Water
Bearer
by
Wendi Christner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Contemporary Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
In
a small Southern community, inseparable lifelong friends prepare to
follow their own paths, but one last summer together changes their
lives forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Seven
years after Cassidy Strumond set the fire that consumed her parents,
the scent of ash still lingered in the newly sprouted corn and in the
wide blades of grass that blanketed the rolling hills; only, nobody
seemed to smell it but her.
Cassidy
rolled her high school diploma over the worn floor planks of her
grandmother’s back porch and watched Jared Walker’s horse,
Delilah, clomp across the stone footbridge that spanned a stream
separating her family farm from his.
The arms
of a young man who worked outside and handled livestock for a living
extended from the sleeves of a t-shirt that looked like he’d slept
in it. His pointed boots stuck out from the frayed legs of his jeans,
and the outline of his thighs pressed against the easy fitting denim.
Details she had only recently begun to notice. He looped Delilah’s
reins around the porch railing and lowered himself onto the steps.
“Is
that what you wore under your graduation gown?” She knew the answer
before his lopsided smile betrayed him.
“Figured
if I was gonna wear a dress, I’d better look like a man underneath.
What’d you wear under yours, a suitcase?”
“Nothing.”
She eased the hem of her navy blue polyester gown up her bare calves
and laughed as the implication registered on his features.
“You
shameless liar.”
She took
hold of the zipper at her throat. “Wanna find out?”
“There’s
something bad wrong with you, you know that?”
“Yeah,
I know.” Cassidy squinted at the branches of a massive oak in the
middle of the pasture.
Beyond
the oak, on the back acres of the property, were the ruins of her
childhood home, reduced to a charred foundation and three concrete
steps that led to an emptiness she could taste in her soul. From this
rubble, the odor of her every nightmare emanated. As long as she
stayed here, she would live with the smell of death.
One
short summer and she could put this place and its constant reminders
behind her.
EXCERPT
3 (350 words):
She let
him lead her to what resembled a bench-shaped topiary. Undoubtedly,
it was one of the trusses not completely destroyed by the fire, now
upholstered by Mother Nature. He tested the timber’s stability with
the toe then heel of his boot, then motioned for her to sit. They sat
together, neither speaking until Cassidy steadied her breath.
The
place was nothing like the inferno of her dreams. The damp moss was
cool to the touch. Birds chirped, a lizard scampered over a stack of
bricks, and water pooled in the uneven concrete foundation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Wendi
Christner is the author of Writer’s Digest Short-Short Story
Competition winner “Throwing Stones,” a fairy self-help book, and
several novels written under various pseudonyms. Her gritty,
emotional stories tend to have a Southern voice born of her roots in
the Florida panhandle. She currently lives in Tampa with her husband,
son, and their fur family.
www.WendiChristner.com
www.facebook.com/WendiChristnerAuthor
Twitter/Instagram
@WendiDarlin
Buy
Link:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Water-Bearer-Southern-Skies-Collection-ebook/dp/B01JIWVIUG/ref=sr_1_1
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