Sunday Snippet: The Pure Joy Edition, Plus A Real Snippet!

It’s been hot and sultry here in the Midwest–temperatures in the nineties every day with humidity to match. T-storms come out of nowhere, shower us for a few minutes, and then the blazing sun returns to make the atmosphere even more heavy. It’s hard to even catch your breath outside. Except for morning or evening walks with my neighbor, I mostly stay inside in the AC and work and write. I set a goal each morning–this many pages done on an editing gig or this many words written today. I pretty much accomplish whatever goal I set. I mean, after all, when it’s too hot to be outside in the yard, you may as well focus on work, right?

So, last night after a looooong week of heat and humidity and work and writing (I finished two big editing gigs!), I met my sweet pal, Minnie at a local pub where my kid, Dr. Son, was playing guitar with the Mission Hills Band. These folks rock like nobody’s business with music that I love–think Linda Ronstadt, Aretha, the Doobie Brothers, the Eagles, and other rock, pop, and country favorites. Min and I sipped our diet cokes (we were both driving) sang along, and just had a grand time. There’s nothing more fun that watching your kid have fun, and oh my, Dr. Son loves, loves playing guitar. Pure joy! It was a good night.

I mentioned a snippet, didn’t I? Right now, a few Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of my upcoming release, Forever Cowboy, book 4 in the multi-author series Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys are available through BrookSprout. Click over there quick if you want to read/review this one. It’s also Book 1 in my new Juniper Falls Ranch series. This first book is a River’s Edge heads west title–check out the blurb and then a quick snippet.

It was supposed to be just a vacation fling…

43-year-old Beth Dykeman’s life is spiraling—her 20-year marriage is over as is her career in Nashville’s Chamber of Commerce. Now back home in River’s Edge, Indiana, she’s grieving the end of her dream to have a family. Hoping to restart her life, she books a relaxing long weekend at a spa in beautiful Montana. But Beth arrives only to discover she accidentally booked a stay at a working dude ranch in the middle of Marietta’s 87th Copper Mountain Rodeo celebration weekend.

When he’s not competing, 36-year-old bronc rider Del Foster works at the Aspen Springs Ranch. He’s ready to hang up his spurs. This rodeo will be his last competition before he finally settles down and buys his own small spread to train cutting horses.

Their instant chemistry shocks them both, and on her last night, Beth indulges the attraction, knowing she’ll never see Del again. But fate has a way of changing plans and challenging assumptions. Can Beth and Del both have what they never knew they always wanted?

Snippet:

Del rose and came around to Beth’s chair. “You want to go out to the campfire?” He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave Ted a hard stare as Gus said, “Bud, tack room still needs to be straightened.”

Ted stuck out his chin at Del, but then grinned and stood. “On it. See ya around, Beth.”

Although he’d been fairly quiet at dinner, as they walked back to the guest cabins, Del Foster still seemed to be shadowing her. Not in a creepy way at all, just as if he was making sure she was okay. In a way, he reminded her of her younger brothers, who’d been so solicitous right after she’d gotten home from Nashville. They’d both offered to go down to teach Doug a lesson. Tempting as the idea was, roughing up her ex would’ve served no purpose, and besides, Justin and Tim in a brawl wasn’t anything she could even imagine. But she’d appreciated the thought.

Someone had started a fire in the pit that was in the center of the circle of cabins. Around the fire were chairs, where another couple sat gazing into the flames. The last of the guests, Beth discovered, when the two men rose to introduce themselves. David and his husband, Michael, had arrived a couple of hours ago from California and, it turned out, had been Aspen Springs’s very first guests five years ago when they celebrated their thirtieth anniversary. They’d returned every year since.

Another couple in love.

Beth’s heart ached as she eyed all the couples from beneath her lashes. She missed the magic of being newly married and ready to begin a great adventure together, so watching Brad and Marianne cut through her like a knife. But even more, she missed the warm companionship of being long-married. Of knowing each other so well. The little private jokes, the moments of catching one another’s eye and smiling, the myriad memories shared, and the ones yet to be made. Bob and Jan, and now David and Michael . . .

She and Doug had the honeymoon time, but as she looked back now, she realized that somehow, they’d missed the companionable time of being married. Even being together for twenty years, they’d never found that special intimate, connected place. She’d spent too many nights alone, waiting for him to come home from late sessions while she put in overtime plowing through schedules and event plans for the chamber. They passed each other in the hallway, both exhausted. They turned to one another in bed for comfort, the one place in their marriage that had always worked well.

Until it became another bone of contention when they tried to get pregnant and it didn’t happen. After years of medical appointments, tests, expensive IVF treatments, arguments about adoption, they simply hadn’t been able to find common ground anymore. Doug was ready to move on with their life, find the joy in each other, in their careers, and accept that it would be just the two of them. After all, his sister had kids they could love on and so did her brother, Justin. Why not just be content to be uncle and auntie? Beth simply couldn’t let it go.

They’d tried to find their way back to each other, but no matter how they rewrote their story, there was no way to craft it back into a meaningful relationship. Doug’s infidelity was the final tragic chapter to a marriage they’d already abandoned. Somehow they’d managed to remain friends, mostly because, in the cold light of day, Beth didn’t really blame Doug for finding comfort elsewhere. It was almost a relief when he confessed one sultry August night and moved into a hotel while they got everything settled. The divorce was quick and easy because Doug bought her out of her half of the house, and Beth asked for practically nothing else, leaving the marriage with only the things she treasured most—her books.

Gazing at the couples around the fire, it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t been mourning the loss of what had, in the end, become a sham of a marriage, but the loss of the dream. A home, a family—she eyed Jan and Bob—the chance to be parents and grandparents, to grow old together.

Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be . . .

Robert Browning’s words floated through her conscious and pierced her heart. She’d lost so much, but a light she didn’t recognize had finally begun to glimmer, way out there in the future. So she’d booked this vacation, hoping this trip would clear the way for whatever came next. She nodded after the two men had introduced themselves, but didn’t take a seat at the fire. “It’s been a long day. I think I’m going to go in now.” She gave a little wave. “Nice to meet all of you.”

There we go… I can’t wait to share Beth Dykeman’s Montana adventure with you and introduce you to Juniper Falls Ranch and the many new characters who live/work/love there. I’m headed to Montana myself next week to check out Big Sky country with my writer pal, Carol Light. A new adventure awaits, and like Beth, I’m nervous, but so excited to see new places, research the setting for my next three novels, and experience all sorts of new things!

Gratitude for this week: My flowers are giving so much lovely color to the yard; I got two projects done and out the door; we made delicious zucchini fritters with a gifted squash from my neighbor; Madam Blanc mysteries on Britbox–fun! Seeing Son play; time with Minnie.

Stay well, speak out against tyranny–it’s one way we can fight, always choose kindness, and most of all, mes amis, stay grateful!