Short Story #1

Today I’m posting a short story I wrote, published in Woman’s World magazine in their October 5, 2009 issue. When the editor accepted the story, she said, “Thank you for sending us this amusing romance!” —and then she took out all the funny parts!

         Here is the original story I sent to the magazine.

HOT LUNCH

Jack Weaver opened the refrigerator in the fourth-floor break room. Way in the back, he found his brown bag lunch with Jackie written on it in pink gel ink.

         Jackie? Why did his sister write his childhood nickname on the bag? And in pink!

         Taking a seat at the table, he pulled out a sandwich, an apple, and a Snickers bar. Bob, the only person he knew in Claims, walked into the break room.

“Hey, Bob! Have a seat.” Jack crumpled the bag to hide the pink writing.

         “How was your first morning at the new job?” Bob took a large bite of Twinkie as he sat down. “Congrats on your promotion, by the way.” His words were muffled.

         “Thanks.” Jack slipped the candy into his shirt pocket for later. He had to hide it from Bob, who obviously ate his dessert first.

         Their table began to fill up. Bob introduced Jack to the other employees.

         “Good to meet you, Jack.” Teresa, a stout woman with glasses, sat across from him. “Are you related to Kim Boswell in Accounting? She mentioned she has a brother named Jack who works here.”

         “Yeah, she’s my sister.” He pointed to his crumpled brown bag. “Since we work in the same building, she always makes my lunch and sticks it in the refrigerator for me.”

         “How nice of her!” Teresa removed a Tupperware container from her bag.

         Jack shrugged. “She makes lunches for her kids every morning, so she says she might as well make one more.” He lowered his voice. “I think she feels sorry for this single guy who lives by himself.” Taking a bite of his sandwich, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. He lifted a corner of the bread. Deli turkey with crisp lettuce and tomato met his eyes. Kim was using actual meat? Maybe she was celebrating his promotion.

         Twenty minutes later, after eating every delicious crumb, Jack threw the bag in the trash. As he was leaving the break room, a woman brushed past him. For a second, his eyes met her deep blue ones.

         Wow, she was hot!

“Hey, girl, we missed you at lunch.” Bob’s voice floated back from the break room.

Jack paused, hoping to hear her voice.

“I had to go down to the coffee shop on the first floor, and they were out of everything except cheese sandwiches. It was still frozen in the middle.” She paused. “I don’t know what happened to my lunch, but it wasn’t in the refrigerator.”

As Jack wound his way back to his cubicle, the woman’s pretty face lingered in his mind. 

         Later, he entered the copy room. Only one person stood at the copy machine—the pretty woman with the blue eyes. He introduced himself.

         She smiled. “My name is almost like yours. I’m Jaclyn Carpenter.”

         “Jaclyn. Great to meet you.”

         “My friends call me Jackie.” She gathered up her papers and breezed out the door.

         He stared after her. Jackie.

         A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach—right where Jackie’s lunch resided. Taking out his cell phone, he rang his sister’s number.

         “Kim, did you write Jackie on my lunch bag this morning?”

         “Why would I do that?” She sounded distracted, as usual.

         “Did you give me a turkey and tomato sandwich with lettuce?”

         She paused. “All we had was peanut butter and jelly.”

         “You didn’t happen to put my lunch in the second-floor refrigerator instead of the fourth, did you?”

         Kim gasped. “Oh no! I forgot about your promotion! I’m sorry, Jack.” After promising to get it right tomorrow, she hung up.

         Jack took the elevator down to the second floor. Sure enough, a lone brown bag sat on the refrigerator shelf with Jack printed on the side.

         In black ink.

         He took the bag upstairs and walked through the cubicles, searching for Jackie. He found her sitting at a desk, her head in her hands.

She looked up at him. “Oh—hi, Jack.”

         “Rough day?” Jack hoped he wasn’t the cause of her headache.

         She smiled, her pretty blue eyes gazing into his. “I’ve had better.”

He set the bag on her desk. “I have a confession to make. I ate your lunch.”

Her smile faded.

“It was an accident.” He explained how his sister had put his lunch in the wrong refrigerator. “But I saved your dessert from Bob.” He pulled the Snickers bar from his shirt pocket.

She laughed as she took it. “Thanks.”

“I’d like to make it up to you.” He raised his eyebrows. “Lunch out tomorrow? A hot lunch—not a frozen cheese sandwich.”

She sat back. “I’d love that.”

Smiling, he walked back to his cubicle. He would call Kim and tell her not to bother with his lunch tomorrow. He had a hot date.

* * *

If you have friends or family who enjoy reading contemporary Christian romance, please tell them about my blog.

Until tomorrow, God bless!