by
Metal artist Martin Murphy knows dragons don’t talk, especially the dragon crafted of sequins on a former flame’s vest. So when the dragon seems to reach out and tells him to help its creator Ty, Marty refuses to believe the illusion. The sparks between him and Ty, on the other hand? They’re as real as it gets.
As he and Ty reconnect after so many years, Marty sees firsthand how the big man’s innate kindness and willingness to help others consume his time and energy. Maybe the dragon was right, and Ty needs saving.
While Marty is willing to try, what he really wants to do is pounce on the man and keep him all to himself while they walk down the path to HEA. Does that count as saving him?
- 1 Read list
Publisher: JMS Books, LLC
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 2
Romantic Content: 5
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 2 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Opposites Attract, Second Chances
Word Count: 19179
Setting: Oakland, California, USA
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
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- We were at Luca’s, a tiny family-owned Italian restaurant. Luca’s is one of those Bay Area eateries with no fixed hours. It’s open until it’s not. This meant diners dropping by the place could get a meal most nights unless the Luca family had an emergency and the doors were locked.
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- “You know what I liked best about the play?” I asked Ty.
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- One of Luca’s big plusses is everyone who worked there was always happy to prepare a meal for friends. To them, every customer is a friend.
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- “I don’t know. What did you like best about the play?” Ty’s eyes lit with mischief. “That you didn’t have to sit through it more than once?”
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- “Ha, ha,” I scoffed. “No, I’m serious here. I loved the illusion with the dragon.”
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- At his questioning look, I expanded my comment, “When your character turned away to get R and J the poison.”
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- “R and J,” he laughed. “Sounds like a tobacco company!”
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- Then he smiled. Lines of exhaustion framed his eyes. But he seemed to relax and be less tense as we talked.
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- “Yeah, I’m glad you liked it, Marty. I was hoping the light would catch the sequins just right. Make the dragon head leap out and look menacing as a comment on their buying poison.”
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- Although we hadn’t ordered it, a plate of appetizers appeared on the table.
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- “For you gentlemen while we prepare your meal.” The waiter winked at us and ran his hand under Ty’s hair along his shoulder.
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- “Hey, thanks, man.” Ty touched his hand and nodded. The waiter strutted back to the kitchen.
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- “Ricardo,” Ty said to me with a nod in the guy’s direction. “He likes too think of himself as a player even though he’s pretty much bonded at the ... hip ... with Wayne. He thinks I’m pining after him. I play along. Doesn’t hurt anybody. Makes Ric feel like a stud, though.”
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- He popped a piece of ham-covered toast in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and sighed. I followed his lead, without the outward sigh.
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- “Anyway, I’m glad you like the dragon illusion,” he added after a gulp of his wine.
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- “Well, not exactly what I meant. Don’t get me wrong. The dragon reveal was great. No, I meant the bit afterward when its head reached out over the audience and talked to us. Now that illusion was really special.”
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- He stared at me a moment and then wiped his lips with his napkin and brushed off his beard.
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- “What do you mean? I don’t get it. The dragon spoke to the audience? What did it say?”
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- I stopped munching.
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- “You don’t know? How could you not? The dragon’s head went from the back of your vest out into the audience and said something like,
take care of him
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- or
keep him safe
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- or something like that. Then it said
or he will die
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- .”
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- Ty tilted his head as he stared at me. Did he think I was making this up? He had to be teasing me.
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- Finally, he shook his head and resumed clearing out the hors d'oeuvres. The empty plate was taken away and our entrees appeared.
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- Before he dug in, he looked at me for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and grinned.
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- “Wish I had thought of it and how to do it, Marty. Would have been cool. But, no, I didn’t. I don’t think any of the others working on the show did either. Your CBDs are playing tricks on you.”
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- He dismissed it so casually, I was stunned. It hadn’t been a part of the play? Then what was it? A bit of theatrical craziness on my part? An hallucination? How unsettling.
- But now wasn’t the time to unravel what I’d seen. I’d have to think about the vision later. Ty and I were together again. Why waste the time with idiotic speculation?
COLLAPSE
I am thrilled to see Pat Henshaw tackling a new series of magical realism romance novellas featuring unlikely pairings. It’s set in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the art scene.
The first one, Fragile as Glass, was between Ashton and Hunter, a glass artist and a rockstar. That unlikely pairing worked out really well in the end. Hey, it is a romance! Ashton had a gift – when he touched pieces of crafted glass, he could see their future.
In Bright Shiny Love, it’s Tyson who has the gift – his ability to make his sequin art come to life.
Marty, whom his mother calls “delicate,” starts out recounting the time in high school when he was crushing on another boy. A really tall, robust boy, whose family had absolutely no use for art in their lives. Fast forward to the present day, when an older Marty finds out his old friend Ty is doing the costuming and art for a play that’s a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, only gay.
They get lunch together, but Marty’s rosy memories of the past are tempered when they smash into the reality of Ty’s current life, and how much his step-family relies on him, making everything into an emergency and demanding far too much of the gentle giant’s time, with very little thanks.
Marty has to learn to step out of his own shadow to help Ty out of his. I love the allusions to fantasy throughout the peace, and the troubles they have to get through together in order to find their happily ever after.
Bright Shiny Love follows the normal romance beats – meet, fall in love, break-up, make-up – but it’s a cute, quirky little tale of unexpected love between two people who are very different, and yet clearly meant for each other.
A great addition to Henshaw’s new series – a perfect short light read.
