“On a beach in California.”
“Our beaches are better.”
I didn’t disagree.
“Is it ever going to work with Miss California?”
“I don’t think so.”
She leaned forward and kissed me on the mouth. She tasted even better than Bing Cherry Vanilla, and she put her arms around my neck and held me tight.
I did the same.
I thought I should say something.
“That was even better than the last time I kissed you.”
“You’ve never kissed me, idiot. I kissed you.”
She was right, so I kissed her again on her soft moist lips.
Eventually, we disentangled, and she looked at my shades, deep into my eyes.
“Goodbye, Jack Colt.”
Then she turned around and walked away.
I won’t try to describe how I felt.
Soon I was cruising up the Garden State, blasting the Boss, heading north towards the comforts of Paterson, wondering what the hell I was doing with my life.
William Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the author of twenty-two books including New Jersey Noir; Times Square and Other Stories; One-and-Twenty Tales; Companion; The Ballad Rode into Town; Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems; Classic American Films; and The Unfortunates (recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award). A former Fulbright in Portugal, he’s also received the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award and a Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Also from Able Muse Press
Jacob M. Appel, The Cynic in Extremis – Poems
William Baer, Times Square and Other Stories;
New Jersey Noir – A Novel;
Lee Harlin Bahan, A Year of Mourning (Petrarch) – Translation
Melissa Balmain, Walking in on People (Able Muse Book Award for Poetry)
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Figuring in the Figure – Poems
David Berman, Progressions of the Mind – Poems
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Michael Cantor, Life in the Second Circle – Poems
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John Philip Drury, Sea Level Rising – Poems
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D. R. Goodman, Greed: A Confession – Poems
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www.ablemusepress.com
New Jersey Noir: Cape May
I
1 Paterson, New Jersey5
2 Cape May8
3 The Waterfront10
4 Stone Tower14
5 18 Marshall Street17
6 Appendix I26
7 Stone Tower28
8 Riverfront Park31
9 Congress Hall34
10 The Lobster House41
11 Reading Beach45
12 Cinco de Mayo49
13 The Cove60
14 Benton Avenue67
15 The Killing70
II
16 Shoreline Lanes75
17 Gingerbread House80
18 The Cape May-Lewes Ferry83
19 Field of Dreams88
20 Campbell Funeral Home91
21 Atlantic Cape95
22 Oceanview Lodge99
23 The Barrens105
24 Cheesequake114
25 Somerville121
26 Fairmount125
27 Sussex County Courthouse128
28 18 Marshall Street132
29 Stone House138
30 Appendix II144
31 Carlito’s149
32 Borgata154
33 Explorer165
34 AtlantiCare168
III
35 Beach Haven175
36 Pompton Lakes180
37 French Hill Inn185
38 Delaware Water Gap190
39 U-Store Storage193
40 Stone Tower197
41 Appendix III200
42 Beach Haven206
43 Antonio’s210
44 Sunset Pavilion216
45 Appendix IV220
46 Memorial229
47 The Fudge Kitchen234
William Baer, New Jersey Noir--Cape May