Sunday, June 5, 2016

And now, something about the girl



photo credit: Canada Day Show via photopin (license)

My main character Emma starts things off getting mugged in Times Square, which, if you will pardon the cliche, is the final straw that broke the camel's back. Past events have turned her from bitter lemon to battery acid, and now a thug's gonna run off with her purse on New Year's Eve? Already in grief over the decision she had to make in a time-travel experiment gone wrong, she sneers at and bears life as it comes, sporting a very rough pixie cut, bright red lips and enough black eyeliner to make a racoon jealous. And then there's Jesse, the biggest calamity of all. But Emma likes calamity. It keeps her sane.

Emma's mad, and Emma doesn't want to be hugged or coddled, and she doesn't want to be lied to. Jesse can be as much of a jerk as he likes, as long as he's honest about it. Mostly he's a good kid, if not a tad reckless—in a stupid and endearing kind of way. Anyway, who cares? There's no mother, no father, no one to tell Emma what to do. She and Jesse shack up in a tiny apartment and are every bit the 'rock and roll' duo. He's rebellious and dangerous, and her heart is like a block of ice: nothing hurts, nothing gets through.

Ice melts.

Years later, Emma is married with children. Holed up in an Aspen mansion amid the throes of wintertime, all those memories flood back. They always do. But with memories come guilt, and worse, hope.

A stranger keeps calling. Why does every hair on her body strand up with electricity? What is it about the caller, and why does Emma, once so cold and closed off to emotion, feel something in her waking from a long, dark, sleep? She's not asking life to repeat itself, or for a love so beautiful it was impossible, to ever be hers again. No. All she wants is a chance to see him, and to say sorry. The problem is, will he be too far gone to accept?

The Love Seekers can be purchased at WiDo and Amazon.

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