No, it didn’t set the world on fire, but according to the publisher, the sales were decent for a first-time novelist and would get better once I built a following. They suggested I begin writing a sequel. I had doubts about having the time between teaching and everything involved with that, and doing book signings while continuing to work on my master’s degree, but with Zoni’s encouragement, I carved out time in which to write a little every night.
Sometimes I went a bit overboard.
I drained the mug and stood up, keeping her in my arms. “You know, you’re awfully smart, my lady. It’s definitely time for bed.”
She laughed again as she slid her arms around my neck and wrapped her legs around my waist. She wriggled her behind against my arms. “I know. I also know your interest is steadily rising.”
I chuckled as I carried her from the corner of our bedroom that served as my office, and laid her on the bed. She was shucking the nightshirt as I began peeling out of my clothes…
The year before, with my book published and me diving into writing the sequel, between my job and working on my master’s, I was busy, but I was also in love, so on the first anniversary of the day we met, I proposed, and Zoni said yes.
We set a date for June 30th of the next year because, she said, “It’s romantic and by then it will be exactly two years since we met.” She also had a practical side and she added on a serious note, “Waiting a year will give us time to save for the wedding and fabulous honeymoon I want, without having to go into too much debt, Tenn. Besides, I don’t want my parents to feel as though they have to help pick up the tab. They’ve done so much for me already by helping me pay for college, and don’t forget, they’re trying to save for Minnie’s college, too. They’d have to go into debt for it and that would be too big a strain on them.”
That was Zoni – so loving and considerate. Moreover, I understood. Neither of us came from a rich family. My parents did the same for my sister and me. Besides, we would have our masters out of the way by then.
She got no argument from me when she decided to give up the more expensive apartment she had and move into the small, two-rooms-with-a-bath affair I’d finally been able to rent halfway through my first year of teaching. It was in an old apartment building that wasn’t first-rate or in the best part of town, but the rent was cheaper than what she was paying even though she had a roommate, so, we’d be able to save more. She put us on a strict budget and was diligent about it. It worked. We actually managed to avoid having to go into debt at all. We saved enough to pay for everything.
By the time Zoni got back home from her get-together with her maid-of-honor and bridesmaids, I had not only finished the two chapters on which I’d been working, I even managed to complete a third. I was eager to finish the manuscript as my first book had finally picked up in popularity and sales, and the publisher advised me that they wanted the sequel ready to release the following spring.
They’d put a grin on my face the previous week by sending me a much fatter than usual royalty check. Zoni and I celebrated by looking at real estate brochures. With bigger royalty checks and higher pay because of the master degrees, we’d be able to get that condo we’d put on our wish list. In one of the brochures, Zoni liked the ones going up in a two-year old subdivision called Blue Heaven. We planned to check them out when we returned from our honeymoon.
The new book was coming along nicely so even with taking off for four weeks, I was on track to have the first draft finished by the time school started up at the end of August. Since I wouldn’t be quite as busy as I’d been for the last year, I would have a decently proofed and edited draft ready to send off to my beta readers by October, and by December – January at the latest – the final editing, proofing, and rewrites could begin. I was confident it would be ready to publish on time.
I would’ve taken Zoni out to dinner when she got home that evening, but she insisted on cooking. She made one of my favorite meals – spicy jerk chicken with red beans and rice. As I sat across from her at our small table, she chuckled as she watched me eat.
“I love it when you demolish my cooking with that kind of passion. I’m gonna have to make this more often.”
I grinned and nodded, mouth too full to speak, and I mused on the fact that in addition to having a great family, wonderful friends, a challenging and interesting job, and realizing my dream of publishing, I was engaged to the most incredible woman in the world. Everything was falling into place and the future was bright. Things could only get better.
The next day was Thursday, June 27, 2047. It was three days before our wedding, and sometime after six a.m., the world went to shit.
Chapter Two
A WHISPER OF SOUND AWAKENED ME, OR perhaps it was some subliminal thought, maybe an unremembered dream. I didn’t have anywhere to be that morning, so it wasn’t my alarm as I hadn’t set it. But, I suppose that’s not important.
I shifted around and stretched out an arm feeling for Zoni, and struck emptiness. That meant she was up and either in the bathroom or in the kitchen. The semi-lit room was silent. Usually, wherever she was she’d be singing, but that morning she wasn’t. I turned over and swung an eye to the clock. Five after six. I ran a hand over my face and sat up in the rumpled bed. I draped my legs over the side.
“Zoni? Hey, baby, you in the bathroom?” There was no answer but the bathroom light wasn’t on so I went in and did my morning thing, wondering why my girl wasn’t singing. I came out and pulled on my pajama bottoms just in case somebody had dropped by the apartment. It was early but it had happened before. I once elicited a shriek from one of Zoni’s friends that way.
In a few steps, I pulled open the bedroom door and looked out into our combo livingroom/ kitchen. It was empty.
Then I noticed the chain latch on the door was hanging down. Perhaps someone actually had come by, and Zoni took them out into the hall because she hadn’t wanted to wake me. Or take a chance on me stepping from the bedroom with my assets hanging out. I walked over and gripped the knob, not surprised at finding it locked. I thumbed off the latch and stuck my head out prepared to tease her for locking herself out again.
The hall was empty.
Closing the door, I scratched my head. It wasn’t like her to leave without telling me, especially so early in the morning. Then, I spotted the note under her Bigfoot magnet on our small fridge: “We’re out of bacon, Hon. Gone to Quick Mart, back in a few. Love ya!” She always used the Bigfoot magnet to leave notes for me. It was her joke – she’d teased me about the size of my feet from the time she first saw them. She put her size five next to my size fourteen and cracked up. Said one of my shoes was big enough for her to bathe in. There was a little brown elf magnet on there, too – my allusion to her diminutive size.
I smiled. My woman. She knew how much I loved my bacon in the morning.
The store opened at six and it was a few minutes after, so she hadn’t been gone long. That meant I had time to meet her before she got back because the Quick Mart was only a block down the street. Even if she’d gotten there as it was opening, she wouldn’t have started back yet. She could never go in and pick up just one thing; she’d cruise the aisles for other items every time.
Perhaps we could grab a cup of coffee at the little shop next door and she wouldn’t have to fool around with our sometimey coffee maker, which brought on cussing when, as she put it, “It just sits there smirking at me!”