Skip to main content

Chapter 1 - Main characters meet



“There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.”         

                                                ― Jim Henson




POV: 20 year-old Claudia Chiametti


“You remember Toby, don’t you?” Mrs. Faye asked.
“Of course.” I replied, quickly doing the math in my head. Four years of high school and two of college. “It’s been at least six years, though. I’m sure I wouldn’t even recognize him if I saw him.”
I tried to move back to my seat without breaking our eye contact. Out of the corner of my eye I became aware of motion, but too late to stop myself, I bumped into a solid wall of body.
“Oh!” I gasped, surprised as I hit a warm, immoveable mass with my shoulder and bounced off. A pair of hands caught me around the waist and kept me from tumbling over.
The collision brought me eye-level with the angular chin of a guy’s face. His windswept, tawny brown hair was streaked with multi-hued highlights. The untamed waves softly framed a tan, handsome face.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled, looking up into a pair of almond shaped, blue-grey eyes.
By his expression, he seemed just as stunned by our impact as I. We stood there, staring at each other for what felt like an eternity while the warmth of his hands on me spread like a blaze up my torso and flamed my face. The spell was broken when his full lips parted and he said, “Claudia?”
That he knew my name set off alarms in my head. I struggled to reassemble my disjointed thoughts and it took a moment to put it back together — where I was, who I was with.
Toby Faye.

If you enjoyed this passage, please comment. Thank you!



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meet author Jan Sikes

I'm happy to share my blog with with fellow member authors of  Rave Reviews Book Club   as part of the RRBC's  Pay It Forward Week. Initially introduced by author Bethany Turner, the concept of Pay It Forward is to profile, promote and propel another fellow club member to new audiences for the day. This month I have the honor of hosting Jan Sikes. Jan has authored four books about the journey of two people moving through adversity, growing and learning about life and love. Interestingly, though she uses fictitious names, the books chronicle her life and relationship with her husband, the late singer-songwriter, Rick Sikes. This North Texan incorporates bits of wisdom and hard-learned lessons in her fiction stories and hopes to reach readers in a positive way. Her titles include: Flowers and Stone  Nothing could have prepared Darlina Flowers for the reckless Texas rogue musician, Luke Stone, to come stampeding into her life like a team of wild hor...

The Move Part 3 - The Finale

It’s Done Last month, my husband and I successfully sold our home of 37-plus years. I’d heard hair-raising stories of closings that went wrong, but thankfully, our closing went smoothly. The weeks leading up to the closing, however, were anything but. We secured our house’s elusive Certificate of Occupancy, but the buyer’s title company disputed the property lines, putting us under a tight deadline to talk to and secure notarized affidavits from neighbors bordering our property. Though we moved into our new apartment, we had to return to the house to shower and cook for two weeks while we chased after the gas utility company to turn on our service. Emptying the rooms, deciding what to part with, what to save, and  getting rid of stuff  was both physically and emotionally taxing. And we’d forgotten about a small attic! Our adult son and his large, older dog, Winston, were still living in the house, sleeping on a blowup mattress, basically squatting amongst the unwanted remains,...

Cover Wars

New Cover Samples Okay, feedback of the first two cover samples suggest one photo is too difficult to make out, and the other, the one with the couple on beach looks like a YA novel cover. The couple in the story is in their twenties, but it is certainly not a YA novel. I call it a literary love story, but the newly coined genre, New Adult, is also an appropriate fit. There is explicit language and scenes. With that in mind, here are two new variations of the cover. Please keep the comments coming! Other photo options: Here are two other photos I like, but are much more suggestive. My favorite photo by far is the one on the left as the couple actually looks similar to how I envision my characters. Unfortunately I couldn't download files big enough to insert in my sample cover. Photoshop effect added