Chapter 4

Rebecca

She received a hundred compliments on her new Kate Spade shift dress when she walked into the office that following Monday. Becca attempted to convince Caitlyn to wear her matching peplum dress, but that idea was shot down. Her loss. They were both super cute in their respective outfits.

"Kill me," was the group text she received from Jane, who was trapped at Winchester Academy for that day's matriculation ceremony. Although Cecelia was a sophomore, as a new student she was invited to participate in the ceremony usually reserved for freshmen, and that meant her guardian had to be there. Never mind how many pictures the relatives back in Hong Kong demanded… "If I have to watch one more woman who barely knows her kid's name cry…"

"Get over it," Caitlyn texted almost immediately. "And bring me some cake."

Since Caitlyn was on it, Becca put down her phone and resumed updating spreadsheets that the usual assistant couldn't handle that day. Business was booming in the investment sphere, and everyone wanted some of Adams & Wong's money. It was partially the assistant's job to compile info about new potential investments for a presentation at the end of the week. So far, Becca didn't see anything that either of her partners would want to invest in, but it wasn't her job to tell them how to spend their business money. Just the personal money. To a point. Becca couldn't say much. Like Cecelia, she also received an allowance from the women in charge. And free room and board. And free food.

She was stuck in the office until five thirty when Caitlyn finally finished up an online meeting and motioned Becca to head home with her. A part of Becca hoped they'd pick up a pizza for dinner, but she had already promised to help Caitlyn cook spaghetti and meatballs as per Cecelia's request for her first day at school. I already know I'm the one on meatball duty. One of the unsexist things to ever come out of Caitlyn's mouth had been "You roll ground beef very well!"

Becca didn't get a break until after the dishes were done and she finished helping Cecelia pick out the best pictures to send her mother. She experienced a pang of jealousy as Cecelia went into Becca's old room to video call with Lilian. It was only a matter of minutes before Jane was roped into the call as well.

My chance to escape.

She grabbed her pajamas and ran to Caitlyn's room, where she started the bath in the best place in the house.

Finally!

She had been dreaming about this all day, ever since she entered the office and longed to sink into the tub with nothing but her book to keep her company. Even if it meant putting her hair up and leaving her phone on the counter where she couldn't reach it. Caitlyn even had the best aromatherapy candle on the market as far as Rebecca was concerned. Blackberries and magnolia. Who knew that was a combination?

Becca had not snuck in here. She had proudly marched past Caitlyn, sitting on the living room couch, and made right for the bedroom on the other side of the flat. Jane had quipped that "someone was on a mission" and she couldn't be closer to the truth. So when Becca heard someone opening and closing drawers in the other room, she wasn't surprised. But she was put out that the owner of this bathroom pushed the door open as if she had nothing better to do.

"Come to brush your teeth?" Becca asked with her nose in her book.

"Eventually." Caitlyn grabbed her moisturizer but didn't leave. "Actually, can I talk to you about something?"

Becca lowered the book as far as it could go without touching the water. "It's your bathroom, so I suppose."

Caitlyn plopped a towel on the toilet lid before sitting down. "First things first: you can't tell Jane about any of this until I've had the chance."

"I'm already skeptical about what's going on."

"I promise it's nothing shady."

"Again, not feeling great."

Caitlyn inhaled a deep breath before changing course. Becca closed her book and left it on the side of the tub. "My former pageant coach contacted me a couple of days ago to ask if I wanted to participate in the Mrs. America Pageant this November."

Becca needed to clean her eyes. "Mrs. America?"

"You know, the one where you have to be married? And this is the one where you must be over thirty-five as well, which I am. Apparently. Not sure when that happened…"

"Isn't it a bit sudden?"

"Yes, well, she was asked if she knew anyone who could participate as Mrs. Iowa because apparently everyone in my home state's contest is embroiled in a bribery scandal. Very un-Iowan of them, I assure you. That would have never happened when I was on the circuit."

"Bribery? In Iowa?"

"More likely than we thought."

"But you don't live in Iowa anymore."

"That's what I said, but I do own property there, so…"

"Uh, it's not on your driver's license or what you file your taxes under…"

"As long as I spend at least one month a year on the property, I'm considered eligible. And we did spend a lot of time there this past year. It's purely a technicality."

Yeah, you spent a lot of time there. During the pandemic, Caitlyn had "spontaneously" bought a lakefront home in her native state of Iowa, only a couple of hours from Des Moines, where her family lived. The idea was to getaway there every so often while her family borrowed it according to whenever it was available on the spreadsheet. Jane had balked at the idea of ever holidaying in Iowa. Becca went for some one-on-one time with Caitlyn. But, most often, Caitlyn was there with her siblings and their broods.

Becca wasn't sure how this worked but she was in no position to question it.

"So… you're thinking about doing it?"

Caitlyn's face lit up. "I wasn't at first. But… it's been so long since I did a pageant. I probably don't even know how to do it anymore."

"Have you done any at all since getting with Jane?"

"A couple I had already committed to, but otherwise… no."

"What would be the driving force behind you doing this?"

Caitlyn steepled her fingers before her face. "Maybe I need the confidence boost."

Becca had suspected as much but wasn't going to call her out on it. I'm rather surprised she said it, though…

"If this is about what the doctor said, you know it has nothing to do with your appearance, right?"

"Easy for you to say, Becca. You haven't been called fat your whole life."

"You're not fat!" This wasn't the first time Rebecca had uttered this fact since the doctor's visit. "I mean, are you technically overweight? Duh. But you're not built like, say, me."

"Yes, hon, I'm quite aware of how I'm built. It's what people have fetishized my whole life when they're not using it as a way to bring me down."

"I'm sorry." Bathwater dripped from Becca's hands as she rubbed her face. "You should do it if you want. I'm sure you'll kick ass."

"You don't sound that assured."

"I mean, you might also crash and burn. How much time will it take away from work?"

"That's another thing I have to talk to Jane about. Assuming I want to do this. Oh, you won't tell Jane until I have the chance, right? She won't be angry about it, but she doesn't understand the pageant thing. She thinks it's a fun hobby American women do when they don't want to join a quilting circle or walk dogs for a side hustle. Not that she's ever complained about what the pageant beauty regimen has done for my skin these past two decades."

"I won't tell her. I promise."

Visible relief washed over Caitlyn. "Thanks, Becca. I owe you one."

"You owe me some peace and quiet in my bath."

"I think you mean my bath," Caitlyn said as she got up. "But yes. Enjoy. I'll be in the bedroom for a while."

Although Becca's book allowed her to escape from the thoughts swarming her head, she was back at square one once she dried off, said goodnight to Caitlyn, and shuffled off to the room she now shared with Jane. Not gonna bother asking to crash with Cait tonight. Not only would Caitlyn probably want to keep talking about the Mrs. America Pageant, but Caitlyn was the one less likely to tolerate a sleepover. She was the primary reason she and Jane had separate rooms in their second go at a marriage.

Jane, however, didn't treasure her alone time as much.

"What was Cait so insistent on talking to you about, huh?" Jane asked once the lights were off. "I saw her rushing into the bathroom where you were soaking. Ah, don't tell me you two had a quickie without me!"

Becca pulled the covers up her chest. "No. She only wanted to talk about some things on her mind."

"Let me guess. She told you not to tell me."

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"Ah, how unfair to you, dearest Becca." Here she was, the theatrical Jane Wong who did a terrible job of weaving a story out of her girlfriend. "Torn between two poor married sods. Who truly owns your allegiance? The femininely beautiful Caitlyn, or the boyishly charming Jane? Because charming Jane would give anything to know what her wife the beautiful Caitlyn was up to." Oh, there it was. Jane's hand on Becca's thigh. "Anything," Jane sweetly sang in the darkness of the room.

"You're getting nothing out of me. She said she'll talk to you about it on her own."

"I wasn't going to make you tell me." Jane rolled toward Becca, her arm propped up on her firm pillow. "But we could pretend I was."

"Uh-huh!"

"You sound incredulous. What, don't fancy a role-play where I've got you cornered in my sexy torture chamber? And I'm going to offer you the moon and the stars if you give up intel about our beloved Cait? Because we could. We could absolutely have a role-play that ends with you screaming in pleasure while you tell me absolutely nothing at all."

Becca kept the covers firmly around her chest. "Just say you want to do it, Jane."

"The last time I did, you turned me down. I have got to be more creative this time."

The last thing I am is surprised. Out of the three of them, Jane had the highest libido, or at least was the one most likely to put on the moves on a whim. She was more of a giver than a taker, too, and if Rebecca was feeling a certain way on any given night, she could almost always count on Jane inviting her into bed. Now that we have to share a room, though… Becca had never understood Caitlyn's marital complaints so well.

"The direct approach usually works on you, love." Jane's tone turned more sagely as she continued to lay the seduction on rather thick. "I suggest a quick shag, you take off your clothes before I finish talking…"

"I do not."

"Maybe I should consider helping look for a new flat. Getting your room back could do wonders for my sex life."

Becca pulled her phone off its charging pad on the nightstand.

"What are you up to?"

After furiously texting someone, she shoved her phone under the covers before Jane could see. "Nothing."

"Becca."

Before she was put on the spot any further, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Since it was locked due to the recent addition of a teenager to their household, Becca leaped out of bed and welcomed her cavalry.

"What's this about a dirty old woman in your room?" Caitlyn asked. "Jane, have you invited some sex-obsessed specter to terrorize poor Becca?"

"Dirty old what?"

Becca shut the door and stifled a giggle. "She's been like this all week," she said to Caitlyn. "What do we do about her?"

"Lin." Caitlyn put her hands on her hips. In her summer pajamas, she was a sight to behold with that loose cotton shirt and short shorts. Why, Becca could almost see Caitlyn's ass in those things! "I thought I wore you out two weeks ago. Remember? At the office?"

"Oh, hell no, you guys are hooking up at the office?" Becca asked.

"Two weeks ago?" Jane, still in bed, scoffed. "You are pulling my leg, right?"

"There's a minor in this house now," Caitlyn continued with her faux-scolding tone. "We can't have you acting like a dirty old woman."

"What does that even mean?" The Cantonese coming out of Jane's mouth was barely comprehensible, but Becca had a feeling that Caitlyn would get the gist.

Sure enough, she approached the bed in the dark. "It means you're a menace to the women you call yours in this house."

"Oh, but you like it!"

"Shh!" Caitlyn held her finger to her mouth.

"Give me a break." At least Becca understood that in Cantonese. "She is on the other side of the flat. Cannot hear a thing in here. Just like the neighbors cannot hear anything through these concrete walls."

Caitlyn crawled onto the bed. Becca attempted to hide how giddy her plan coming to fruition made her. I didn't think it would be this good! When she texted Caitlyn that Jane was in here being "Jane" before bed, Caitlyn must have known exactly what that meant. Why not? They've been together longer than anyone's known them. Usually, Becca existed as the third who balanced their dominant tendencies. They can't get along without a pillow princess to share between them. That was Becca. She was the luckiest pillow princess in America.

One who had a side career as a professional voyeur, based on how she felt when Caitlyn pulled back the covers and crawled on top of Jane. "A wife's work is never done," she lamented. To Jane and Becca, she said, "You both owe me for this," before pulling the covers over her head and diving between Jane's legs.

"Bloody hell!" The only reason Jane didn't yell that louder was because she pitch-corrected halfway through bloody. Becca made sure the door was locked before skipping to bed, where she climbed onto her side and indulged in the look on Jane's face as she had her libido tempered. To be fair, Caitlyn knows how to hit her sweet spot faster than I can. It had been five years since Rebecca joined this silly marriage, and she was still learning a few things. From both of them, no less.

"Bet you're enjoying this." Jane relaxed into her pillow as Becca loomed over her. "Watching mad Lin Hua get her comeuppance in this sacred bed."

"I don't think Caitlyn is doing a thorough job if you can still talk coherently."

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Jane grabbed Becca's nightgown strap and pulled her down for a kiss. "You naughty girl."

Only from Jane did such an admonishment sound delightful. And with those increasingly harried breaths turning her on, Becca indulged in a kiss that was sure to seal her fate that night.

As much as she loved her one-on-one time with each of her girlfriends, she loved moments like these even more.