Dead Weight by Lori Avocato Page B

knack for reading children’s minds, she didn’t need to be. My two sisters, two brothers, and myself never had a chance against mother.
    Daddy silently ate after she lobbed a scoop of mashed potatoes, which he never asked for, onto his dish. Although a strong man, daddy never had a chance against Stella Sokol either.
    Goldie and Miles remained silent after my mother’s comment, since I knew where they lived! With me!
    Uncle Walt, my favorite uncle who’d resided with us all my life, took a forkful of pork and said, “Leave the girl alone, Stella. Men like heavy sometimes.”
    Thank you favorite uncle.
    Geez. I’d tried the last few weeks to eat a bit more so that I could avoid Goldie-fashioned-facial-Latex and maybe it was working. Still, I just knew he wouldn’t let me get away with chubby. I’d have to be more than chubbette size to meet his high standards. Ironically, I’d learned oodles of makeup tricks from Gold, but gaining weight on purpose was a new one on me, and I don’t think even Goldie could help me this time.
    As if it wasn’t bad enough that Jagger noticed, I wondered if my current beau, ER Dano, would. Dano was very similar to Jagger in demeanor (okay close to being clone-like) but I liked the guy and he took my mind off of Jagger most of the time.
    And then there was sex. Yes, sex, which I’d completely forgotten about, proving the old adage, “what you don’t use you lose,” prior to meeting Dano. Oh, I’d had boyfriends, but if they weren’t trying to kill me (an obvious hazard of this trade) they were jerks. Losers. Men.
    I made a mental note to myself to let ER Dano know that I’d be leaving in a few days to go to The Rancho Mirage Slenderizing Clinic located in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico.
    I’d never been out west before! Living in Hope Valley, Connecticut all my life, traveling was never a priority. Hell, the ethnic town had so many different people around that as a kid I’d pretend I was in Europe. But this assignment would be fun and, I was certain, not dangerous like the others.
    I mean, who kills people at a weight loss ranch?
    ER Dano put his arms around me and pulled me closer. “Wow. You must have been hungry. You ate like a guy.” He chuckled. “Good to see. I hate when women are always watching what they eat.”
    As his lips touched mine, I wondered if he’d be able to reach around Body Suit Pauline. Would he care if that were really my body? Two hundred and fifty pounds of it?
    He started to whisper in my ear.
    Gulp.
    Naw. He wouldn’t care what I looked like. ER Dano, a burned out paramedic who still worked as one, was a decent guy—and a hunk, as I’d said. I think Uncle Walt was correct. Some men liked heavy.
    After a few kisses (initiated by me) and a few hands over bodies (initiated by him) we eased back from each other, and I told him about my next assignment.
    I’d met ER Dano on the last case when I’d investigated ambulance fraud at the company he worked for. Yikes. That one, I had to admit, was a pip. A real pip.
    â€œHow long will you be gone?” he asked then nuzzled my neck.
    Gulp again. Why does he insist on talking? I wondered. I could think of a hell of a lot better things to be doing.
    Suddenly I pictured Sister Mary-I-can-do-what-I-want-with-my-ruler, wagging her finger at me and all sexual thoughts vanished.
    Damn, she was good.
    â€œI really don’t know, but from what I’ve read of the case, not too long. Should be a slam dunk.”
    I stepped out of the taxicab from the airport once Goldie was able to give me a good shove from behind. Clearly I hadn’t had enough time to practice living in the body suit, and clearly I needed him along if for nothing else but to stop me from making a fool of myself—or accidentally hurting the feelings of any of the real patrons. I couldn’t help but worry about