On Saturday Afternoon

On Saturday Afternoon

by Ruth Madison

This is a somewhat longer short story that I wrote back in college. Since then it has appeared in my short story collection, Dev Dreams and also in the collection Accessible Love Stories with other authors (I believe I'm the only one with a disabled male character in that collection, but I'd have to go back to check).

I'm working on more novels and longer works (including a series structured like a TV show), but in the meantime I hope you enjoy my shorter pieces! Come visit me at my website www.ruthmadison.com :)

(Because I have way too much fun creating mock up book covers!)

Em Matthews had a mother, a father, a roommate, and a boyfriend, but only one friend. His name was James. She met him at the hospital where she worked. Em volunteered doing odd jobs. Technically, she was an intern and there to get some contacts in the field she was studying. In practice, she swept a lot of floors.

She wasn't really sure that she wanted to go into physical therapy anyway. To her mother, going to college was just a distraction until Em got married. She thought this would be a good choice because Em would meet eligible men, but then her mother had found Kyle and that was that. James would not be what her mother considered an eligible man.

The Player

The Player

by Ruth Madison

Rosie meets a smooth-talking paraplegic on the Internet and finds herself so enamored that she can't refuse his racy requests. But after she finds out he's talking to several girls, she turns the tables on him.

Just a warning, this story is on the explicit side of what I write! It's also shorter than most of my stories. Don't forget that you can also check out my website to read all of my free short stories (www.ruthmadison.com/free-romance-ebooks)

I have a terrible weakness for redneck country boys in wheelchairs. They look so tough and in control, like they can handle anything. They are totally cool with their hunting and off-roading. I am not their type. I look it at first, but that's only because I worked hard to hide my geeky past. In my heart I still am, and it always comes out. So in theory I'm looking for a nice, quiet, geeky guy in a wheelchair, but in practice if the bad boys find me, I can't seem to refuse them anything.

That's how it was with Max.

The Happiness Pact

Hi, guys! I wrote this story a long, long while ago and I hope it still holds up. :-/ It takes place in high school and is a bit more...chaste...than some of my other stories. As with most of my short stories, I think what it really needs is expanding. A project I'll have to get working on!

When geeky Sophie moves to a new school she has the bad luck to fall for the coolest guy in school. But Jake is dealing with a changing life and rescuing Sophie from her clumsiness might be just what he needs.

Sophie sat on one of the chairs and Alex sat on the sofa at his parents' house.  Paul pulled over another chair and sat down.  The three friends often met at Alex's house after school, since he lived within walking distance and his parents were rarely home.  His family's house was also bigger than the one bedroom apartment Sophie shared with her father and the modest single story home Paul's family lived in.

            “Did you get homework for English and History today?” Sophie asked.

            “Yeah,” Paul said, “I thought the teachers were supposed to work out a deal where it was one or the other.”

            Paul was an odd child.  He wore turtleneck shirts everyday and carried a briefcase to his classes.  He had a baby face that looked many years younger than seventeen.  Sophie had just moved to town a few months before so she didn't know that he had dressed the same and wore his hair the same since he was five years old.

            “Hey,” Alex said, “No homework talk.  You guys are such losers.”

            Paul laughed.  “So we're the losers, what are you?”

Guru's Grace

Sumitra's parents have brought her to India in the hopes that visiting a guru will help get her married. Single and twenty-nine, Sumitra has never told her parents that she struggles with a very particular attraction. Is it possible that the guru knows? Is he able to see into her soul and bring her the man of her dreams?

Sumitra knew what her parents were going to ask the guru. She was turning twenty-nine in two month's time and they were beyond desperate to get her married. She went along to try to be a good daughter, but in her heart she knew she could never be happy with the men her parents found and finding one on her own was close to impossible. There was one very specific thing she needed in a man and she could never tell anyone about it.

Coworker Crush

I press the palms of my hands on the smooth, cool surface of the conference table and lean back in my chair, waiting for everyone else to arrive. I love Monday mornings. I know that sounds pathetic, but it’s the best time for me to see Adam while there’s nothing else I need to do. At the weekly meeting I have nothing to contribute, so I can just sit and look at him all I want. He doesn’t know I’m watching him because he’s blind. Though there are times when he seems to sense he’s being looked at and can’t tell by whom.

In a small company full of engineers he is by far the most attractive. He is tall and lean with skin as smooth and supple as stripped willow bark. When it’s his turn to speak, I close my eyes and listen to the rich vibration of his beautiful voice, imagining it whispering in my ear, resonating against the thin skin of my lobe. His breath would send shivers racing over all my flesh.

As with most Mondays, people stumble in clutching cups of coffee and finding seats around the table. Adam always gets the same chair, the one closest to the door, so that he doesn’t trip on the tangle of chairs around the rest of the room. It’s his fingers that enter first, gripping the side of the door frame. He leans his white cane in the corner and walks confidently to his chair, touching its back to make sure it’s there and then touching the seat before he sits.

Blue Moon

***

“You’ll never guess who’s back in town.” Cindy bounced on her toes in front of Kaitlyn's bar. Kaitlyn knew her friend wanted a big reaction; Cindy lived for drama. Kaitlyn continued to wipe down the bar, getting it ready for the evening rush. The damp cloth had cooled since she ran it under the hot water tap and the cloth squished between her thin fingers. This was one of her favorite moments of the day, the quiet space around her just waiting to be filled. Of course, when Cindy came by to keep her company, it wasn’t so quiet.

“Guess!” Cindy insisted.

Kaitlyn raised her eyes, then returned to what she was doing. “I'm not going to guess, just tell me.”

“It's Jason,” Cindy said with triumph.

Kaitlyn's hand stopped moving. She still didn't look up. The warm feeling that Jason had always elicited in her rushed up like a tide, lifting her heart into her throat and making it feel as though she couldn’t breathe. It was followed quickly by the sadness and longing that had become an everyday part of her life. Thoughts of Jason were never simple.

Stewart's Story

Stewart returns home to face his past and make up for his mistakes but he soon discovers that everyone wants something from him. In particular, he doesn't trust the motives of his ex-girlfriend's flirty attention.

{Note: This story takes place in between (W)hole and Breath(e), novels by the same author}

***

            “You just drove that dinky car of yours across the entire country?” Claire huffed into the phone. “Stewart, one of these days you are going to give me an ulcer.”

            “That’s why I didn’t tell you about it,” he said, rolling down his car window and closing his eyes, smelling the salt air.. He was in California again, sitting in his car in the parking lot of his best friend’s apartment building. His Aunt Claire continued to tell him how stupid he had been until Stewart finally interupted her. “Claire, listen, I’m fine. I’m here, everything is good. Can I talk to you later?”

Home Country

by Ruth Madison

Priyanka spent most of the flight from Bangalore to Boston, stopover in Germany, silently observing the people around her. She had never been on a plane before and she didn't know anyone, but she had learned that if she stayed quiet she could figure out what to do. There were plenty of movies in Hindi and she brought a book, but she found the people much more interesting.