June 1

I doubt that I would be starting this diary if it weren't for laptops. I had a maiden aunt who gave me a pretty, red, imitation-leather notebook with "My Diary" embossed in gold on the cover. She said every girl should start one at age eleven. If I remember right, I wrote the date on the first page and immediately lost the book.

I'm not too likely to lose this laptop, since it's my bread and butter. And, because I regularly send my programming back to the office, I'll be uploading these words to my own personal files back there – encrypted, of course. Ah, the joys of modern technology.

The only tradition I'm going to adhere to is in treating you like a person, Dear Diary. So let me tell you who I am before I start telling you all my secrets.

I'm Elizabeth Axelrood, better known as Liz to all my friends. I'm now all of twenty-five, a business success and, while not a personal winner, at least I wouldn't classify myself as a loser in that respect, either. I majored in psychology in college, and my mom and dad assumed I'd go on in that field, but computers fascinated me. Much against the wishes of my folks, I quit before graduation and went into programming. That's how I met my ex-husband. We started our own company, Ax-cell Learning Inc., got into educational software on the ground floor, and have been running to stay ahead of demand ever since.

Now, I suppose you want to know about Gordon Axelrood, and what happened between us....

Thirty-five short stories about love, romance and relationships by John Broussard. BOSON BOOKS also offers several mysteries by John Broussard. Visit our fiction page. For an author bio, photo, and a sample read visit bosonbooks.com.