A Teaser from my book

The breeze rippled the green-brown water as the sailboat glided out of the creek. Sunlight flashed across its surface like the laughter of a child—bright and pure. The last knot of control she had so carefully tied around her memories and emotions loosened. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back to catch the light and the heat and let a few—just a few—escape.

The kiss of waves splashing over her toes as she ran down an endless stretch of beach; the shift of wet sand under her feet; the coconut smell of suntan lotion on hot skin. A squeal from behind and she glanced over her shoulder at the grinning boy chasing after her and the couple following hand and hand. She could run ahead, satisfy her curiosity, dive into new experiences because they were there; would always be there for her when she returned. Love, belonging, safety, happiness. The emotions that had defined her life. So important. So quickly lost.

“A sense of homecoming.” She opened her eyes at the soft words and looked at the man sitting beside her. The man who had filled part of the hole in her heart. “I feel it as soon as I’m on or in the water.” He laughed. “Born and bred in the mountains of Kentucky but the sea is where I feel most at home. Strange isn’t it.”

“Not so strange. Life began in the sea and it runs through us with every beat of our heart.” She leaned back against the arm he’d wrapped around her waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He wouldn’t know—couldn’t know how out of character that was. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He glanced down. She reached up and traced his arched brow with a fingertip and he smiled.

“For bringing me home.”

Soaked, Cold and Laughing

I thank God that I have the ability to see humor in what has been happening to us over the past year. Laughing is so much better than crying.

We are having very cold temperatures as is much of the country. The contractor had said they might be using space heaters to warm up the house since there is a delay in turning on the heat. Yesterday afternoon after I dropped DS 15 off at a friend's,I ran by the house to make sure they weren't leaving them on while no one is there. The last thing we need is another fire.

Opened the house. No space heaters, no heat, no workers. The same as it has been all week. But as I walked back to the kitchen I heard a roaring sound from the basement. I looked down the stairs but it's black dark down there with no electricity so I went back to the car to get a flashlight, tripped and toppled to the ground. Luckily I've had years of clumsiness to teach me how to fall and I wasn't hurt. Back in the house I shone the light down the steps and saw water. Water spraying onto the construction rubble coating the steps. Water covering the floor. A pipe had burst. In a house without the plumbing connected so the water is supposed to be off.

A quick call to my DH to refresh my memory on where the cutoff valve is then I inched down the steps keeping him on the phone in case I fell--which I did but only a couple of steps and I landed on a well-padded part of my body so no problem. Found the valve which the plumber had moved a bit, turned off the water. Meanwhile DH called the contractor to tell him. I didn't hang around to check the damage. My shoes, coat and pants were soaked and it was damn cold in a house that hasn't been heated in 10 months.

First fire, then flood. I laughed all the way to the shop to buy crickets for the lizards. Should have been checking for locusts. I think that's what comes next. Or maybe a plague of frogs.

I'm going to write all this down. It can use it in a murder mystery. The victim--a contractor. The suspects--all the people whose houses he's remodeling. I see it as the Money Pit meets Murder on the Orient Express.

Psychiatrist to patient: "Any suicidal thoughts?"

Patient: "No."

Psychiatrist: "Homicidal thoughts?"

Patient: "No." A long pause. "Well only about my builder."

I'm Baa-ack

I hate not having access to internet where we are living. I've had bronchitis and as soon as that cleared I went into asthmatic bronchitis. So I've been holed up in bed when I wasn't out doing the things that had to be done like grocery shopping, ferrying kids around and buying appliances for the house. I have this at least once a year and my doc treats it immediately instead of futzing around saying maybe it's a virus so now I'm well and planning on staying that way.

We are still not in our house though there has been progress. They finished putting up drywall yesterday and the electrician is supposed to be hooking up the heat today so they can warm up the house so they can tape and mud. DH and I are extremely frustrated with the contractor who would probably stretch this on until April. We've informed him we need to get out of the place where we are living by the end of the month and hope that will spur them to finish. We aren't telling him that we can probably stay another month if necessary.

It's been ten months since the fire. We are all ready to go home. Home where the water pressure doesn't drop to nothing 5 or 6 times a day. Where the downstairs isn't 45 degrees while the upstairs is 75. Where we can have our cats and dogs with us. Where we have Internet access. In fact, we've learned we can get broadband there now. Home where the boys each have their own room. Where I can take a long bubble bath. Home where our hearts and spirits belong as much as our bodies.

We've spent several hours working on the yard the last two weekends clearing the accumulated junk while the dumpster is there. This weekend we plan to tackle the shed because we have to clear space to store the furniture we won't be using in the house. Some of it we are storing until the boys move out and we have more room. Some to refinish in the future. Some for a big yard sale when the weather is warmer. And some because DH and I can't agree on what to do with it.

I'll try and post before and after photos when we have an after.

Now I've caught up on emails, the Crusie and Mayer writing course, and my friends blogs. After I pick up the kids I'm going to get back to my rewrites. I'm itching to write, itching.