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"Trust me, Mother, Peter isn’t shy" She knew this from the way he attacked their enemies on WoW

"Then ait?"

Beth nibbled on her lower lip "I don’t want to rush into anything"

"But it’s already Deceht around the corner"

This wasn’tsense "Why is it so iinning to have some suspicions

"It isn’t i it is Your father and I have this wager"

"Mother!" Her parents constantly made small bets with each other Most of the tih Not when their wager was about her "You’d better tell "

"Okay…" Her mother inhaled deeply "Last Christ you’d never rereed with him"

"Of course I did! Marybeth, you have no idea what an attractive young woman you are You should be happy"

"I aree You just think you are"

Beth rolled her eyes, knowing it wouldn’t do any good to argue

"You should be dating," hera mother" The litany was a familiar one

"Yes," Joyce Fischer said "I hate the idea that you’ve got nothing ame"

"You don’t understand, Mom Peter and I are at level forty and--" She stopped There was no point in explaining further

"I beg your pardon?"

"Never ing Peter to dinner on Christ whatsoever"

"But that’s the i here Otherwise your father…"

"Yes?" Beth e out to the curb every Wednesday for the next six months"

"A fate worse than death," Beth muttered sarcastically

"It isn’t that I e," heranother bet to your father, especially when you’re so close to actually having a date for Christmas"

Beth didn’t consider herself close at all In her desperation to win this bet, Joyce was being completely unreasonable

"Promise me you’ll ask Peter," her h "I’ll do no such thing"

"If not for my sake, then your own, Marybeth"

"No!" That was final, too

The silence that folloeakened her resolve "Don’t you realize how ridiculous you’re being?" Beth said "Peter’s practically a stranger"

"Just meet him," Joyce wheedled "That’s all I ask Whether he comes to Christmas dinner or not is entirely up to you All I ask is that the two of you connect Promise me that much"

While she’d never openly admit it, Beth was curious about her online partner She couldn’t help it She wondered if he was being pressured by his fa

She ended the conversation with hera lunch date for later in the week

That evening, as soon as Beth got hoa he did was ask about the aold they’d accumulated toward their purchase of a mount The fact that he avoided the kind of personal co She suspected he was uncomfortable with the way their conversation had turned toward the personal It had unsettled her, too, and at the same time excited her

Beth took his cue and simply answered his question

They played for an hour, but neither one seeame

I need to leave early, she typed in

Do you have a hot date?

It wasn’t a date at all Beth was o over the details of their weekend in Leavenworth An appointment, she told hietting hty inquisitive Pleasure, she answered

There was a slight pause Have fun

You, too

No probleht?

He’d never asked before None

Good Talk to you then

Beth put Borincana safely away and exited the ga had completely evaporated She didn’t understand what had happened with Peter or why Was he backing off, losing interest? He’d been eager to confirht just prefer his ro their relationship into the realms of reality