The front door opened and as she walked in I swear there was a rush of wind and a couple of red and orange leaves cartwheeled in front of her, like giddy children running the street in a homecoming parade. She wore a cream colored sleeveless mock turtleneck, a short, grey and red plaid skirt, and had black shoes, the kind I call ‘witch shoes.’ She had long black hair with the sheen of a vinyl record. Her face was friendly and her eyes dark and lovely. The sunbeams from outside reflected in the corners of her pupils in the shape of little shining bells. Her smile was so brilliant, her teeth well ordered, like fresh linens nicely stacked in a hotel closet. But the crowning glory of this woman was her lips. My friend Jeff always used to call nice, full lips jalapenos, and nothing else could better describe the Pretty Latina Girl’s most impressive feature. Bonita! A girl like that deserved more than the conventional ‘Hi, I’m Adam. There’s a new John Cusack movie out this Friday. Care to join me?’ Somehow that seemed beneath her dignity-like giving the Blessed Virgin a chest bump. -from The Pretty Latina Girl and Adam Jones In this charming short story, kind and quirky Adam Jones is captivated by a beautiful Latina he sees in a coffee shop, but complicates the process of asking her out to comical extremes. With the support of his best friends Nick and Splenda, he pursues a convoluted strategy to win the heart of this unattainable goddess; but in the end, a startling act of sacrificial love opens his heart and mind to a simple truth he should have embraced long ago.