Love, Lust 'n Geology (1ST DRAFT)

Chapter 46: Progress?

This chapter is dedicated to Samna73. In preparation for the dedication, I looked thru our entire PM exchange, & am proud to say that while I type 'Samina' just about every time I'm trying to 'Samna', the mistake has only slipped thru once ;-)!

My confidence in my story swings like a pendulum & I can always rely on Samna via her comments, votes & PM's to carry it upward :-)! Thank u so much, Samna, for ur support, ur encouragement, & for sticking with the story! I really appreciate it :-)!

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Chapter 46: Progress?

The pattern of Tom introducing her as his nerdy girlfriend continued for the rest of the summer. Samina didn't mind – about the nerd part, that is. She liked being a nerd! And she found Tom's obvious appreciation of that fact incredibly attractive – umm, as in, it turned her on! But then, what about Tom didn't? Sigh!

Such introductions were particularly plentiful at Jan and Bill's annual potluck barbecue, to which she was invited. When Tom first alluded to it, she asked, "What about the crew?"

"What about the crew?"

"Are they invited?"

"No!" And then, perhaps wishing to be fair to Bill, he added, "Bill was going to, but I told him that it was probably better if he didn't."

"Why?" she asked, puzzled.

Tom shrugged. "I didn't wanna see Chris."

"Why not? I thought you guys made up!"

"We did," Tom lied. "I wanted to make sure it stayed that way!"

Samina rolled her eyes, and tsk'ed, exclaiming, "You're both so childish!" The 'both' referred to the fact that Chris had not been able to stay entirely true to his resolution of not denigrating Tom, at least, in front of Samina. He felt perfectly free to do so in Phil's company, however, although Phil maddeningly refused to weigh in against Tom. Chris ascribed it to Tom having bribed Phil with his generous donations of beer! A few jabs had escaped Chris, for which he'd apologized to Samina, but only after he'd had the satisfaction of communicating his (alarmist) views of Tom to her ... yet again!

Raising a brow, Tom observed dryly. "We're men, Samina. We're supposed to be childish!" At least, that's what every girlfriend of his whom he'd found with her nose stuck in a book that purported to 'tell all' about men had told him!

"Oh!" She'd never thought of it that way before! It appeared to be a sound theory, at least, as far as Grant and the boys and Tom were concerned. But not so much her father! Perhaps it just took men longer to grow up? If that was the case, Grant had better hurry up, cause at the rate he was going, it seemed to her that he might run out of time!

On arriving at Bill's, they entered the backyard directly through a side gate. The yard was fenced in and had a natural, but still tidy look, with grass, tall trees, bushes, but no flower beds, perfectly suited to Samina's taste! Not only that, but it was huge, much, much larger than her parents' postage stamp-sized one. Even the Queen could have thrown a garden party here! It still didn't compare to the expansive field behind Tom's house, though.

The house, a large bungalow, reminded her of country homes she'd seen outside Toronto. There were about sixty people milling about, standing or seated at picnic tables and lawn chairs which were scattered here and there. A group of children were clustered around a playground set (swings and a slide) in a corner of the yard.

Samina kept behind Tom. A case of Rickard's dangled from Tom's one hand, one of Mike's Hard Lemonade from the other. She was transporting a large dish of lasagne – homemade lasagne, of course! According to Tom, Jan had requested it, as it was a favourite with the kids.