"Where are we going?" wondered Martha, sitting in the back seat of the Twists' family car. Samantha was driving while Frances sat in the front passenger seat.
"Someplace special," was all Samantha would say with a smile.
"It's this little bistro on the outskirts of Olympia, the state capital," revealed Frances. "Samantha found it one day while on Moon Lake business, took me there, and we both fell in love with the place. You will too," she promised.
"I'm not under dressed for it, am I?" worried Martha. She wasn't wearing anything that would be considered 'frumpy housewife', but certainly didn't have on anything fancy either.
"No, you'll be fine," swore Samantha.
"What about Julie Stovall?" asked Mrs. Anderson.
"Doctor Tachibana will run the tests while she's asleep, and I'll look at the results with him in the morning. Now don't worry. Besides, we're almost there," said Frances, noting the change in scenery.
Within a half hour, Martha and her friends were escorted to a private table and had already ordered their meals. She couldn't help getting lost in the soft candle lights and romantic music playing from some unseen source.
"This is all so wonderful..." began Martha, trying to keep from crying.
"You deserve it honey," said Frances, as she held Martha's left hand within hers. Although it was a table for four, only the three of them occupied it, with Samantha on Martha's right.
"Yes. Even if you weren't a sister werecat, we stand by our friends," said Samantha, now holding Martha's right hand. and lovers, she silently added.
"I still miss William so much. Thanks to the life/mate bond he gained when that damn rogue turned him into a werefox, we were really starting to work things out and get our lives back together again," remembered Martha.
"I know sweetie," said Frances. "I broke my cardinal rule by treating someone I care about, but there wasn't anyone else available qualified to deal with grief, especially were grief around. Yet even though my opinion's biased, I do think you're doing great recovering."
"I have to agree," said Samantha. "If Frances were to proceed me, or I her, I don't know how we'd handle it."
"Like me, you soldier on one day at a time, always hoping for the best and leaning on your friends for moral support. I'm so glad I've got the two of you, and you will always have me," promised Martha, "but can we please change the subject?"
"Sure honey," both Twists said, before each kissed one of Martha's cheeks at the same time.
Dinner was exquisite. Beef Wellington for three, but they skipped the wine list since they were driving back to Moon Lake that same night. Dessert was the bistro's own version of "Death by chocolate", moist chocolate cake with chocolate icing covered in chocolate syrup with chocolate sprinkles on top.
"Good thing I'm not a teenager any more or I'd have a seriously bad case of acne by Monday," joked Martha, digging in to hers.
Martha caught a glance at the tab before they checked out and almost fainted. "You're worth it," the Twists reassured her, before paying the bill.
As they got back into the car to leave, Samantha was still driving, but now Frances sat in the back with Martha.
"While unfortunately we can't spend the night, or the weekend, we just wanted to show you what we can of the sites on our way back. Did you know there's a decent selection of lesbian entertainment available around here?" asked Frances, as she lovingly put an arm around her friend.
"No, I didn't," purred Martha, leaning her head on Frances' shoulder.
"Careful honey. You can't grow fur in this part of the woods," warned Samantha, as they took off.
"No weres?" asked Martha.
"None that we've found," replied Frances, while pointing out a lesbian bar and then a cabaret a couple of blocks afterward whose marquee seemed to feature an all female entertainment slate.
"Maybe sometime we can come back up here, book a motel room for three, and spend the weekend checking out the place together," suggested Samantha, smiling not only at her suggestion, but at also seeing a familiar road sign that said how far away the exit for Moon Lake was from their present position.
"But what about the boys?" wondered Martha, as Frances began massaging her shoulders.
"Ben and Nate are both 16, and Eric's a werewolf now too, so they can all take care of themselves," pointed out Samantha. "Nobody ever could or should replace William. He will always have a special place in your heart," she added, trying to recite the speech she had prepared for this moment. "But Frances and I both agree that you should also start thinking about yourself at least once in a while too Martha. Our time together this afternoon proved that. So whenever you need us, or want to have some fun, we'll be there for you sister."
"Hmmm...." was Martha's only reply, but Samantha didn't get a chance to respond to that or else she'd risk missing the exit for Moon Lake.
A couple of minutes later, Samantha pulled over into the first stretch of were allowed forest land on town property available. She parked the car, and turned around to suggest a threesome under the stars, but saw that Frances and Martha had already stripped each other's clothes off, had unleashed their inner werecats, and were happily enjoying a mutual session of eating each other out in the classic 69 position.
"I see you two started without me," huffed Samantha, while stripping off her clothes and furring up too.