Leaving Lisa
by Michael McMullen

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I didn’t know why I was awake and out on the town. Out on the town? Come on! I was in a diner two blocks from my home at 2:30 on a Sunday morning. If that was my new night on the town, I had sunk to a despairingly low degree of life vitality and social interaction. Truth be told, I was feeling disconnected from the real world of personal relationships and engagement with others, especially meaningful others. I had gone to bed but I felt restless, so I got up, got dressed, and wandered down to GoHo’s. I didn’t wander there aimlessly…. GoHo’s diner is a happening place. But it really revs up after eleven when people come there to people watch, or to enjoy the late-at-night, been-drinking, tummy-is-growling, “growl chow,” or just to engage in a battle of wits with the sardonic, acid-tongued head waitress. One night, Guy, a business executive who’s recently been blindsided by the abrupt departure of his rabidly ambitious wife, is quietly savoring GoHo’s meatloaf special. On an earlier sojourn to Goho’s he witnessed the cusp of the break-up of a glamorous power couple: Lisa, an emotionally damaged local media celebrity trying to reclaim her musical career, and Mackin, a former CFL All Star with a big secret. Providing context and savagely funny commentary to Guy’s observations is Mo, the head waitress, a single-mother who’s had to put her ambitions aside to care for the child she had as a teenage mother and the younger sister she rescued from their abusive background. Wittily expressed from all four of their perspectives, Leaving Lisa follows the over-lapping stories of these four habitués of GoHo’s as they face major turning points in their lives, each one leaving something behind to gain a new, as yet murky, future. Their increasingly entwined journeys will open up wildly different horizons than those that confronted them at the beginning, and none of them will ever be the same again. With wickedly sharp dialogue; sizzlingly sexy encounters; deep emotional insight; sharply defined characters; and a beating heart underscoring it all, Leaving Lisa explores dark emotional issues by way of a clever comedic touch.

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Michael McMullen has travelled widely and engaged with a wide spectrum of society. His work has often required building teams and working intensely with individuals in difficult situations. He has made presentations in front of large groups from university classes of 300+ students to business conference presentations of over 1,000. Through this he learned that a good story is like a good presentation; you have to attract and hold an audience with your words. He is the author of two other books, SCARRED and Garbage Boy: The High Bar of Low Expectations. Michael lives in LaSalle, Manitoba with his wife. Readers can find him on Facebook: Michael McMullen Author Page https://www.facebook.com/michael/mcwrites Author's Page Facebook, his website: www.michaelmcmullenbooks.com, on LinkedIn: Michael McMullen Author or on Instagram: michael mcwrites

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Michael McMullen