Short Story

Just What I Needed

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for OLWG #398, our three prompts
for this week are listed below. This my story.

It’s New Year’s Day and the last thing I expected was to be spending it alone.

Everything in my life had been going so well; I was excited about my promotion at work, I had a beautiful condo on the lake and a fantastic boyfriend. I’d been getting vibes all week that Rob had something special planned. I had visions of him getting down on one knee and popping the question.

My New Year’s Eve party was in full swing when Rob pulled me aside, saying he had something important to share with me. I was obviously not reading his signals clearly as the proposal I was expecting turned out to be a rejection. He was dumping me! Just what I needed …. being ditched and feeling miserable.

My heart was broken. I never dreamed this was how I’d be spending the first day of a new year. I threw myself into cleaning my condo; the whole time I was cleaning, I was thinking about what a rat Rob turned out to be. My sorrow turned into anger and when I was done, I realized I was better off without that no good bum!

I also realized I was starving! My stomach was grumbling and I remembered reading about a new place opening up near me. It was pretty chilly but the sun was shining brightly so I decided to walk. When I arrived I was happy to see how nice the new place looked and even happier when I read the words above the front door: BAR & PIZZERIA! Just what I needed …. a cold beer and a hot slice!

The place was empty; ok by me. As I was eating I caught a quick glimpse of something moving on the floor behind the bar. Oh, good Lord! Don’t tell me it was a mouse! It moved again but this time I saw enough to figure out what it was ….. the tip of a dog’s tail!

I laughed at my silly insecurity and was immediately rewarded with a heart-stopping pair of dark brown eyes staring at me from behind the counter. Before I knew what was happening, the dog sprang to her feet and pranced over to my table. When she rested her head on my lap, I melted. She had the most gorgeous coat of sleek chocolate brown hair and the sweetest face I’d ever seen.

“Theros, you naughty girl! You can’t be bothering the customers like that!”

I looked up to see the source of the playful reprimand and was greeted with another pair of heart-stopping dark brown eyes and a roguish smile. He spoke and I was a goner.

“Theros likes you! I’m Mike; welcome to my place.”

Somehow I found my voice. “Theros …. the goddess of summer. She’s beautiful. Hi, Mike. I’m Rita.”

“Rita …. a lovely name. May I  join you?”

Smiling, I nodded “yes”.

Just what I needed …. a second chance at love.

NAR©2025

The three prompts this week are 1) twelve gods of Summer; 2) a smeared and dirty looking glass; and 3) a bar in Marbella. Our task is to choose one of them, choose all of them, or choose none of them and incorporate them into a story or poem.

This is Rod Stewart “Taking A Chance On Love”

OLWG#398- Anadarko

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy, Nancy ~ The Sicilian Storyteller, Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, and The Rhythm Section, and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

40 thoughts on “Just What I Needed”

  10. That’s how it starts, meeting by chance and Theros was a matchmaker. Dogs have a way of bringing folks together. That reminds me of a pizza place my wife Momo and I used to frequent. We lived in the Oak Cliff part of Dallas, actually the Bishop Arts District, where all the artist and weirds congregate. Eno’s Pizza had a great joint in an old building. Best pizza in Dallas. Cold winter nights, a warm bar, Shiner Beer and a great pie, didn’t get much better than that. The owners heard my rock band and hired us to play. Their stage was small so we downsized to acoustic electric and did mostly Red Dirt Rock, more along the lines of The Band. When Momo and I married, in 2008, we held our after hitchen party there. Pizza joints and beer have a way, don’t they.

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    1. Indeed they do! One of our very early hangouts was a place on Tremont Avenue in The Bronx called Fortunato’s Pizza and it was very fortunato for us; not only did our relationship blossom there among the succulent red tomatoes but we got to partake of some of the thinnest, lightest, most delicious pizza we ever ate. Over our 56 years together I have tried many times to duplicate Fortunato’s pizza, with no luck. I sure wish that old place was still there; I’d like to thank Mr. Fortunato for making some of the best pizza ever and maybe sweet talk him into giving me the recipe!

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  16. You never disappoint when it comes to storytelling. Glad Rita finally found another love. When Mike complimented her name alone, I could see love in the air too, hah. An interesting one. Cheers to your beautiful writing and to a new to start🥂

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