Plaything

a novella

Doria is a waitress in kitty ears and a tail at a coffee shop called Itty Bitty Kitty Coffee. In her mandated kitty ears and makeup, she encounters two regulars which intrigue her — Melinda, who reads dark poetry at Itty Bitty Pretty Words, the weekly reading series at the shop, and Jeremy a mysterious man who has sex with her in the alley one night and offends her by calling her a “dirty little stray.”

Doria ignores Jeremy at work thereafter until one day she notices him seated at a table with Melinda. The thought of these two together bothers Doria and stays with her long after Melinda disappears as a regular of the shop. When Jeremy reappears at the coffee shop with an invitation for Doria to his beach house from Melinda, Doria finds herself doing something she swore to never do again — say yes to Jeremy. If only to be with Melinda.

But what she encounters at Jeremy’s beach house both is and isn’t Melinda at all — is and isn’t just the Plaything.