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The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero
More than a Friend
a short story by
Chelle Cordero & Barbara Cordero Du-Bois
“Are you doing okay?”
Janis couldn’t answer through the lump in her throat. She looked up at Jerry and nodded hesitantly.
He stifled a frustrated sigh, frustrated because he wanted to do something, anything, to take her pain away. It tore him open inside to see her tears and that angered him. Jerry felt guilty for the jealousy he felt knowing that she was crying over her loss of another man.
Janis stood in the center of her living room and remembered the last time she had been in that room with her husband… and wishing she could forget. There would never be another chance to make things right.
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Jerry helped take her jacket off and he laid it carefully over the back of a chair.
“I… I think I need to be alone.” She noticed the hurt look that he tried to hide. “Jerry I’m sorry. Thank you so much for being here for me. I would never have survived the last few days without you. I haven’t been fair to you.”
“No, I-“
“Ssh.” She put her fingertips on his lips. “You lost him, too. He was your cousin.” She continued speaking through her tears. “And all you’ve done is take care of me since it happened.”
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Their Captain called them in from patrol to let Janis know that her husband had died in the line of duty. Billy was working crowd control at a fire scene in the south Bronx when a brick was tossed from a neighboring rooftop. The coroner said he died instantly.
Jerry had been the one to catch her as her knees buckled. He’d barely left her side since.
She caught her breath. “I just need some time.”
“Maybe you should ask for some more time off, you know, before you come back to the job.” Jerry searched her face. He was so concerned for her.
“I’ll be fine.” She forced strength into her words.
“Just call if you need, anything. Alright?”
She nodded and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.
The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, and The Vacation.
Something for everyone… humor, drama, passion, suspense, and more! Chelle Cordero’s first short story collection gives the reader a glimpse into her writer’s mind, with humor, poignancy, love, suspense, and more with these nine short stories.
Buy Links
Smashwords (multiple e-book formats)
AudioBook narrated by Wendy Tremont King
Rekindled
“Cynthia?”
The sound of that voice saying her name, a name she rarely heard anymore, froze her insides. Cindy dropped the folder she was filing and turned around slowly. The memory of the voice was clearer than the memory of the face she saw.
“My God, you haven’t changed a bit.” He smiled for a moment before a frown of disappointment appeared. “It’s Daniel, Danny —”
“I… I know. What are you doing here?”
Stepping back to steady herself against the desk, she gestured to the hallway around the nurses’ station she was standing at.
“I have an appointment with,” he pulled a paper from his pocket, “Dr. Callen.”
“Oh no.” It was impulse that made her suddenly rest her hand on his arm.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh Danny I’m so sorry.”
Daniel looked confused. “Why are you sorry?”
She dropped her hand from his arm, “Why are you seeing an oncologist?”
It took a moment and then he laughed. “I’m not a patient. I’m a doctor and I was asked to consult on a case.”
“Oh,” she looked embarrassed. “I… I’m glad that you’re okay, I didn’t know you were a doctor.” She shrugged and started to look away.
He sighed. “It’s been a lot of years. There’s been a lot of changes… I’m sure a lot has gone on with you too.” He looked at his wristwatch and shook his head. “I don’t want to keep Callen waiting. Look are you nearly done with your patients?” He sounded like he was all-business.
She inhaled sharply. “I’m not a doctor. I work in admissions.”
“Oh, my turn to be embarrassed. I assumed, I mean you always talked about going to medical school.” Daniel’s voice was filled with both surprise and question.
“Things changed,” she sounded sad.
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KINDLE
APPLE
NOOK
KOBO
PLAYSTER
SCRIBD
from the short story
Not Alone
I ignored the changing numbers on the alarm clock as long as I could. I still refused to believe that anything that had happened over the past few days was real. It was all a nightmare, that’s all.
As my toes sought the warmth of my slippers, the tears began to fall again. No matter how many times I tried to deny it, my best friend was buried yesterday. They wouldn’t let Jordan come to the cemetery; every-one blamed him. Even me.
For the two days that Jordan had been hospitalized, they kept him under a suicide watch. That angered him. Not because he wanted to commit suicide, but because it meant that people thought he would want to take “the coward’s way out” as he put it and avoid facing what had happened. He said it wasn’t his fault, but he still blamed himself.
I left the party that night early, too early to know everything that had transpired. Kimmie’s boyfriend dumped her, he left her at the party while he went home with another girl. She was upset and she drank more than she should have. Actually, she shouldn’t have been drinking at all; most of the folks at the party were under the legal drinking age – but that’s another issue altogether.
Eventually Kimmie wanted to go home and, as it was explained to me, she had trouble even holding onto the keys from her handbag. So Jordan offered to drive her. He drank a beer early in the evening; he was one of the few who could legally, and then he hadn’t had anything else. That was hours earlier. The cops even said that his blood alcohol level was well below the legal limits. Jordan was just trying to be a nice guy; besides, he had once had a thing for Kimmie.
I visited Jordan in his hospital room right after I heard about the accident. I didn’t even know that Kimmie was dead yet. Jordan was devastated. He didn’t need to have his friend’s condition confirmed; he knew…
stories included
Pussycat Tales
You never really own a cat, but they do rule the household.
Holiday Happiness
Flashy gifts can come with hefty price-tags, but it’s the memories that are priceless.
Not Alone
Sometimes forgiveness seems impossible, but then so is turning your back on a friend.
I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door
Take one city girl and send her camping in the woods for a tale of humor and triumph.
Stormy Weather
The ominous skies and howling winds of a hurricane lead to an unexpected and warmhearted friendship.
A Mother’s Love
When her child is hurt, there isn’t anything a mother wouldn’t do to make it better.
More Than a Friend
Best friends become lovers and share a lifetime together.
The Meeting
From a random meeting in the south during WW2 to a marriage and love that lasts for an eternity.
The Vacation
An erotic respite was just what she needed, the man who delivered was what she wanted.
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Touch of Love:
Short Story Collection
by Chelle Cordero
Even works of fiction reflect on the author’s life and experiences
and Touch of Love was truly inspired by lots of personal stories.
Read on to see why each of these short pieces
hold very special meaning for me…
An Empty House: You never know what tomorrow will bring. This is a personal essay about coping with and moving on with the “New Normal”.
The night before our 41st wedding anniversary my wonderful and loving husband was rushed to the hospital with a stroke. It was just after midnight on our anniversary that the Dr said the next 48 hours would be critical. He spent months in rehab and I feel very blessed that he was able to come home. This man has always been my hero (and the man I have based every one of my book heroes on!). It’s been a journey and we are on this road together.
The Lost Love: Rejected for her Mexican heritage by the teen-age boy she had a crush on, Lindsay put it behind her. So how come, when they wind up at the same college years later, Lindsay can’t get over her anger at the humiliation? And will Brad ever forgive himself for his callous behavior?
I think I was in 7th grade when I had my first REAL date with a boy, you know when he meets you at your apartment, says HI to your mom, you go out together and HE PAYS. We were walking to the bowling alley a few blocks away from my home (and closer to his) when we saw his mom on the street bringing her grocery shopping home; he seemed to be proud to introduce me. It was a very nice, innocent date. That night he called me on the phone, he sounded all choked up. He told me that when his mother heard my last name, my HISPANIC last name, she forbid him from seeing me again! I was so angry the next school day when I saw him in the hallway, he turned the other way and looked embarrassed. I had heard some people call others with not-nice racial names, but that was the first time I ever knew such a strong prejudice directed against me.
The Dead Guy in the Park: An almost end-of-shift call leads a paramedic and her partner to a dead guy in the park. All she has to do is pronounce him so that the coroner can come get the body. What could possibly go wrong?
* includes the special bonus Spanish translation El Difunto del Parque
I was a NYS EMT for almost 30 years and I had a lot, A LOT, of different and all interesting calls. One morning I took a call to respond to an apparent suicide, assumed DOA, to pronounce (in our county EMTs were permitted to do this). I got there and ran through all of the standard checks I had to do to sign off for the coroner. The patient was definitely deceased and yet “something” didn’t seem right to me, but I was overruled by others at the scene. I signed off knowing that there would be an autopsy anyway. But I’ve always wondered?
Rekindled: Cynthia and Daniel were college sweethearts torn apart by tragedy. A lifetime later they bump into each other again — Is this their second chance at love?
Although the story, Rekindled, is PURE fiction, the character of Cynthia was inspired by a very dear childhood friend of mine; she passed away suddenly a few years ago, I will just use her initials here, DL, to protect her family’s privacy, DL left school quite suddenly when her parents were killed by a hit-and-run driver and there was no one to raise her younger siblings. DL devoted her life to her family and did finally find her own love-of-her-life many years later.
A Date with Mistletoe: Sometimes you find that it’s the “Unanswered Prayers” that are the best things to ever happen. When confronted by the man of yesterday alongside the man who means the world to her, there is no doubt in Rachel’s mind that she has the best.
I had been seeing my on-again-off-again boyfriend for almost two years. He kept proposing but I wasn’t ready to settle down and that was ONE of the biggest problems we had in our relationship. We were on-again and I thought happy. I called his house one morning to wish him a happy birthday, since he worked nights I was hoping to catch him before he went to bed. I was surprised when a woman answered the phone and even more surprised when she said she was his wife. I was humiliated and devastated. I thought my life was over — far from it. I met my loving husband not long after and after only two weeks of dating we were in love and engaged. (To this day it has been a terrific love affair) Several years later I was making a business call for work unaware of who would answer the phone, although my last name was different he recognized my voice — I let him know I was using my MARRIED name. He asked me how things were and told me he was divorced… AND THEN HE ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE! I said NO. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wound up with the better man.
He is My Brother…: Who can help save the life of a beloved family member? Prayers, hopes and a plea for help.
This is just an honest to G-d request for help for a member of our family who desperately needs a kidney transplant.
Always, One More Time: Disowned by her parents because of an interracial love affair, Callie Sanders is left alone to raise her son after his father, Jimmy Bernerd, dies fighting in a war on the other side of the world. Desperate to give her son a family she goes to the Bernerd household — what she finds is a second chance at love, acceptance, and family.
Moved by the heartbreaking reports of military losses from the latest conflict leaving many single parents left alone to raise children and frustrated with the increased racial tensions of the last few years, I created Callie Sanders and put her into the dual situation. I hope my readers will read this story with compassion and acceptance. My favorite character is Mama Bernerd, she is a very strong, resolute and loving matriarch of her family who is capable of showing enormous compassion for others.
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Also Available through
Indigo, Bucher.de, Angus & Robertson, WHSmith, Thalia,
Tolino, Streetlib, 3M, Baker and Taylor, Follet, Overdrive, Gardners, Chegg, Google Play, and other online retailers
FREE Holiday Gift for YOU!
’Tis the Season for Cocoa and Reading
Holiday Stories and More
That Christmas Feeling – Tamara Philip
A Date With Mistletoe – Chelle Cordero
Jock Stewart’s Holiday Hilarity – Malcolm R. Campbell
Dead for a Night – Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard
Esperanza-The Holiday that Wasn’t – Neva Squires-Rodriguez
Surprise in August – Charmaine Gordon
The Gift – Lauren Shiro.
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Plaudits for Chelle’s Books
Hyphema won the Dec 9, 2011 Friday Book Cover Vote on the Shades of Love website & was recommended in the book Summer Reading: 2012 Blue Ribbon Selection published by the Ewen Prime Co. EMSWorld posted about Final Sin & Hyphema.
Hyphema: Bleeding in the eye caused by trauma… Matt Garratti, a paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors… Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.
Final Sin was an Honorable Mention in the Fiction Category of the 2010 NY Book Festival & a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee. EMSWorld posted about Final Sin & Hyphema.
Deputy Sherriff Commander Jake Carson has his hands full… investigation of a brutal multiple homicide, a troubled son and a vindictive ex-wife. He meets young, free-spirited paramedic Julie Jennings. When Julie becomes the subject of an obsession, it puts both of them in danger.
Bartlett’s Rule was named one of Carolyn Howard Johnson’s Top Ten Reads for 2009
Bartlett’s Rule shares the story of Lon and Paige’s love affair; a romance filled with hardship, emotion, danger and triumph. Falling in love was never the challenge; being there for each other, knowing just what to say and making it work is the real test. Paige and Lon are real; they are human, they cry and they laugh. Paige has to learn to trust. Lon has to learn to be patient.
A Chaunce of Riches was Winner of D. Renee Bagby’s readers’ choice for The Best Overall First Chapter, April 2010
Ben Johnson was hired as a bodyguard for a rich widow and her kid, but he never expected to be working for the woman who had abandoned him just when he had needed her the most. Damn it all, he still wanted her. Samantha Chaunce never thought she would have to explain why she married the rich man instead of Ben. Or that her husband had been murdered… and Ben was the prime suspect.
60+ Days to LIVE, BREATHE, & WRITE Writer’s Book Selected as Writer’s Groups ‘Textbook’
Chelle Cordero’s experience as both a multi-published novelist and long-term freelance journalist, in addition to her successful Kindle Blog, Living, Breathing, Writing, will give you information and ideas… activities to spark your imagination, ‘up’ your writing game, develop your skills, and guide you through the business of writing and being a writer…
Karma Visited was featured in USA Today – Happy Ever After – Nov. 7, 2013
Do you believe in karma? Annie Furman has a gift that allows her, while she sleeps, to visit people in their time of need — but who will be there for her when she needs help? Undersheriff Dave Turner is investigating a series of home invasions and homicides. He has no idea that solving this case will lead him to the woman of his dreams.
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This Chelle Cordero sampler is FREE for your enjoyment.
click book above
There isn’t much better than
getting FREE stuff!
Although it isn’t half-bad being
the one giving it away…
Here is what I have for you:
Download Chelle’s audio story NOT ALONE
from this short story collection [FREE]
(narrated by Wendy Tremont King)
A fifteen minute short story in Audio
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Until the Ambulance Arrives
Until the Ambulance Arrives – A helpful guide by Chelle Cordero, Emergency Medical Technician, CPR and First Aid Instructor, and long-time volunteer with her local ambulance corps. Chelle is a multipublished author, journalist and writer for multiple publications, and has included teaser chapters of her two EMS Novels – Final Sin and Hyphema – in this free e-book.
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Living, Breathing, Writing Sampler
Consistently rated in the Top 100 for Amazon Kindle Blogs, Chelle Cordero””s Living, Breathing, Writing is now available in EBook form and here is a generous sample! Check out the Table of Contents to see all the chapters and Bonus content!
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Read Chelle Cordero’s 2013 Sampler for a generous taste of
all her suspense novels, her short story collection, and her
books on writing and being a writer. More than 230 pages.
all her suspense novels, her short story collection, and her
books on writing and being a writer. More than 230 pages.
~~~~~
& FREE BOOK DISCUSSION PACKETS:
Karma Visited (pdf file)
Bartlett’s Rule (pdf file)
His Lucky Charm (pdf file)
Final Sin (pdf file)
Hyphema (pdf file)
Hostage Heart (pdf file)
Courage of the Heart (pdf file)
Common Bond, Tangled Hearts (pdf file)
Within the Law (pdf file)
A Chaunce of Riches (pdf file)
Celebrating the Release of
the Audio Edition of Chelle Cordero’s
The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero,
Chelle and Vanilla Heart Publishing
are offering a
FREE PREVIEW of her short story
Not Alone, in Audio.
http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=1901650
Limited time offer – grab yours today!
Download the info sheet on Many Faces of Chelle Cordero
Many Faces PREVIEW for BB w links (.pdf)
complete with buy links & descriptions of all of
Chelle Cordero’s books
Welcome to Chelle's World 