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Not a Wallflower

Author: Ali Parker
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

Xander

“We all are very happy Al took the chance,” Gary said with a laugh. “I’m not a gambling man. I didn’t want to see one of my ships sink to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Lucky for me, the ship didn’t sink. None of them did. If you excuse me, I need to say hello to someone.” I walked away, anxious to get away from them.

I moved through the crowd, nodding at a few familiar faces. Charlie made his way to me. “See? It’s not so bad.”

I glowered at him. “It is painful.”

“Nah, it’s not so bad. I’ve already met two very lovely ladies. I could introduce you.”

“No thanks, I’m good.”

“Incoming,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Xander,” Al, the man hosting the party and the owner of the company, said. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” I replied. “This is nice.”

Al smiled and looked around. “It is nice. We owe my lovely wife Deidre the credit.”

The woman stepped forward and smiled. She had Texas-big hair. “Hello, Xander. It’s nice to finally meet you. You’ve made my husban
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  • Let Me In   I Want to Touch You

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  • Let Me In   The Beauty of the World

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  • Let Me In   Smarty Pants

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  • Let Me In   Getting to Know Him

    EvieIt was a fairly cool morning, or as cool as it could be on a summer day in southern California. I appreciated the shade that made it comfortable to sit outside while listening to birds and the happy sounds of kids enjoying nature.“What about you?” he asked.I turned to look at him, taking in the profile of the man that had caught my interest. “What about me?”“You’re a party planner. How did you get to be that?”The way he said it made it sound like it was a dirty word. “That?” I said with a laugh. “I think I always knew that I loved parties. Didn’t you like parties as a kid?”“I don’t think I remember a lot of parties when I was a kid.”“Birthday parties?” I questioned.He slowly shook his head. “No. Not really. I think we had one for my younger brother when he turned five, but that’s about it.”That struck me as odd. I couldn’t imagine a childhood with no parties. “Did you ever go to parties?”“I went to a few homecoming parties.”I wrinkled my nose. “Not a kegger. I mean a pa

  • Let Me In   An Easy Life

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  • Let Me In   Epilogue Part 1

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  • Let Me In   Making Love in the Park

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  • Let Me In   Forgive Me

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  • Let Me In   Our Spot

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  • Let Me In   What Does He Want?

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  • Let Me In   Go Fix It

    Xander“No, I don’t suppose it was. You did it for yourself. You made something of yourself. I’ve kept my head in the sand, trying to ignore what you’ve been doing. I did a little research. You have changed the world, just like you said you were going to. You really did something remarkable. Your mother used to show me newspaper clippings with your name. I know I didn’t say it, but I’m proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you.”I put the bottle of beer down. I could not continue to drink it if he was going to send me into coughing fits every time he dropped one of his little bombshells. “You are?”“I am. I should have told you before. You are my son. I’ve said some pretty shitty things. I don’t know how to make them go away but I was hoping we could try and start over.”I felt like I was being pranked. Maybe I was dreaming. In thirty-two years, my father had never believed I was worthy of his last name. “You want to start over? I’m sorry, Dad. This is all coming out of left field.

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