Fruit Salad & Wings

Elspeth Zaiser, mother to three wayward daughters and six headstrong cats is having a tough summer. For one thing her three daughters are home from college. One is a witch and the other two are… irascible. For another, her gossipy, religious fanatic neighbor has declared holy war on her scarecrow.
In May Elspeth decided to pack up her widow’s weeds and find someone to jump start her graying heart. Now, in July, after six disastrous blind dates, she is giving up on love. Her housekeeping has gone to hell and she is having long chats with her late husband’s picture. To make matters even worse, Corliss Dupee is in love with her… again.
Myopic, mismatched and maddeningly erudite, Corliss is known around town as Bozo. To know him is to know why. Elspeth has known him all of her life. In fact she was once engaged to him but that was in the ninth grade. Although Elspeth has moved on, clearly Corliss has not. The poetry, yearning looks and flowers are getting on her last nerve.
At a little after sunrise on a July morning Elspeth sets out to set Corliss straight once and for all. She tries again over lunch and again, a little after supper time. By moonrise, thanks to a pocket full of fireworks and a jim-jamming, booty-knocking Wicca love juice, Elspeth is ready to admit that Bozo Dupee is the only man to jump start her cranky heart.