Second Chance Sunday
I woke up in a bed that wasn't mine with somebody's arm heavy across my ribs and sunlight coming through blinds I did not recognize, and I…
Matter-of-fact romance stories
Stories in Romance tagged matter-of-fact, ranked by how many readers finish them. Reads run 23 to 26 minutes. Writers to know: The Sable Echo, Kestrel Word and Plum Chronicle. Readers usually start with “Second Chance Sunday” and “The Incorrect Beep”. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
Matter-of-fact romance stories, ranked by readers
01 02 The Incorrect Beep
I'm forty-four years old, and let me state right off that I took this job for the money and nothing else, so when I say what happened…
03 Last Call at the Karaoke Bar
Leah was thirty-five the winter the snow came early, and she still counted herself lucky every Thursday when she walked out of her studio…
04 The Lifeguard Bet
My name is Collin Parson, I'm twenty-eight, and I've been lifeguarding at the Merritt Falls municipal pool for six summers now.
05 The Snow Devil
The bus dropped me at the top of the cliff road at ten in the morning, and I have to tell you, my first thought was that Bette's…
06 The Rooftop Wager
The heatwave had been sitting on the city for nine days by the time I gave up on dignity.
07 The Birthday List
I was forty minutes into my weekly Friday night beer when Grady Jenkin came shuffling over with that look on his face.
08 The Lifeguard Finally Drowns
The beach house was one of those rentals that looked like it had been arguing with the ocean for forty years and losing slowly, gray…
09 Savage Revenge on the High Seas
So there I was, cabin 712 on the Stella Atlantica, ten days of paid work between Lisbon and Rio, thinking I had the world's best luck.
10 The Edge of the Pool
The order came through on a Tuesday, which is how these things always go.
11 Brushwork Arrangement
I finished the novel on a Tuesday in October, which sounds more significant than it was, because after eleven months of getting up at six…
12 One Last Round
I was three days into a slow week and one drink into a Tuesday when I saw Billy Hanson at the end of the bar, and I want you to know my…
13 The Bell Tower Date
My cousin Sheena has been telling me for years that I'm set in my ways.
14 The Last House on Meridian
My name's Axel Donovan, I'm twenty-eight years old, and at the moment you're reading this I was probably elbow-deep in a box marked…
15 The Library Shift
The job came to me through a guy at church named Dale, who said the community college out past the highway was desperate for a night…
16 The Night Bus and the Ukulele
The text came in at half past nine on a Tuesday night, while I was wiping down the espresso machine for the third time because there was…
17 He Bought the Whole Farm
The phone went off at 4 a.m.
18 The Last Favor
Melvin Crockett woke at four forty like he always did.
19 Daring the Ski Instructor
I was up on the ladder, halfway through a pine branch, when the door to the main hall banged open and somebody whistled at me.