Colt left around noon.
He packed a bag, loaded it into his truck, and said his goodbyes on the porch. He hugged Becca warmly (“Take care of my girl") and shook Ellie's hand with his other hand on her shoulder, a little nod that spoke volumes about their conversation that morning.
Then he turned to Kelly, and the goodbye between them was something Ellie felt she shouldn't watch but couldn't look away from. He held her face in both hands and kissed her, slow and deep, and Kelly's hands went to his waist and held him, and they stayed like that for a long, unhurried moment that was so obviously intimate, so obviously genuine, that Ellie’s hand found Becca’s and held it tight.
"Have fun," he said when they pulled apart. "Be safe. Call me whenever."
"Always," Kelly replied. “Be sensible.”
He grinned, then they watched his truck disappear down the gravel road, dust rising behind it, leaving just the three of them, the house, the land, and the rest of the weekend stretching ahead of them.
The change in mood was gradual, and as Ellie thought afterwards rightly so. It wouldn’t have seemed right if suddenly Becca and Kelly were all over each other. But as the afternoon went on and Kelly showed them around the ranch properly the restraint that Becca and Kelly had shown started to dissipate, little touches here and there, easy physical intimacy.
Ellie noticed, and felt the loop start to crank itself up… not much, but enough to tease the night ahead.
The property in the afternoon light was beautiful in a way that photographs couldn't capture: twenty acres of rolling green studded with oaks, the horses in their paddock, a vegetable garden that Kelly claimed to maintain but that looked suspiciously like Colt's work, not to mention the watering hole itself, a spring-fed stock pond at the far edge of the property surrounded by flat limestone and old trees whose branches dipped towards the water.
“We’ll come here at sunset,” Kelly said, standing at the edge, the water reflecting the blue sky above. “Then the fun can begin.” She looked at both of them with that grin, the Kelly grin, the one that saidthis is going to be fun and we all know it. "Water's warm enough to swim in by this time of year. When the stars come out it's like swimming in the sky."
They walked back to the house, and the afternoon passed easily. They drank cold beers, Kelly told stories about ranch life, some hilarious and some frankly terrifying. Beneath it all the current between Becca and Kelly was running stronger by the hour, their body language more openly intimate, the touches lingering longer, the eye contact holding.
It was a form of foreplay, Ellie knew, and not just for the other two. She could feel it ratcheting up gradually too, the anticipation of what was to come.
Late in the afternoon, as the light started turning golden, Becca stood and walked over to Ellie without a word. She reached behind her neck and when her hands came down she was holding the necklace. She kneeled down next to Ellie, a little, excited smile playing around the edge of her mouth.
“I love you so, so much.” She leaned in to kiss Ellie slowly, right there in front of Kelly, and Ellie felt herself melt into it. “Will you look after this for me?”
“I love you so much too.” Ellie lifted her hair and Becca put the necklace on her. “You’ll come back to me later?”
A little nod. “Always.”
Kelly watched from her chair. She didn't say anything, but Ellie saw her eyes follow the necklace from Becca's neck to Ellie's, saw her register the two pendants now resting side by side against Ellie's collarbone, saw her look at Becca's bare throat and sit up a little straighter in her seat.
Becca turned and walked over to Kelly. “I’m yours now.”
Kelly held out her hand and pulled Becca down onto the seat next to her, kissing her, softly and gently. “Yes you are,” she whispered.
That was it, the mood had shifted and the night was happening. Even just sat there on the porch that loop was starting to get loud… good loud, but loud.
The three of them sat there, watching the sun start to set, Becca in Kelly’s arms now, until eventually Kelly said, "I think it’s swimming time.”
Becca laughed and nodded, while Ellie smiled. The light caught Kelly's honey-blonde hair and the evening began.
Chapter 21
Kelly produced three soft cotton bathrobes from the hall closet and handed them out (“Colt thinks it’s pretentious having these for guests, I call it civilised”) alongside a stack of thick towels.
Ellie went to get changed in to her swimsuit and when she came back out Becca and Kelly were waiting on the porch, robes tied loosely, towels over their shoulders. Ellie knew that Becca hadn’t been into the room to get her own swimsuit, and she could tell from the way they both had their robes loosely hung that neither of them was wearing anything underneath. Becca caught her eye and gave her a small, mischievous smile that confirmed it.
“Love you,” she mouthed.
Ellie simply grinned and blew her a kiss.
Kelly handed them each a large torch. “You’ll be grateful for those later,” she added, then led them down a path through the oaks towards the watering hole. The sun was low now, the skyturning amber at the horizon and deep blue above, and the air was still plenty warm enough that the robes felt like a little too much rather than not enough.
The watering hole in the fading light was even more beautiful than it had been that afternoon. The water was a dark mirror, perfectly still, the sunset reflected in it so that the surface looked like liquid gold. The flat limestone rocks around the edge were pale and warm from the day’s heat, the oak trees reaching overhead. Kelly laid a towel out on the flattest stretch of stone near the water’s edge before, without hesitation, dropping her robe and walking naked into the water.
Becca’s robe followed a second later, laid next to her towel on the limestone, and she waded in after Kelly, gasping as the water hit her waist. “Oh my God, it’s perfect.”
