title: Strange Ladies: 7 Stories
author:  Lisa Mason 
description: Lisa Mason has published ten novels, including Summer of Love (a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book), The Gilded Age (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book), The Garden of Abracadabra (Fun and enjoyable urban fantasy), and Arachne (A Locus Hardcover Bestseller), and thirty-one stories and novellas in magazines and anthologies worldwide. Her Omni story, Tomorrows Child, sold outright as a feature film to Universal Studios. Her latest novel is One Day in the Life of Alexa. Represented by Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group
zlib_text: for my husband
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  chapter
  
  
  
  
  
  ONE
  
  
  
  
  
  JOSEPH
  
  
  
  
  
  What the fuck was this girl doing at my club?
  
  
  
  
  
  She looked like she couldn’t be a day over twenty, which meant I had an issue
  with the door. Someone wasn’t checking the IDs, or not looking at the photos
  close enough. I’d have to talk to my manager about that, again.
  
  
  
  
  
  The girl stood in a semi-circle with her friends, a half-empty drink in her
  hand while she surveyed the selection of men nearby. From my vantage-point on
  the second floor balcony, I saw the dark roots of her hair, giving way to
  pale, dusty blonde streaking down that glowed in the low light pulsing from
  the DJ booth.
  
  
  
  
  
  She laughed and touched one of her friends on the arm. Calm. Casual. Like she
  had every right to be here, and wasn’t jeopardizing my club’s liquor license
  simply with her presence. Annoyance flared and made my skin hot. Perhaps I
  should have given my staff the benefit of the doubt. Maybe her fake ID was
  fucking amazing.
  
  
  
  
  
  I turned away from