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The sponge fell from my hand "Youwhat?"
"I wanted us to have a real Christmas this year, so I called your ht I’d surprise you They’ll be here the day before ere supposed to leave I kno disappointed you hen you couldn’t go hoht they could coet so upset, believe hts whirled; eed around inside Touched? Overwhelmed? Surprised? My eyes filled with tears as I crossed to hie
"You really want to spend Christ his face inI couldn’t pinpoint "Weird?"
"No, babe So sweet," I whispered, holding hihtly
His arms slipped around my waist and he kissed the top of my head "Are you stillin closer to his ear "But next time, just talk to me, okay?"
"Prooing to get us the biggest Christrinned, his face full of excitement Crisis over He took off his jacket and surveyed the cookie dae "Nohat can I do to help?"
"You can start by helping et these packed up if we’re going to ins," I said, handing hi to "Frosty the Snow ed to Rio
• • •
The stage for Sophia vs Neil Round Three (known in conventional circles as Mimi and Ryan’s Christmas Party) was set the second Neil showed up with a hot nerd A hot nerd, you ask? Let uy at a symphony benefit Bernard Fitzsimmons, associate professor of applied physics at Berkeley and vice president of the Bay Area Musical Appreciation Society, had the pleasure of ra incredibly talented as well as gorgeous, she was often called upon to perform at charitable functions, especially ones that were musically inclined
They shared a cab and a kiss after the event, and Sophia invited him to the party He icked s each other nicely
Neil got wind of this development, orchestrated carefully and quite purposefully by Mi for the hot nerds now, huh?"--and he went on the hunt for his own Hot Nerd He ended upPolly Pinkerton, the head of a research lab at UCSF Medical Center, specializing in the effects of pesticides and insecticides on child develop show on the local NBC affiliate, and Neil spent the entire ti with her over a pot of hazelnut French roast Hopped up on caffeine, he saw her as the perfect Hot Nerd to bring to the party But he also genuinely enjoyed her company, and had seen her a couple of tiht, and neither was ready for the outco, yes I’d been stuck in the kitchen with hie walls and their place in home interiors, because Bernard loved HGTV, don’t you know Sophia had been giving ht, but I understood
He hat Carrie Bradshaw had called a "great on paper" guy Unfortunately he was as dull as paper too I was in theto stopto beat him with, when I heard Neil’s voice from the entryway
Sophia froze I froze Bernard waxed poetic on the beauty of a periodic table painted in the softest hues of putty and bone
"Putty and Bone," I told Sophia, "what a great nareat na her are oration by very soft brsts pressed into his side His eyes widened and he shifted his feet nervously I aluy had no idea what he was caught up in
"Putty and Bone is a great na my leave and a shri; beautiful couples swaying to rockabilly Christ poured generously by Ryan, while Mioodies
As I shri to one of Ryan’s friends froht his eye and pointed toward the hallhere Neil was irl he had in toas darling; sharp eyes and a curious look on her face as she took in the crowd They were on a collision course for Sophia and Beige Bernard I stuffed another puff inup with Simon, who had also alerted Mi ridiculous," I said as we four took up a watch-and-wait stance, flanking either entrance to the kitchen
"We’re just watching out for our friends," Siainst the wall When did this becoht about when Sophia and Neil laid eyes on each other for the first tie Bernard and Pretty Polly were fine and dandy, they weren’t ever going to blow their hair back They were never going to be the "one" But that didn’t stop the
"Sophia"
"Neil"
So dramatic, these two
"Bernard?"
"Polly?"
Wait, what?
The four of us peeked around the corner like totee collided in the center of the roohter
"Wow, Polly! I haven’t seen you since the syenetic rehabilitation at the Hilton in Anahei thrilled to see her
"Has it been that long? I looked for you at the Quantuht for sure you’d be there," Polly replied, looking up shyly through her eyelashes
"I was in Switzerland--the Hadron," he said, puffing out his chest a bit I didn’t get it, but she sure looked ie Hadron Collider, it’s at CERN in Switzerland," Ryan whispered across the entryway Mimi looked impressed too With Ryan
"Uh, Bernard, why don’t you introduceat his arm He didn’t notice She pushed her boobs out He noticed
"Oh, I’m so sorry, Polly These are, I"Sophia, this is Polly She heads up a lab over at UCSF--"