Love and Hamburgers (Rick and Liz Saga Book 1)

By Ken Poirier

With her elbows pressed against the well-worn wood of the bar, Liz swiped at her phone. She found herself lurking the Facebook pages and tweets of her exes. None of them were particularly bad, per say, they just weren't right. But what is right? She really didn't know, but she knew they weren't it.

It wasn't their fault. A lot of girls will say, "It's not you, it's me," but when Liz said it, she really meant it. She was too weird and different than other people. She was starting to think no one would ever be right for her.

Liz, a Millennial woman, thinks she's running away from her problems, but she can't run away from herself...

Ever since Liz was a child, she has been cursed with seeing her own future. During college she discovered the only cure... alcohol.

When drinking begins to fail her, she runs off with ex-rock-musician Rick on a cross-country road trip to find the perfect hamburger in this Paranormal-Romance adventure, Love and Hamburgers.

Will Rick's Generation X attitude show her that life can be different or is he just the latest in her excuses for not becoming the woman her parents wish she would be?

• Language: English
• Publisher: MeTime Publishing
• Release date: Apr 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370093526

Ken Poirier

Author, actor, and scientist, Ken Poirier, the author of The Bear Wife, was born in Connecticut, but has always called the Pacific Northwest his home. As a graduate of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, he set out west and became a master of the arts of circus and vaudeville performing as Ken "The King". In 2010, he retired from live performing to study neurology and artificial intelligence at Indian River State College and Indiana University. He currently writes fiction, designs video games, and is a media consultant in Los Angeles. He hopes someday to live on a cool hippy farm.

Book preview

Love and Hamburgers

Rick and Liz Saga, Book 1

Love and Hamburgers

Rick and Liz Saga, Book 1

A serial novella by Ken Poirier

Smashwords 1st Edition

Copyright © 2018 Ken Poirier & MeTime Publishing

All rights reserved.

Contents

Note

Chapter 1 To the Future

Chapter 2 Crossroads and Chill

Chapter 3 Cutting the Darkness

Chapter 4 Nowhere, USA

Chapter 5 Under the Rainbow

Chapter 6 Oasis, USA

Chapter 7 How to Drive Stick

Chapter 8 A Girl Named Mandy

Chapter 9 The Absent Friend

Chapter 10 Because I Got High

Chapter 11 Fashion and Junk

Chapter 12 The Five Jokers

Chapter 13 Throwing Bones

Chapter 14 At Last, a Drink

Chapter 15 Goodnight, Denver

Chapter 16 Breakfast at Mandy’s

Chapter 17 The Great Buffet Robbery

Chapter 18 One Drink Too Many

Chapter 19 The Silver Spike

Chapter 20 What Happens in Vegas

Chapter 21 The Downside of Downshifting

Chapter 22 Love and Hamburgers

About the Author

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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 recipient. 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 or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For the shy girl,

I hope you find peace within yourself…

Note

Brands, Corporations, and Artists in this story, both real and fictional, appear italicized. Works of art appear in bold.

Their mention by the characters and narrator are to provide cultural realism and are not meant as a reflection, opinion, or endorsement of these persons, products, or organizations in real life.

Thank you.

Ken

Chapter 1

To the Future

With her elbows pressed against the well-worn wood of the bar, Liz swiped at her phone. She found herself lurking the Facebook pages and tweets of her exes. None of them were particularly bad, per say, they just weren't right. But what is right? She really didn't know, but she knew they weren't it.

It wasn't their fault. A lot of girls will say, it's not you, it's me, but when Liz said it, she really meant it. She was too weird and different than other people. She was starting to think no one would ever be right for her.

Need a refill? asked Amy from behind the bar.

Apparently so, remarked Liz, shaking her empty glass, as if there might still be some alcohol hiding under the melting ice.

It was another quiet Tuesday night at The Crossroads. It was almost one in the morning and hardly a soul had entered the place. A couple of old men, in town for a sales conference, had taken the place over for a while, but they were gone now. She wished it was Monday. Monday night is trivia night.

Liz was bonkers bored, despite the fact she was very drunk. She wasn't a big fan of The Crossroads, but her roommate was the bartender, which meant she only had to pay for every third drink. That was a good thing, because she didn't have a job. Quite honestly she didn't want one.

So, have you figured out what you are going to do? asked Amy as she placed another whiskey sour in front of Liz.

Jeeze, Can't I think about it tomorrow? Liz asked.

Well, I guess if you're too drunk to think about it, then you won't be needing this. Amy made an empty gesture to take the drink back.

Hey, hey, no! I'll figure it out. I'm good.

So? Asked Amy.

So what? Liz was sucking the drink down through a straw, protecting the glass from Amy like it was a wounded limb.

So... Are you going to get a job tomorrow? Asked Amy.

I will. I just got to figure out what it is I want to do. Liz said.

Well, you better figure it out quick, rent is due in seven days and I'm not going to float for two months in a row. Listen, I got to change out a keg. Keep an eye on the bar until I get back.

Liz looked around the empty room.

Don't worry, I don't think it's going anywhere.

Liz went back to drinking and swiping at her phone. She was thinking about asking her parents for money, but she hated doing that. It always came with some kind of strings attached, or worse. They might ask her to move back in with them. She shuddered at the thought.

As terrible as her drinking and phone addiction was, it kept her from thinking about the future. One would think that knowing their future would be a good thing, but it isn't. At first it seemed exciting and gave her a feeling of security to know that there was always something to come, that her life would never be cut short unexpectedly.

The downside however is that knowing your future makes it terribly uninteresting. All of her accomplishments, first loves, best friends... none of them were a surprise. When you get to the moment where you saw yourself in the visions, it all becomes a rerun. Instead of enjoying the moment, you see your younger self looking back at you like a reflecting pool through time.

You go through the motions.

You act like it was a surprise.

You pretend like you didn't know all this was going to happen.

But then Liz discovered alcohol. It is, apparently, impossible to see the future when you are drunk all the time. Once Liz realized this, she had been drunk ever since.

Liz's thoughts were disrupted when a man with dark wavy hair and a leather jacket took a seat over from Liz at the bar.

He was tall and clean. She wouldn't have noticed him, but he was tapping his fingers on the bar. He was playing an imaginary piano in sync to the country music on the jukebox. Every time he tapped his fingers on the bar counter, it sent a vibration through the wood.

He was kind of hot for an older guy, Liz thought. He turned and saw her looking at him. He smiled.

You a country music fan? Liz blurted out at him.

Not particularly. It's okay, I guess.

Yeah. Me neither. Liz said. I'd love to change it, but I don't have enough for the jukebox.

How much is it?

A dollar for two songs.

The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a bundle of cash held together with a rubber band. He peeled two singles off and handed it to Liz.

Knock yourself out, he said.

Liz stumbled across the room to the wall mounted jukebox. She fed the dollars into the slot and picked four tracks. The country music faded away and was replaced with an electronic sound with lots of thumping bass. A woman sang something about putting hands in the air. The chorus had something to do with butter. Liz danced her way back to her seat. The ice jingled in her empty glass.

I'm starting to think that I might be regretting my investment, the man said.

Oh come on. You don't like this either?

He awkwardly tried dancing to it.

No, not really. Do you know if there is a bartender? I kind of just want to get a drink. Long night.

Liz rolled her eyes and rolled off the bar stool.

Wha-cha want? I'll get it. Liz was slurring pretty badly, but she couldn't care less.

You're the bartender?

Well, everyone's got to have a job, right? So wha-cha want?

"Um... Irish Whiskey neat and back it with a PBR thanks."

"Neat. That means no ice,