way you are and so do Gram and Gramps. As for Leah, just because she is outside of what most people call normal, doesn’t mean she isn’t wise. Besides, she is my mother and I love her. It’s nice to have her back.”

  “Until the next adventure.”

  “So, do you really want to take me to prom?”

  “Yes.”

  She started to grin. My heart lifted at the idea. I knew it wasn’t a real date. I mean, there was no chance of a hot make out session on the dance floor, but just the idea of holding her close, even if just for one dance was enough to make me crazy. I took her hand.

  “Davey, come on. It will be a great way to spit in the faces of all of those snobby bitches who make fun of us all of the time.”

  “All right. Let’s do it.”

  She threw herself at me and hugged me tight. As she pulled away, I leaned my face against hers for a second, breathing in her scent. She pulled back and looked at me seriously.

  “Andy, this doesn’t mean...”

  “I know,” I said, cutting her off. I didn’t need to hear her say that she wasn’t gay one more time. I knew that. I lived it every day. I watched it as she dated these jackass teenage boys who had no idea of the true value and beauty of this girl.

  The day of the prom, I was walking on air. I cruised into Lakewood looking for a barber shop. Somehow, I couldn’t see getting my haircut at the Bay Barber Shop. And going to Gram’s hairdresser wouldn’t work. I’d been wearing my hair long and in a ponytail for so many years, I wasn’t sure how to describe what I wanted, so I finally took a picture of Simon LeBon to the nearest barber shop.

  “Girl,” the man said to me when I showed him what I wanted, “You’re going to look like a boy.”

  I didn’t know how to explain, so I told him that it was for a school play.

  He shrugged and cut my hair. It didn’t look exactly like Simon from the Hungry Like the Wolf video, but it was pretty close. I remember running my hands through it constantly as I drove back to Bay.

  “Earth to Andy.” I shake my head and bring myself back to the present. Davey is looking at me expectantly. I stare at her for a second, trying to reconcile the beautiful woman with the adorable teenager of my youth. She looks pointedly at the dance floor, then back at me.

  I smile. “Well?”

  “Well? What?” She says archly, raising an eyebrow.

  “Sorry. Let me be more of a gentlewoman.” I stand up and bow low, taking her hand gently. “My lady, would you like to dance?”

  I lead her to the dance floor and guide her to the music. Her body is soft next to mine, and my hands fall naturally into place. I press a bit on her hip when it’s time to turn, or move, and she responds instantly to every step I make. Dancing with Davey is a dream. We’ve been dancing together since we were kids. It’s probably the only exercise she likes. I tried to teach her how to play softball once. She couldn’t hit the ball with the bat, not even once. I tried to teach her how to pitch, but she somehow managed to knock the ball back into her own face instead of throwing it to me. She got pissed and refused to play any more after that. I know, I shouldn’t have laughed as hard as I did, but it was so ridiculous and cute, I couldn’t help myself.

  Davey interrupts my thoughts. “Maybe we should take dance lessons.”

  “Davey, if you want me to take dance lessons with you, I will. But why don’t you look for one that’s a little sexier—like salsa or tango?”

  She brings her face close to mine, breathing against my ear. “You might lose control of yourself if you have to tango with me.”

  I already have. I bring her down into a low dip and press my lips into the hollow of her neck. Bringing her back up, I swing her around to face me and press my mouth against hers. She opens her lips to me, letting me slide my tongue gently against hers. I groan against her mouth, gripping her against me. She kisses me for a minute before sliding her lips along my face and across my jaw. I can feel the pressure building, and suddenly, all I can think of is getting her out of here and back to my house.

  “Andy,” she whispers. “Maybe I should stay at your house tonight.”

  I’ve been waiting for this for thirty-three years. It’s possibly a bit less than thirty-three years, since I probably wasn’t in love with her when we met at age seven, but it was pretty soon after that. I always tell people that I knew I was gay, or at least that I was different, when I was eight. I was at a pool party at a kid’s house and his mom was wearing a black bikini with a see through cover-up over it. I remember having the most amazing stirrings that I could only attribute to love. That’s a true story, but really, I first knew I had feelings for girls instead of boys when this bastard Jimmy DeMarco kissed Davey on the cheek during recess. I knocked him down, and he ran away crying to the teacher. Davey was so mad at me for hurting him, but all
I knew was that I couldn’t stand the idea of someone else kissing her.

  “Davey.” I look seriously into her eyes. It takes all of my will to say this, but I have to get it out. “Don’t do this. This isn’t what you want.”

  “It is what I want.”

  I pull her close to me and just let the music move my body. One of my hard rules is “Do not date anyone who is on the rebound.” Granted, I would break just about any rule I have for Davey, but she is in a bad place right now. Dating me might seem like a great idea, but what happens when she comes to her senses and realizes that this is all wrong? There are a million reasons to be together, but one huge reason to be apart. She’s straight. That’s a pretty big obstacle in a lesbian relationship.

  On the other hand, I have spent the past thirty-three years protecting Davey and trying to do what’s best for her. And frankly, I think what would be best for her would be to settle down with me. I’m a good catch. I have money and a decent house. I’ve had plenty of sex so I know what I’m doing, but I’m more than willing to give up one night stands with random women in order to be committed to Davey. I open car doors for her. I care about her feelings. I’m physically fit. I’m tall and muscular and I have a nicely shaped head. I’m an old school butch, and I need a beautiful femme like Davey to make me complete. I lean my face against the top of her head and she snuggles in closer to me. My arms tighten around her.

  “You have such strong arms.”

  “I’ll have to keep working out.”

  “You can always do P90X with Gramps.”

  Davey’s grandparents are the best. We have fundamental disagreements on many subjects, but to their credit, they took me in when my parents kicked me out. But they were good to me long before then. They were Davey’s surrogate parents since Leah was gone so often and they were my surrogate parents since my parents didn’t really want to be parents.