Monday, September 28, 2020

TUESDAY TALES!


 

Welcome! It's time for Tuesday Tales again. Here's another episode of "The Kiss" this week. This is a story-in-progress. So please be kind, but do leave a comment! Scroll down to the link to return to Tuesday Tales and the fine stories there. Thanks for stopping by. 


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Tongue-tied, she checked the battery on her cellphone. Anything to avoid his probing stare. She didn’t think she’d ever see him again, yet here he was, sitting next to her on a bench, just like old times. How many benches did they warm in the schoolyard afterschool? Or in the park on weekends? The kids played and they sat and talked, and talked, and talked. The conversation started off polite –where you went to school, where you grew up –boring.

It was but a month, if she remembered right, before conversation got interesting. Politics, marriage, sex – no topic was off limits. New to marriage, motherhood and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Allison had come from Nebraska seeking a Master’s degree in literature at Columbia.

Spencer Wyman had been her professor, mentor, and advisor. Totally swept off her feet, she was married and a mother within two years –her degree forsaken in favor of raising Robbie and catering to Spence.

Don had become her first friend and confident in New York. A second time parent –though he swore raising a girl was different—he had plenty of sound advice for a nervous first-time mom.

At the end of the second grade, their friendship came to an abrupt halt. Allison and Robbie left without so much as a “goodbye.”

Sitting next to Don, she felt the heat of his stare, anger burning just below the surface. How long would it be before he asked the question? She guessed maybe thirty seconds. Smiling to herself, she’d nailed it.

“Why did you leave?"



6 comments:

  1. Oooo this is just crackling! Well done. I wonder why he left as well...

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  2. Now that's a great set up. The perfect amount of backstory for the cliffhanger. Well done.

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  3. I love it! Can't wait to hear why he left, too.

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  4. Oooh, the electric moment! I'm looking forward to more of this. Their energy together is delicious.

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  5. A perfect balance of undercurrents of sizzle tempered with ballast carried from the past. Great scene!

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  6. Oh, I can’t wait to learn more about these two! There is so much tension. And I want to know why she left too. Great job!

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