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behind Candace’s back.
    “Watch
it,” Candace warned. “You’ll be sleeping with Jinx.”
    “Throwing
me to the pussy ca….” Jameson almost ran into Candace, who had stopped abruptly.
    “Shell?”
Candace looked at her daughter who was fast asleep on the living room sofa.
    “Shell?”
Jameson repeated in surprise. She put her hands on Candace’s shoulders and felt
the tension there. “I’m sure everything is okay,” she whispered in Candace’s
ear.
    Candace
sighed and made her way to her daughter. “Shell,” she called gently.
    Michelle
opened her eyes and immediately started crying. “Mom,” she sniffled and grabbed
onto her mother.
    Candace
looked back at Jameson helplessly. Jameson sighed. “I’ll go start some coffee,”
she said softly. Candace nodded.
    Jameson
made her way into the kitchen and started the coffee. She flopped into a chair
and sighed. Jinx hopped into her lap and Jameson chuckled. “This is about the
extent of my parenting skills,” she said. One of the things she admired most
about Candace was how she interacted with her children. It left her breathless
on many occasions, just listening to Candace talk on the phone with one of her
children. It wasn’t something she had ever shared with Candace. It was one of
those things that Jameson kept to herself and admired from a distance. It was
also one of the parts of Candace that Jameson was positive made her fall even
more deeply in love with the woman. It was interesting to Jameson; watching how
Marianne, Michelle, and Johan morphed from grown adults into small children in
their mother’s presence at times, each searching for her affection and approval.
She wondered how they could not realize that the sun rose and set in each of
them for their mother. Candace bragged about all of her children incessantly,
just like Pearl waffled on about Candace without even knowing it. Jameson
wondered if it was the same with her mother.
    Jameson
was watching the slow drip of the coffee maker contemplating what she should
busy herself with when she heard Candace’s footsteps approaching. “She okay?”
Jameson asked.
    Candace
let out a heavy sigh and Jameson got up and headed toward her. “It doesn’t get any
easier,” Candace said as she collapsed her head onto Jameson’s shoulder.
    Jameson
held her close. “What happened?”
    “I
don’t know.”
    “She
didn’t tell you?”
    Candace
sighed again. “She was too busy crying and apologizing for screwing up our
weekend. She didn’t think we would be here.”
    “I
don’t get it,” Jameson admitted.
    “I
don’t either,” Candace said with a shake of her head. “I think she just needed
to get away. Our conversation, or rather her crying was interrupted when I got
a message,” Candace said quietly.
    “Don’t
tell me.”
    Candace
pulled back and looked at Jameson apologetically. She cupped Jameson’s face in
her hands and smiled. “I’m not leaving. I do have to take a call in fifteen
minutes. I have no idea how long it will last.”
    “Don’t
you get weekends off? I thought that was a perk,” Jameson tried to make light
of the sudden chaos in their romantic weekend.
    “Not
when the president requests you, no.” Jameson’s eyes grew wide. Candace
couldn’t help but giggle. “We’re old friends. I’m not even sure what it is regarding,” Candace said,
pulling away from Jameson and taking a seat in one of the kitchen chairs.
    “But,
you have some idea.”
    Candace
groaned. “I do.”
    “What
is it; secret squirrel stuff?” Jameson laughed. Candace grimaced. Jameson
sometimes did forget that Candace had knowledge of, and dealt with issues that
Jameson could not fathom. “That bad?”
    “Nothing
you need to worry about,” Candace assured her lover. “And, I promise to make it
as short as I can.”
    Jameson
nodded. She grabbed a large mug, poured in a dash of cream, and filled it with
coffee. She turned and handed it to Candace. “You might need this,” she