The Happy Endings Book Club Read Free

busy.”
    Arley sat on one of the lounges nearby. He stretched his legs out in front of him and cocked his head to one side as he searched her face. “No time like the present.”
    Paige had the urge to throw herself into his lap. Arley Douglas was the sexiest man she’d ever set eyes on. He had black hair, peppered gray at the edges, and blue eyes that crinkled slightly when he smiled, which was often. Every time she ran into him, she’d look into those eyes and strange feelings and memories would stir but not quite surface. He seemed familiar, and yet he was like no one she’d ever met. He was larger than life, and when he turned his focus on you, you felt like the only person in the world. He seemed to care. And as much as Paige reminded herself that he treated everyone the same way, it was truly nice to be in his company, even occasionally, because Paige was rarely around a man who seemed to care.
    “I’m worried that my mother might have … ah … dementia or something.”
    Arley looked concerned. “What makes you say that?”
    Paige fingered the locket around her neck. “Well, to cut a long story short—”
    “Why?”
    “Why what?”
    “Why cut a long story short?”
    Paige was thrown. “I don’t want to bore you.”
    “Why would you bore me?”
    “I … just might.”
    “Because you think I find you dull? Or do you think I have a short attention span?” Arley pretended to be offended.
    “No … I mean … I don’t know you very well, but I presume your attention span is perfectly fine.” Why did he always turn her into an inarticulate fool?
    “So why do you think the long story would bore me?” Arley grinned at Paige. “I’d prefer the long story.”
    Paige stared at him in surprise. He was a most unusual man. Her ex, Tim, used to get extremely impatient with her if her stories went on for more than a minute.
    “Okay, the long story it is …”
    For the next forty minutes, Paige found herself telling Arley things she’d never discussed with anyone, certainly not Tim. She told Arley about her childhood, her mother, how she felt about never meeting her father, how in many ways she chose Tim because at first his controlling ways seemed quite fatherly. And then, finally, she recounted the conversation she’d just had with her mother. She left out the bit about her father being a fairy, without quite knowing why, but she told him everything else.
    “And so,” she finished, “I can only conclude that she must be losing her mind … to suggest that my father is still alive … and would in all likelihood outlive me.”
    Arley nodded, as he’d done countless times since her tale began. “She may be a bit confused after the anesthetic, but that doesn’t imply something as sinister as dementia. I work with a lot of dementia patients and I’ve certainly never seen any warning signs with your mum. She’s as sharp as a tack.” He paused for a moment, and then added, “And a dreadful flirt.”
    Paige blinked a couple of times. Had he mixed his patients up?
    “My mother is Jean Macintyre in room 76. With the hip replacement.”
    Arley’s eyes twinkled. “Even if I’d forgotten your mother, Paige, I’m certain I wouldn’t forget you.”
    Paige felt her cheeks flush again. Damn them! “It’s just when you say she’s a flirt … that’s not normal behavior for her.”
    “Is that so? She seems awfully good at it.”
    “Do you think it’s tied in with what she said to me?”
    Arley didn’t seem to be concerned. “It’s not like she said anything completely outrageous.”
    “There was one more thing she said that’s rather … outrageous. One thing I haven’t yet told you.” Paige was embarrassed now. “She told me that my father is … gay.”
    “Gay?”
    “A homosexual.”
    Arley’s eyebrows shot up. “She said he’s a homosexual?”
    “Well, no, the exact word she used was fairy , which is so typical of her narrow-mindedness, to even use that word. She said, Paige, your