Paulie Cantwell

“So when do we get to meet him?” I wanted to know.

I’m Robyn’s eldest brother, admittedly a badass SOB capable of scaring the crap out of just about everybody. I guess I just look scary, I don’t know—I’m a big sucker, tall, well over six feet, with dirty blond hair that has only a passing acquaintance with a comb. I do a better job with the beard than I do with my hair. So sue me. I own a gym, and I’m a bodybuilder myself. Two hundred sixty pounds of muscle and madness, and proud of it. For years, I’ve made sport out of terrorizing anyone and everyone Robyn dated.

“Who?” Robyn asked as she cleared the dishes from the table after dinner. She knew who I was talking about but was obviously postponing the agony of meeting her five brothers for this new guy for as long as she could. That told me he was different from the others. I had to check him out, see if he was good enough for her.

I grinned. “The guy you’re so hung up on,” I said. “And don’t try to deny it. This is me you’re talking to. I know you, and this one’s different.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” She scraped the remnants of food into the food bowls along one wall.

I was distracted from my interrogation for a minute there. “I’ve got to get that garbage disposal put in,” I said.

She laughed at that. “We don’t need a garbage disposal,” she said. “In case you haven’t noticed, we already have ten of them. These guys will eat anything that’s not nailed down or on fire.”

Almost as if on cue, all the cats and dogs appeared in the doorway, knocking each other down to get to the food. I looked down at them and shook my head. “They’re so old they can barely get around, but the minute they smell food, they’ve got all kinds of energy.”

Robyn laughed. “Much like five guys I know.”

I got back on subject. “So…this guy, what did you say his name is?” I wanted to know.

“I didn’t.”

“What is it?”

“None of your business.”

“You ashamed of him?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why the secrecy?” I pushed her.

“I’m not going to have you and the other four Stooges scaring him away,” she said, running hot, soapy water into the sink.

I made a face. “There are only three Stooges, honey. Everybody knows that.”

She turned to face me. “Not true,” she said. “There were a total of five. Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp and Curly Joe.” We’d been like that since we were kids, teasing, debating the silliest things.

I laughed. “Does that make me Moe?” I asked, scratching one of the dogs’ ears as it ate.

She thought about it. “I guess you’re as close to a Moe as this family’s got.”

“Moe was the smart one,” I reminded her.

“When compared to the other four, I suppose you could say you’re the smart one. You didn’t have to repeat any grades or anything,” Robyn said. She turned and threw a dishtowel at me. “I’ll wash, you dry. On second thought, you wash, I’ll dry.”

“You need a dishwasher,” I said as I got up and dragged my ass over to the sink, pushing the towel back at her.

“No, I don’t. I’ve got one–you.”

I reached down into the water and started washing the dishes. “Now, back to your mystery man. Name?”

“Brad Pitt.”

I whistled. “I’m impressed. Does Angelina know?”

She rolled her eyes. “Give it up…Moe.”

“You know that’s not gonna happen,” I said, grinning. “Might as well tell me.”

She hesitated. “Alex,” she said finally. “His name is Alex.”

I kept working on the dishes like I wasn’t making a big deal of it. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Does he have a last name?”

“Yes, of course. But that’s all you’re getting.”

“Where’d you meet him?”

“At the shelter.” She took a tall glass from me, held it up to the light to inspect it fo

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything under my “Toni Collins” pseudonym, so I was pleasantly surprised to not only see some of these romantic comedies not only turning up on Amazon, but with some great reviews!

Here’s one for Immoral Support:

Kathleen Wilder is a reporter for the small St. Louis Daily Mirror. She’s a hard working career gal, who can take care of herself. She likes her job, her life and the direction her career is moving. However, she has a nemesis who works for the city’s number one newspaper, who keeps scooping her and gloating about it. A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter named Mel Riggs. She can’t stand him, at least that’s what see tells anybody who will listen. And they just nod their heads, because they know Mel is her ex-husband and that she’d do anything to one up him.

Mel Riggs won’t admit he’s still carrying a torch for Kathy. But the truth is, he is. They’d been married for two years, but that was ten years ago. The marriage didn’t work, because he’d been too competitive with his wife and he resented the fact that she was working in the same field as he was. He didn’t at first, but it got him, her being so good. His male ego couldn’t take it.

Now Kathy has a contract to do a book on a criminal case. She calls Mel to gloat and he promptly accepts a deal with the prosecuting attorney to do a book with him. No way will he let Kathy succeed at anything, unless he does it better.

Ms. Collins has written a witty story that I couldn’t put down. She has delivered two wonderful characters who go head to head again and again, before they ultimately realize that maybe they were just meant for each other after all. Of course, it took a plane ride in a lightning storm to finally give Mel the courage to talk to Kathy as an equal. I just loved this story and I think you will too.

Something Old…

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

and  Miracle Dad!

Derek Wolfe was too young to die. The true pain is not Derek’s, though. His children, Patrick and Alexandra, are the ones really hurting. They are in a foster home, temporary at best. So Derek demands to return to Earth, but doesn’t consider the consequences. His children don’t recognize him, and their foster mother, Evelyn Sloan, thinks he is engaged to her! Now he has to become a father to Patrick and Alexandra again, but he can only do that by marrying Evelyn. Derek’s problems pretending to be someone he isn’t causes some humor. This book has a great cast of supporting characters: Michael, Derek’s boss with a bad sense of humor; Sharon, Evelyn’s cynical sister, and many others. I would recommend this book to anyone. Really. I’m 14, and I enjoyed it.

These books are not yet available as ebooks, but they soon will be.