Not the hugging, landing in the river, I mean.“Rachel,” I said to her, “my love, don’t try to drown me!”“I wasn’t tryin’ tuh drown yuh...” she laughed, “I got your lettuh just yestuhday, I’m really glad yuh came, dey are really payin’ well on de loggin’ crews, and I betcha I can getcha a job dere, too. Okay?”“Damn skippy,” I said, then pulled her close to me and gave her a kiss.“I thought we weren’t doin’ dat no mawh,” she said, kissing back “I’m glad I was wrong. Right?”“No,” I said, “I hope we. It had started as an innocent game of internet pool which Ian had played countless times before, often chatting with his opponents from around the world and sometimes flirting jokingly with women he played against. This was how things had began between him and Fran, as they played they teased each other when one or the other won a game and after that first encounter they agreed a time when both could be online to play again. It wasn’t long before they were regular pool partners often playing. “I’ll just have to work harder to make my point,” She said. Cheyenne and Savannah were confused because they were still talking about Mark punishing, his sister, for correcting his mistake.Cheyenne showed her buck teeth to her brother with a snitty expression on her face like a braying donkey.“You need to thank your brother properly for taking the time to discipline you at the kitchen table when you run your mouth while he is talking, Donkey,” she said politely but firmly.“Thank him properly?. She stared at me wordlessly, her mouth in a caricature tableau of surprise and bewilderment. I sighed deeply. “How much do you want to make this go away? Forget it?”Staring at her intensely, I could actually envisage the cogs in her mind slowly but surely turn and grind to process what she had just heard, and when the realisation dawned upon her what I was proposing, the confusion gave way to indignation and horror. “Jesus, Tony! This isn’t blackmail! I don’t want your damn money!”Damn. My ace.