Cherry Pop (Mercury Rising Book 3) by Samantha Kane Read Free Book Online

right.”
    “Evan is not always right, despite his close relationship with the Almighty. Tripp is straight. Very straight, like the definition of a line in geometry straight. Straight without end, infinity.” Ben tried not to dwell on the surprising and misplaced disappointment he felt over Tripp’s sexual orientation. After all, even if Tripp was gay, Ben wasn’t looking. A relationship was the last thing he needed right now.
    “Wow. That’s really straight,” Brian conceded. “Did you have fun?”
    “As a matter of fact, I did,” Ben said, and he meant it. Tripp was right—his family and friends were crazy, but they were nice and funny and had accepted Ben without reservation. “I tried Cheerwine and his mother is praying for me so I don’t become a lonely gay down here. Tripp tried to set me up with a gay friend of his. I guess he doesn’t want me to be a lonely gay either.”
    “Too late. You’re already a lonely gay down here. Isn’t Cheerwine good? I thought I wouldn’t like it.” Brian twirled his pen between his fingers. “Did you like the friend?” His question was just a little too casual.
    “As a friend,” Ben said. “I’m not in the market for more right now, which is what I told Tripp.” He scrolled through his email, dismissing most of it. “His best friend is a professional angler.”
    “A professional what?” Brian asked, stopping the pen’s movement and staring at Ben.
    “A fisherman. He fishes.” Ben was still trying to wrap his head around that.
    “You mean he owns a fishing boat? Commercial fishing?” Brian asked. “Can he make a living doing that here? I thought they fished in, I don’t know, Alaska or Maine or the Gulf.”
    “I don’t know about that,” Ben said. “That’s not the kind of fisherman he is. He fishes for sport. Competitively. They have a whole league and tournaments and prize money.”
    “You have got to be kidding,” Brian said. “That is the penultimate occupation, after tech billionaire, of course. Getting paid for leisure fishing. Genius.”
    “The point is, there is a whole world down here that you and I don’t know about,” Ben said, a little uneasy at the idea. “What are we doing here, Brian? And you’re about to marry Evan. To commit to him and this place, forever. Are you prepared for that? Really? Because that’s huge. A colossal leap of faith into the unknown that is modern Southern culture, Mercury-style.” Brian laughed, as Ben had hoped, but there was a serious question behind the joking.
    “We’ll muddle through,” Brian said. “It’s not rocket science. Millions of people since the dawn of man have explored the world and assimilated into new cultures. I think we can learn to blend in Mercury.”
    “What is this ‘we’?” Ben asked in alarm. “‘A few months’, you told me. ‘Just until I get the center and the foundation running’, you said. I don’t need to assimilate. I’m going to be like, I don’t know, John Smith. I’ll study the culture and take notes and return to England, leaving the established colony behind.”
    “You’ve never been to England,” Brian reminded him. “And you need to make an effort to learn your North Carolina history. It was John White who left the colony. And then he lost it, poor bastard. He’d have done better if he’d stayed.”
    “Whatever,” Ben muttered. “I’ll be on the Niña , the Pinta or the Santa Maria , sailing home. To California. Where we don’t lose colonies.”
    “Let’s not drag Columbus into this,” Brian said. “Maybe it will be longer than a few months. The plans for the foundation have turned out to be a little more complicated than we anticipated. And the building itself has turned into a gargantuan undertaking with the addition of the education center, which you well know as project manager. I’m not making it up to keep you here. I really need you.”
    “I know,” Ben said glumly, slouching in his chair. “And I’m excited about the