By Jane Barnes
On Thursday Laura bumped into of all people Andrea who had saved her life she the one who brought her out friends before and after and there they were at the Rix in the candy aisle a quick hello then each moved away to shop. Ready to leave Laura picked up her bag from the stack of candy canes, and swung it over her shoulder, and ran into her at the counter so remembering lesbian tradition, Laura bent over to give Andrea a kiss goodbye. Perversely, Laura leaned forward a little slowly, and Andrew had to offer her lips a little more than she might have otherwise. Or was Andrea really hesitating, because now Laura was in love with a man? Or was it Laura’s bright pink lipstick? Or was it Laura holding back because Andrea seemed to like it? Or did Andrea like it more than she thought she would? Their lips met. They kissed a little one. To Laura it was a little good-bye kiss to them all. Then the women parted and each went her own way. She’d get Dan suspenders for Christmas, thought Laura. That’s what she’d do.
Jane Barnes has published poetry in Getting Bi, Bi Women, Wormwood Review, River Styx, and Massachusetts Review. Her stories have been published in a dozen magazines and collections and received three literary prizes. “The tribeweaver,” a collection of Jane’s poetry over 25 years, is in manuscript.