Excerpt from The Sheepwalker

I park my bike next to Pete’s and lock it. Through the window I see him sitting at our table, drinking a Coke and talking to a couple of girls who don’t seem in too much of a hurry to find their own table. I sure hope he doesn’t invite them to sit with us. I slow down and look at some jawbreakers in a gumball machine. I spot a blue one and the inside of my mouth moistens. My lips feel raw on the inside just thinking about sucking the sugar out of one of those beasts until they go numb and puff to twice their normal size. I look up and see that the girls have moved on. 

I know I shouldn’t do this, but I swing my hips slightly as I walk toward Pete, coming up behind him to run a finger along the back of his neck and tease it across his short clipped hair a couple of times. He turns to me, a slow crooked smile breaking across his face, but it’s his eyes, his eyes that draw me in. Deep set sparkly blue, half shaded by blond-tipped curly brown lashes that catch the light in eyes and invite me in.

“Hello baby.”

He says this in the practiced way that always reminds me – this is a man who knows the effect he has on women. I don’t care. I’m just gone on him. He pats the bench next to him and I drop in.

“Guess what, GUESS WHAT, Pete?”

He raises a finger and signals to the waitress to bring me a Coke. Then he shifts his body to face me and says seriously,

“I’m all ears.”

Then, he wiggles his ears.

I’m awed, as usual.

“How do you DO that?”

“But we digress. What’s your news?” he volleys back.

“I just got the word. My book is going to be published in Spain.”