"Yes, I know," I said."Since when do you know?" she asked, trying to keep her surprise from showing in her voice."Since before I agreed to join the ex...edition," I said."But how did you know?"I looked at Paul who sat next to us, pretending not to be interested in our talk. Or maybe he really wasn't."Paul has never had any secrets from me." No, I could not say that. He had not told her that he had told me. He had not been open to her, and I could not brag that he had always been open with me,. "Come on man, start stripping, we sure ashell didn't come over here for some kind of a church meeting, ---let'sremind ole Sammy here how anxious we can be for some of that long, black,muscled, meat he's got to offer, and if Tylor wants to watch, we'll justput on a show for him! We don't know him, and he don't us!" Then looking at Sammy he asked, "Hey, Tylor is home tonight Iassume?" "I told him he might wanna be, but he said he had to be out tilllater, so he'd try to, `look in' on us,. I enter the bar it is fairly quiet tonight although still early, I nod to a couple of acquaintances who smile back, I will make this a good night. I sit at the bar talking to Caesar our resident Brazilian bartender, he makes great cocktails, he knows that it’s my birthday so is mixing me a special cocktail, secret family recipe, he makes me smile. I have had two or three of Caesars specials and now have a very warm glow I look around the bar to see if there is anyone to hook. " Yeah, sometimes it is." Sometimes it is." Lynn forced a smile. She took a deep breath and composed herself. Then she reverted to a frown."I'm going to talk to Billy. Can you wait here?"I nodded and she headed down the hall.I wondered how long I should stay. I wanted to talk about the sex with Angie but maybe that was better left until our usual time on Thursday. Lynn took the decision out of my hands when she returned."I told Billy I was proud of him for standing up for Ralph but disappointed.