Lance sees a makeover offer at a costume shop that he couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, he didn't have the money to pay for it, but the store owner was willing to make a deal.

Due to the global pandemic, everyone is forced to stay at home until things have died down. This was great news for Jonah and Kelly, because their jobs continued to pay them, even though they can’t work from home. The couple decided to spend more time together, and they were loving it.

Chapter 38

By the time we got near Christmas, again, there had been another shift in focus. Ali had been invited to apply for the Juilliard School in New York, a singular honor for one so young. She, however, wanted none of it. In the middle of the year, she would have finished high school and was certain that if Wayne County was good enough for her Aunty Pet, it was good enough for her.

Summary: What would the world be like if your pay was based on your positive impact on others?

Summary: Discovering who you are is not easy when you're nine. Especially, when Mom wants you to clean your room.

Later that night, I returned to Shelly's room. As soon as she saw me, she pulled me in and closed the door. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don't play coy with me. You have the look of someone who spent some time doe-eyed with a boy. Spill.”

“Marc and I kissed.”

“A four word sentence is insufficient. What did you say? What did he say? Where did he touch you?”

“He was a perfect gentleman. We kissed several time before getting dinner in the cafe. It was very wholesome.”

“Wholesome? What, no groping?”

“Not even once.”

Lance sees a makeover offer at a costume shop that he couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, he didn't have the money to pay for it, but the store owner was willing to make a deal.

  Larry has a secret. He’s been keeping a secret since he was 9. He’s been very successful at keeping it. In all those years not one person has ever been aware of this one thing about him that no one can ever know. Not his parents, not his friends growing up, not his fellow students when he was in college, not his buddies when he was in the Navy, not his coworkers at his job and especially not his wife.

  He particularly careful to keep his wife from knowing. No doubt she’s kick his rear to the curb, if she found out. Oh he’d read all the horror stories of wives who’d found out this kind of thing about their husbands. It never ended well. What’s more as often as not once the wives found out and made a stink, the poor saps employer would find out and they would lose their job as well. No, not pretty at all.

  He must keep his wife in the dark at all costs. He always puts back in the precise spot anything of hers he borrows. She’ll never, can never know.

The evidence he was searching for was right there in front of him when Sergei arrived in the middle of town the next morning. The same two leather jacketed men were loitering about close to the railway station as people arrived for work.

Summary: Ryan is turning 10. Big brother Mike spends his whole paycheck in an attempt to get the perfect birthday gifts. How well does Mike know Ryan?

The Trial

I had all the members of the church and those in positions of power within the station lined up in the throne room. I made sure that this trial was broadcast throughout the Empire. Minsha was sitting next to me upon the dais. Looking down at all the people that I needed to judge and sentence, but I had to seem like a was not a malevolent ruler.

See the thing to know about me, the one and only Eddie Russo is that I don't back down from a fight. I've never cared about picking fights I can win. 5 versus 1? Bring it. No one makes Eddie their bitch. Certainly not some hormone fueled teenager.

"Relax Murphy, I come in peace" Noah said as he approached our table. Turning to me, he added "You got me in a lot of shit yesterday"

"You only have yourself to blame" I replied snarkly.

"You're real mouthy knowing you boyfriend is going to protect you" he laughed at his statement which infuriated me.