Three Reasons to Avoid Being Punched in the Face

By Kevin Tumlinson

SOMETIMES YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE STRANGEST PLACES

No one knows that better than Charlie Dustin. He's been avoiding his life for three years in every dusty church and old building in Europe—until the day Elle finds him in a French cafe, bringing along three really good reasons for staying out of trouble.

But Charlie has a secret. There's a reason he's bouncing around Europe, five-thousand miles from home, with no real purpose for his life.

And Elle... well, Elle is a liar. And she's good at it. She knows a meal ticket when she sees one. 

What she wasn't expecting was to fall in love.

And what Charlie wasn't expecting was to find out that all those dark, painful things he'd been running from were clinging to him the whole time. 

 

"A quirky, fun romantic comedy that will leave you feeling like a world travler."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Happy Pants Books
• Release date: Jun 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513087689

Kevin Tumlinson

Kevin Tumlinson is an award-winning and bestselling novelist, living in Texas and working in random coffee shops, cafés, and hotel lobbies worldwide. His debut thriller, The Coelho Medallion, was a 2016 Shelf Notable Indie award winner. Kevin grew up in Wild Peach, Texas, where he was raised by his grandparents and given a healthy respect for story telling. He often found himself in trouble in school for writing stories instead of doing his actual assignments.  Kevin's love for history, archaeology, and science has been a tremendous source of material for his writing, feeding his fiction and giving him just the excuse he needs to read the next article, biography, or research paper.

Book preview

The Three Reasons to Avoid Being Punched in the Face

THE THREE REASONS TO AVOID BEING PUNCHED IN THE FACE

KEVIN TUMLINSON

The Three Reasons to Avoid Being Punched in the Face

Copyright © 2012, 2014, 2022 by Kevin Tumlinson

HAPPY PANTS BOOKS is a trademark of Kevin Tumlinson. www.happypantsbooks.com

First edition: July 2012

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between characters or events in this book and any real-life person or event is purely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

CONTENTS

1 | Reason #3

2 | Reason #2

3 | Reason #1

A Note at the End

Here’s how to help me reach more readers

About the Author

Also by Kevin Tumlinson

Keep the Adventure Going!

1 | REASON #3

There are three reasons (more or less) why you might want to avoid being punched in the face.

Yes, there is the usual discomfort. Bruising around the ocular socket. Swelling, and possible splitting of the flesh. That quick, stomach-clenching whiplash snap of the head that turns your neck into so much strained and sore spaghetti, which makes you feel like your brain just ricocheted off of at least two sides of your skull. We’ll lump these under Reason #1.

The second reason has to do with pride. Humility, actually. Do you take the punch, shrug it off like you might have deserved it? Maybe. That’s a cool way to handle being punched in the face, no doubt.

Or do you become outraged in a classic ‘50s How DARE you!?! mode—face red (and bruising), fists clenched, shaking all over with righteous rage? This is a tricky decision. It will influence everything that happens after. It should be carefully weighed. It is Reason #2.

But the third reason is maybe the one that matters most. It’s a simple fact. It’s all about causes. At the root of this punch, at its origin, at the Big Bang preceding this big bang, there is a series of events that brought you to this point in time—that connects you to this connection. At its heart, it’s the core question of existence. The What brought us here? question.

It boils down to this: Reason #3 means you’re in trouble.

I very much wish I had paid heed to Reason #3 before this all began.

The punch to the face, I could handle that. Hurt? Yes. Pride bruised? Sure. I hadn’t quite decided yet whether I was going to shrug it off or shake with rage, but either way I felt like a heel.

Trouble? I was in it. Loads of it. Loads and loads.

It started three