Distant Relations by Rebecca Forster

Author:Rebecca Forster [Forster, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebecca Forster

29

Shannon was sprawled in an Adirondack chair that had once been painted yellow and at another time red. Now the chair was blue, but the blue had worn off in places to show the red and the yellow. Finn sat in a green chair. In front of them was a round metal tub filled with charcoal, Cori’s poor-man’s fire pit. The backyard was a square of sun-parched grass: bald in patches, overgrown with crabgrass in others. The flowering shrubs were big, and healthy, but the fresh buds shared space with withered blossoms. There was a plastic push-toy near the garage wall, four balls of various sizes—one partly deflated— and a blow-up kiddie pool. Cori’s place was a far cry from Dennis Cain’s fine mansion, and Finn preferred it.

“You’ve nice friends, Finn,” Shannon said.

“And you’ve not even met Geoffrey yet.”

“And he would be?”

“A charming man from Trinidad who owns my watering hole, Mick’s Irish Pub,” he said. “I keep the darts going and such.”

Finn stared into the charcoal fire, happy to be lazy after such a day, happier still that Shannon was calmed down. He put his Guinness bottle to his lips only to find it empty, so he let it rest on the grass, keeping his fingers upon the neck. It was getting late. Everyone was tired, but too comfortable to move.

He looked toward the kitchen in time to see Cori give Lapinski a kiss as he handed her a dishtowel. Shannon followed his gaze.

“They’ll do well together.” She inclined her head toward the house. “And are you fine with that, Finn?”

“I am.”

Finn wouldn’t discuss his feelings for Cori, when he, himself, could not define them. She was his friend, his partner, and closer than a lover could be. Thomas was a friend to them both, and a fine man. If Cori was happy, Finn was happy, for he had nothing to offer her now. If he regretted that down the road, it would be his regret.

“You are all lucky then. It’s fine to be in love, better to have such good friends.” Shannon let her head roll across the back of the chair. “I’m sorry your woman went off the deep end.”

“It happens,” Finn answered.

If he had no desire to speak of his affection for Cori, he certainly would not speak of Bev. She was not a wife, not a lover, not a friend, but a wild person with no real care for herself. He was going to call it a night when Shannon’s voice floated toward him once more.

“I’m no hoor, Finn,” she said.

Finn smiled. Her protestation was sweet because she could not bring herself to say the word ‘whore’ outright even if she wasn’t one. Not that it was any mind of his. Still, he was happy to hear this. He liked Shannon. He admired her passion. He would hate to see it wasted on men who had nothing to give her except money.

“And what are you, Shannon?”

“Arm candy,” she said. “A confessor. An ear for men with too many problems and too much money.

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