The women were close, but Amber exasperated her big sister with her flighty behavior. Even though her sister dwarfed her in the looks department, Jory loved Amber. She kept a protective eye on her. Who knew that the woman in the family in danger of getting her heart broken was Jory?
***************************
Here are a few excerpts:
Jory Walker plucked three letters from the mailbox in
front of the house. Two bills and one envelope addressed to her that looked
like it had been through a war. It had, according to what was scratched in the
upper corner.
SSGT. T. Stevens
Anger bubbled up inside her. She made a beeline for
the house, only to collide with her sister.
“Amber! What the hell?” She waved the envelope in the
young woman’s face.
“I just sent him one letter.”
“This is the fourth you’ve gotten from him. When are
you going to write back?”
“It was a mistake…”
“You can say that again. Especially the part where you
signed my name!”
“Laura was so convincing. I thought she meant one
time. Only one letter.”
“She asked people to sign up to write to guys in the
military. Not to write only one
letter and include a lewd photo.”
“It wasn’t lewd, whatever that means. Just me in a
bikini. I’m not good at writing. Much better at pictures.” Her beautiful,
blonde sister, with a Miss America figure, grinned.
“And the reason you signed my name?”
“I always liked yours better. Besides, if he wanted
another letter, I knew you’d write it for me. So, it might as well have your
name on it.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit smile. I’m on to you. And
the answer is ‘no.’” Jory shoved the envelope from T. Stevens into Amber’s
hand.
“Please? Pleeeaassseee, Jory. You’re the writer. Not
me.”
“That’s right. You’re the pretty sister, and I’m the
smart one.”
Amber nodded. “I don’t mean it like that. You’re so
much better than me.”
“Than I.”
“See?”
“No.”
***************************************
Jory hadn’t set out to craft boring correspondence to SSGT
Stevens, but as she wrote, she realized how uninteresting and predictable her
life was. She sighed when Nan entered the house Saturday morning with the mail.
“Another one for you, Jory. This young man likes to write.”
“I thought he’d be discouraged by how insipid and stupid my letters
are. Guess not.”
“Guess not.” Nan smiled as she hiked up the stairs.
Jory put the envelope in her pocket, saving it for bedtime.
She’d taken to retiring early so she could savor Trent’s
words in solitude. She liked to read through fast to get the facts then reread
them two or three times. When she went back over them, she’d dig out the hidden
loneliness lurking between the lines. Although he never mentioned fear, upon
second and third readings her observant eyes picked up the hints of anxiety in
his many references to home.
************************************
With patience, she’d fitted them together to form the image
of a man she could almost touch.
Sometimes, she’d reread three or four before turning out the
light. She’d tacked his picture on the wall next to her bed. He was the last
thing she saw before falling asleep and the first thing in the morning. Jory
had planned to wind down the correspondence, but every day she eagerly awaited
mail delivery, and a new peek into the mystery man who had inched his way into
her heart.
Admitting she had feelings for SSGT Trent Stevens wouldn’t
happen. Jory wasn’t some foolish schoolgirl with a crush on a handsome Marine.
She was a grown woman, who had been shouldering the responsibilities of an
adult since she was seventeen. Her head wouldn’t be turned by a few letters and
some fancy words. She was above that. Or so she thought.
Here's the blurb:
Uh oh. Amber signed her sister’s name on a pen pal letter to a Marine.
As usual, Jory Walker was stuck fixing her sister’s little white lie.
When letters poured in from SSGT Trent Stevens in Afghanistan, Jory had
no choice but to correspond. Sure he’d be drooling over Amber’s bikini photo,
thinking it was Jory. Since they’d never meet, what harm could it do if she
sent him a few letters?
Would her charade boomerang replacing happiness with pain? What started
off as an innocent ruse, morphed into a monstrous web of deceit. Maybe
unpredictable love was destined to break her heart.
You can get Unpredictable Love in ebook and paperback here:
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He wants to find a wife. She doesn’t want to marry again –ever. Not exactly a match made in heaven. Or are they? Ten years ago, Griff Montgomery, star quarterback of the Kings and womanizer, became a stand-in father for his widowed sister’s kids. His happy family life collapsed when she and her new husband moved to California. Griff wants his own family. But where does a “player” go to find his ideal mate?
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Love that story. Thanks for the gift.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun seeing how the Tuesday Tales snippets have come to life as completed books.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, Jean!
Lovely story!
ReplyDelete