TUESDAY TALES - FINISH

 

Hello, and welcome! 

This week our word prompt is "finish". I swore to myself that I would keep the excerpt from "Too Late for Goodbye" clean, heh heh. So here it is. Marty learns more important info about Jenny this week. I hope you enjoy it. When you're done, hop on over to read the fabulous pieces by the other Tuesday Tales authors HERE. Thanks for stopping by. 

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“This is just a mock-up done by the art director. We haven’t gotten all the articles in yet.”

“May I?” he asked reaching for the front page.

She nodded.

Marty turned the pages carefully. He had only been polite before when he said it was brilliant. Truth was he thought it was a little wacky. Kind of like her, but in a good way. As he read the headlines each one grabbed his attention, made him want to read the story. Maybe she had something? Sure, it was a little cuckoo, but who wouldn’t prefer good news with their morning coffee?

 When he finished, he met her gaze. He could see anxiety in her eyes, the desire for his approval. He spoke. “To be honest, at first I thought the idea was a little, well, strange? Odd, maybe. But after reading the headlines, it sucked me in. I’d definitely read this. Much better way to start my day than reading about crooked politicians and mass murderers, right?”

“Exactly what I thought.”

Her face lit up like someone trained a theatre spotlight on it.

“I mean, some days it’s hard enough to get out of bed. Then to face the morning paper?” Tiny lines next to her mouth deepened. “You start your day ticked off, angry at the world. Not a good thing.”

“What would you know about angry? You’re the most cheerful person I know.” He finished his soup.

“Me? You have no idea. I know deep depression from the inside out.”

“How? A divorce? What idiot guy would split from you?”

Her face clouded over. Her eyes wetted and her hands fiddled with the trim on her apron. “You have no idea how low I’ve been.”

He took her hand in his. “Why?”

“My husband died in a car crash. Two years ago. I know what I’m talking about. It took me three months before I could get out of bed.”

There had been times in his life when Marty had felt like an idiot. But this time he knew he was an idiot –the biggest, dumbest kind. Of course, no man in his right mind would leave this lovely women unless taken by the Grim Reaper. How could he be so blind and stupid?

That's it. See you next week!