A Face in the Shadow Part 2 Chapter 8

Eight
“Rachel, I haven’t seen you for a couple of weeks. Why don’t you come over Saturday for lunch?” Her mom’s call came just as Rachel was sitting down to a fast food dinner for one.
“I’m not staying over mom.”
“I’m not asking you to. We have a turkey your dad got from the company for Christmas. The thing is eleven pounds and that is too big for the two of us to eat by ourselves. Now Fall’s coming around again and they’ll be another turkey so I thought I’d have you and a few others over for lunch Saturday.”
“What others.” Rachel was suspicious. She didn’t want to walk in to some sick dating game.
“A few of my friends from church.”
“Mom.”
“I invited three people.”
“And how many are young men?”
“One.”
“Who?”
“Curtis.”
“So what you are asking me is if I want to come over so you can fix me up with while you guys watch?”
“I’m thinking one o’clock. You can come over Friday night or first thing Saturday morning. Adam said he’ll have the chessboard set up when you get here.”
“Tell him I’ll be over Saturday and that I’ve been playing against the computer so he’d better be ready.”
They hung up and Rachel returned to her meal. It was no longer good enough for her mom that Rachel was dating a man. She needed to have a spare. It was fine. Curtis was a nice guy and fun to talk to. He knew Lisa, Mom, well enough to know he was being set up as a love interest for her daughter and he took it in stride.
As far as church people went Curtis seemed about the most normal of any of her mom’s friends. He didn’t put on airs or look down his nose at Rachel.
She ate another French fry. If she was going to keep her weight in check during the holidays she’d have to cut back on her Wendy’s French fries. But that was still a touch over six weeks away. She bit another fry.
She’d have to talk to Adam before everyone got there, oh and Mom too. Even though she was only friends with Curtis she didn’t want him to know she’d gone out with Drew. Mom would probably keep her mouth shut without Rachel saying something but she preferred to play it safe.
It was better to keep the conversation with Curtis on things that didn’t go anywhere near relationship or dating. All her mom would need was a small crack and she’d try to connect the two of them.

You are reading A Face in the Shadow by Tiffany Colter.
Tiffany is a writer, speaker and writing career coach. She is a frequent contributor to print and online publications in addition to her regular marketing blog at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
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This story is copyright Tiffany Colter. 2007. It may not be copied, distributed, sold or included in any larger work without the expressed written permission of Tiffany Colter.
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