Sunday Snippet: A Real Snippet!

Good Sunday to you all. Thanks for stopping by. I don’t say it enough, but I really appreciate all my lovely readers who come by every Sunday to see what’s happening in Nan’s world. I’ve never considered myself to be all that fascinating, but I sure am glad you want to be here with me.

Right off, I’m nervous as heck about the cardiac PET scan tomorrow–seriously nervous and scared about what they might find. But, we take whatever comes along and deal with it, right? So… that’s that. I won’t have any conclusive results before I go back to Dr. B to discuss what the test showed. I’ll get on MyChart and see if I can figure it all out, but unless there’s something dramatically worrisome, I won’t really know anything until July 3. Sigh.

On to happier subjects! I’m participating in a fun giveaway with BookSweeps–they’re giving away about 24 sweet romance novels, including Make You Mine, book 1 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series, plus an e-reader to go with the books. So click on the link above or on the picture here, and check it out. It’s a chance to nab lots of good books and something to read them on–cool deal!

I said there would be a snippet and so there is: Here’s a quick peek at part of the opening scene in Make It Real–book 2 in the Walker Family series, which releases August 6, but is currently available for pre-order at all your favorite book retailers. Here’s the setup: Kara Sudbury is working at her grandparents’ nursery and garden center when she hears gunshots behind the property so she goes to investigate. She discovers Joe Walker, trying to shoot a fox that’s gotten into his hen house. They exchange a few words and he heads into the woods after the fox but trips over a fallen log right into a blackberry bramble and poison ivy. The gun goes off, it’s a mess… she’s there to call 911…

Hope you enjoy  and are intrigued by this little snippet:

“Yeah, he says he’s not shot, but his leg . . . man, it’s pretty awful. Not bleeding too badly, but there’s a sharp piece of a stick stuck in his calf and his shin’s broken for sure”—she gulped—“I can see the bone. No, no, I won’t touch it. God, no!” She looked down at him. “What’s your address?”

He moaned, his mind a blank.

“It’s on Fourth Street behind Sudbury’s Nursery. Maybe the 2900 block?” she said into her phone.

“It’s 2917,” Joe managed.

“It’s 2917,” she repeated for the dispatcher, paused to listen, then asked, “What’s your name?”

“Joe Walker.” That came out stronger, but the effort exhausted him.

“Oh, crap! Joey? Joey Walker?” She bent her head to peer down at him, and her eyes, which were an unusual golden-brown color, were huge.

Those eyes . . . a faint memory of those eyes shimmering with tears . . . him, and was it Aidan Flaherty? Sitting in a cherry tree at Dykeman’s orchard, tossing . . . No, not stones, never stones, but hard, unripe cherries that resembled green olives at Tim Dykeman’s younger sister Vanessa and another little brown-haired girl in pink shorts and a grimy shirt. They’d run away, crying, but she’d turned around when they were too far for the boys to hit them and yelled, You’re mean, just mean, that’s all. I’m going to get you, Joey Walker! You just wait!

Well, hell. Little Kara Rose Sudbury. He closed his eyes, resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere for the moment, and clenched his teeth as another wave of pain washed over him. “I go by Joe now,” he gritted, not sure at all why it felt important to say that at that moment. It just did.

Kara untied the kelly-green gardener’s apron that was around her slim waist and carefully lifted his head and, as he moaned, spread the fabric over the foliage, getting as much of his face and neck out of the poison ivy as she could. “What were you shooting at?” Clearly, she was trying to take his mind off his pain.

“Fox.” He grimaced. Even speaking was painful. “Raiding my chicken coop.”

“So, you decided to shoot the poor little thing?” Her tone told him all he needed to know about her feelings toward woodland creatures.

“Poor little thing’s killed three hens.” He turned his head slightly on the apron, grateful for the relief from the brambles and weeds but uncomfortable as heck with her accusing expression.

Kara reached over and plucked a couple of thorns from his cheek. “Maybe she’s feeding kits.”

“Maybe she needs to find—ah, ow—her food in the woods, like all the other wild animals out there.”

“Lie still,” she ordered, smoothing his hair off the side of his face. “You’re going to pull that leg off the stick, and you’ll bleed out before the ambulance gets here. My socks are too short to make a tourniquet, and I’m not tearing up my Tower of London T-shirt or using my favorite bra to save your life.”

“Thanks.” Joe closed his eyes, a wave of dizziness swelling over him, then sudden nausea. He swallowed hard.

“Are you going to hurl?”

He swallowed again. “I’m con-considering it.” He thought he might hear sirens in the distance, but his mind was so fuzzy, he could have imagined it.

“Please don’t.” She raised her head, listening. Then Scout, who had been standing at attention since they’d arrived, suddenly started barking. “I hear it, Scout. They’re almost here.” Kara patted the dog’s head affectionately and tapped Joe on the shoulder. “Hey, is there someone I can call for you? Do you have a wife up there at the house?”

He shook his head, too sick and pained to even form words.

“How about your sister—Annabelle, isn’t it? She still around River’s Edge? Or your brother? Oh, here they are!” She rose from sitting cross-legged by his head, in one lithe move, shouting, “Over here!”

He pictured the ambulance, which had stopped the whining siren noise, driving across his lawn and wondered briefly if they had managed to stay out of the vegetable garden he’d so carefully cultivated—the zucchini were flowering and the tomatoes had buds. He opened one eye long enough to see flashing blue and red lights. Crap, he thought as darkness overtook him.

Gratitude for this week: Lunch with my lovelies. Husband got hearing aids and OMG, the difference is amazing to both of us! I got new glasses, which I don’t wear very much because contacts, but it’s nice to have them when I need them and they’re kinda cute. Grandboy and Son and Husband went out tubing yesterday and Grandboy was in his element. Son took me for a quick boat ride afterward and I was in mine. Heard from an dear editor pal that I haven’t talked to in a while–that was nice.  All in all, a good week.

Stay well, remember to be kind to everyone you meet–you never know how your smile might make someone’s day, bask in the summer sun, and most of all, mes amis, stay grateful!

P.S. Happy birthday to my sister Kate in heaven! I miss you everyday, sister! Hope you’re having a grand celebration with Mom and Everett and everyone there who loves you!