Male Review by Lillian Grant

Maud I managed a quick grope and a passionate kiss. Now your chaperone has moved in, the game’s up. I can’t see you every day and not be able to touch you. Unless you want to tell your mother that we are more than friends?”
    Meg pulled her feet up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around her jean-clad knees. “Do you want me to tell her?” Her heart pounded. He’d just said he thought she wasn’t ready, but did that bother him? Was this a test? If she said she couldn’t tell her mother had she failed to prove she loved him? Would he walk out and never come back?
    He shook his head, and then leaned forward and ran a hand over her hair. “No. I don’t think either of us is ready to become her pet project. She would have us down the aisle before we had a chance to draw breath. That’s not to say we won’t take that walk one day, but when we’re ready, not because your mother ordered it. You’ve got enough on your plate without me adding any more pressure. I’m here for as long as you need me. I love you no matter what. One day we’ll be ready to tell her and she’ll accept it on our terms, but I don’t think we need to have that argument right now, do we?”
    “No, not today.”
    Sam leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. “No, not today. Today I’ll move out while you’re at the bar with Maud to save any long goodbyes. Then I’ll call you and we’ll talk about dinner one night this week, okay?”
    She nodded and wiped her fingers over each eye to mop up the few tears that had escaped.
    They sat and drank coffee in companionable silence. Sam’s suggestion they date had merit. However, she had a horrible feeling if her mother thought there may be any romantic interest between the two of them she would be even more determined to act as chaperone to salvage Meg’s battered reputation. The only answer was to get them all to go away. Meg tried to plot ways to get rid of her pesky relatives. How had things gotten to this stage? Why couldn’t Maud stay with Meg’s parents? Why couldn’t her mother take an interest in someone else’s business instead of hers? Why didn’t she give Sian the third degree about her personal life?
    The sound of the shower running heralded the impending end to the peace and quiet.

Chapter Twenty
    Meg tugged up her hot pink and silver tube top, and then rested her head on her hand.
    “That’s the third time you’ve sighed in the last five minutes.”
    She turned and looked at Laura before sighing again. What she wouldn’t give to swap lives with her. All of her family lived clean across the other side of the country, and she made the ridiculous bar outfit look good. She wasn’t sure about taking on man-mountain and lady killer extraordinaire, Chad, as a boyfriend, but if Laura were her she wouldn’t care whether her mother disapproved of sex and would bonk Sam with gay abandon whenever the mood took her. The thought of making out with Sam, free from inhibitions and without a concern in the world, sent a warm glow pulsing through her.
    Laura slipped behind the bar, placed a glass in front of Meg and lifted a bottle of brandy off the shelf. “Now you’re moaning. I think you need some of this, for medicinal purposes.”
    She filled the glass and shoved it at Meg.
    Meg shoved the drink back. It was only just after midday, and if she started drinking now she might not be able to stop. Living in a constant drunken stupor wasn’t the way to deal with her problems. Besides, she could be knocked up. The nausea had subsided, but her period was two weeks away so surely that meant she was at her most fertile. She placed a protective hand on her belly. What if she had a baby Sam in her womb? She couldn’t think about the possibility of becoming a mother now.
    “I don’t want a drink.”
    Laura lifted another glass off the shelf and added a slug of brandy. “Yes you do. And then you want to tell me what has you tripping over your face.”
    Knowing arguing with Laura