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hug. She looked deeply into my eyes and said, You don t have to get
used to anything. If you don t wanna be touched, you won t.
Damn, she knew just what to say. I& don t like being touched by
people I don t know. It s just She put her finger to my lips to cut me
off.
No explanations needed. If you re uncomfortable, that s all that
matters.
I turned my head to kiss her palm. You re a very good girlfriend.
The corner of her mouth turned up, and her eyes became playful again.
I m learning. You re teaching me a lot.
That was a major load of crap, but I was more than willing to go along
with her sophistry. Buy me a drink?
Open bar, baby, she said, leering a little. I can get you drunk for
free. What ll you have?
Surprise me. I turned my back to the bar and watched the guests
mingle. The crowd was massive, much bigger than I d anticipated. I
thought it would just be family and a few friends, but the bin Ladens
didn t have this many family members.
I briefly thought of the time Gina had classified herself as being a wop,
talking about gold chains and statues of the Virgin Mary on lawns. Now I
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know what she meant. She wasn t like that at all but her friends and
family were clearly prone to exuberance in their dress, their manner, and
their speech. I was working out how she fit into this mlange of excess
when she leaned over and said, Here comes my brother.
I looked to my left and saw a mildly attractive, slightly paunchy man
approach. He was smiling, but there was an insincerity to his smile that
made me stiffen. Hi, she said.
What s goin on? the man asked.
Nothin . She put her hand on my back and said, This is Hayden
Chandler. Hayden, this is my brother Anthony.
He blinked, but stuck his hand out. Hi. How you doin ?
I m fine, I said, unsure of where to go with this conversation. It was
pretty clear he hadn t heard of me, so I felt uncomfortable saying that
Gina had spoken of him, especially since she hadn t except in the most
general way. Nice party.
Yeah. It s good. He turned and ordered a couple of drinks, and Gina
handed me mine. I took a sip and nodded my approval, pleased with what
tasted like vodka, orange juice, and cranberry juice.
Anthony leaned on the bar, waiting for his drinks to be delivered. So,
how do you know Gina?
We met on Fire Island.
Oh. He nodded, looking as if he wanted to say something else. But
he didn t. He took the drinks the bartender handed him, gave us that odd
smile again, and said, Gotta go. See ya around.
Nice to meet you, I said to his back as he threaded through the
crowd.
Gina s smirk didn t tell me much, but I could see she wasn t entirely
comfortable. Let s head outside. The music s a little loud.
That was an understatement, so I gratefully followed her onto the
veranda of the country club. I had to give the family props for choosing a
nice place. It was over-the-top opulent, the room was big and lavishly
decorated, and there were plenty of French doors leading to an elevated
stone veranda overlooking the golf course. Gina pulled out two chairs for
us, and we set our drinks on the small table between them.
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We both sat down and didn t speak for a few minutes, letting the noise
behind us fade a bit, as we looked out on the verdant, undulating
landscape.
Havin fun? she finally asked.
Sure. It s a nice party. I ve got my eyes on that tower of oysters in the
corner.
You hungry? I ll go get something.
No rush. It s nice to be out here alone with you. I took her hand,
noting it was a little stiff. How about you? Are you having fun?
Her shoulders moved a bit, and she made a familiar expression. Even
though it was familiar, I wasn t entirely sure what it meant. Her lips
pursed, and one of her eyebrows rose, and that was it. Sometimes, she
held her hands palms-up in front of herself when she used the expression,
but she had her drink in her hand at the moment, so I didn t receive the
usual flourish. Given the situations in which she d used the gesture, I d
come to assume it meant, Can t complain, although it might have
meant, Not particularly. I d have to continue my study.
Your brother seemed nice. Yeah, I know that was a lame thing to say,
but what were my choices? Is he the eldest?
No, Nick is. Anthony is ten years older than I am, and Nick is
twelve.
Really? You ve never mentioned there was such a big age gap.
She took a drink, nodding. Yeah. I was the little surprise. My mom
always wanted a girl, but I think my dad was happy with two kids.
She said this with such ease that it didn t have the sting it should have
had.
I m gonna go get some oysters for you. She smiled at me and made
my muscles go weak. You look hungry.
I took her hand before she could rise and brought it to my mouth. I
am. For you. Teasingly, I sucked her index finger into my mouth and
laved it with my tongue. Let s not stay out too late. I have to show you
how good you look tonight.
We can leave now, she said, smiling so lovingly that I almost got up
and ran for the car.
We can t leave until I meet your family, honey.
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Cherry Grove
Her eyes met mine, and I could see that she had a clear desire to take
off right then. I was about to tell her we could leave immediately if she
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