Brody drummed his fingers on his knee and bounced his leg as he sat on the team bus. They'd be on their way to Philly soon and few things got the Capitals pumped like a game against the Flyers, even though it was the teams' first meeting of the season, in mid-November. Baxter dropped into the seat beside him. "Jesus, do you never sit still?" "Just a little extra energy, that's all." Brody shrugged. "Plenty left over for t...

After going over a new song with Lara in the morning and grabbing an early lunch at the mall, Ryan made her way over to Crystal City to pick up a Zipcar. Working with Lara had kept her from dwelling on the party, but riding out to Chantilly in the little compact, she couldn't avoid it. It's really sad when you think about faking sick to miss your own brother's birthday party. She popped in a CD and tried not to think abou...

"Jason was a piece of work, wasn't he?" Lara shook her head as she drove them home. "He was." Ryan paused, trying to get a sense of Lara's mood. "No worse than usual, I guess, but he does get under my skin. I think he does it on purpose." "Yeah. God." Lara smacked the steering wheel. "'Too bad you didn't get an earlier date?' Next time he can plan the damn gigs. I don’t see him offering to help. He won't even put up any f...

A few days later, Brody huffed out a breath as he dropped onto the bench in the dressing room. He grabbed some Gatorade and gulped it down, exchanging high-fives with his teammates as they filed past. "Good job." Chuck Baxter clapped him on the shoulder as he dropped to the bench next to him. "Now we just have to do it all again next game." "No problem." Brody grinned. "Give me ten minutes." Baxter laughed and started unl...

© 2011 All Rights Reserved A week later, Ryan was pleased to be in a soft cast. Her ankle hurt far less and she was off her crutches, but she couldn't wait to be done with the whole damn thing. At least, she thought as she came in from work, she wasn't thinking about how it had happened every time she walked more than a block. Just a few more days, she reminded herself as she stared at the contents of the fridge. She frow...

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 04 © 2011 All rights reserved Brody stared at the screen. " This is what you watch when you're upset?" "I warned you." Ryan reached into the bag of chips. "You're the one who wanted to make the bet." "You are . . . different," Brody said. "I mean, most girls I know, they'd be sniffling through The Notebook or something. Eating a gallon of ice cream and watching Titanic. When you said dark, I fi...

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 03 © 2011 All rights reserved "Hi, Mom," Ryan said. "Hi, sweetie. How are you? I've been worried about you. Maybe you should come home while you heal up." "I'm fine, Mom. Really, I'm fine. I promise." Ryan stared at the ceiling. "The insurance is covering it. I can come off the crutches this week, and they'll give me a soft cast for a week or so." "I called you last night but you didn't answer....

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 02 © 2011 All rights reserved "So, Mark, what's the story with Ryan?" Brody asked a couple of days later. They sat in the dressing room, lacing up their skates before practice. "What?" Mark looked up. "What story?" Brody shrugged. "She seeing anybody?" Mark narrowed his eyes. "I don't know. Why?" "Just curious." "I don't think she's your type." "My type?" Brody raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" Mar...

© 2011 All rights reserved "I gotta go, man," said Mark. "I told Hilary I'd meet her." "Right." Brody grinned. "You're just mad because I was kicking your ass at Madden." Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's it. I'm so pissed about losing that I'm using my girlfriend as an excuse. Jesus, Brody." Brody snickered. "You have been whipped since she moved in with you." "Just get out." Mark glared at him. "Man, I never thought I...

I’d met Adele a couple of times before she turned up on my doorstep. She seemed nice enough, but the truth was that after a messy divorce I was happy to be living alone in my town house with no yard to look after, no crappy social events to attend and no one to look after but me. All I wanted at that time was to get my work done, come home and eat takeaway in front of a ball game. Sure, that would change, but at that time...

This story is about Stevie Nicks and KeithRichards. Its written from the perspective of Stevie Nicks. It takes place in 1976, when the famous Fleetwood Mac record “Rumours” was being made. It was also when the relationships in the band started to fall apart. Stevie had broken up with fellow band mate Lindsey Buckingham just 3 weeks ago. Meanwhile in England, Keith Richards decided to go to California to make his first sol...

The National Education Convention is crowded, as usual, but I’m especially excited to be here this year. I love this town, and I’m looking forward to spending some time with a friend while I’m at the conference. I can hardly wait for that, but first I have to take care of real business. I hoist the heavy canvas tote bag higher up on my shoulder and scan the packed ballroom for a place to sit. Once again, I’m unable to fin...

There’s a bit of an introduction but it helps with this and the other parts of the story. We’d known Sam and Anna for years and had occasional sexy dalliances when we lived nearer each other, but my job took us 200 miles away and we subsequently rarely met up. This weekend however we’d arranged to meet halfway; to rent a cottage and catch up on the past. They’d asked if they could bring along another couple of ‘sexy frien...

It had been a beautiful sunny day, nothing to get worried about, except that my wife Heather had gone and taken with her everything she could. And she had gone for good, only leaving me a letter in which she had written her last goodbyes. I had also found her promise ring and a divorce certificate in the envelope. So I was left to raise our little daughter Liz all on my own. This task was really difficult to achieve for I...

The time that I spent with Lynn, the girl I had met at the gym after my divorce, was rather blissful in many ways. Not only was she fun to be around and a great conversationalist, but she loved to try new things. This I consider a very positive attribute in a woman. Not just new restaurants and the like, but actually learning new things. Expanding our horizons, so to speak. One of the things we did together as a couple wa...