I Bee’s Framing and Gifts was Bailey’s pride and joy. The tidy space was brightly lit and boasted an eclectic mix of artsy gifts crafted by locals, including many prints and pictures brought to life by Bailey’s thoughtful framing choices. She was just finishing dusting the shelves at the front of the shop when she heard the bell over the door tinkle softly. Calling out a cheery “Welcome to Bee’s!” she tucked the dusting c...

It was the kind of day made for dreamers, warm and blue and full of promise. I eased my truck through a pothole and pulled to the side of the decommissioned logging road. There was a wide switchback here that made a convenient parking spot before the road continued its rocky way up the mountain. “We’re here,” I said to the handsome man sitting in the passenger seat beside me. Ronan was a backpacker from Ireland whom I had...

It was late afternoon, and the warm afternoon sunshine slanted through the blinds into the study. You looked up from your laptop and smiled slowly as you saw me enter the room. "Are you looking forward to the party this evening?" I smiled and nodded. We'd been together for several whirlwind months now, and our fiery romance showed no signs of slowing. I had been eagerly anticipating meeting your friends all week. This eve...

It was a crystal day in early autumn, the air still warm and the sky so deep a blue you could look up into it and feel you might just fall upwards and disappear into it. We had the entire precious day, you and I, and we were enjoying it the way only lovers can. Our fledgling relationship was on the brink between shyness and easy familiarity, coy flirtation mixing with confident teasing. While we were walking along the lig...

There is a book, likely printed in the 1970s, about massage. It came into my home when I was newly married and very naive, and in it was a photograph that has stuck with me as I've outgrown not only that marriage but also those old ideas of what it meant to be good. The photo was of a woman enjoying a massage on a wooden dock that jutted out into a small lake in the mid-afternoon sunshine. She was naked and surrounded by...

1. He brought it up over coffee one sunny Saturday morning, which may explain the box of pastries he’d surprised us with. Stella and I had both paused for a moment as we understood his suggestion, our eyes meeting cautiously over the table. She was the first to reply. “You want me to film you and Luna having sex,” she asked, her question a mix of incredulity, amusement and curiosity. “Like, make you a porno… You know you...