Shapeshifter Romance: Duty of a Lion (Paranormal Army Hero Navy Seal Shifter Protector Alpha Lion Romance) (Fantasy Military Action Adventure Urban Wolf Romance Short Stories) (29 page)

Casey sat in the bookstore reading his chapter in the anthology of stories about parenthood. Her heart sank when she read how he’d met his wife in Paris while he was there teaching a class in creative writing.

A friend had arranged for them to meet, as they were both lonely Americans in Paris. She’d come walking into the elegant bar with a skirt and a pair of cowboy boots on.

In his chapter, he’d said he’d fallen in love with her immediately.

Shortly after they were married, she’d gotten pregnant and she had the baby in Paris. Finding it difficult to navigate a different healthcare system, they’d moved to Maine shortly after that, where Paul could teach at a nearby university and be close to his beloved ocean.

He was ecstatic, he wrote, at his late and last chance at fatherhood and Casey could tell his daughter meant the world to him.

Casey closed the book and closed the chapter on Paul Neal for good.

He’d found his happiness, something she couldn’t begrudge him for.

But in that moment, Casey Larson realized it was time for her to find her own joy.

*****

When Sarah went off to college, Casey decided that it was time for her to leave Cape Cod. She’d done her duty as a mother—something she felt good about. But she was still young enough to broaden her horizons, maybe even find a broadcast job at a local television station in New York. She was too old to be groomed for national news, but she thought doing local news in the city would be a good compromise.

April was due to graduate in a year. Both she and Robert agreed that she was too far along in high school to leave, but that Casey would alternate weekends, having April take the three-hour train ride to New York, while Casey would come to the Cape on the odd weekends. She’d rent a small apartment on the Cape to serve as a home base.

Casey loved New York and she loved her job even more. It was so wonderful to finally take a slice of life and forge her own adventures. She made new friends at the station, a few who recommended she get a complete makeover and start her life in the city as the new Casey Larson.

She spent her free time visiting museums and galleries and walking through Central Park in all kinds of weather. In some ways, she was trying to make up for lost time.

One day, as she was walking back to her studio from work, she passed a bookstore with a sign out front announcing that best-selling author Paul Neal would be there for a signing that evening.

She stopped dead on the sidewalk, staring at the sign.

Her brain tried different scenarios on for size, trying to decide which felt more comfortable.

Should she keep walking, pretending she never saw the announcement, or should she rush home, put on a chic, casual dress and show up for the signing?

She decided a compromise felt best. She’d go home, freshen up, and then show up at the bookstore, just skirting the edges of the store without committing herself to approaching Paul.

The book signing started at 7:00 and she showed up a half hour late, just to be safe. When she walked in, she found a row of books to hide behind and peeked out through a crack.

She felt ridiculous, but it was wonderful to see him again, still in a scruffy beard and casual clothes, but indeed looking more than a decade older. He was still handsome, she thought, and she could tell by the way he was talking to his fans that he was still gentle and charming.

She opted out of approaching him, but was still glad she got to see him again, if only from behind a stack of books.

She began to make her way back down the long aisle, answering a text to April as she walked. At the end of the row, she saw a pair of shoes in front of her and when she looked up, there stood Paul Neal.

He was grinning in a sweet way.

“You weren’t going to leave without saying hello, were you?” he said.

“Oh my gosh, Paul,” Casey said, stammering for words. She was utterly dumbfounded that she had been caught stalking him in a bookstore. How had he known she was there?

“I saw you walk in,” he said. “How could I not have spotted those infamous blue eyes? I saw you on the news this afternoon, Casey. I knew you were in New York and was hoping you’d stop by to say hello.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to be rude. I guess I wanted to see you again without the drama of approaching you. I feel ridiculous.”

“I want to talk to you,” he said, looking as if it were important to him. “I have a few more hours here. Let’s meet up next door at The Green Door at 10:00. Would that be okay?’

Casey spent two hours walking the streets of the West Side, thinking about their weekend romance, wondering if she really wanted to spend time with him tonight. As silly as it was, her heart had been broken when he’d written her that last letter. Somewhere inside, she knew she wasn’t enough for him. She was a single mother then, living a life of unfulfilled dreams—even somewhat desperate.

But today she was her own person, forging ahead with her plans for her life, no matter how late they had been in coming. She was in her early 40s, and even though she’d put off fulfillment for many years, she felt good about her choices. Her daughters were bright and beautiful and she’d helped them get a good start in life.

She walked into the bar at 10:10, and there was Paul, waiting for her with a beer in front of him. He looked tired but relieved that she’d shown up after all.

“Tell me everything,” he’d said. “I’m dying to hear about your new life.”

Casey recounted the last decade to him, letting him know that she was happy with the way it had all worked out.

“Most important to me were my children,” she explained. “Jackie Kennedy once said that if you screw up raising your children, you can’t be good for much else. I believe that—that if you bring children into the world, it’s your responsibility to turn them into happy, responsible adults. I don’t live a life of guilt now. I put them first and I don’t regret that.”

Paul listened to her thoughts, and admitted that now that he was a father, he had come around to her point of view. He told her he was separated from his second wife and was struggling to see his daughter as much as he would like.

“You don’t live in the same town?” Casey asked, somewhat incredulous.

“No, they’re in Seattle,” Paul said. “I moved back to Northern California. It’s the only place I can write.”

That’s what Casey needed to hear. She’d never gotten to know him enough to see who he truly was. And while she didn’t judge his choices, she realized that they could never have been together. Casey’s priorities were different than his. She couldn’t have lived his life.

“You know,” she said, looking for her purse and getting up from the barstool. “I have an early day tomorrow.”

“How about dinner tomorrow night?” he asked. “I’m going to be in town for a few days.”

“I don’t think so, Paul, but thanks for asking. Let’s just leave it at this: we’ll always have Hurricane Betsy. It was the best weekend of my life so far, but I know that might not always hold true. I still have my whole life ahead of me.”

She walked out into the streets of Manhattan and stood at the corner to flag down a cab. She felt good—for the first time in a very long time. She knew that life was full of surprises and that Paul had come along at a time in her life when she needed to be reminded that she was still beautiful, still worthy of a little magic in her life.

She owed him a debt of gratitude for that. But in that moment, she was even more grateful for having always known who she was.

THE END

Bonus Story 7 of 10

I stood at my desk, looking down at the pink slip and not believing my eyes. There had to be some kind of mistake. But in a way it made sense. We had some new managers recently who’d begun to make changes. They promised that nobody would lose their jobs, but it was now clear that they had only said that to save face. I wasn’t the only one to receive a pink slip that morning, and I could see that there were others stunned into silence.

“I can’t believe it, Angela and this has to be a mistake. They know your contribution to this company and for them to turn you out is reprehensible,” said Casey. She was one of my colleagues and lunch companions, and was always trying to come to my rescue and make me see that things were not as bad as they seemed. “If I were you, I would march right in there and tell them where this job could go.” I was actually tempted to go in there and beg them for another chance, but I saw that plea falling on deaf ears.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Casey, and this whole thing has taken me quite by surprise. I have my other job at the diner, but that’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. It’s not even going to be enough to pay the bills. Damn it, I have my rent due tomorrow and I was depending on a bump in pay to get me through it! I thought for sure that I was in line for a promotion or at least a raise.” I was wearing a plaid skirt, a blue blouse and I felt like somebody had just punched me in the kidneys. My hair was naturally curly blond and I had a bit of a weight issue, where I fluctuated between 150 and 120 pounds at any given time. Thankfully, I was at that 120 range and of late I had no reason to delve into the sweets in the middle of the night. But now, maybe I would.

It would be shame if I did, because I seriously liked what I was looking at in the mirror in the morning inside the bathroom. I saw definition of my taut stomach; my breasts were firm and easily a C cup. It was more than a mouthful or a handful for most.

“I can lend you about $50.00, but that’s all I can afford, until next payday,” said Casey. It was nice that she would offer, but there was no way that I was going to borrow money from a friend. That can lead into bad feelings, and friendships have a way of breaking under the strain of money issues. “I’m sorry, I wish that I could do more and I would even offer to have you stay with me, but I don’t think my boyfriend would go along with that. He already allowed his cousin the musician to stay in the basement and you can imagine the arguments that we have over that particular subject.” I’ve heard her talk of it often and I couldn’t blame her for being upset, because he really didn’t ask her for permission.

“I’m glad that you offered, but I also understand the position that you’re in, Casey.” She was a dish and for her to get caught up in a deadbeat relationship was beyond me. She always seemed like she had a level head, but sometimes you just don’t see the forest for the trees. “I think that I’m going to need some time to think about where my life is going.” I’d never been lucky and being here for over a year made me think that things were turning around. I was even considering talking to my brother after five years of being out of touch. I’d heard through the family grapevine that he was living in Australia, as a personal guide in the outback. Fake accent and all.

We’d never been very close, and when our parents died at such a young age, we found ourselves on opposite ends of the globe. We separated. We should’ve stayed together, but that was not a possibility. Our uncle Jimmy in Australia took Thomas in, while my grandmother took care of me. I loved her, but she was a hard woman to live with, so when I was old enough, I ran away. I was free, but it wasn’t long before I was living from hand to mouth. Life was hard for a while, but I survived.

“Angela, don’t do anything rash! You know what they say about one door closing and another one opening. This is God’s master plan, and even if you don’t understand it, it doesn’t mean that everything’s not going to work out the way that it’s supposed to.” She was always a little too religious and maybe that was the reason why she was staying in that relationship. She probably thought that she had some kind of Christian duty to save him from himself. If it had been me, I would have tossed him to the curb long ago, but I was in no position to say anything. I was single and my love life was completely stalled. My last boyfriend stole from me, and it wasn’t until I caught him in the act that he finally admitted that he was a drug user.

“I just need some time to clear my head. I think I’m going to go for a walk and actually have time to smell the roses,” I said. “The one thing I’m not going to miss is being penned here like an animal or walking home with the rest of the sheep. No offense, but I really did think that I was destined for more than just temp work. I have a few hours until my shift at the diner, so I might just splurge and buy myself something fun.” I was lying through my teeth. I had no interest in buying anything, especially when my credit cards were overdrawn, as it is.

“Meet me tomorrow for coffee and we’ll talk about things and see if we can’t make a plan for your future,” said Casey. “Have your resume in hand, because I may know a few places that are looking for people with your unique skill set.” What she meant to say was ‘people with no skills whatsoever’. A monkey could have done my job and probably half of the jobs in this company, though I admit that the pay had been fairly good, and the benefits better than I expected.

“Thanks. I really appreciate you being my friend, Casey,” I said. “And hey, if I don’t find another job, I could always sling it on the streets.” I was joking, but I did have a pretty nice body, and it wasn’t lost on me the lingering glances that I got from the men on the street. It didn’t matter if I was wearing something tasteful or provocative; they always found a reason to undress me with their eyes.

“Just promise me that you’ll meet me for coffee tomorrow and we’ll go over things together. You’re my friend and you’re one of my best friends and I don’t say that lightly.” I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me, but I wasn’t about to turn down any kind of help that she could give me. I promised her that I would show up at the coffee shop tomorrow at exactly 7:30 AM, but I seriously doubted that I would even make the meeting. I was probably going to hide under the covers and hope that this was some giant mistake or nightmare that I was going to wake up from.

I grabbed my brown leather coat, something that I had for quite some time that I found at one of those secondhand shops. I knew what I liked and I knew what looked good on me and this ticked all the boxes. It made me feel special to wear it and it gave me a sense of confidence that I didn’t have without it.

Even carrying the pink slip, I felt immediately better when I put on that coat. It was like this newfound strength came over me and I walked out of there thinking that the future was bright.

Wouldn’t you know it, but I was mugged right at that very moment and they took my watch, my handbag and the very thing that made me feel like I was powerful. The leather coat was gone and in that moment, I felt lower than I could possibly feel in my life.

I wandered the streets, not really caring that I was cold to my very bones and the only thing that I had on me of value that the mugger didn’t find was my cell phone. I looked at it, but was not surprised to see that there were no messages. There was a text message from Casey, but mostly it was reiterating the fact that things could get worse. If she only knew that I’d just been mugged! I wanted to cry.

I found myself in the park at night, kind of hoping that somebody would put me out of my misery. It wasn’t like anybody would miss me and then I heard this odd sound. I looked up to see something blotting out the Moon. It had these gigantic wings, dark and foreboding. I grabbed my phone and turned on the video. I watched it in awe. My mouth was slightly open with the shock of seeing something that couldn’t be real.

At first I thought that I was imagining things, but then it snorted fire and lit up the sky like the 4
th
of July. In the light of the fire I saw red scales, and that was enough to make me realize that what I was looking at was a true and live dragon! I began to think that maybe this was my way out and that somebody would pay dearly for footage of something like this. This whole thing was a mind-blowing experience. I could not stop myself from staring at this spectacle in the sky.

I thought for a moment that the dragon had seen me, but then it dispelled that idea by flying out of sight and away from the prying eye of my camera. I stared at it flying away for some time, and then I began to smile. I thought about the exorbitant amount of cash that was surely going to fall into my lap. This was something that had to be seen by the public, but I wasn’t going to do it out of the goodness of my heart. Nobody, except for Casey had gone out of their way for me, so I saw no reason to do anything good for anybody else.

The first thing that I had to do was verify that this was real and not a hoax that would make a fool out of me. But how would I do that?

*****

I didn’t get a chance to think about it much more, because I had a shift at the diner to complete. If I hadn’t needed the money, I would’ve marched in and told them what they could do with their job. I was just glad that after tonight, I may not have to work ever again. I could live in the lap of luxury, travel and see the world and become well-known for living my life to the fullest. I might even be able to bring my brother back from Australia. Maybe he could restart his life, too. I was getting ahead of myself, and even as I watched the video over and over again, it seemed almost too real to be true.

If it wasn’t for the fact that it had spewed fire, I wouldn’t have gotten a clear shot of what it was. In fact, it probably would’ve come out as just a huge shadow. People would believe that it was a bird and I would not be able to prove otherwise.

“Ms. Spencer, if you are finished with what you’re doing, we require your assistance.” My boss, Jimmy, was not exactly a patient kind of man.

“I’m sorry, but I guess I’ve been a little distracted. It won’t happen again.” As I walked by him, he slapped my ass lightly. He did that sometimes. He thought it was ‘cute’ and ‘charming’.  It didn’t help that our uniforms were barely there. We could all swear that he took it upon himself to shrink the fabric to make it even tighter on our frames.

My thoughts turned to my figure. I didn’t want to go back to the days when I was 150 pounds, but if I continued on the same path that I was currently on, then I was destined to take on that extra poundage. I knew that Jimmy wouldn’t mind and he always had this salacious stare any time that I had extra weight. I guess he liked his women a bit larger.

I went to get coffee for one of the regulars and then I heard the door opening and the clack of a man’s shoes coming towards the counter. I turned and I thought for sure that I was in the presence of a giant. He was over 6 feet and solid, 200-plus pounds, lean and muscular. He wore a tailored charcoal, suit and a dark red tie. He was handsome and dark-haired, with a thin mustache and neat goatee. He sat down and put his hands over each other on the counter. I saw on his left wrist a gold watch that must have cost a fortune.

“Waitress,” he said, looking at me. There was a hush amongst the locals and they were now staring at him like they couldn’t believe that he was actually deeming them worthy enough to sit beside them. His gaze did not leave me. “I’m gathering from the expression on these people’s faces that they know who I am. But I would say that you’re a little bit different and you probably have no idea what kind of power you are currently standing in front of. I’m Regis Sunning.” I’d heard the name in passing, some kid of big-shot businessman, but I’d never paid much attention to the movers and shakers.

“What makes you so damn important?” I replied. It was a good thing Jimmy wasn’t around just then, because he would have hated me talking to a customer like that. But I’d been having a pretty bad day, the only bright spot being the video footage that I had captured quite by chance. And here was this arrogant guy walking in and holding his nose up over everybody else. “Do you not put your pants on one leg at a time?” I said. “Do you not bleed if I cut you? If the answer is yes to those two questions, then you are no different than any of us.”

“You really don’t know who I am,” said Regis. “You’re right, I may have a sense of regal bearing and I do like the finer things in life, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy the simpler things. I’ve heard that this place makes the best hamburger and I haven’t had a good one in some time. My tastes are a bit more refined and I sometimes find myself wondering what I’m missing. Anyway, I make it my mission to help others in need and I have given scholarships to those that couldn’t go to college otherwise.” If he thought that he was going to impress me with his list of good deeds, then he was going to find himself waiting a long time.

“Most of you billionaires tend to come down to our level, just for perception purposes. You sit here with blue collar workers, wearing an Italian suit that probably cost more than they make in a week or maybe even a month. You wear that Rolex with no regard for your own safety. Why you haven’t been mugged on the way here is beyond me.”

“I believe that you have the wrong opinion of me, Angela Spencer,” he said. Somehow he knew my name, but I didn’t think about it at the time. “The Sunning name is very recognizable and we chair several charities. I myself travel abroad to do my part in getting rid of famine. I’ve built orphanages, and I don’t do it because of public opinion. I do it because I know it’s the right thing to do and it reminds me of where I came from. I was never rich and I grew up fighting for everything I had. I could easily be in your shoes; although I don’t think high heels suit me.” Despite my misgivings, I found myself smiling at his attempt at humor. My opinion of him had improved. I poured him cup of coffee, and took out my order pad and pen.