Love
When Love Feels Right, Why Worry Why? . Runner-Up in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
I always gather all the components well in advance of Valentines Day. Last Spring, for the three-day Memorial Day weekend, I surprised Cleo with a trip to Chicago. I rented a room with a hot tub at the Park Hyatt. We did all her favorite things-- the museums, a play at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, dinner and drinks at Sweetwater Tavern & Grille.
By Lightning Bolt ⚡2 months ago in Fiction
Asklipiou Recipes. Winner in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
Nicola and I have this strange habit, perhaps it's better to call it a hobby. Because a 'hobby' is fun and a habit is something usually not fun, or like smoking, only a little bit fun and with a larger downside.
By Scott Christenson🌴2 months ago in Fiction
Toss-Up Romance
“Going to the movie, heads, or playing a game, tails.” Dan flipped his coin. It flipped in the air as Gabby waited for the answer. The mystery was mounting as the question remained unanswered. Time could only stand still as the wait continued. As the coin fell back to earth, both faces looked at it intricately.
By Sarah Danaher2 months ago in Fiction
Relic
Every Saturday morning I write her a letter in place of a cup of coffee. The kettle can wait. The stove can click itself awake without me. What matters is the scrape of the chair across the tile and the pen uncapping with that soft, hungry pop, like the day taking its first breath.
By SUEDE the poet2 months ago in Fiction
The Orchard Doctrine. Honorable Mention in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
Lane’s mother had told her that there were things in a marriage that a woman just did. She instructed that they do so with “no fuss. No ma’am, not even a little.” She described how they were expected to behave at all times. Her ma’ had given plenty of advice, but she never instructed her on this.
By Nikki Torino Wagner2 months ago in Fiction
Bundles For the Soul
The island sun, a white-gold coin pressed against the immense blue dome of the sky, baked the limestone flagstones of Hvar’s main square. Tourists flowed like a bright, chattering river between cafes and yachts in the harbor, their laughter bouncing off ancient walls. Yet, in the shadow of the Renaissance cathedral’s bell tower, there was a pocket of stillness. It was the stall of Magda, the woman who sold lavender.
By Anna Soldenhoff2 months ago in Fiction
The Guitar Playing Cowboy. Top Story - February 2026.
He never arrived the ordinary way. No horse at the gate. No spurs clinking. No gravel crunching beneath hooves. If anyone had been watching from a distance, they would have sworn nothing approached at all.
By Leeza-Bridget Cooper2 months ago in Fiction
Toe Painting for a Donkey. Honorable Mention in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
“You have to come. I don’t care. Meet there. Bye.” Lola ended the call abruptly, frustrated. Jim is always so hard to convince. Sick of his stupid crap. He knows we do this every year.
By Andrea Corwin 2 months ago in Fiction
New Day no. 5642. Honorable Mention in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
She feels him rolling out of bed. Hears his footsteps on the stairs, quietly down, then, some time later, sometimes waking her a second time, steadily back up. She hears him approach the door, prepares herself to shrug off the shawl of darkness and softness and open ended wonderings, breathes out the musty night-time closeting of her self, and turns her face to the ingress.
By Hannah Moore2 months ago in Fiction
