Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Vinnie and Ethan are on their way to see the unnamable actress. That can't go wrong, can it? See what's going on in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
I half-expected to find this fancy place had valet
parking, but no, that was just an illusion based on my own assumptions. We
parked in the circular drive at the front and entered. The young lady at the
reception desk exuded serenity as we approached. Maybe it went with the
territory. Can’t risk stirring up the patients, right? Of course she recognized
Troy right away, and spent ten minutes gushing over him and how she’d seen
every one of his movies. He listened to her politely, of course, but I noticed
he kept one arm securely around Brendan. Not that he wasn’t openly gay, but
sometimes it didn’t hurt to remind his public of that, I guess.
“Oh yes, she’s here,” she replied to his question
concerning the wayward actress. “I believe she is expecting you in the
solarium. Let me show you the way.” Apparently he’d contacted her to let her
know he was coming. Probably a smooth move on his part.
“Thank you very much, Miss…”
“Mandy,” she replied with a blush.
“Miss Mandy,” he repeated with a courtly bow. I had
to refrain from rolling my eyes. Troy could be such a ham sometimes.
Troy turned toward Ethan and me. “I’ll text you when
it’s safe to come in.”
Ethan nodded. I hoped the solarium wasn’t hard to
find as I suspected we would not be offered the same assistance in locating it.
“No worries,” Ethan said as we made ourselves
comfortable in two plush blue chairs in the waiting area. “I’m sure we can ask
someone for directions.”
Glancing around at our surroundings, I noticed there
was a wing on either side of the main entrance, and a long staircase going up.
But the building was also modern enough to have elevators,. Old fashioned ones
with antique gold gates.
If you didn’t know this was some sort of hospital,
you wouldn’t have known that by the people we saw. Not a nurse’s or orderly’s
uniform in sight. And not a single person wearing pajamas, even posh ones. All
very laid-back and low-key.
“Think she’ll get away with it again?” I asked
Ethan. He too was observing the people around us just as carefully as I was.
He glanced at me and shrugged. “I wish I knew, baby.
When you have money, you can afford to hire good lawyers. I guess it’ll depend
on how she spins her flimsy story of auditioning for some unknown director.”
“Yeah,” I glumly agreed. “She might seem to be twice
as crazy for that.” Maybe she didn’t really know, but that just made her
delusional. And gullible. Guess you couldn’t fault a person for that.
Ethan leaned in to me, his hand on my leg as he
looked into my eyes. For a moment, I worried that something was wrong. Until he
said, “Once all this is behind us, maybe you and I should set a date.”
Of course I realized what he was talking about right
away. We’d been engaged since Christmas Eve, and wore the matching bands to
prove it, but we’d never actually set a date. Most of that was probably my
fault. That fear of commitment thing. An open-ended engagement was one thing,
but picking an actual date and making actual plans was something else.
But it wasn’t like I didn’t want to marry Ethan. I
most certainly did. I needed to get out of my own head. Learn to relax and
trust. I did trust Ethan with all my heart. Which he also owned.
“We should do that,” I agreed and was rewarded with
a beautiful smile. The kind that I lived for.
Just then Ethan’s phone beeped. He glanced down at
it then back at me. “Looks like it’s time to join them.” He raised his brows at
me, and I knew what he was thinking without him having to say a word.
“I’ll behave,” I promised.
At least I would try.
to be continued
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