February 23 2016 Romance Weekly
#LoveChatWrite
Welcome back to Romance Writers Weekly. Every week a group of romance authors join in a blog hop about a fabulous topic to provide our readers with greater insight into the habitat of our crazy minds. Well, I can't speak for everyone, just myself.
This week Tracey Gee has double challenged us to a flash fiction and a haiku or limerick as an intro. Wowza!
I attempted a haiku. I think this is the first one I've ever written. I'm nervous ...
She was the night wind.
Softly caressing my soul.
But I ran away.
Hmm ... sounds a little depressing. I'll follow that up with my flash fiction. Tracey didn't require a set word length, but it must include the following: Kevlar, elbow(s), pinking shears, and a copy of The Great Gatsby. A tough challenge!
A toddler, a puppy, and Lanie's four-night stand walked into the bar. Her Colorado ex looked as delicious as he had on the slopes three months ago. How had he found her? Or had he? The toddler clutched Evan's hand as tightly as the stuffed puppy mushed against his tiny chest. Lanie paused in her waitress duties, and focused with narrowed eyes. Was the kid wearing Kevlar? No that couldn't be right.
The hostess bumped Lanie's elbow as she hurried by. The hostess waved the two males over to a seat in the dining area. Evan brought his head up, and Lanie ducked behind the potted plant located under the movie poster of The Great Gatsby. Evan resembled Leonardo, who played Gatsby in the movie. Which was probably the reason for Lanie's recent obsession with re-reading her dog-eared copy of the American Classic. Drat. The hostess sat the boys in her section. This was going to be awkward. She straightened her skimpy excuse for a flannel shirt/uniform over her now heaving bosom. They hadn't heaved so much in a month. The last time had also been in Evan’s presence. She sucked in her gut, more for fortitude then to appear thinner, and strode over to the table.
Evan had needed a distraction from the sleepless nights he’d experienced the past few weeks. He was still trying to rationalize why taking care of an almost two-year-old had sounded like a good idea. The server's sweet figure sauntered over and the baby let out a wail. Evan didn’t blame the kid. Seeing her gorgeous chest on display made him cry inside as well. He rummaged in his backpack and removed the hodgepodge amount of stuff he'd grabbed at the safety/craft fair in the town square. It had been an interesting, yet confusion festival. Not only had the town police thought it funny to dress a toddler in a fake flac jacket, but the matrons in the booth next door cooed over the sprite then had given Evan a sample pack for his next scrapbooking page. Yeah, right. The scissors, aka pinking shears as his sis would correct him on, landed on the top of the stack in front of the baby, along with construction paper and some lace fabric. The lace went immediately into the baby's mouth.
"Uh … those aren't appropriate toys for a toddler."
Evan's head whipped up at the familiar voice. Lanie stood ready to take their order in the skimpy waitress’s outfit that barely covered her body. She lived in the same town as him? He'd promised to call her. That had been before his life was turned upside down.
"I see now why you didn't contact me." Lanie eyed the baby.
Evan groaned. His tired brain couldn't focus, but it was obvious what she was thinking. His nephew did look an awful lot like him. Why wouldn’t the little guy? Evan and his sister were twins.
Lanie lifted her notepad and asked. "What are you going to have?"
The baby lifted the puppy over his head and shouted. "Poop!"
I'm curious about author Leslie Hachtel's flash fiction and if she accepted the haiku/limerick challenge.
See you next week!
