Sky's the Limit
Copyright© 2026 by aroslav
Chapter 13: The Venue
WE WERE NEARING the awards banquet for the writing contest, so we decided to have dinner at the Sea and Anchor to make sure our dinner choices were the best we could make for an unknown guest list. It was the same place where we held the monthly business association meetings, so we weren’t unfamiliar with the venue and liked the people there.
Of course, I’d become a prominent citizen in the past few weeks. All the staff and many customers recognized and greeted me. It was a little embarrassing for the twins to be recognized so readily in the company of a man—any man.
The twins were known in La Alegria because of their beauty and talent. There had been only one time in history the title of “Miss Alegria,” an annual competition for senior high school girls, had been awarded to two girls. No one could decide between the two of them. In addition to the publishing company, the two taught yoga and dance to some of La Alegria’s top socialites. But they’d seldom been seen in the company of a man. Certainly, when we were out, we were usually with Pat and Marge, or some other group.
With them hanging on my arms, it was impossible to ignore the implication that we were involved with each other.
“I think we’ve been identified as an item,” I chuckled as we were seated.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Ruby said. “Remember, you’re a placeholder for Jan Winslow. Our hearts belong to him.”
“Her,” Pearl corrected her sister.
I wondered how often in history a guy had been cockblocked by his own alter ego. Of course, there was Cyrano. Fortunately, I wasn’t forced to write love letters for an illiterate rival. That would be like me writing letters to the twins from Brent. Yuck!
I remembered that back in college, the theatre department had produced an old musical titled Irma La Douce. In it, the leading man falls in love with a courtesan and in order to keep her just for himself creates a disguise as a rich older client. He meets with her by day as the older rich man and by night as himself. Unable to keep the charade up, he ends up staging a murder of the older man and is sentenced to prison for it. Not only a rival of himself for her love, but also convicted of murdering his own alter ego!
“You’re a really nice placeholder, though,” Pearl continued, interrupting my fantasy. “You know we love to hang out with you. You’re the best cuddler on the planet.”
“We might have to bring Jan to the nest with you and you’ll have three of us to cuddle,” Ruby suggested.
I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought. How was I ever going to break the news to them that I was Jan Winslow?
We ordered our dinners. We were serving three variants of a similar dish. I was having the braised chicken alfredo. Ruby chose the shrimp alfredo. Pearl had the vegetarian choice of mushroom Wellington. The gravy was non-dairy, so the dish would be okay for vegans.
Of course, we sampled from each other’s plate so we all knew what the choices were and could approve them. We sampled all three desserts, as well and ordered coffee as we relaxed and continued to talk about the coming awards banquet.
“We have over a hundred registered and pre-paid,” Pearl said.
“We only have fifteen finalists! How did we get so many people?” I asked.
“Well, remember most of them have spouses or plus-ones. Then there are the six finalist judges and their families. We have our guest speaker, Frank Duggin, and his spouse. When we announced who the keynoter was, we got a flood of local people who registered for the banquet. His local murder mysteries are still really popular.”
“There’s even a tour bus that can be booked to take groups around to locations in his books,” Ruby laughed. “We were lucky he was in town for the banquet.”
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the rug munchers of the Waterfront,” a guy slurred, approaching our table.
Saying the twins were never in the company of a man doesn’t mean they never had suitors. They’d cautiously dated a little in high school. And I think I mentioned they had each had a ‘boyfriend’ in college. But there hadn’t been anyone in a long time who was interesting enough to spend time with.
Lyle Grayson was one of many suitors rebuffed. Multiple times over the years. I’d heard he’d recently gotten married, and I wondered where the rumored wife was on this evening. It seemed he was with three other guys who were just as inebriated. Ruby’s comment only added fuel to Lyle’s fire.
“It’s a taste you’ll never get,” she said.
“There’s only so much a tongue can do,” he growled. “You need a man to show you what’s possible.” He looked my way. “A real man.”
“Lyle, no one at this table is interested in you or your drunk buddies. Go home to your wife and see if she’ll let you show her what a real man can do,” I said. I had a feeling things weren’t all that friendly at home—not if he was a persistent drunk.
“Come on, baby. You two come with us and we’ll show you a good time,” he persisted.
Lyle made the mistake of grabbing Ruby’s shoulder. Before he could react any further, I’d grabbed his wrist and twisted hard to the outside. Lyle screamed and crumpled to his knees.
“Don’t touch what you aren’t invited to,” I said.
“What are you guys waiting for?” Lyle screamed at his companions. “Cripple this bastard so we can take the girls with us.”
I didn’t think the guys had all their faculties. They were in the middle of a nice restaurant and decided they should follow the instructions of Lyle. If I remembered rightly, Lyle had gone to work in some investment firm and these guys were probably clients in town for just the night. It didn’t make a difference to me if he lost business.
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