Toss a Lime in that Corona

This virus has us all going a bit bonkers these days. Staying at home. Only venturing out for food and medicine. Some romance author friends of mine decided to put their own spin on things and write some short stories about how you can still find love even if you are cloistered. Maybe especially if you're cloistered. I'll be anxious to see if there will be a rise in the birth rate in December or January. My friends had so much fun, they decided to publish a second volume of short stories and asked me to participate.

I hesitated, since I don't normally write contemporary, but then I saw a photo in the local paper of senior citizens lined up in front of the local grocery waiting in the dark for the store to open at 6AM. And it got me to thinking that love can happen at any age. You can find a way to have a good time, put a lime in your Corona. Even while waiting in a grocery line.

Once I got the inspiration and the idea, I couldn't wait to write the story. The anthology will be available to the public on April 22, but you can have a sample of my story today. I hope you like the excerpt from Choosing My Own Bananas. Since most people are spending more time at home now, why not curl up with a new collection of stories that give us all hope of coming out on the other side in a better place? This book is now available for preorder here: https://readerlinks.com/l/1090345

Excerpt:

This was a mistake. She should have listened to her sister, who implored her to figure out how to use the on-line ordering system for her groceries. Then, all she would have had to do was drive up, pay an extra fee to have her groceries already bagged up and waiting to be loaded into her car. But other than having to pay someone to shop for her, an indulgence she could ill afford, she just couldn’t wrap her head around someone else picking out her bananas. Instead, she got out of bed before the sun broke over the golf course, and drove herself to the store, where she waited in the dark with all the other old folks in town. At least it seemed like every other senior citizen was queued up and waiting.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” The man in front of her in line turned and saluted her with his coffee in its sparkling white container, wrapped with a slice of cardboard to keep his fingers safe. Maybe, if she’d thought to grab a cup of coffee before she left home, she’d feel a bit more sunny. As it was, she merely nodded to him and stared at her empty cart. 

“You’re Esther Williams, aren’t you?” The man attempted another tack of conversation. She should just ignore him, but Esther Williams? She glanced up at him. 

She checked behind her, but she was last in line, so he couldn’t be speaking to anyone else. “Are you talking to me?” 

“Yeah. You’re always in the pool at the health club, down at the shallow end. You wear that black suit with the see-through bits at the hip.” 

Holy crap! Seriously, she should have taken the time to get some coffee. Her brain was working at only a snail’s pace, but he had described her bathing suit in perfect detail. Who was this guy? And where was the snappy retort she should have had at the ready?