When the door to the plane opened I was greeted by Maddie, Giovanni, and an exuberant Lord Berkeley who scraped at my ankles until I bent down and lifted him up. Maddie opened the car door and pulled out a drink which she offered me.
“What’s the occasion?” I said.
“You are.”
I sniffed the glass.
“This is exactly what I need right now.”
“Only the best for my best pal. And besides, I know it’s your favorite.”
Maddie and Giovanni exchanged glances.
“What’s going on with you two?” I said.
She reached out her hands and snatched Lord Berkeley from me and then turned and took him to the car. She reemerged with a suitcase.
“Uh, Maddie,” I said. “What’s this?”
“Giovanni called me yesterday and asked how I felt about him borrowing my friend for a few days,” Maddie said.
“You’re kidding me right?” I said.
“Have you ever been to Italy?” he said.
“I don’t know what to say, I mean—I just got here,” I said.
“Say yes, ya dingbat,” Maddie said.
“Alright, yes.”
A man came around the side and loaded my bag onto the plane.
“Well,” Maddie said, “me and the Booster here are off to get some dog treats. You guys have a good time, and buy me something good!”
Once she was gone and we were surrounded on all sides with hazel blue skies, Giovanni reached over and pulled me into him and said, “I’ve wanted to do this since the moment we met.” This time when my eyes closed and he leaned in, our lips found a connection. It was like being kissed for the first time. And yes, it was first-prize-at-the-fair good.
For updates on Cheryl and her books:
Web: www.cherylbradshaw.com
Facebook: Cheryl Bradshaw Author Page
Twitter: @cherylbradshaw
Blog: cherylbradshawbooks.blogspot.com
*****
SLOANE’S SINFULLY SWEET COCKTAIL
This can be made with or without alcohol. Enjoy!
~Sloane Monroe
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup apple juice
1 lime
1/3 cup 7-up
1 shot glass of vodka (optional)
Ice cubes
Shaker glass
In a blender, combine raspberries and 1/4 cup water and puree until blended. Set aside.
In a shaker glass, combine cranberry juice, apple juice, 7-up, vodka, two squeezes from a lime and two or three ice cubes. Screw the lid on and shake for about twenty seconds until everything is blended. Pour into a glass and top with a small amount of the raspberry puree. Stir with a spoon to blend it all up and then sit back and enjoy—delicious!
*****
Sneak Peek of the Third Novel in the Sloane Monroe Series
Here’s a sneak peek, chapter one of I Have A Secret, the third novel in the Sloane Monroe series…
CHAPTER 1
Doug Ward stood on the ship’s deck and gazed across the calm waves of an evening sea. The cool ocean breeze brushed past his face and clung to it like a halo of mist, but he didn’t seem to notice. The scotch in his hand was his fifth of the night, or the sixth or seventh—he couldn’t remember. Most nights he drank until he passed out, and tonight would be no exception. He’d drink himself into oblivion if it meant never having to hear another one of his classmates sing the karaoke version of M.C. Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This.
It had been twenty years since someone called him “Douggie”, but tonight he’d heard it shouted out at least fifty times. Maybe more. All he wanted was to get away from it, so he left the crowd at the costume party behind to sing their hearts out while he pondered the long list of life’s regrets in solitude. Rounding out the top five was his decision to take the cruise in the first place. But there was little he could do about that now. Just two more days, he thought to himself, and this trip will be all over.
Doug’s memories of high school had faded through the years until he didn’t remember much of anything. It all seemed like the blur of someone else’s life, like the experiences he recalled weren’t really his anymore. He had flashes of memories here and there, but only one that was solid enough to stand the test of time. And that was the one he’d always tried to forget, but no amount of alcohol would ever drown it out. Not completely.
Often times Doug thought about what he’d change if he could go back in time and do it all over again. He envisioned himself at the fork in the road and what that road would have been like had he chosen to go in the other direction. Maybe then he wouldn’t have gone through life with all the nightmares that plagued him at night, or the secrets that gnawed at his insides like a thief in the darkness trying to find his way out of the black fog that surrounded him on all sides.
“There you are,” a voice said behind him.
Doug rotated his body around and faced Trista, his wife. She looked exquisite in her black satin vampire gown that hugged every curve of her petite frame. Her cocoa-colored hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders, and her lips were stained the perfect shade of red. It didn’t matter how many years had come and gone since they’d married, she still remained the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“I’m sorry, honey. I just needed a moment alone,” he said.
“Everyone is looking for you,” she said. “They want to know what happened to the life of the party.”
He shook his head.
“You know I haven’t been worthy of that title for a very long time.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“You can’t help how people remember you Mr. Prom King,” she said. “And I thought you should know your queen is getting lonely in there without you.”
Doug managed to crack a smile. He hated to disappoint her. “Just give me a few more minutes, okay? And then I’ll come in.”
Trista wrapped her arms around him and whispered, “I’ll be waiting,” and then she brushed her lips across his and turned and went back inside.
Doug winced when she touched him. Not because her affections were unwanted, but because he knew he’d let her down over the years. He hadn’t lived up to the man he should have been—not as a husband, a father, any of it. And yet she stayed while he wasted away. He knew he didn’t deserve her, and that made him feel even worse.
So many times Doug tried to pick himself up again, for his wife and their kids. But no matter how many twelve step programs he went to, it always ended with his head staring down the bottom of a bottle until he’d finished every last drop. Many nights he woke up in his bed not knowing how he got there, and he’d turn and gaze upon Trista who was snuggled up next to him. In those moments of serenity he would vow that the next day would be different. But when the sun rose and brought a new dawn, he was too weak and couldn’t get out the door without at least one drink.
Doug turned back and stared out to the sea again, but the night had grown dark, and he couldn’t see much of anything anymore. He shrugged his shoulders and decided it was time to go back inside. He hoped he had stayed out long enough for the party to wind down, but he knew better.
Out of the darkness a shadow emerged. Doug hunched over to get a better look and faced it. “I’m coming in now, sweetie,” he said. The figure didn’t move. Doug squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, but the image that stood in front of him was still a blur, and he couldn’t quite make it out.