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Jennifer Luckett

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (43)
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29 Followers
69 Following

43 Stories

822 karma pts

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The Recipe

Submitted to Contest #270

Love is messy. Some people can’t live without it, the chaos and the confusion, and they will give everything for love. Charlie never understood the fuss, content to work and find fulfillment in her friendships. “You just haven’t met the right person, Char,” Her best friend Mary rinsed a plum in the sink. “Do you want anything else while I'm in here?”She yanked another eggroll from the box. “No thanks Mar, I’m good."“Are you really, though?" Mary sank into the armchair and pried the tag from the wrinkled skin of her fruit. "You need some...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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The Longest Run

Submitted to Contest #268

(This story deals with family violence and mental health issues.)Erin hated everything about Summer, especially the bugs, the storms, and the furnace of humidity when she stepped outside her front door. That morning, she reached inside the mailbox and grabbed a bundle of envelopes. She spotted the fallen postcard near the potted ivy when she dashed out the door for her run. She received one from Aunt Linda when she visited Paris, a trip Erin missed due to her diagnosis three years before.Erin flipped the card and read the message twice. Her...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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The Trip

Submitted to Contest #265

Everyone told me I was brave, but I wasn’t. I also hated being alone, so I read to pass the time, especially during that summer. I packed books I bought at the Book Fair, and not much else, to get through the flight there to see her. I missed my Mom, but I really wanted to stay home.  I pulled my seat belt over my shoulder, and Daddy backed the car out of the driveway. I envied kids I knew who traveled to see one of their parents by car, or rode a bus, which Daddy insisted wasn’t very safe. I’d flown before, with both my parents, b...

12 likes 14 comments 14
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Her Plus-One

Submitted to Contest #264

I’ve never been in love, and if I never have a relationship, I’m OK with that. I’m not one of those women of a certain age who hates men or shuns traditional values. Our parents were married for more than four decades, and both of my sisters have been wed for years-one more successfully than the other. I’m just not the marrying kind, and I'm perfectly content to fly solo. So when my friend Terri invited me to her summer wedding (her second marriage, by the way), I decided to accept the invitation, decline the “plus-one”, and support the woma...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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The Beach

Submitted to Contest #262

I hurled the damp pillow across the bed, too heated and keyed up to get some sleep. It was the hottest week of the summer so far, 81 degrees at 2:20 am, so I scooted underneath the ceiling fan for some relief. The house was fine, lovely really, but I hate heat of any kind, except to warm myself in the depth of winter. Fall is my favorite season, and I had at least six more weeks of discomfort, and less than half of that for this much-needed vacation. My friend and agent Elena had arranged for my stay here in sunny tropical south Florida...

7 likes 5 comments 5
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Finding Anna

Submitted to Contest #261

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I planned to never celebrate again. Anyone who had been abducted and held by domestic terrorists, might not be in a festive mood, even in the most joyous of seasons.  My phone beeped again, and I deleted yet another message. My email had never been this full, flooded with words of appreciation and support, along with requests from media outlets and advocacy groups to “share my experience with others.” But what about the women who were actually tortured and subjected to experimentation? How could the...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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Finding Emily

Submitted to Contest #260

  The day before Emily went missing, I ran seven miles in the predawn chill, slipped and landed on the icy pavement on my way back. I shook it off, my bloody left knee be damned, to finish one more mile. It’s really not safe to run solo, or go anywhere alone here. I don’t really care, because running is my escape from everything I hate about my life. The wind grazing my back, the solitude and the peace of it all fills me with the best natural high I can get.      I strolled back to my room, showered, b...

11 likes 5 comments 5
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Zephyr

Submitted to Contest #259

The wind blew my silk scarf onto the lawn. A fat raindrop splashed onto my left lens, and the bigger ones that fell chilled me to the bone. It was the first week in October, but the weather yo-yoed, mid-June hot one day, and mid-Winter frigid the next. This damn cold front made me want to curl up inside my house in front of a fire, reading and sipping hot chocolate.  I hurried up the steps to Mom’s house and fumbled with the key in the lock when the door opened. “We weren’t expecting you tonight. Here, let me help you, Mary.” Miguel, my...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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Picture Perfect

Submitted to Contest #258

I don’t really like the color orange. but a quick scroll through the photos I’d taken of the bright, beautiful wildflowers confirmed what I thought-I’m getting pretty good at this. I’m not really photogenic, and I’d never been interested in photography. I once faked a fever, stealing the thermometer, warming it in water and presenting it to Mom to skip Spring Picture Day. Of course, she sniffed out my chicanery and sent me to school in the ugliest orange and lime dress, which she loved and I detested. Somehow, I took the best photo...

22 likes 5 comments 5
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The Pitch

Submitted to Contest #256

Jessie buttoned the old jersey, its fabric soft against her skin. The shirt belonged to her father, and the memory of that horrible day sent a tear sliding down her cheek.  “Jess, you ready, baby girl?” Carrie’s voice snapped her to attention. “Yes, Mama, be right down.” She grabbed her faded Cardinals hat from the dresser and bolted from her bedroom and down the stairs. Randall smiled as she entered the living room. “You look like a real girl ballplayer, Jessie.” “That’s good, exactly what I’m hoping to be.” Jessie patted her younger b...

10 likes 6 comments 6
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Stay

Submitted to Contest #255

The yellow roses and wildflowers swayed in the gentle early morning breeze. The garden had never looked more beautiful, thanks to my amazing, gorgeous husband, and all I wanted was to close my eyes and leave the world behind. I hadn’t had this much time to myself since graduation, the first time it happened. I’m here again, and I just want everything-the fear, anger, regret-to stop.Here you are.” The drag of Miguel’s lips washed a small wave of pleasure over me."How long have you been out here?”“Since about 4:30.”  He wrapped me in his ...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Hearts and Hands

Submitted to Contest #254

It was finally Joanna Wilson’s moment to shine, and all she wanted was to sprint out of the ballroom. The blinding light of the photographer’s Nikon sent her heart racing, but what happened next thrusted Joanna from discomfort to shock and embarrassment, faster than the blink of a heavily mascaraed eye. Mrs. Manning, the sponsor of the Belles, handed her the Top Shelf prize for the best all-around Belle for 1990 in the Southwest region. When the camera flashed, Lisa Martin appeared at the podium and wrested the plaque from Joanna’s trembling...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Firelight

Submitted to Contest #253

    Carly’s shrill tone, accompanied by her sharp raps on the glass, broke my flow. “You can’t hide inside forever. Come on, Mary, it’s starting now!” I stretched my aching calves and slid open the patio door to the outdoor living room, surprised by the comfortably cooler temperature. The cloudy afternoon had transformed into a gorgeous early evening, a sunset tinged in violet. “Yes, dear, you need a break. Today’s a holiday, after all.” Predictably, my mother echoed my sister’s suggestion.“I thought you couldn’...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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The Last Day

The bedside clock read 6:02, and Jenny knew she’d be late on this long day. Her eyes adjusted to the shaft of light cast onto her white sheets, and winced when her wrist dragged across her forehead. She stepped over the sweaters and hoodies littering the carpet, and passed the unpacked suitcases to dress in her slacks and button down for work. The day unfolded slowly, and she felt grateful for the low hum of her 4th grade class as they composed letters of thanks for their families and created placemat crafts for the upcoming holiday.&nb...

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The Story

“What have you done?!” Allison’s whiskey colored eyes blazed, and she mopped her damp brow from her sprint across the practice field. “I didn’t use any of our names, Allie. No one really knows.” The entire soccer team had ceased their drill to stare at us, heads together, no doubt spreading about Allie and me after they read my story in the latest Cardinal Collectanea. “Why even write the story, Genie?”’ I’d never seen her like this, blinking back tears, her perpetual grin twisted into a scowl.  “It was just a story, I never thought Joh...

1 like 1 comment 1
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