About The Bent Rail

by Sean Michael
15 pages / 4860 words
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc

When Danny's favorite diner closes down, he's pretty bummed. His life isn't stellar anyway, and now he's lost his favorite way to end the day. Then he finds the Bent Rail coffee shop, where long, tall cowboy Jon is serving up chili, cornbread and a smile that lights Danny's fire. Too bad he can't figure out if Jon is as interested as he is. Will Jon's home cooking be the way to Danny's heart?

Sample

Danny was feeling more than a little grouchy.

He didn't ask for a whole lot in life, hell he didn't figure he deserved a whole lot and he had it pretty good considering the things he'd already done to screw everything up. Only twenty and he had a good paying job, even if hauling other people's trash wasn't glamorous or fun.

He worked four a.m. to one p.m. Monday through Friday. Every day the truck would drop him at home and he'd put his overalls in the wash, shower, flip on the washing machine on his way out and have a meal at the Silver Bullet Dinner.

Only here he was on this chilly Thursday afternoon and the Silver Bullet was closed. Not just closed, but shut down and, according to the sign on the door, going to be torn down for some high rise.

Well, fuck.

He took the long way home, hoping to come up with some place close other than the Jack in the Box. He didn't mind it occasionally, but it made him sick if he ate there too often and there was no time when you were working the truck to be stopping for a bathroom break every half hour. He lit his cigarette, and pushed his hands into his jeans pockets to keep them warm. Going down a side street, he found a coffee shop he'd kind of noticed out of the corner of his eye whenever he went by it, but had never stopped in. He checked out the menu board on the sidewalk.

The Bent Rail. Nothing fancy, but they did eggs and sausage, biscuits, and they had steak and a soup and a daily special. It was as close as the Silver Bullet had been, just in the other direction. His growling stomach confirmed it was a good idea to check it out.

He tossed his cigarette at the gutter and went in.

The place was warm, cozy, decorated with fence wood and old tools. There was a coat rack by the case, a counter, a handful of booths. Simple, but clean and man, it smelled good.

"Afternoon there. Just pull yourself up a chair, either at the counter or a booth, don't make me no never mind." A tall, long, lean man came out of the kitchen, blonde and mustached, wearing tight jeans and a dark t-shirt with a little white apron.

Wow. The scenery sure was worth the price of admission. And if the food tasted half as good as it smelled...