by Ward Parker
“I just thought we deserved to celebrate,” he said. “The truce between humanoids and reptiles has held. Your mother’s kidneys are working properly. You survived a murder attempt. It’s a lot to celebrate. I wanted to buy you a greeting card, but they don’t have any that cover those happy moments.”
“They must have ‘I’m so glad you weren’t murdered’ cards, don’t they? Did you look in the ‘Get Well Soon’ section?”
“I did. We’ll just have to supply our own trite sentiments.” His face grew serious. “But please don’t get yourself into danger like that again. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
Missy wasn’t one for overdone emotion. She usually reverted to humor in situations like this. But she was still haunted by how close she had come to being drowned by a man she liked and trusted.
Matt seemed to realize it was time to change the subject.
“Are you and your mother on friendly terms now?” he asked.
“As friendly as she is capable of. She’s a narcissistic, selfish woman with a strong streak of evil in her. Not someone you can get really close to. And I don’t really want to. Mabel, my adoptive mother, is still alive. She raised me and is my true mother in my eyes. If I’m going to spend a holiday with a mother, it’s going to be her.”
“It can’t be so bad to have two mothers. I have zero.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Matt lost his mother several years ago.
“I don’t see Dad as often as I should,” he said, “though I’ve tried to convince him to move down to Florida. If I ever get married someday, he’ll want to be nearby.”
He looked at her strangely.
Marriage was not something she wanted to discuss.
“So, how’s your bullet wound?” she asked.
“My bullet wound? The dragon completely healed it. You know that.”
“Yes. But sometimes people with healed wounds feel phantom pain. Or itching. Or something.”
Matt’s eyes showed he knew why she changed the subject.
“So,” he said, his eyes pointed off at an angle as he searched for another topic, “is the Reptilian conspiracy finally tamped out at Squid Tower.”
“I believe so. But you never know with these things.”
She didn’t want to tell him about encountering an actual Reptilian. She didn’t want to tell anyone. Ever.
Time for another subject change.
“These oysters sure are good, aren’t they?” she asked.
Matt smiled and nodded.
Dinner went by with the smallest of small talk. When the check arrived, Matt insisted on paying for it.
“But we always split the bill,” Missy said.
“We’re not going to tonight. I’ve got this.”
“Why? I didn’t do any favors for you. In fact, I should pick it up to pay you back for being seriously injured twice because of what I dragged you into. Besides being shot, you also received burns from the dragon fire.”
“That was all part of our agreement. I’m buying dinner tonight, okay?”
“Are you trying to turn this into a date?”
“Hey, you’re the one who proposed carnal activities.”
“Ah, now the fancy dinner all makes sense,” she said.
After Matt paid the bill, he suggested they walk out onto the dock built for diners who arrived by boat. Aside from small lights on the surface of the dock pointing toward the water, it was dark enough to get a magnificent view of the star-laden sky.
“Beautiful,” Matt said.
“It is.”
“No, I was talking about you.”
“Thank you. But I don’t fall for that mushy stuff. I’m a nurse. I used to work in the ICU where patients could die on me. Now, I take blood-pressure readings of ancient vampires. There’s no mushiness in my life.”
“You’ve built up a hard exterior,” Matt said, “but you have a big heart.”
They stood there silently for a long time. It was breezy, so the wind kept the restaurant noise from drifting their way. No boats passed by. It was just the two of them, the salt air, and the billions of stars.
Missy was getting cold from the wind. She wished Matt would put his arm around her.
And then, he did.
She nestled into the crook of his arm, where she felt warmer. And needed. And less alone.
She had absolutely no desire to make a snarky comment like she normally would do. She simply stood there and enjoyed the night and the arm around her.
“That big heart of yours . . .”
Matt didn’t finish the sentence because his mouth was upon hers. The kiss was long and hot, and she didn’t even mind the tickling from his beard. When he finally released her lips, he finished his sentence.
“That big heart of yours—I want it to fall for me. Someday, at least.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“I want to kiss you again, but I’m not going to take you up on your offer to be a friend with benefits. It would be fun, but I’m just a small-town boy with old-fashioned ideas.”
“No, you’re not!”
He laughed. “Right. I read that on one of the greeting cards. What I mean to say is, I don’t want to end up in your bed before I’m in your heart. I’ll continue to be your buddy and get into ridiculous situations with you as we chase monsters around. I won’t moon about and make you feel uncomfortable. I’ll just be regular Matt, until the day comes when you fall in love with me. Maybe you never will. But I’ll live with it. I’ll still be regular Matt.”
He stepped back to face her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Regular Matt,” he said, “who gets to kiss you.”
He pulled her toward him and kissed her again, with less heat, more sweetness.
“Okay, Regular Matt,” she said. “Sounds like a plan.”
She had no intention of falling in love again. But, after seeing a Reptilian jump off a fourth-floor balcony and run into the ocean, she knew anything could happen.
THE END
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A NEW PARANORMAL MYSTERY SERIES STARRING MISSY’S COUSIN!
Starting anew at midlife, with two marriages behind her, innkeeper Darla Chesswick returns to her hometown. There has always been a bit of the paranormal in her family, but now she discovers she has psychometry, too—the ability to read people’s memories by touching objects they have touched. And in San Marcos, founded by the Spanish in Florida five centuries ago, there are plenty of memories. Many of them deadly. Check out the first book of the Memory Guild mysteries, A Magic Touch:
US
UK
CA
AU
OTHER BOOKS IN FREAKY FLORIDA
Have you read Book 1, Snowbirds of Prey?
Retirement is deadly.
Centuries-old vampires who play pickleball. Aging werewolves who surf naked beneath the full moon. To survive, they must keep their identities secret, but all the dead humans popping up may spell their doom. Can Missy Mindle, midlife amateur witch, save them? Get Snowbirds of Prey here:
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Or Boo
k 2, Invasive Species?
Gators. Pythons. Iguanas.
Dragons?
Why not? It’s Florida.
Missy, midlife amateur witch and nurse to elderly supernaturals, has two problems. First, she found a young, injured dragon in the Everglades with a price on its head. Second, her vampire patient Schwartz has disappeared after getting caught by Customs with werewolf blood. (It’s like Viagra for vampires. Don’t ask.) Order Invasive Species today here:
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Or Book 3, Fate Is a Witch?
Missy Mindle has two mysteries to solve. First, who is making a series of dangerous magick attacks against her that appear to be tests of her growing witchy abilities? And who is stealing corpses from funeral homes in Jellyfish Beach? When an embalmer is murdered, one of Missy’s patients, a werewolf, is arrested. Can she exonerate him? Oh, and don’t forget the hordes of ghouls and Hemingway lookalikes. Who will stop them?
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Or Book 4, Gnome Coming?
They’re coming for you.
Can you really blame garden gnomes for having a grudge? They’re displayed as kitschy jokes, wounded by weed whackers, peed on by dogs. After midlife witch, Missy Mindle, seriously bungles a spell, gnomes throughout Jellyfish Beach, Florida, are becoming possessed by an evil force and are exacting retribution. Missy has to undo the fast-spreading spell and stop the surge of “accidental” human deaths. The problem is, her regular job is home-health nurse for elderly supernaturals, and she also has to help solve the murder of one of her werewolf patients. Like the gnomes, the Werewolf Women’s Club is out for revenge.
And something is coming for her, too.
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Or Book 5, Going Batty?
A vampire tale even a caveman would love.
The retired vampires at Squid Tower in Jellyfish Beach, Florida, have it good. Until some ancient vampires show up. These strange bloodsuckers can turn into bats, unlike modern vampires. And they’re also a bunch of Neanderthals. No, really. Not all Neanderthals went extinct. Some went undead. And now, they want to rule all the vampires of Florida.
Missy Mindle, midlife witch and nurse to elderly supernaturals, uses her magick to help her vampire patients fight back. But when the Neanderthals start taking vampire hostages, and kidnap the daughter of Missy’s cousin, get ready for a conflict of prehistoric proportions.
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Or Book 6, Dirty Old Manatee?
Is he a mer-manatee? A were-manatee? Or just a trouble magnet?
When midlife witch, Missy Mindle, rescues two ill sea cows, she discovers one of them is actually a human shifter, Seymour. While a marine animal rescue organization cares for his female mate, Missy is stuck with frisky Seymour to nurse back to health—much to the jealousy of her reporter friend, Matt.
When they learn the manatees were sickened by a rare chemical, Missy and Matt try to track down the polluter. The body count grows as they face a nefarious corporation, a demon, and—scariest of all—Missy’s mother, putting Missy’s magick to the ultimate test. Meanwhile, she discovers what life would have been like if she hadn’t divorced years ago: living with a flabby, middle-aged guy who leaves the toilet seat up. Order it here:
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About the Author
Ward is a Florida native and author of the Freaky Florida series, a romp through the Sunshine State with witches, vampires, werewolves, dragons, and other bizarre, mythical creatures such as #FloridaMan. He also pens the Memory Guild midlife paranormal mysteries, the Zeke Adams Florida-noir mysteries, and The Teratologist historical supernatural thrillers. Connect with him on social media with the links below. Twitter (@wardparker), Facebook (wardparkerauthor), BookBub, Goodreads, or wardparker.com.
ALSO BY WARD PARKER
The Zeke Adams Florida-noir mystery series. You can buy Pariah here: US UK and Fur here: US UK CA
The Teratologist series of historical paranormal thrillers. Buy the first novel here: US UK
“Gods and Reptiles,” a Lovecraftian short story. Buy it here: US UK CA
“The Power Doctor,” a historical witchcraft short story. Get it here: US UK CA
Copyright © 2021 by Ward Parker
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of creative fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
