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Chapter Ten

Arthur

“Introduce me to your new man,” Aunt Sandy demanded as she passed our table on her way back from the dessert buffet Fork in hand, she settled into an open chair at our table She sharedall the best gossip It was a wonder it had taken her this long to make it to us

“Aunt Sandy, this is Derrick” I’d made so many introductions that I doubted even Derrick’s i hall was full of relatives and friends, a lively group, and I too was struggling to keep up with all the newcorown half a foot since I saw them last

“You look fa the saht nurse She was a double relative as she was my mother’s sister who had also married a Euler cousin

Derrick extended a hand across the table “I’m also Calder’s friend”

“That’s where I saw you before” Like ray and white She had a fir to her pie “And of course that video that Maureen sent around”

“That didabout the video Now that it had served its purpose and made Derrick’s ex jealous, I aysoain

We could just have sex For thedinner, I mentally slapped myself Smooth So smooth There were a ton of ways that I could have seduced Derrick and probably had better results than ame as after-dinner entertainment But instead I’d blurted that out, and he’d predictably shot me down, and noe’d spent the wholeall the fun and easiness we’d found on the drive over

And orse was that I’d wanted hioing to practice good-boyfriend behavior, hooking up this week made a certain amount of sense Lord knew I could sure use that sort of practice too Moreover, I siet that kiss out of my brain

“You’re aier at h”

From across the table, Calder winked aton me a bit too much The faood for , as was the implication that someone like me would need to work extra hard to keep Derrick

“That’s one way to put it,” I saidthe man in question a hard question “Did Kelly come?”