Pinkie: A Short Story

By Kate Courtright

Recent divorcee Rebecca has returned to Utica, NY to give back her ex’s diamond ring and put that whole sad episode of her life behind her once and for all. As she boards the train to return to her new home in Richmond, VA, she is determined to take a hiatus from relationships. And next time around, she’ll make sure she spends a good long time getting to know a guy before jumping into any kind of romantic commitment. There’s only one problem: the attractive young man in the seat next to hers exudes old-fashioned southern gentleman charm, gives her a nickname right off the bat that she kind of likes, and he happens to be going almost as far as she is. When track trouble slows their trip down to a crawl, Rebecca finds herself rethinking how long it really takes to fall in love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kate Courtright
• Release date: Dec 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463768099

Kate Courtright

Kate Courtright has found joy in stories her entire life. She loves reading stories that make her laugh and cry and believe in the power of love to change people’s lives. She loves literary and genre fiction and has a particular fondness for romance. She wrote her first story, about Cinderella eating spaghetti, when she was seven years old, and has been writing in one form or another ever since. When not reading or writing, Kate works professionally to create caring communities that empower people to be good neighbors and faithful friends. She lives with her family in New York City.

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Pinkie by Kate Courtright, published by Kate Courtright www.katecourtright.com

This short story is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 by Kate Courtright

Cover design: MaryDes, marydes.eu

Book design: Brisbane Creative LLC

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For permissions contact: [e-mail]

First Printing 2019

To Jim

I––Utica

Not Windex, Rebecca insisted, pulling her hand away from her mother-in-law’s—her ex-mother-in-law’s––clutches.

Tabitha held the squirt bottle menacingly, and stared at the diamond ring on Rebecca’s finger with covetous longing.

It works, Tabitha said.

I don’t care. I’m serious, Tabitha, don’t spray that stuff on me.

Tabitha raised her stony gray eyes and said, Olive oil, then. She flung the Windex bottle onto the linoleum counter where it skittered into a plastic dish drainer, knocking a colander into the sink.

The woman’s intense focus alarmed Rebecca, who pulled again on the diamond ring, wanting it off, off, off. It was no use. The knuckle on her finger had swollen, and the ring she wanted so desperately to return to its original family seemed determined to burrow into her flesh.

Why you’re still wearing that is beyond me. Tabitha grasped Rebecca’s wrist and extended her hand above the sink, liberally dousing her fingers with olive oil. The divorce came through weeks ago. Second thoughts?

No! Rebecca cried. I just didn’t want to lose it. I know how important this ring is to all of you and I wanted to make sure I returned it safely. She wanted to make sure her husband’s—her ex-husband’s family–– had nothing to hold over her head. She had come all the way from her new home in Richmond, Virginia, back to Utica, New York, to spend one more night at this ranch house on Dwyer Street. She had lived for two miserable years under her mother-in-law’s roof before she’d left Kenny. Now she had only to hand this ring over to the woman to be done with this whole sad episode of her life once and for all.

And she had one more suitcase of belongings that Tabitha had insisted she retrieve in person, even though Rebecca had urged her to just throw