A Tiger in Suburbia by Anna Woiwood

Author:Anna Woiwood [Woiwood, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Addiction, Age Gap, Amnesia, Angsty, Bi or Pansexual, Cheating/Infidelity, Children, Family, Family Relationships, Femme/Femme, HEAT LEVEL: Medium, Historical, Interracial/Multicultural Relationship, Lesbian Romance, Mature Lead 40+, Mystery, Native American, Paranormal Encounters, Pregnancy, Religion, Romance After 50, Sapphic Romance, Slow Burn, Suspense, Taboo/Forbidden Relationship, Time Travel
Goodreads: 198630245
Published: 2023-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The three rows of pews that separated Vera from Joan seemed as vast as the Pacific Ocean.

She heard nothing of the good word spoken from the pulpit.

She was inside Joan’s room, in a world far removed from the sanctuary. Naked bodies and sweaty skin and swollen lips and hours of time, of nothing but time.

Afterward, she watched Joan furtively as she greeted her fellow congregants. Their eyes met briefly, before Vera watched Joan disappear into a corridor.

Vera told Roger she had to use the restroom.

There was a stairwell.

Vera slid inside and found Joan pressed against the wall.

She looked at her through wide, dark eyes.

“Your eyes could burn a building down.” Joan said.

Vera couldn’t help the slow smile that came to her lips.

Her hand reached out to wrap about Joan, to pull her close.

“We have to be careful.” Joan warned as she allowed Vera a kiss.

“Aren’t we always?” Vera hummed boredly.

“I wouldn’t say always…not with a stunt like you pulled yesterday.” Joan smiled at her as she caressed her arm.

“I don’t know how else we accomplish it. You’re busy when I’m free. And one night a week isn’t enough for me.”

Joan laughed. “I know.” She sobered. “I know.”

“I want to go away, I want to…I want to be far away from here.” Vera ran her fingers over Joan’s waist.

“Darling,” Joan examined her. “Are you all right?”

Vera shook her head, trying to stop the tears from falling.

Her family was only a wall away. She had only a few precious seconds. “I’m fine. It’s this…awful pregnancy.” She took a deep breath to steal herself.

It had not been like this the past two times. But as the awful doctor downtown had mentioned, it was different the older a woman was.

“Is the baby okay?” Joan reached for her arm.

“Yes. I just wish…”

Joan kissed her. “I do, too.”

Vera’s stomach knotted at the impossibility of their situation, of the days that would stretch out unendingly before she could see Joan again.

Joan fixed her lipstick then shoved her out of the stairwell.

Vera lit a cigarette outside the church.

Roger and the children found her there.

Joan appeared, shaking Reverend Johns’ hand in the doorway. She looked at Vera as she walked down the steps and Vera’s heart pounded in her ears.

Roger turned as Joan descended the steps. He saw her.

It seemed inevitable that they should collide like this.

Joan smiled at Vera, friendly, aloof. “I look forward to the auxiliary meeting, Vera. It will be so nice to have an update on the fundraiser.”

“Yes, it’s coming along.” Vera tried to smile, unable to look at Joan, so that she turned to her husband. “Roger, you know Joan? Joan DeBoer?”

Roger extended his hand and she watched as Joan’s slender hand was taken into his rough one. “You must be the one I lose my wife to once a week.”

Vera puffed at her cigarette.

Joan smiled warmly, not at all perturbed. “She’s quite an asset to the church, I must say.”

Vera found she was holding her breath.

He did not seem to place any importance upon meeting Joan and it irritated Vera.

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