Tuesday Tales: From the Word CEILING

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. The authors this week are writing to the prompt CEILING. There are times in a story when even as the author, I would like to be a fly in the room. Time to see Rudy confront Hazel. Enjoy. I’m a few words over 400. Don’t shoot me. I needed to get in that last line.

My blood boiled. How could I possibly have been taken in enough to have sex with such a cold fish? I should consider myself damn lucky that my dick hadn’t suffered frostbite. Less than an hour ago, she wanted me to make a public profession of our status as a couple while she made plans to pack up my daughter and send her to boarding school. If there was someone making false statements and misrepresenting herself, it was Hazel.

“You certainly seem to know a lot about this sort of thing,” Jacob noted. “Have you been in a situation like this before?”

“Not exactly like this, no, but I know a con artist when I see one. We need to protect ourselves against her ilk. She looks innocent, but believe me, it’s all an act.”

From where I stood beside the large pine tree, no one could see me. I searched the faces of those watching her. Most were confused, trying to make sense of it all, while others were searching the ceiling for an answer.

Unaware of my presence, Hazel pushed what she saw as her advantage.

“She’s damn good, I’ll concede that. If there was an Academy Award for pulling the wool over someone’s eyes, she would win it. Those tears at the end? That’s where she overplayed her hand. Ask Rudy. He’s a screenwriter. He knows crocodile tears when he sees them. That woman is a fake. She’s a charlatan, and I intend to prove it. You should send her packing tonight and demand she make restitution for everything we’ve sunk into this failure. I know I supported it to begin with, but this … this woman changes everything. Mark my words. She needs to go, and she needs to go now. Seeing how easily she duped everyone … Jacob was right. We don’t need an outsider to sell our town. I’ll be glad to do it. I did some acting in college. But if you insist on going ahead with this farce with that impostor, I refuse to contribute another cent—”

That was it. I stepped into the room.

“And that’s just fine by me, Hazel. The decision to go ahead with the travel blog isn’t yours to make. It’s mine, and I will gladly refund you the money you advanced.” I looked around the group. “If there’s anyone else who wants out, speak up, but I plan to go ahead with my travel blog, and Mara will be its star. I don’t give a damn if her hair is red, blue, or green. Come to think of it, it isn’t as if you’re a natural blonde, Hazel, is it?”

Jerry smothered a laugh, and Molly turned it into a grunt when she elbowed him.

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.