In The Stars Part II, Episode 9: Virgo

By Debbie McGowan

Kris struggles with his own demons to reconcile with Ade;
Shaunna and Andy fight their desires, as they find themselves increasingly drawn together;
an unwelcome guest turns up to bid an old friend farewell.
But as The Circle battle their grief, can they pull together to support each other through to the other side?

* * * * *

‘Virgo’ is the ninth episode of In The Stars. For those readers unfamiliar with the series, ‘Capricorn’ (episode one) re-introduces the main characters, so you could pick it up from here and perhaps catch up with the previous books later.

In The Stars explores the day-to-day lives of The Circle—nine friends from high school, now it their late thirties—following them through celebration, loss, illness and life-changing decisions.

Each episode covers the period of time indicated by the zodiac sign from which it takes its title.

The full novels of In The Stars Part I: Capricorn–Gemini and In The Stars Part II: Cancer–Sagittarius are also available for purchase (paperback/ebook).

In The Stars Part II is season five in the Hiding Behind The Couch Series.

The story follows chronologically from In The Stars Part I (Season Four) and Breaking Waves (Novella). It continues in A Midnight Clear (Novella), Red Hot Christmas (Novella) and Two By Two (Season Six).

* * * * *

What readers say about the Hiding Behind The Couch Series:

“The remarkable characterisation in these novels is what makes them for me.”

“This story reminds me of my favorite movies about friendship and relationships.”

“Few authors have explored the depths of longtime friends within a group, or ‘circle’ the way Debbie McGowan has!”

“I have a love-hate relationship with Debbie McGowan’s Hiding Behind the Couch Series. I love to read them, I HATE it when they’re over.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781909192706

Debbie McGowan

Debbie McGowan is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction that celebrates life, love and relationships in all their diversity. Since the publication in 2004 of her debut novel, Champagne—based on a stage show co-written and co-produced with her husband—she has published many further works—novels, short stories and novellas—including two ongoing series: Hiding Behind The Couch (a literary ‘soap opera’ centring on the lives of nine long-term friends) and Checking Him Out (LGBTQ romance). Debbie has been a finalist in both the Rainbow Awards and the Bisexual Book Awards, and in 2016, she won the Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) for her novel, When Skies Have Fallen: a British historical romance spanning twenty-three years, from the end of WWII to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Through her independent publishing company, Debbie gives voices to other authors whose work would be deemed unprofitable by mainstream publishing houses.

Book preview

In The Stars Part II, Episode 9: Virgo

Hiding Behind The Couch

Season Five

by

Debbie McGowan

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

Second Edition

Published 2018 by Beaten Track Publishing

First published 2014

Copyright 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 Debbie McGowan at Smashwords.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/debbiemcgowan

This book is available in print at most online retailers.

Cover Design by Debbie McGowan

Licensed stock images: usage is not indicative

of the models’ identity, activities or preferences.

Zodiac Illustrations by Emma Pickering

http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

* * * * *

This novel is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

* * * * *

Kris struggles with his own demons to reconcile with Ade;

Shaunna and Andy fight their desires, as they find themselves increasingly drawn together;

an unwelcome guest turns up to bid an old friend farewell.

But as The Circle battle their grief, can they pull together to support each other through to the other side?

* * * * *

‘Virgo’ is the ninth episode of In The Stars. For those readers unfamiliar with the series, ‘Capricorn’ (episode one) re-introduces the main characters, so you could pick it up from here and perhaps catch up with the previous books later.

In The Stars explores the day-to-day lives of The Circle—nine friends from high school, now it their late thirties—following them through celebration, loss, illness and life-changing decisions.

Each episode covers the period of time indicated by the zodiac sign from which it takes its title.

The full novels of In The Stars Part I: Capricorn–Gemini and In The Stars Part II: Cancer–Sagittarius are also available for purchase (paperback/ebook).

In The Stars Part II is season five in the Hiding Behind The Couch Series.

The story follows chronologically from In The Stars Part I (Season Four) and Breaking Waves (Novella). It continues in A Midnight Clear (Novella), Red Hot Christmas (Novella) and Two By Two (Season Six).

* * * * *

Dedication

For Eileen:

See you in the next one. Maybe.

And for the Dog People:

we are a transient population,

unthwarted by rain, wind, snow,

sun-baked earth and horse flies;

may the source of our insanity

remain our salvation.

* * * * *

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my wonderful proof-readers, Tracy and Andrea, for your persistence in / insistence on finding and then laughing at my dreadful mistakes, not to mention your extraordinary expertise in all matters, but in particular, those of bingo and healthcare! The Circle thank you, too!

Much gratitude to Hans M Hirschi, for checking and correcting my dodgy Norwegian / Swedish translations, even though we had only just ‘met’!

Hans also writes beautiful stories – visit his website to find out more. www.hirschi.se

Thanks also to Beth, for excellent chat show related creative input.

Elliot Sanchez lives because of you.

***

Excerpts from:

‘The Signs’, by Henry Van Dyke

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Henry Van Dyke.

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.

Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

Reproduced under the terms of the

Project Gutenberg Licence.

www.gutenberg.org

‘Footprints In Your Heart’, by Eleanor Roosevelt;

also attributed as

‘Today is a Gift’, by Laszlo Kotro-Kosztandi.

Further bibliographic information unavailable.

* * * * *

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Crying In The Rain: Wednesday 23rd August

Labour Of Love: Thursday 24th August

Poison: Wednesday 30th August

Lips Of An Angel: Wednesday 6th September

Tipping The Scales: Saturday 16th September

Crossroads: Friday 22th September

The Longest Time: Saturday 23rd September

Full Circle: Saturday 23rd–Sunday 24th September

The Story Continues…

About The Author

By The Author

* * * * *

It’s the time-birth-death gimmick. Can’t go on much longer, too many people are wising up.

William S. Burroughs

* * * * *

Virgo

Mysterious symbol, words are all in vain

To tell the secret power by which you reign.

The more we love, the less we can explain.

Crying In The Rain

Wednesday 23rd August

Stuffy, hot underground station, people marching past, rain-soaked clothes, the stench of damp. Kris crammed himself inside the carriage along with the rush hour commuters. He was used to trains, but what a luxury their trains back home were by comparison; not that his work had ever required him to travel in rush hour. He could have avoided it now, if he’d thought ahead, instead of agreeing to Ade’s suggestion that they meet at five in King’s Cross. A couple of hours would have made little difference.

The place they were meeting was a bar of the stars. Upstairs was the public room, an upmarket yet typical wine bar, with black leather high stools and too much steel. It was cold and clinical and all about the wine, of which he knew nothing. Red, white, rosé, Champagne, and that Prosecco stuff Adele had taken to drinking when they went out anywhere as a foursome, which they didn’t do anywhere near as much these days.

He missed it. Back before the separation, the four of them would have dinner at least once a month. It could be a lot of fun, particularly in the days when little Shaunna was just an occasional twinkle in Dan’s eye. Some of those girlfriends, though… Adele could be ditzy, shallow, conceited, but underneath, she was one of the most lovely people Kris knew. She adored Shaunna—both of them, in fact—and he’d taken a few cuts from that tongue over the years, usually when she’d decided his behaviour towards grown-up Shaunna was unacceptable.

So, upstairs was the public wine bar. Downstairs was a basement that looked like a cave, extending into an old subway, arch-shaped with exposed stonework and dark secluded alcoves hewn from a boudoir and furnished with scarlet sofas. It was a place where famous people came to socialise—of hissed conversations and secret rendezvous, where journalists dared not tread. Watertight. What happened in here didn’t ‘leak’ out, though it was at Ade’s insistence that they were meeting here. Kris didn’t care about the photographers, or the snooping journos. He had no secrets. Not anymore. The constant bombardment of headlines had seen to that…

Johansson – How I Raised Another Man’s Child

My Nervous Breakdown Hell

Pissed Up