Caught in the Wind (Conclusion)

Continued from Sunset Motel

I still want a baby.

As we lie in bed, day three of our weekend romp, I think to ask for his sperm, for both our sakes, but my voice is caught in the wind blowing through the open window.

He rolls to his side. “I think I love you.”

We both know it’s a lie, but it feels right for the moment.

I lean in, kiss him, and he inserts himself into me one last time.

word count: 77

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


And that’s the end! I hope you guys enjoyed my Valentine’s Day serial. It probably wasn’t the love story you were expecting, but when have I ever been known to give you basic “boy likes girl” love stories? To read from the beginning, click here: Group Therapy (Part 1).

Sunset Motel (Part 6)

Continued from Marriage Counseling

It was never my house. I suppose I don’t miss it. But to be locked out with only the clothes on my back and change in my purse seems cruel.

Group therapy at one; I tell them my husband and I have separated. They promise me reconciliation, but across the refreshments table, I meet his gaze.

Sunset Motel, where lovers rendezvous in secret, is a block away from the church basement.

I’m already naked when he arrives.

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 7 (Conclusion) – Caught in the Wind

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 7 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Marriage Counseling (Part 5)

Continued from Testing the Waters

“Before this affair, would you call your marriage a happy one?”

“Yes—”

“No—”

We speak in unison.

Overcrowded bookshelves line the walls on either side of me. Dr. Liam’s mahogany desk and matching floor make the office appear dim. Mood lighting to fix our broken vows.

Behind me, my husband paces back and forth. He wants to file for divorce. He doesn’t have the right.

“We live like brother and sister, but I have needs.”

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 6 – Sunset Motel

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 6 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Testing the Waters (Part 4)

Continued from Empty Mansion

I’m over-eager. I want too much. My body is not yet emptied of him before I’m crouched over the toilet, balancing the rod underneath my stream.

I wait one agonizing minute for the absence of parallel lines to tell me not so.

I don’t notice my husband watching at the door, home from his business trip.

Too late I drop the test between my legs, and with a splash, my fruitless efforts splatter my naked bottom.

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 5 — Marriage Counseling 

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 5 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Empty Mansion (Part 3)

Continued from Sweet Shop

He’s intimidated by the size of my house. Seventeen rooms and not a single child to tuck in at night, to chase down the hollow halls echoing with laughter.

He pauses at the entrance to the gardens, caresses vines wrapped around the wrought-iron gate. “I guess I’m your overworked, sexy Latin landscaper.”

“But not underpaid.”

We don’t make it inside. On the wooden bench, surrounded by azalea blossoms, he pricks me within, and my frozen interior bursts.

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 4 – Testing the Waters

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 4 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Sweet Shop (Part 2)

Continued from Group Therapy

We meet in the café on the riverfront. He devours his slice of apple pie, and I am tempted to lick the crumbs from the corners of his mouth.

“I was driving,” he recounts. “Left without a scratch.”

“Do you ever want another?” I think about my husband, away on business. We’ve been married ten years and I still know not what he does.

He stares, then nods.

“Come home with me.”

My bed is so cold.

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 3 – Empty Mansion

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 3 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Group Therapy (Part 1)

“I’m 37 years old, and I want to have a baby.”

And my husband hasn’t touched me in seven months, but I fear appearing selfish in front of these underprivileged who’ve lost children to leukemia, car seats not strapped in.

“My wife and daughter died in a crash with a semi,” says the widower whose fingers I brushed at the refreshments table, we both going for the same blueberry scone.

I’m not uncaring, but his eyes are tantalizing.

word count: 77
Up Next: Part 2 – Sweet Shop

© 2017-2023 Nortina Simmons


In addition to being Black History Month, February is also the month of love. ❤ So to count down to Valentine’s Day, the one holiday I love to hate, I’ve decided to repost my Group Therapy micro fiction series. It’s a story about two grieving parents who find love in the unlikeliest of places. I hope you enjoy.

Note: The link for part 2 will work when the post is published tomorrow.

Bloganuary Day 10

Welcome, dear followers, to Bloganuary Day 10! We are into week 2 of the month-long challenge, and I can happily say that I’ve been able to keep up with all the posts so far! My determination to establish a morning writing routine is coming through!

…even if the posts sometimes don’t go live until after dinner…

Has a book changed your life?

Initially, I thought I would respond to today’s prompt by talking about how my love for reading books inspired me to be a writer…

But then something inside me said, “You talk about yourself and writing too much. We’re bored, darling. Switch it up. Talk about love!”

Yes, love.

L-O-V-E.

Romance.

I am a romance author after all. 😉

Continue reading “Bloganuary Day 10”

Lost in the Twilight Zone Marathon | S2 Ep 12 | Android Companionship

I read in an article online that by 2050, human-on-robot sex will be more common than human-on-human sex. So when I enroll in the Android Companionship Trial, I convince myself that I’m only doing it for the advancement of science.

Not because I’m desperate and alone.

“So how does it work?” my girlfriend, Ally, asks me as I complete the 50-question questionnaire. “Do you have to fuck it a specific number of times a day to get accurate data? Do they film you?”

“No, it’s a little more discreet than that.”

“So it’s a sex doll that can move?”

“They say it’ll look just as human as you and me.”

Ally shrugs and pops a stick of chewing gum in her mouth. “This sounds too much like a porno plot.” She snickers. “Mmm mmm, fucking a robot.”

“They prefer the term ‘android,'” I correct her.

“Hmm, robots have preferred pronouns now too.” She kicks her legs off the couch and sits up. “Babe, if you’re that desperate for some peen, I’ll hook you up with one of the assholes at my job. It’ll be all sex, no strings. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to date these guys.”

“It’s because the dating pool has pee in it that I’m signing up for this!” Thirty-five years with not so much as a broken engagement has taught me all I need to know about the crop of men available to me.

Why not try an artificial one instead?

Continue reading “Lost in the Twilight Zone Marathon | S2 Ep 12 | Android Companionship”

Lost in the Twilight Zone Marathon | S2 Ep 7 | The Woman Who Will Finally Reap

After Mr. Schwimmer retired, the firm delegated me the task of representing his last client, a Mr. Simon Polk, who died five years ago.

“It’s really an easy case,” one of the partners, Mr. Colby, said. “You simply have to check on the robot. Make sure she’s taking care of it.”

She’s taking care of it alright. I learned that on my first visit. I sat with the robot in the study, and she served us both hot chocolate.

“Thank you,” I said when she offered me the cup and saucer.

“It’s cold, you miserable cow!” the robot spat, throwing the glass back at her. I was taken aback by how much it sounded like a man of a formidable age.

“It’s Uncle Simon,” she told me after I followed her back to the kitchen and helped her to rub out the stains in her dress.

“He loaded his consciousness into it just before he died,” she said as she stared ahead at nothing. “It was his dying wish to torment me for the rest of my days.”

I gave my report to the partners. “The robot’s taken care of, but who’s taking care of her?” I asked.

“That’s not our concern,” said Mr. Colby. “What has she to complain about? As long as she stays in that house, everything is hers.”

Everything but her life, I feared. I decided then and there that I would free her.

“That’s kind of you,” she said on my second visit as the robot worked in the basement, “but there’s nothing left for me to reap. I’m old. I’m dried up.”

“You’re not,” I said, and then I kissed her. She was stiff at first, but then I saw a flash in her eyes, and it was the confirmation I needed that I could bring her back to the land of the living.

We just needed to get rid of the robot.

“I tried pushing him down the stairs. Now he just walks with a cane.”

“Then we will try something more permanent,” I said. Leaving the property wasn’t an option. She would lose her inheritance. Even if I covered for her, the robot could call someone else from the firm. So then how would one kill a robot?

Continue reading “Lost in the Twilight Zone Marathon | S2 Ep 7 | The Woman Who Will Finally Reap”