Gamer Girl (17 page)

“Please call me Sarah.”

Riordan smiled. “Only if you call me Riordan.”

“It’s a deal,” Sarah told him.

By the time they made it back to the house, Catherine was working on supper.

“Is there anything I
can do to help?” Sarah asked.

“Sure.” Catherine grabbed an apron out of the drawer and handed it to Sarah. “Peel some potatoes for me?”

“Absolutely,” she agreed. Catherine handed her a potato peeler. Sarah found the trash can, and a large pot. She filled the pot with cold water, sat it on the table, grabbed the trashcan and the potatoes, sat down in the chair next to all of it and went to work. “How many do you want?”

“Well, there will only be four of us tonight.”

“Will
one for each person and one for the pot
do it?” Sarah inquired.

“
So where did you learn that, Sarah?” Catherine asked as she tenderized the round steak.

“My parents were Californians by the time I came along, but Mom grew up in Arkansas. She got
a scholarship to a nursing school in LA and never looked back. But she’s still got some country ways.”

“How about your Dad?” Catherine asked her.

“Daddy’s a city boy through and through. He hails from Boston. He grew up there, went to school there, went to medical school there and then went out to the coast to do a residency. That’s how they met.”

“You have any brothers or sisters?”

“Just my older brother, David. He’s a gastroenterologist.” Sarah finished the last potato. She put the trash can back where she found it and took the potatoes over to the sink to give them a good cleaning

“Well, you wouldn’t know it to look about this place now, but when all the kids get here for the Fourth of July party and our friends arrive, we’ll be wall-to-wall people.” Catherine gave her a sidelong glance. “Say, you wouldn’t like to come, would you? After all, you’ll have done all the hard work, and there’ll be a lot of young people here your age.”

“I’m not sure Mr. Byrne would want that.” Sarah demurred.

“Riordan? Are you kidding? He loves it! He loves all the noise and fun.”

Sarah shook her head quickly, “Oh no,
no, I meant Eamon.”

Catherine leaned a little closer to Sarah and said, in a low conspiratorial tone, “
You’re invited. Bring you bathing suit and an overnight bag just in case.”

Sarah smiled brightly. “I bet you pull keys, don’t’ you.”

“We do. No one gets their keys returned until we can be sure that they’re sober and able to drive.”

“I can’t promise, but it sounds lovely,” Sarah said.

Catherine did not push, instead she gave Sarah the job of setting the table while she breaded the chicken fried steak, cooked it and made the gravy.

“You can start putting the other dishes out on the table,” Catherine ordered from her place behind the cast iron skillet.

Sarah found a green salad in the refrigerator, along with the dressings and the butter. On the stove were the green beans and some Brussels sprouts which she put into serving bowls and set out. There were no rolls or biscuits so she found some whole wheat bread and some white bread and put a little of each out as well. By this time, Catherine was mashing the now cooked potatoes. She pointed to the covered platter of meat. Sarah carried it to the table. When she came back, the mashed potatoes were ready and Catherine was pouring the cream gravy into the gravy bowl.

“Go call the men,” Catherine said.

Sarah went into the great room. “Supper’s on.” She went back into the kitchen and rewashed her hands.

Catherine pointed to a chair. “You sit there, Sarah.”

The two men joined them but before they sat down, Riordan began to cross himself. Eamon and Catherine joined him and when Sarah realized that he was going to say the traditional prayer of grace, she joined as well. “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Bless us oh, Lord and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

At that point, everyone sat down and began passing food. Little was said while everyone was filling their plates, but once that was accomplished, Riordan looked over at Sarah and asked, “You aren’t by any chance Catholic are you, Sarah?”

“I’m afraid I come from those traitors, sir. I’m Episcopalian,” Sarah explained.

“Ah, you’re English then.”

Sarah held her head. “I’m afraid so. My father’s people came over as indentured servants who ended up in Boston. My mother’s people were also British, but we don’t know if they were English, Scottish or Welsh. Somehow, they ended up in Arkansas.”

“Well, I’m Irish as you can tell
. Now Cate’s people came with the first settlers to Maryland. But they were wanderers and just kept wandering west.”

Catherine joined in. “And we picked up a few stray genes along the way.” She winked at Sarah. I’m an American, an amalgam of many, made into something new.”

“So, Sarah, are we going to have grand fireworks again this year?” Riordan asked.

“Nicole and I decided to use the same company since
you all liked them so well, and they promise to put on a spectacular show.” Sarah’s eyes lit up as she thought of it. “I have high hopes and fingers crossed.”

Everyone laughed. Eamon laughed too, though he’d been strangely silent during the dinner conversation. From time to time Sarah would look to him, thinking that he might be upset,
but he seemed content.

Catherine, who’d been watching her son as
well, ordered him to the kitchen. “There’s a pie in the pie safe, Eamon. Go fetch it and some plates.”

“Yes, Mom.” Eamon got up and returned a moment later with a perfectly baked two-crust pie. When Catherine cut into it, Sarah gasped.

“Is that gooseberry?”

“It is,” Catherine replied.

“I love gooseberry pie! I had my first piece when I moved back here and have been enthralled ever since.”

Catherine cut Sarah a piece and handed her the plate. “Here you are.”

Sarah took a bite. She closed her eyes and savored the taste of the gooseberries on her tongue surrounded by a flaky light crust. It tasted heavenly. Sarah swallowed and opened her eyes. “That…that is great pie.” She took another bite, and then another. “Really great pie,” Sarah looked over at Catherine.

“We have the gooseberries right here on the farm. I can send you home with a pint so you can make your own pie.”

Sarah’s head drooped. “I’m ashamed to admit, I make the worst pie crust of anyone I know. I’d be forced to go and get a frozen crust just to have it be edible.”

“Well that can be remedied. You come out sometime, and I will teach you how to make pie crust, Sarah,” Catherine told her.

“And bread? Do you make your own bread?”

“Sometimes.”

Sarah stood up and started collecting the dirty dishes from the table. “You may be sorry you offered. Those things are on my bucket list.”

Riordan laughed. “You’re still young. Why do you have a bucket list?”

“Because I’m always finding things I want to learn about and do,” Sarah told him. “So, I add them to my list.”

Eamon started picking up dishes as well.

“You don’t need to do that,” Catherine protested.

“Mom. It was a great meal. Now, go and have a sit down with Dad, and Sarah and I will clean the kitchen.”

“All right.”

Eamon and Sarah made short work of the kitchen duties. Despite his large family, Sarah had as much practice as he at clean up because she and David did it as chores. Even when their family couldn’t eat together, it was still their responsibility to clean up the kitchen before going to bed at night.

They finished loading the dishwasher. Eamon scrubbed the pots while Sarah dried. She cleaned the table and the counters while Eamon did the floor. When it was all spotless, Eamon turned to Sarah, reached around her back and undid the apron.

They were face to face
and Sarah held her breath. Eamon looked strange, shocked even. He held the apron in his left hand and with his right, he cupped Sarah’s chin and slowly lowered his mouth to hers. Sarah exhaled and Eamon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. The kiss was long. Eamon almost drew away, they were joined only by their bodies when he touched his lips to hers a second time. Sarah opened her mouth under his, but he slowly backed away and turned to lay the apron on the counter.

Sarah’s hand went to her mouth. When he turned back to face her, she dropped her hand to her side.

Eamon said, softly so that only she could hear, “Do I need to apologize again?”

Sarah shook her head. “Please don’t.” After a moment’s hesitation she added, “
I like it when you kiss me; I just wonder if you mean it.”

Eamon’s eyes lit up. His chin wrinkled a little in what Sarah had come to recognize as his method to hold back laughter. He took hold of her hand and kissed her palm before dropping it.
“Come on. I’ll get you home.”

They walked into the living room and said goodbye to Eamon’s parents.

“Sarah, you call and we’ll set up a date for some baking lessons,” Catherine promised.

Then they got back into the golf cart and made the trip back up the hill to the larger house. Eamon was very quiet the entire time
. They walked from the workshop through the main house. Eamon set the alarms and they went out the front door.

Eamon
tried to resist the impulse and failed. He drew Sarah into his arms again and kissed her lips. She dropped her tote bag to the ground, wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed close to him. He put her up against the car so that he could feel her body under his and touch her at the same time. Sarah opened her mouth for him. He slipped his tongue inside joining them together while he ran his hand over her torso. When he withdrew, she pursued him, tasting him with her tongue, running the tip over his lips and then pushing inside. He grew hard and Sarah pressed closer, rolling her hips as if she could not be close enough to him. Eamon could taste her rising desire on her breath and feel it as her heart beat hard against his chest. Pushing his hands against the car, he tore himself away from her, turning quickly, hoping that the cool night air would cool him down.“Whoa.”

Sarah walked toward him but Eamon put a hand back in a stopping gesture. “Give me
a moment, Sarah, please.” she waited patiently.

Eamon finally turned around. “Look,
when I kiss you, I mean it. But this isn’t a good time. I mean…I really want to…but it would screw a whole lot of things up that neither of us wants to wreck.”

“You mean the project,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Business comes first. I get it!” Sarah managed to say.

Eamon caught the sarcastic tone in her voice and he got a little angry himself. “Yeah, Sarah, in this instance it does. Because in this instance a whole lot of people’s livelihoods are riding on the success you make of that DLC. If it gets messed up for any reason, then there has to be another round of lay-offs at Gryphon World, maybe even more than before because we’re putting more money into this project. So you tell me Sarah. What’s more important? Is it you and I doing the nasty, or you and I making certain that the
Wickerworld
  DLC is a success?”

Sarah cringed. She knew that she had that coming because Eamon was right.
He just wanted to screw her; it wouldn’t mean anything to him so it wasn’t worth the risk to the project.

“Sorry, Mr. Byrne. I was wrong. This project does need to come first.” She managed a smile. “Why don’t we just put this little incident down to
spring time and the sap rising and all that.”

Eamon reached down,
grabbed her tote and handed it to her. “I think that’s wise. Come on. Let’s get you back to the City.”

Eam
on got Sarah back to her car, saw her safely off into the night and then went to his condo. It took him a long time to sleep and when he did, he dreamed of Sarah, Sarah in a knit dress that clung to her curves, a dress that slid up her smooth thighs easily as his hand ran over the soft velvet of her skin. He dreamed of Sarah, naked, sweaty, passionate, opening her thighs, beckoning him, reaching for him—He woke up with a start and in a great deal of pain.
Damn, I should never have kissed her,
he thought. It had awakened something in him that he’d managed to put to sleep. Eamon went to the bathroom and took a long cool shower.

Sarah worked even harder after visiting Eamon’s family home. The only recreation she had for a few weeks was singing in the spring concert for the Little Blue Choir. To her surprise, Eamon actually came to hear the concert. He confirmed a date with Jason when the choir could record in the studio, but aside from perfunctory congratulations, he said nothing to Sarah.

After that, Eamon was out on the road again
going to conventions to promote
Mirrored Nation: Reflections
. The game was in the box and ready for rollout. Now, employees from Gryphon World were out at just about every video gaming, science fiction and fantasy convention in the country promoting it.  Later, in August, there would be a trip to Europe to some of the conventions there.

Home on a Wing and a Prayer

By the time the Memorial Day weekend came around, everything was in place for the Fourth of July party. The DLC was actually ahead of schedule and Sarah felt okay about leaving for a few days to go home and see her parents and brother.

She flew into the San Diego airport at about three in the afternoon on Friday.
Taking a deep breath, Sarah said a little prayer as they made their final approach. Some idiot had allowed a company to build a multistory parking garage directly in line with the final approach to the only runway at the airport. The clearance between the landing gear and the building was horrifically small. Add to that the fact that the runway was short, almost too short for jets, and reverse thrust of the engines was almost mandatory. This made landing at the San Diego airport an exciting event but not in a good way.

Sarah
took a shuttle home to Bonita. She pulled up in the driveway and got her stuff out of the van. The front door was open, only the screen was shut.

“Mom?” Her voice was met with yapping as Noodles, the latest in a long line of doxies met her at the door. “Hey Noodles,” Sarah said as she pulled open the screen. She made it in the door, just barely. Noodles was all over her, doing the happy dance and barking madly.

Sarah’s mom came down the stairs. “Sarah!” Her mother grabbed her up in a big hug. “Sarah, sweetie,” her mom repeated, giving her a kiss.

“Hi Mom,” Sarah managed. Her eyes filled with tears. Despite everything, it was good to be home for awhile. She kissed her Mom’s cheek.

“Come on, sweetie. Let’s get your things up to the guest room.” Janet Adams was as lithe and spry as she had been when Sarah was a girl. She picked up Sarah’s suitcase and took it up the stairs, leaving Sarah to manage her tote and overnight bag.

Determined not to grow fat, Sarah’s mother did aerobics, yoga and boot camp to stay fit and trim. It seemed to be working
, for her mother was in fine shape.

Once they were up in the guest room, Sarah asked, “Is Dad at work?

“Yep. He’ll be home around five.” Janet looked her daughter up and down.

“So, what’s this?” Her hand went to Sarah’s hair. “That’s pretty radical, isn’t it?” She looked down at Sarah’s skinny pink jeans. “And what’s with the jeans?”

Sarah shook her head. “It comes with the territory, Mom. I work for a video game company now. Most of my co-workers are twenty and have tattoos everywhere.”

Janet’s eyes grew al
armed. “You don’t, you haven’t—”

“No, Mom, no tattoos.” Sarah opened her case and started hanging up her clothes. “And I brought other clothes, classics.”

“Good, because we’re going out with Doctor and Mrs. Ingalls tomorrow night. Dinner at the Oceannaire Seafood Room and the theater after. Greg will be with them.” Janet started hanging up some of Sarah’s things. “I was thinking we could go shopping in the morning.”

Sarah heaved a mental sigh. Some things never changed.
It’s only two and half days
, she told herself,
I can do this.
“What about David?” Sarah asked aloud.

“We’re going to David’s on Sunday. He says he’s got a surprise for us,” Janet said. “
He said casual and that he’d fire up the Jacuzzi if anyone wanted to use it, so take your suit.” Sarah’s clothes were all hung and put in drawers.

“Come on, let’s have
a drink and wait for your Dad,” Janet suggested.

Her mom led her out onto the patio where a pitcher of margaritas waited. Sarah gratefully accepted one and crawled up onto one of the teak loungers. Her mom set some guacamole and chips down on the end table between the two loungers, poured a drink for herself and sat down as well. “So
are you dating anyone back there?”

“I’ve been too busy, Mom. The company I was working for got bought out in a hostile takeover
. The owner of the new company asked me to come and work for him. It’s been really exciting. I’m doing things that I never envisioned doing six months ago. So far, it’s been great, but it keeps me busy. We’re on a very tight deadline, an important deadline, one that I’m determined to meet.”

“How important can a deadline for a video game be?”

Sarah looked up. Her father was standing in the doorway leading from the great room to the patio. Sarah, frustrated, sighed. “It’s important. A number of people’s jobs depend upon meeting it, Dad.”

Janet frowned at her husband, but he took no notice. She rolled her eyes, got up and poured him a drink. He was never going to learn when it came to Sarah. “Hi honey,” She gave him a kiss and a margarita.

Edward Adams was tall, gray and very good looking, even in his early sixties. Like her mom, her dad kept in shape, and the two of them were a formidable pair. “But a video game company—“

“Dad, can you leave it alone just this once? Please?” Sarah spat out.

“No, I just want to understand, Sarah. Tell me about your work. Explain it to me.” Her dad sat down on the edge of her chaise lounge to listen.

Sarah surrendered. For the next hour, she walked her father through the details of her work.

“So you’re working for this corporate pirate?” Edward asked.

“Yes, because it gives
me the opportunity to save some jobs and change a game I like into a game I could love,” Sarah said.

Her father patted her
ankle. “Well, it sounds more important than being a paralegal.”

“Actually, Dad, the skills are much the same.” Sarah took another deep breath. Was he never going to let her get down off the witness stand?

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t make more of your master’s degree, Sarah. I mean—”

“Please, Daddy, can we just let it go?”

Edward heard the quiet desperation in Sarah’s voice and said, “Yes, of course, munch,”

Sarah cringed a little at the old nickname. Her father always said she was too small to be a munchkin and therefore could only be a munch.

Tossing
down the rest of his margarita, he stood up. “Well, let’s get dressed and we’ll go to Jalisco’s for dinner.”

Sarah and her parents went out for dinner and drinks. When
they got home, Sarah excused herself and went upstairs to her room. She logged in to her work site to check and make sure nothing had caught fire in her absence. An email was in her in-box from Eamon.

Hope you’re getting some R&R in sunny California. Atlanta is hot and stormy.
Don’t let the parents vex you too much. E.

Sarah wrote back:

Very little sunshine here in the mornings. Too cold to swim. Summer doesn’t really begin in San Diego until July. Already vexed, hexed and spellbound by the folks. I need a cleric – send one please. Hope the convention is going well. All quiet on the Wickerworld front for the moment. See you next week. S.

Suddenly her instant message lit up.

Sorry to hear that they’re giving you grief. Do you want a rescue?

Sarah replied:

No, I can deal, honest. They don’t mean to vex me. They love me. I see David on Sunday; he’ll help me muddle through. Thanks for the offer.

Eamon replied:

Just remember who won the contest. That should help.

Sarah replied:

Chauvinist ! LOL! ‘Night

Eamon replied;

Goodnight.

Sarah logged off, took a shower, climbed into her bed and read until she fell asleep.

Saturday began with a marathon shopping spree with her mother. In the space of about five hours they hit just about every important discount outlet in San Diego County. Sarah did her best not to buy anything, but her mother insisted on purchasing a cocktail dress for her for their evening out later.

Only Sarah’s determined insistence that she had a perfectly fine pair of shoes and purse to go with the dress kept her mother from buying accessories as well.

They got home just in time to shower and change. Sarah had to admit that the little red cocktail dress her mother had insisted on buying was sexier than her little black dress. Sarah guessed that her mom was matchmaking again.

Greg Ingalls
and Sarah had been friends in high school. Perhaps her mother hoped that an old friendship could blossom into something more. She suspected that her mother was yearning for some grandchildren. It seemed that neither she nor David had any intention of providing them at the moment. No wonder her mother plotted.

Sarah took a final look in the mirror and then went downstairs to join her mother and father. They met the Ingalls at
the Oceannaire Seafood Room for an excellent dinner. Then they went to the Civic Center to see
The Book of Mormon.

Sarah and Greg had caught up with each other over dinner, and they sat together during the musical. He offered to drive her to the bar where
everyone was going for a drink. His parents decided to ride with hers.

“Do you think we’re being set up?” Greg asked her once they were in the car alone.

“Well, I don’t know about your mother but mine is definitely seeking grandchildren,” Sarah said with a laugh. “My parents should have had more kids. Maybe one of them would have been inclined to marry early.”

Greg laughed as well. “You know, it’s not that I don’t want to marry, it’s just that I can’t see
m to find the time to date anyone these days.”

“I know
what you mean. But whatever happened with Heather? I mean, you used to really like her.”

Greg shook his head
. “I don’t know. She went back East to school and I stayed out here. By the time I finished law school, we’d lost touch.”

“You should look he
r up on Facebook, or the other social websites, Greg. You’d be amazed at how many old friends are out there on the social network,”

“Strange. My firm has a page on Facebook but I’ve never bothered to set one up for myself.”

“You should. At the very least, I’d
friend
you,” Sarah told him.

Greg pulled his ear. “I might. Hey, let’s give the parents a thrill and go clubbing. I may not date, but I do know some of the hot spots.
In fact, Flux back at the Gas Lamp District is a hot spot right now.”

“
Sounds good. Let’s do it!” Sarah told him.

Sarah and Greg had a drink with the parents and then excused themselves. The Ingalls were delighted to hitch a ride home with Sarah’s parents.

On their way to the club, Sarah brought up Facebook on her phone and began searching for Heather. To her surprise, she found her still using her maiden name. Sarah sent a
friend
request and almost immediately received a positive response. She then sent a private message and discovered that Heather was in San Diego and currently single. Sarah gave her the name of the club they were going to and invited her to show up.

About forty-five minutes after they sat down, Heather came through the door looking for Sarah and Greg. Since Sarah hadn’t said a word to Greg about what she was doing, he was totally and completely stunned when Heather appeared at their table.

Greg stood up and took her hands. “Hey, you! Where have you been?” He kissed her cheek, but Heather took Greg’s face between her hands and gave him a long soft kiss on the mouth. “Lost in the wilderness, Greg lost in the weeds. But I’m home at last.” She kissed him again, and then she turned to Sarah. “Damn girl, it is so good to see you!”

Sarah gave her a big hug. “Greg and I were talking about you and I played a hunch. Can you join us?”

“Count on it.” Heather gave Greg a
come hither
look and said, “Greggy, get me a drink will you? Something light, with an umbrella.”

Greg
practically ran for the bar.

“Is he...?”

“Not married, not seeing anyone. He’s been too busy climbing the legal ladder at his firm, but all he’s talked about tonight is you and how he was sorry he lost track. How about you? Married?”

“Divorced,
but no kids, thank God. It wasn’t a happy or healthy relationship but I’m am over it and well out of it,” Heather told her. “And you?”

“I was engaged, got jilted. Been too busy to date. There’s a guy, but he doesn’t want to get serious and I don’t want to play that game,” Sarah explained.