Ty and Kylie had a nice kitchen. A nice house, truth be told, but the kitchen really was a standout: stainless steel everything, marble countertops, and an impressive cookware collection hanging on the rack over the island. Great view out the bay window o...
I never expected to be a barfly, but it turned out to be a pretty good life choice. Six-year-old Sarah expected to be a Disney princess. Hell, I looked like one; Snow White, to be specific: black hair, pale complexion, rosy cheeks, ruby lips. My eyes are...
It was a letter that upended my world. Not one of the “Dear John” variety; that would have been less painful. Nor was it a “We Regret To Inform,” but the sense of loss, while not as acute, was even more all-encompassing. No, it wasn’t a letter of the pape...
“You’re going to get caught.” Her voice startled me. I was at the bar getting a drink, doing the usual pre-game for Friday night out with the girls. There were five of us that night; there had been a sixth, but she had already found what she was looking f...
As a rule, I didn’t mess with married women. Well, the ones wearing their rings, that is, the ones that were obviously married and didn’t even try to hide it. If a woman is in a hotel bar with her ring on, one of four things is probably going on: she want...
Dee and I showered separately after she finished crying, then ate. Dinner was quiet; not an uncomfortable silence exactly, but a sort of mournful one. My wife knew now how much she’d hurt me, and I knew--or maybe just could finally admit to myself--that s...
How much did I really need to dust? Ugh, I knew already. I needed to dust enough so that Dee would be happy. That’s what this was all for, after all. So that Dee would be happy. She was out shopping, buying a new outfit for our guest. No, for her guest. F...
Forty-seven-year-old Cheryl Busby was standing watching the sun setting over the sea; it was particularly beautiful this evening. Cheryl's house was only two roads back from the sea, and she could watch the sunset from her bedroom window, but on a nice ev...
"Cheer up Jim, it may never happen," smiled the mature woman to the equally mature man in the shop. "Oh, hello Sally, that is the trouble, it never does," replied Jim. "Sounds serious," smiled Sally, wondering if Jim was talking about what she thought he...
It always seethed under his skin, the constant reminder of it. The fact that he was Other. “Twenty-third time’s the charm,” he said as he heaved his heavy slug body onto the desk chair. Typing with cybernetic fingers - instead of his natural flippers - wa...
The unapologetic hand on her thigh and his brazen words both seem to stick in her craw. “What?” she bites at him, forgetting all her good upbringing on purpose. In her head, her grandfather’s outraged voice echoes: “That’s ‘beg your pardon,’ girl. Mind yo...
The bird wants out. The bird wants out so bad. “Miss?” Paia flinches a little and turns her face towards the flight attendant, a lady in her forties with coral-colored lipstick and a little hat pinned to her blonde hair. The lady seems nice. Real nice. St...
“The view from up here is amazing, babe,” she said. “It sure is.” He licked his lips. “Structures so beautifully laid out.” “Yes they are.” “The arches.” “Mmhmm, that arch.” “Contours...” “Aah yeah.” “And the way the light peeks through some of the spaces...
It was the graveyard shift and work had slowed to a crawl. Scarcity of calls lead to head nods, so discussion was always the night’s saviour. Only five women total – including the supervisor – were on the floor for the 3 am shift, and they were huddled in...
“How bad is it?” The questioned lowered her sun-glasses and exposed cherry-red corneas. “Oooh, that looks bad.” “That motherfucker…” “Hey, he probably didn’t do it on purpose, right?” “I told him to drop it on my tits…” “You assumed he was a dropper when...
