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Happy Birthday @Wesley8890 and Happy Belated Birthday @Laura S. Fox! I think I can understand Ryan's position since he got drug and mugged for money over a false sexual harassment claim. I'm sad for Mike though. Chris on the other hand.....well I'm just going to say it--he's a douche. I suspected he was seeing someone else, but I didn't think he was married. Jared should have gone right up to their table and said hello and watched Chris melt. Adrian and Edward seem to be so in sync. Maybe they're the couple to watch.

This is hauntingly beautiful. It made me cry and smile. Years ago I had lain under those weighty stones of grief. My chest was so tight that it hurt to draw breath into my body. It lasted for a long time, It was hard climbing out of that place in my life but it did get better, and I'm so glad that I did climb out. You are immensely talented. Thank you for sharing such an intimate piece.

Oh my!! Take care of yourself Mrsgnomie. We'll all be here waiting for your return!

10 bonus points for using the word petulant in this chapter. 😁 Can't wait till the talk happens between TC and David. I so hope that Dr. Charlotte does come across the pond and stays with David for awhile. She'd get him and TC all sorted out in no time. LOL. Thanks for another great chapter @kbois

I'm not a parent, but I can't help but notice that many children are being ignored by their parents these days. Parents have their faces in cell phones either texting or looking at the latest on FB, Insta, etc. and are unresponsive when a child tries to get their attention. When they finally do respond, it's usually a response of annoyance towards the child. Kids are allowed to wander and run amuck in grocery stores and Walmart unsupervised and mostly out of sight from their parents. It's sad and dangerous given that it only takes a second for a tragedy to happen. I think (at least in my neck of the woods) all to often it's a case of kids having kids and there are no parenting skills ever learned or developed. I scratch my head sometimes and wonder if some of these parents know anything about being an adult or how to survive in the world. It's a shame. When I was growing up, you were taught how to do laundry, cook, iron, sew on a button, etc. Maybe we need to drop the "new math" in school and have a course in life skills if parents are unable to teach these things. Thanks for posting this. I very much enjoyed reading your take on the lack of parenting going on in this world.

Hmmmmmmm.... Me thinks Toby was a big old man slut and was trying to put the make on poor little Ary. Massage.......oldest trick in the book. LOL. Another great chapter Laura!

Well this is an interesting turn of events. Leave it to David to find his own Dr. Ruth! LOL. Charlotte is just terrific and she's managed to guide David to figuring out exactly what is the problem. Charlotte is right in sending him off to let his Dom out for awhile so that he can figure things out. Another great chapter @kbois

And there we have it. I commented in the last chapter of Book 1 that I felt TC pushed David too far in order to get him to surrender. I know this "revelation" occurred during therapy, but TC should have checked himself long before this. He knew exactly what David was about before this relationship started. Bottom line is TC lost control of himself, not the situation. He's got a lot of work to do on himself and a lot of apologizing to do to David. That said, I think he's up to the task and he's off to a good start in redeeming himself. More please. LOL

The only time a typo is really an error is if you type pubic when you mean to type public because spell check won't catch it, but the whole world will. LOL

Sometimes your typos are very telling @Mrsgnomie. Because later in the exchange... Funny how things work out, isn't it? LOL. In all seriousness though, I'm wondering why Ryan didn't confront Nash and try to figure about what had happened. He's been playing matchmaker and meddling for years so why didn't he jump into the middle of this and try to get it straightened out earlier? Might have saved some time and a plane ticket to Hawaii. Loved the seawall and tides symbolism. Now somebody has to get busy (hint hint @Mrsgnomie) and tear down Penns seawall.

I'm glad that you're back with this story. It's good that David is taking care of David and doing what he needs to do to regain himself. He needs to be 100% selfish and not worry about others. I think he's off to a good start. Having him couch surf through Europe is a brilliant idea. It exposes him to different cultures, people as well as geographical areas. I so look forward to the next chapter.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike...... I figured I'd do a long slow burn too. Lol Can't wait for the fireworks between him and Ryan. I'm not feeling Chris too much. He's coming off as really self centered and he's only using Jared. Love the dynamics between Adrian and "His Majesty." I think they're a pretty even match, but their outcome isn't going to be what either one expects. Great story Laura. Can't wait for the next installment!

An apt description of the big Oompa Loompa who resides on Pennsylvania Avenue?

Walked right up to the verge of TMI didn't you? LMAO

I don't think that @Mrsgnomie does. Consider the comment count so far on this one chapter. When an author does their job well, they elicit all sorts of responses from their readers. The fact that readers are showing their disappointment/ frustrations/ annoyance/ with these characters in the comments is actually some high praise for Mrsgnomie's writing talent and character development. We're being shown some pretty flawed people and perhaps there are pieces that some recognize in their own selves or in others they know. Well done and well played @Mrsgnomie

Many people simply stay frozen in the time of high school. And I'm not just speaking of literature.

Exactly. I'm at a loss as to why Nash has such a difficult time confronting issues in his personal life when he tackled issues head on in his professional life. Penn can be extremely dense at times, but there were several opportunities for Nash to come right out and ask him if he was the father. He just wimped out. Actually, let me revise an earlier statement-- Both Penn and Nash can be extremely dense at times. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Better living through chemistry.

Not really trying to be evil, but I'll own it. LOL. You did say to feel free to speculate, didn't you? Perhaps my train of thought was more towards the "least likely" suspect that Agatha Christie so brilliantly employed in her novels. In any event, Billy/Po knows a whole lot about Rhys. Dare I say a lot more than that of a typical fanboy........

Not Penn's.

There are two things we readers know for certain: 1. This is a Laura S. Fox story 2. Since this is a @Laura S. Foxstory, cliffhangers and curve balls are not out of the question and should be expected. LOL I'm going to add onto what @Wesley8890 and @chris191070 have said and say that Levine hired Billy/Po to kill Toby and that Billy/Po has been put into place to make sure that Mason doesn't get too close to the truth.

Well deserved Wayne!

You so mean. LOL.

Loved it. Very thought provoking and it hit close to home. Working on 1 and 2 because of 3 combined with illness(not Covid), this damn quarantine, and I never met a carb that I didn't love. 4 =. 5 courses not a problem if we're talking about food (lol). Couldn't do 5 courses in Uni. Took me a long time to finish, but finish I did. 6 never happened to me. 10 seconds yes--to answer a biology question during a dissection @ Uni. 7 rubies are my birthstone. If you ever tire of them........😁 Thank you for sharing your talent. It totally brightened my day.

Rhys and the ghost are connected somehow. I'm thinking that Rhys witnessed something rather than being a participant. Of course, we'll have to wait for @Laura S. Fox to bring a new chapter so we'll have more clues. I'm enjoying this story Laura!