Title:
JUMPING ANTS
Genre:
Adult Upmarket Fiction
Word
Count: 100,000
Query:
With a
talent for self sabotage, the charming but aimless Max Walker is fired from an
unpaid internship and kicked out his parents’ house in the same week. Max is
then waiting in line at a fast-food drive-thru assessing which friend’s couch
he’ll now call home when a stranger opens his car door, points a gun at him,
and orders him to drive.
The gleaming
metal of the barrel commands Max’s attention as he drives the peculiar yet
desperate stranger, who calls himself “Z,” into rural Pennsylvania. The truth
that Z reveals, that his screwups have led to the impending nuptials of his ex
to another man, bonds the two, and they hatch a plan to win back the woman Z
calls his soul mate.
The car
crash, the drunken bar fight, and especially the feisty bartender they meet
along the way force Max to admit the unfazed grin he’s been honing hasn’t
fooled anyone, least of all himself. Max sees an older, rounder, more
beaten-down version of himself in Z that makes him want . . . something,
anything, everything. But he plans to start with the bartender. Before it's too
late, Max and Z must both convince the women who have found their way into
their hearts that although you can't change for someone, you can change because
of someone.
A comedic
adventure with a dash of romance and a pinch of soul searching, JUMPING ANTS
will appeal to fans of Jonathan Tropper, Nick Hornby, and Lauren Weisberger.
First
250:
“Sorry,” Max
said into his cell phone. “It’s like a Bon Jovi concert just let out.”
That wasn’t
exactly a lie. It was 5 p.m. on a rainy Friday in a New Jersey suburb twenty
miles from New York City. But the reason why Max wasn’t pulling into his
parents’ driveway, his Mini Cooper bursting with shopping bags, had less to do
with traffic and more to do with his caloric intake.
Max was in
line at a drive-thru waiting to order a fast-food burger. He didn’t even like
fast-food burgers. But his body had long since depleted the scant nutrition it
gleaned from his morning bowl of sugary cereal.
Max was up
next. He couldn’t let his mom know he was waiting to order fast food instead of
ticking off another errand on her list.
“Right, rush
hour,” his mother said.
Oh, the
guilt. “But I’ll finish as fast as I can,” Max said.
Beep,
beep.
“Sorry, Mom,
my phone’s almost out of juice. But I’ll be home soon. I promise.”
Beep,
beep.
“Max, wait,
exactly how long do you figure?”
Beep,
beep.
The car in
front of Max was moving. It was going to be his turn. He had to hang up. Now.
“Mom, I
gotta go.”
Beep,
beep.
“Okay, Max.
Drive safely.”
“Yeah, Mom,
I—” Max’s cell phone went dead.
Just in
time. Max pulled up to the menu board and tossed the phone over his head into
the backseat.
“May I
take your order?”
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