Wild Thymes Sample Chapter
February 12th. 2009(c) 2007 Kimberly J. Fish
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, business establishments, or events is entirely coincidental.
Chapter One
Anna Weber closed the door of Cup of Joe’s with a thud and instantly wished she could return to the air-conditioned coffee shop. Despite promises of kindness and goodness, God had just slapped her around with a hot breath from heaven, or someplace farther south.
Lacy Robinson, Anna’s best friend and co-coffee addict, lifted her hair from her neck and fanned her skin. “Oh, my word, it’s going to be a brutal summer if this trend continues.”
Summer was Anna’s least favorite season. Truth be told, she was a magnolia in the land of prickly pear. The Hill Country vistas were ruggedly beautiful with their low scrub, twisted trees and rocky drop-offs. But when the sun blistered away the clouds, even the lizards ran for cover. Magnolias shouldn’t put down roots in this sort of soil. She was too fair-skinned to tan without freckles, her hair was too reddish-brown–heavy on the brown–to look dramatic in the sunlight. And when the heat forced her to lie down on the hammock in her backyard, her voice retreated to the Scarlett overtones of her childhood. Out here, in the land of cattle and untamed hills, she was just another faux-cowgirl in knock-off boots.
“Are you headed back to the office?” Lacy stopped at the corner of High and Sixth Street. Even though she’d put on a good show, she was well acclimated to the seasons of Texas. The proof was in the lack of perspiration, even after a latte.
Anna glanced around the intersection, resigned to ninety degrees. She was the only one sagging. Even the potted petunias, holding up the sign pointing to the shopping district, were perky. Digging through her purse, she found her armor against brilliant sunshine and a baby blue sky. “I’m walking down to the Lutheran Church. Miss Virgie’s dance class is about wrapped up. Bryn won’t want to leave, but Miss Virgie will be more than tired of my little magpie.”
“Virgie doesn’t know how good she’s got it.” Lacy slid stylish frames over her eyes. “It’s Beatrice who could talk from dawn to dusk, with or without an audience.”
Anna’s twins were a study in contradictions. Bryn, built like a mini-linebacker, was the fanciful one. Beatrice, with her big brown eyes and cherubic face, was the one who reeled in the unsuspecting and could hog-tie a grown man with her verbiage about University of Texas football and the statistics for most area sports franchises. When she grew up, people were going to call her “the Barbie doll with knee pads.” Bryn would likely be compared to . . .well, Anna didn’t want to say, because her tenderhearted child hated labels.
Lacy turned to walk toward her antiques shop. “It’s a good thing Beatrice plays soccer. Michael says the only time she’s quiet is when she’s running plays.”
The sheriff’s deputy groused about Beatrice’s constant advice and chatter, but there was no doubt he favored her for her accuracy on the field. Anna hoped there was a college scholarship in those cleats. “Michael is so patient with the team. I can’t believe coaching is how he chooses to spend his free time.”
Lacy stopped and leaned toward Anna with a knowing look. “I hear he’s hankering after the architect who’s remodeling the Ralstons’ house, so his free time might not be as empty as we might imagine.”
Anna felt a moment of pure relief. She’d gone on a few dinner dates with the deputy, but there’d been no magic in the conversation. “Wait a minute—” Anna had been in on some of the coffeehouse counseling sessions with one of Comfort’s beloved bachelors. “I thought Beau Jefferson was in love with the architect.”
“He is, but Beau’s currently in denial due to some misguided notions about his past, so I think Michael is moving in.”
“Poor Beau. He always takes the hard way around, doesn’t he?”
“I think it’s the trend of the male species. Have you met AJ’s boyfri—I mean, nemesis, Luke? He’s head over heels for AJ, but the lure of signing her parents to a music deal may ruin their romance.”
“I haven’t met him yet, but I really need to. Kali told me I could take a crash course from him in anticipating music trends.” Anna stepped aside to let a lady pushing a stroller pass by. “And can you imagine all the people he’d know who could help my clients? I wonder if he does consulting.”
Lacy waved goodbye. “Call AJ. I’m sure she’d love to point him your way, anything to get him away from her parents.”
Anna made a mental note to visit Lavender Hill one of these afternoons so she could talk to AJ. The girls could go with her and chase after the kittens that roamed AJ’s garden store. First, though, she had to round up her daughters and drag their backpacks home. There were two days of fifth grade left and these were the afternoons they were bringing home the remains of school projects, leftover papers and assorted books they’d collected. As if they weren’t already outgrowing the house.
Anna glanced at her watch. She hurried over the remaining blocks separating the historic district from the residential side of town. Even in a town with no known traffic issues, she was almost always late to pick up the girls from their after-school activities. She justified her tardiness because she preferred walking to driving.
Her skirt brushed her knees as she dodged a tour bus making a stop at the Treur Der Union monument in the park across from Immanuel Lutheran. As she cut through the grass, she heard a familiar call of “Mom.” Anna stopped and looked for the source of that all too familiar voice. Beatrice, still in her school clothes, was standing in the middle of the park with a man wearing cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. His face was covered by a cap and Ray Ban sunglasses, but his stance radiated strength and confidence. Something about him seemed familiar. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, since she didn’t know many gladiators.
Apparently, she and the girls would have to have that lecture about strangers again tonight. Bryn and Beatrice, raised among women, were hopelessly trusting of anyone who smiled at them.
“Watch me, Mom!”
Beatrice made a run toward her, with her head swinging backward to gauge where the man aimed the spiraling football. Anna turned to make sure none of the elderly tourists were going to get mown down when Beatrice kept on running after she caught the pass.
Hopeful that damage control was in place, Anna glanced again at the man. He followed through on the pass like he did it a hundred times a day. She was no expert in football, short of what she’d acquired vicariously through her daughter and her family’s collective worship of Ole Miss football, but even she recognized control and beauty in a movement.
Control and beauty were the last words she thought prior to Beatrice screeching, “Watch out!”
A resounding splinter echoed through her skull as her nose exploded into a million pieces. Her knees buckled, and Anna folded like an accordion. Spiraling orange, pink and blue hues from a beautiful May day evaporated into black.