Episode 4 of 500 Words

• Genre: Paranormal Romance
• Word Count: 521
• Content Warning: N/A
• Series: Moons of Mystery, Book Two

Charline Montgomery was everything a woman wanted to be. She was strong, independent, and gorgeous. Now if only she could actually believe that. As far as she was concerned, “Fake it ’til you make it,” were words to live by and she had, for most of her life. Then winter came and over night she was thrust into a world of myth and fantasy where the things that went bump in the night bumped back.

Now she was dating a werewolf of all things. But much as she dared to hope that she finally had something worth holding on to, that just wasn’t her luck with men. It was bound to all go wrong. Nothing this good ever lasted. It wasn’t a question of if, but of when. So why did she agree to spend the summer with David Bringer?

Chapter 1

The Weekend

“Don’t tell me you’ve lost another one already.” I gave the woman my best make-nice smile. “Men aren’t handbags you know; you can’t just switch them out with the seasons.” Beatrice was such a twit and she looked it too with that ridiculous bob and pink pant suit.

“Oh, you know how it goes, Bee. Sometimes you can’t seem to find the one that goes with every outfit.” Susan spun around from her own desk to join in on the fun. Since when was it a crime to want to look nice?

“I certainly wouldn’t have minded if she had kept that latest style around for a little longer,” they both giggled at their exceptional ability to continue their tried metaphor. What is today? Make fun of Charline-day?

“Hey, Suzie how’s your little one doing?” Elise popped up from her own cubicle.

“Any new pics?” Bee added.

I groaned to myself. I wasn’t sure if it hadn’t been better when they were focused on teasing me. Now I would have to endure the endless parade of baby pictures from all three of them. Being the only unmarried woman in Human Resources came as a special burden. Unfortunately, my groan was more audible than I had intended.

“Don’t worry Charline, someday someone will stick around longer than a couple of weeks.” Although her tone was optimistic, there was a distinct undercurrent of mocking. Like I needed a reminder that my luck with boyfriends was less than stellar.

The gaggle liked to refer to my attempts at a love life as ‘the flavor of the week,’ which while insulting had proven fairly accurate. They either ended up having a personality deal-breaker, cheated, were losers from the start, or simply disappeared. My most recent ex had actually been my longest after an impressive line of less than great options, and I was pretty sure he had managed to check all of the above. My best friend in Public Relations had called him a stick in the mud. Of course, that was before either of us knew how awful he really was.

God, how I longed to escape the inane prattle surrounding me and go talk to Sara. Alas, that wasn’t really an option this last week. She was in a completely different town meeting the love of her life’s family. Though I certainly didn’t envy the fact that said family included the full-extended as well. While I wanted things to go well, I also wanted her to hurry back so that my own boyfriend could return. How long did they really need? Hi. Bye. Moving on.

I sighed making sure it really was to myself this time. The geese were steadily honking over the pictures of Susan’s new baby. A cute baby was one thing to fawn over, but Susan’s looked more alien than human. A smile appeared like a ghost on my face as I thought about what my grandmother would have said. Ever a woman of proper southern etiquette, she never would have come right out and said that the poor thing looked like the cat had coughed up a dead lizard.