Below are a few quotes from the short story collection Seven Tales of Love, along with some images for Valentine Day’s.
Then his heart gave a little lurch when he saw her sitting there – Anna Avilov, his old Juliet. Suddenly, the twenty years since the production of Romeo and Juliet in San Francisco vanished. (from “Juliet”)
The market vibrated with color and sound. A slight breeze blew against her skin as she wandered from one stall to another. There were so many different types of people and objects. Like a huge, exotic bazaar. (from “Offering”)
She lifted one peony and pressed its velvety petals across her face. She plucked a petal and let it drop to the floor. Then another and another, saying, “He loves me, he loves me not. I love him, I love him not.” With the second flower she added, “He never could have loved me. I never would have loved him.” (from “Peonies”)
No, it was the soft crashing of the waves, the shimmering pink and melon sunset. It was the sly promise that night weaves into its beginning. It was all that – and he was just a part of it, surely. (from “The Asking”)
The countdown. Three more days – and then the embrace, the conversations and walks, reaching out to feel his warm skin in the middle of the night. (from “Romantic Love”)
Later in the day, Olivia set the table, and carefully arranged the flowers she had bought earlier….It was just yesterday that he had brought her flowers. Yesterday, thirty years ago. (from “Caramelized Onions”)
I had this little game I played: I used to buy her roses on the anniversary of the day I first saw her. Roses for my Rose. She didn’t know what a momentous day it had been for me. Oh, sure, I brought her flowers throughout the year. She always loved them so. Rose was raised in the country and was used to blooming things, and she missed that when her family moved to the city. So I bought her flowers, whatever I could find in season. (from “Solomon Grundy”)
Linda Mahkovec - Author 