The Havana Treatment

Came a moment she just slid over hooked her arm through mine and gave me one of those dazzling smiles that she'd worn back in the days when I was courting her. Didn't fool me for a minute. I hoped it would. Fool me I mean. At a certain point in his life a man wants nothing as much as he wants be fooled - irrevocably completely and everlastingly fooled. And for me this was one of those times. I don't have an analytical mind but I do have a talent for daydreaming.From American Love StoryLike the penetrating aroma of a Cohiba Robusto or the sweet afterbite of a dirty Mojito these stories leave an impact on the senses that lingers after the pleasure of the initial sampling. In a parked car or in a getaway car; at a nightclub or on a train; at a beachfront motel or in the sanctimony of the suburban bedroom these 25 stories deftly explore the arc of a love match the shelf life of a romance. They take us on a journey through the landscape of poignant liaisons orphaned passions and unintended consequences in the tradition of Raymond Carver or Richard Ford. You'll meet stand-up guys lovely ingenues charming rogues and downbeat dames - the brave hopeful and susceptible survivors of love. But there's not a single innocent bystander. The author has a particularly American take on sex love and so much that falls in between. It's like taking a pull at your Cuba Libre about the time the jukebox is kicking in.During a writing career that spans 50 years Peter Devine has been a reporter an editor has written sports and travel pieces celebrity pro?les and is the author of six novels a memoir two books of essays and over 200 short stories. He lives in Texas with his wife Maria and their two dogs and currently publishes a blog entitled Devine Intervention which can be accessed at:www.apeterdevine.comCover design by the author author photo by his wife