Welcome, everybody!

For this weekend’s selection I’m featuring a clip from a short story, Late Night Menu, which appears in my upcoming collection, Those Grandville Guys. Bon appetit!

What a crappy ass birthday!

The one shift I want to take off, and I get stuck working. Not even for my twenty-first birthday would someone cover my shift. Now, granted, it was the graveyard shift, and Shay’s Diner, being out on old route 30, is probably the least busy place in Grandville at that time of night. But, come on, you only turn twenty one once!

The clock had trudged so slowly to four a.m. that I’d’ve sworn it was running backwards. I’d had one customer all night—old Jacob Wilkerson in for his coffee and oatmeal after getting off his shift at Wal-Mart. It’s a boring, lonely job when you’re not busy, but the one whose schedule I could swing with my college classes and basketball practice.

The shriek of brakes drew my attention away from a wrinkled and smudgey copy of the Gazette. A big rig had pulled into the parking lot, its running lights framed in the front window. Thank God!

The door opened, and in walked a big muscular guy with curly, jet-black hair and a friendly smile. “Mornin’,” he drawled.

“Welcome to Shay’s.” I winced at how perky I sounded.

He sauntered to the booth directly opposite where I had been leaning and slid in.

Suddenly nervous, I focused on gathering up a menu, placemat, silverware, napkins, and a glass of water, and walked to where he sat. He was about 30 years old, six foot-four and two hundred and ten pounds of rippling muscles, no fat at all. Masses of curly black hair showed over the collar of his V-neck shirt. What a hunk!

He gave me more of that friendly smile—and had the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. “Hey there, Bones.”

Now I know I’m skinny, but I’m good-looking too, so I guess “Bones” pretty much describes six-foot-two, hundred-and-thirty-five pounds. Wanting to redeem my corny greeting, I strove to be casual as I set up the table, “‘S up, dude?”

“Nothing… yet.” Our fingers grazed as I handed him the laminated sheet that passed as Shay’s menu.

Thanks for stopping!

Be sure to check out the other Seductive Studs and Sirens entries here.

Those Grandville Guys (ISBN 978-1493784158) will be available in a couple of weeks in e-book and print—just in time for holiday gifting!

Be sure to check your favorite e-tailer and book outlets!

‘Til next time!