Thunder Storm

by Matt Lincoln

“Me too,” Jeff agreed, “but I also want to hear more about the budget cuts.”

  “Yeah!” Charlie added. “What happened with that? Now there are drugs involved? How does that tie in?”

  “Slow down,” I chuckled. I admit I loved telling these kids my favorite stories, but sometimes the requests were a bit overwhelming.

  “Everyone, I have the perfect ending to this story!” Nadia’s voice echoed out from the kitchen, and she came sauntering up to the bar handing out dessert plates with slices of what looked to be tres leches cake on them.

  “No, tres leches?!” Claire was giddy with excitement over the surprise.

  “What’s this?” I asked as Nadia handed me a plate and began making her way around the bar. “You just had this ready?”

  “No,” she sighed. “I had made this earlier for a friend, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to have this many people eat my dessert.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ll make another one tomorrow.”

  “Mm,” Linda groaned as she took her first bite. “This is amazing!”

  “Thanks!” Nadia beamed with pride as she watched the small crowd dive into the cake. Murmurs of appreciation began popping up as everyone tried the cake, and for good reason. It was delicious, the texture of the cake playing nicely with the cream and filling.

  “Oh, that reminds me.” Linda put her fork down and began digging through her bag for something. “The last time I saw Jake, he asked me to give you this.” She pulled out a brown paper bag with something solid inside and slid it across the bar top. I looked at her, puzzled, as I pulled it close to me.

  She shrugged in response. “I don’t understand, but Jake said you would get it. Apparently, it’s an inside joke.”

  Curiosity got the better of me, and I ripped into the bag to reveal its contents. Inside, I found a white ceramic coffee mug. On the face of the mug was the iconic I love New York logo, with the red heart replacing the word love.

  “Oh, geez.” I rolled my eyes as I barked out a laugh. “Of course, this is what would make him think of me.”

  Linda stared at me blankly, and as I looked around, I realized that everyone else at the bar was giving me the same blank stare, including Mike.

  “Alright,” I sighed good-naturedly. “Since you guys want another Jake Header story, this would be it.”

  “Yes!” Mack cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

  “Aww, man,” Jeff grumbled. “I’m dying to know about these budget cuts!”

  “I’ve got great news, Jeff,” I chuckled as I rolled the tacky mug between the palms of my hands. “They’re the same story.”

  “Wait,” Ty yelled excitedly, “we finally get to hear what happened with the budget cuts?”

  “You sure do!” I replied, taking the last sip out of my glass. “And I couldn’t have done it without Header’s help. Luckily, he brought the case right into my lap.”

  Author’s Note

  Hey, if you got here, I just want you to know that you’re awesome! I wrote this book just for someone like you, and if you want another one, it is super important that you leave a review.

  The more reviews this book gets, the more likely it is there will be a sequel to it. After all, I’m only human, and you have no idea how far a simple “your book was great!” goes to brighten my day.

  Also, if you want to know when the sequel comes out, you absolutely must join my Facebook group and follow me on Amazon. Doing one won’t be enough because it relies on either Facebook or Amazon telling you the book is out, and they might not do it.

  You might miss out on all my books forever, if you only do one!

  Here’s the link to follow me through e-mail.

  Here’s the link to my Facebook Group.