Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! Here's a treat for everyone--a couple of the Thanksgiving Day scenes from Masters at Arms (from Section One--the prequel to Nobody's Hero, which will be coming out "around" Christmas). Warning: Some adult language. But this is "sweet" by my standards. :)
Scene Setup: Marine master sergeant Adam's rescued 16-year-old runaway Karla from a pimp at the bus station and brought her home in the wee hours of Thanksgiving 2002. Her parents, missing their recently deployed son, invited him to join them until he can catch the next bus. Adam is grieving his wife, who died two weeks earlier, and has escaped the chaos at Karla's house to take a walk. He said goodbye to Joni (his wife) at the shore of Lake Michigan then turned to find Karla shivering from the cold, as if standing guard for him. (You'll find out why she followed him in Nobody's Hero.)
Of course, Adam is extremely honorable and hasn't led Karla on in any way--but she has a hero-worship crush on him and is about to lay something on him he really does not want to hear.We begin when Adam turns to find her at the lake. (Oh, boy! I didn't think I'd get to use this picture of "Karla" again, now that she's all grown up in the story and no longer has "godawful" makeup and neon-pink hair, as Adam described it back then.)
...(H)e became aware of the icy pellets pounding his face as
a lake-effect squall whipped up. He turned around to make his way back to
Karla’s house.
Standing a few feet away from him, as if on guard duty,
shivering inside her coat, stood Karla.
“What the f…heck are you doing out here?”
Her teeth chattered as she tried to answer. He took off his
jacket and put it on her to give her another layer of warmth, then wrapped his
arm around her, hoping to infuse some heat into her thin body. “Let’s get you
back home.”
“N-n-no, Adam. I have to tell you something.”
Adam just pulled her along toward the house. “We’ll talk
when we get you out of this squall.” She tried to dig in her heels, but he’d
have none of it. Damned fool kid needed a caretaker.
He’d been dreading going back into the chaos at her house,
but now he just wanted to get her inside as quickly as possible. She’d catch
pneumonia out here. They got as far as her front door when Karla wedged her toe
against the door and turned to look up at him.
“Wait! Adam, there’s something you need to know, and I can’t
say this inside the house.”
Adam tried to block as much of the wind from hitting her
shivering frame as he could, but her black-and-pink hair lashed across her
face. He reached out and tucked the wild strands behind her left ear because
they distracted him from the conversation that seemed so important to her. What
in the hell could she possibly have to say that couldn’t be said inside?
Karla splayed her gloved hand on his chest, over his wounded
heart, and looked up at him with those big sparkling blue eyes surrounded by
that god-awful makeup and pink hair. She searched his eyes for a long moment, he
didn’t know for what.
Then he felt a niggling at the scar on the back of his
neck—always a sign he wasn’t going to want to deal with whatever was incoming. Fuck. He hoped she wasn’t about to say
what he thought she was getting ready to lay on him.
“Adam, I n-n-n-know you have a wife and y-y-y-you think I’m
just a kid, but I want to t-t-tell you that…I l-l-love you.”
Double fucking damn.
He’d need a minesweeper to navigate these waters. Joni, where are you when I need you? She’d know how to deal with a sixteen-year-old’s
crush. She’d been surrounded by teenage girls at the Catholic school where she’d
taught until last spring. Help me out
here, baby.
“Hon, I love you, too.” Crap. That didn’t come out sounding
right, but surely she’d know what he meant.
When her eyes lit up and she pursed her lips as if expecting
him to kiss her, he turned his rudder hard to starboard. She’d definitely taken
his words the wrong way.
“Like a father,
Karla. Hell, I’m old enough to be
your father.”
When tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her
cheeks, his gut turned to mush. He always came undone when a woman cried. But,
hell, Karla was just a kid. Why did her tears rip him apart even more? How in
the hell had he let this happen?
Now, wait a minute
there. He’d never given her any indication he wanted to be anything other
than a guardian to keep her out of trouble. Fuck, he didn’t know anything about
teenage girls.
“Look, hon…” Quit
calling her hon, you frigging asshole. “Look, Karla, I’m an old man. Your
life is just starting. I’m sure there are lots of boys who’d—”
“But they’re so immature. All they talk about is sports. I
don’t have anything in common with them.”
What the hell did she
have in common with an old worn-out Marine? God, he wished they made
tactical maps for situations like these. He was fucking clueless how to fend
off this attack.
“Nothing wrong with sports.” Oh, that’s profound, jarhead. Damn. He liked this kid a lot. Didn’t
want to hurt her for anything. But he wasn’t a perv.
Just tell it like it is, man. You’ve never had any problem
doing that before. What’s different this time?
She’s a kid! And a
girl! I don’t want to hurt her.
“Look, Karla. I like you a lot, but I don’t feel that way about
you.” When the light left her eyes, he felt like a fucking heel. While he knew
the words needed to be said, if it were physically possible, he’d have given
himself a good roundhouse kick in the ass for whatever the hell he’d done to
make her think he’d welcome this heartfelt declaration. How could he make it
not seem like a rejection because there was something wrong with her? She’d
make a fine girlfriend and wife for some guy someday. Just not him.
“I still love my wife.” Yeah,
that’s good. Let Joni pull your prick out of the fire. He didn’t have to
tell her his wife was dead. Besides, he did still love Joni. “You have some
growing up to do. I’m sure you’ll meet someone one day who can love and respect
you the way you should be loved.”
Karla tore herself away, opened the door, and ran inside.
He laid his forehead against the cold doorframe. What a
fucking mess he’d made of that. Maybe it was a good thing he and Joni hadn’t
had kids. He’d make a lousy father.
That fucking bus couldn’t get here soon enough.
* * *
Karla tried to eat all the food on her plate, but the lump
in her throat, and Adam sitting across the table from her, made that
impossible.
“Good news, Adam,” Daddy said, beaming. “I’ve managed to get
you a ticket on a red-eye flight out tomorrow night. Direct to San Diego.
You’ll be back on base in hours rather than days.”
Karla saw the stricken look on Adam’s face. He must be
horrified to think of being stuck with her another whole day. Her eyes brimmed
with tears and she hung her head down, hoping they’d fall right into her burgundy
cloth napkin without leaving an embarrassing trail.
“That’s really not necessary, sir. I don’t mind—”
“It’s done. The least we can do after all you’ve done for
us.”
Luckily, Daddy didn’t add to her embarrassment by spelling
out to everyone at the table why they felt they owed this Marine something. But
she and her parents knew. All her fault. A few hours ago, she’d have been
thrilled to know Adam would be with her another day. Now she didn’t even know
what to say or do with him.
Karla had teetered on the verge of crying since she’d been
rejected by Adam on the front porch. Of course, she didn’t want to break up his
happy marriage or anything. But he could have at least given her a little kiss
to remember him by. She’d never find anyone like him to love ever again.
Adam continued to avoid looking at her. He didn’t eat much
either, not even the casserole she’d made for him. Another rejection. More tears.
Grandma began sharing stories about her latest cruise and
Karla zoned out until she heard Adam’s name.
“Adam, have you ever been to Mexico?” Grandma asked.
“Yes, ma’am. My wife and I went to Cabo San Lucas on a
second honeymoon about ten years ago.” He cleared his throat. “Beautiful place.”
Well, even if he
wasn’t happily married, he wouldn’t wait for you to grow up, Kitty. No, he was
so handsome, he could have any woman he wanted. Besides, he didn’t even know
she existed. Karla felt the lump growing in her throat and put her useless fork
down. She hoped this nightmare dinner would end soon so she could escape to her
room and have a good cry.
Why had she so embarrassed herself on the porch? She needed
to make conversation before her Mom hauled her into the kitchen for having such
bad manners. Karla looked up at Adam. “I’ll bet you miss her a lot.”
His eyes got sad again and he looked down at his plate.
“More than you’ll ever know.”
Yeah, he loved her. She was a very lucky lady. As if to keep
from having to say more, he took a small bite of her casserole. She smiled.
Mom said, “Karla, your broccoli casserole gets better every
year.”
Adam looked up at her as he chewed, smiling across the
table. “Best I’ve ever had.”
Karla’s tummy squeezed tight and she smiled back.
After the dinner plates had been cleared, mom pulled out the
Quiddler cards and dictionaries and everyone at the table played. Adam was
pretty good at it, but Karla beat him in the last round with the word
“domination.” That was the best word she’d ever gotten in the stupid game!
...And this was only the beginning. Read more about them later in Masters at Arms (almost nine years after this scene), in several scenes in Nobody's Angel (order info below), and in Nobody's Hero (available in late December). Of course, Adam and Karla are the glue that holds the rag-tag family of characters together in the Rescue Me series, so they'll figure prominently in every novel in the series.
Please cast a vote for the Masters at Arms cover in the Cover of the Month contest at http://yougottareadcovers.blogspot.com (#14 on the list). My artist (Linda Lynn--a new cover artist) and I would greatly appreciate it!
My
writing style is more of a SERIAL than a series--complete with
cliffhangers and characters who continue to work on their relationship
issues in subsequent novels. (Yes, the heroes and heroines from
earlier romances will have recurring roles as they progress toward their
ultimate Happily Ever Afters). So skipping any of the
novel-length installments will make the subsequent romance subplots in
the "serial" less enjoyable. But the good thing is that there are ONLY two
novels out so far, so it will be easy to catch up! See below for ordering details!
You won't enjoy Nobody's Hero as much if you haven't read Masters at Arms and Nobody's Angel first, because Adam and Karla's relationship actually began nine years early in sections one and five of Masters—and continued to grow in Angel.
The 115,000-word novel, second in the Rescue Me series,
MASTERS AT ARMS (only 99 cents!--or use coupon code
above at Smashwords thru Nov. 25), the
introduction and first novel in the RESCUE ME series,
Kally loves to add new friends
