Shadows and Lies by Karen Reis Read Free Book Online Page B

while sitting outside in the warm October sun. “I have a date!” I announced triumphantly. I was eager to let her know that I was branching out in my social life so that she could stop harassing me about it.
    “You’re going out with Sean?” she asked excitedly. “That’s great!”
    “No, not Sean!” I exclaimed. “With Dan, who I work with.”
    “Haven’t I met him? Isn’t he the guy with the huge key collection?”
    Yes. Dan had a huge key collection that he carried with him wherever he went on an equally large key ring. There were all sorts of keys of different shapes and colors on it. He liked to look at the ground as he walked just in case there was an abandoned key laying there that he could rescue and bring into the clan. He’d shown me his collection a while ago. There was a story to go with every key, and Dan had probably only told me half of them up to that point.
    “You told me that I needed to start dating,” I pointed out, ignoring her question. “I’m just following your sage advice.”
    “I meant that you should go out with Sean, not the geek of the month from your work.”
    “I barely know Sean,” I countered, shifting uncomfortably and trying to think of something that would get Genny off the topic of Sean, who probably thought I didn’t even like him since I’d been too embarrassed to speak to him the rest of yesterday evening. I really was a coward, I thought.
    Aloud, I said, “I don’t like the idea of going out with someone I don’t know well.”
    “All you need to know is that he doesn’t have a large key collection. I think that that says enough,” Genny retorted.
    “Will you just tell me that you’re happy I’m seeing a real person and that you hope I have a good time?” I snapped.
    “I’m happy you’re seeing a real person and I hope you have a good time,” Genny mimicked in a monotone voice. “But you should be going out with Sean instead. He likes you
    “No he doesn’t,” I argued despite the blush that crept up my face. “Not in that way.”
    “Yes he does,” Genny retorted.
    “How do you know he likes me?” I asked curiously.
    “Oh, my God, you are the blindest woman I know. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you! And you! You wouldn’t even look at him after he helped out in the kitchen; you just moped out on the patio and stuffed yourself on falafel and hummus. Believe you me, Sean wanted to spend time with you. A man doesn’t pay that much attention to a woman, and help her in the kitchen, if he doesn’t have some sort of interest in her romantically.”
    “So I messed up,” I said defensively, wanting her to drop the topic. “I realize that, Genny. I do not need a lecture from you about it.”
    But Genny was not to about to let go of the subject. “You need to take some classes on dating. Learn to flirt.”
    I sighed loudly. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I am going out with Dan tomorrow. I am not going to take dating classes, as if any such thing really existed,” I scoffed.
    “Such things do exist, and I only tell you these things because I think you and Sean could go all the way,” Genny persisted. “I just wish you’d do what I tell you to do.”
    I couldn’t help but smile into the phone at her remark. “You do realize how ridiculous that last statement was, don’t you?”
    “Yes, I do,” Genny snarled. “And since I’ve lost all creditability at the moment, I’ll just talk to you later.”
    “Okay, Master – I mean Genny, my friend and advisor,” I said, needling her.
    “I can’t believe I hang out with you,” Genny said in laughing exasperation.
    “I love you too,” I replied sweetly.
    Knock, knock, knock.
    “Just a minute!” I yelled, drying my hands on a towel. It was the next day and I had only three hours before my “date” with Dan. I was doing the dishes, a chore I detested, and had been thinking of home. The house I’d been raised in was a dump, but at least it had had a dishwasher. And a