Everywhere She's Not by John Shore

Author:John Shore [N. John Shore, Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733607827
Publisher: Laughing Moon Books via Indie Author Project
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Once he’d been fully briefed on the situation, Franklin, seated next to Jerald on the couch, put his hand on Jerald’s thigh. “Baby, I am absolutely thrilled that Brian might be here from Thanksgiving till Christmas. That is wonderful, wonderful news. But I’m a little concerned about what that means for little ol’ me—and for us, you know? If that beautiful child is here, it means that I can’t be here. I’d have to stay away during our whole first holiday season together.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” said Jerald. “Brian’ll just think you’re a friend.”

“But what if he doesn’t think just that? Children know romantic love when they see it. What if he intuits what we mean to each other? What if he sees us holding hands for a moment, or something like that? He will tell Paula about it. And there’s no way that turns out well.”

“We’ll just have to be sure to be discreet when he’s around,” said Jerald. “We can do that. We do do that.”

“But we’re talking about a whole month, baby. We know that Brian talks to Paula about the people he meets here. What’s going to happen when one of the people he talks to her about is me? Don’t you think Paula is going to want to know about this big effeminate man who was here all during the holidays?”

Jerald looked defeated. “No. I don’t know. Probably.”

“Well, sweetie, who will you say that I am?”

“You could say he’s Lillian’s brother,” said Kate. They all looked at her. “He could be Lillian’s brother, from out of town. Since he doesn’t know anybody in the area, Lillian’s social circle naturally becomes his social circle. So, since Lillian’s over here all the time to be with her new boyfriend, Franklin could be over here all the time too. He could have started coming over just by way of keeping company with his sister, and struck up his own friendship with Jerald. The two of you are pals! That would explain why, over the Christmas season, Franklin is sometimes here, even when Lillian’s not.”

They all went from looking at Kate, to looking at each other.

“That seems like it might work,” said Jerald.

Looking back at Kate, Franklin said, “It’s always the pretty ones who are so diabolical.”

Jerald clapped his hands. “I say that’s our plan. If Paula ever asks who the devastatingly handsome man was who apparently spent so much time here over the holidays, it’s just my girlfriend’s brother, Frank!”

“That does sound good,” said David.

Jerald said, “Kate, do you think Lillian would be okay with coming over here this Saturday morning, when Paula and Brian will be here, and pretending to be my girlfriend?”

“I’m sure she will,” said Kate. “She loves you guys. She doesn’t want you to have to break up just because of Paula.”

Jerald said, “Great! I’ll give her a call, tell her about our plan, and ask her to help us out.”

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