Emily Franklin - Principles Of Love 06 - Labor Of Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

remained constant while I was away. I wait--swaying just enough to let Charlie know I might have been drinking--but the kiss doesn't come.

    Over refreshments served by the pool, I try to regain some semblance of order while being given the more-than-once over from Charlie's parents. So far, the drinks are only a tad icier than my reception.

    "So, Charles tells us you're still in high school?" Mrs.Ad dison asks. Her legs are crossed at the ankle and she's man aged to sip her drink without getting any of her perfectly appropriate lipstick on the glass.

    "I do. I am. I'll be a senior at Hadley this fall." I figure high school's a topic that's safe, and I leave off the "Hall" from Hadley's name on purpose, to show just how familiar I am with life there, with that world. It's as though somehow the fact that I attend the same school that their son did con notes something. That I'm worthy? Then I despise the fact that they've made me feel insecure enough to flaunt my prep-school status.

    Mrs. Addison nods while Mr. Addison sits back in his

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    chair, looking into the distance as though an interesting game of tennis is being played on the lawn. Both he and his wife are the essence of Vineyard style--she's decked out in a white linen shirt that miraculously never wrinkles and a pair of black trousers that don't seem heavy despite the fact that I'm sweating in my shorts and sloppy summer top, while he's in a white polo shirt that offsets his tanned arms and a pair of khaki shorts. From the outside, they appear placid and genteel. From my point of view this is slightly misleading. But maybe I'm being too sensitive due to my fading buzz and oncoming headache.

    "Parker excelled at Hadley," Mr. Addison says. "I trust you're finding it a challenge?"

    It's this type of comment that I don't know how to inter pret. Is he merely making conversation--as in prep school's a challenge--or is he saying that though his super-smart, socially elevated son excelled at Hadley, I--as the dim and disheveled girl who appeared at their door unannounced-- must find it a challenge? So I give something equally am biguous."I've really grown there.We're a good match."

    Charlie takes a drink when I say this, his eyes flickering over his glass at me.Are we a good match, too? "Love's doing really well at Hadley.They're lucky to have her."

    Mrs. Addison smiles without showing her teeth. "Was that the only school you applied to? I remember your

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    interview there, Charles." She raises her eyebrows and Charlie nods, not offering any other info about this."And Parker . . ." She turns to look at Parker who sits at the far end of the pool doing the New York Times crossword and generally ignoring our group presence."Parker breezed through."

    I sip my lemonade and rest the cold glass on my knee. I'm not wearing sunscreen and I can feel my skin reacting to the hot sun--I'll achieve perma-blush soon."I didn't, um, actually interview."

    Mr. Addison's face registers a look of being impressed, the corners of his mouth downturned, his eyes wide."Well, now--she's got you beat there, Parker!" He raises his voice so Parker can hear, though he shows no sign of caring.

    Charlie explains, "Parker interviewed like everyone else does, but his records and personality were such a winning combination that they never made him file an application."

    "And Mike went to Exeter?" I bring up the sibling who isn't present, Charlie's sister Mikayla.

    "Mikayla . . ." Mrs. Addison sighs as she refills my glass without asking if I'd care for more.

    "Well, she graduated." Mr. Addison says this so it's clear we all understand the diploma could very well not have been given.

    "Mike's great," Charlie says. Then to me he adds, "She's off-island right now. In New York."

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    I think I'm done with the first encounter of meet the parents when Mrs. Addison stands up. Still unwrinkled, she gives a mere toss of her chin-length coiffed blond-white hair