M. Jean Pike's Blog, page 35

Angels All Around

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I’m super excited and so very honored that my story, Second Chances, has been included in the Chicken Soup for the Soul ANGELS ALL AROUND edition. This beautiful collection of Inspirational stories of Miracles, Divine Interventions, and Answered Prayers goes on sale later this month. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!

All The Broken Places Released Today!!

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ALL THE BROKEN PLACES is now available in paperback! Amazon Prime members get $5.00 off any purchase of $15. or more until midnight tomorrow — Talk about perfect timing

Wordless Wednesday– Baby Feet

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A page or seven

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Sometimes the happiest “happily-ever-after” is learning to love yourself…

I’m so excited about my latest novel! A story of strength and struggles, pain and perseverance — of a woman’s journey to healing, it’s different than anything I have ever written before, and I think it is one of my best. All the Broken Places is due out July 15 from Black Lyon Publishing, but the e book is now available for preorder at Amazon Kindle. I wanted to share the first few pages with you here. So without further ado, I am pleased to introduce Monica Humphrey…

Chapter One

Monica Humphrey had almost talked herself out of going to the Stop-N-Shop. Tired from her workday, all she wanted was to go home, relax, and watch a movie, her reward for making it through the week. The drizzling rain had turned into a downpour, coming down in thick, sideways sheets, and she hadn’t thought to wear a jacket that morning. She’d be drenched before she crossed the parking lot. The few things she needed weren’t worth that.

By the time she turned onto Hartford Avenue, she decided to go home, at least for a while, and wait for the rain to let up. Or go home and stay there, if it didn’t. She didn’t really need cat food, Ginger had more than enough for the weekend. And she had enough coffee to last until Saturday morning. There was no good reason to get soaked.

But it’s Friday night, a little voice whispered as she pulled up to the first red light.

Friday night. Her night to put up her feet and let down her hair. Her night to watch movies while she enjoyed a half gallon of ice cream. The Stop-N-Shop offered so many delectable flavors. Lemon Meringue. Birthday Bash. Caramel Mocha. Choosing her Friday night flavor was the high point of Monica’s week.

At the second red light, her sweet tooth won out and she swung into the parking lot. She sat in her car as the rain pounded on the roof.

“This is crazy,” she murmured.

A car pulled in beside her. A woman and a little girl got out and dashed toward the store. With a sigh, Monica stepped from her car.

Her sheer size prevented her from trying to outrun the rain, so she attempted a brisk walk instead. In heavy rains, Hartford Avenue was prone to flooding. Water sloshed over her sandals as she made her way across the parking lot. April showers would bring May flowers. At least there was that. With no way to avoid the lake-sized puddle in front of the door, she slogged through it and went inside. The woman she’d seen earlier was busy wiping down the handle of her shopping cart with an antiseptic wipe. The little girl was spinning in circles, laughing.

Monica grabbed a shopping cart from the queue and pulled. Stuck, as usual. Irritated, she tugged again, harder this time. On her third try, her feet lost traction on the slick floor and she tumbled toward the concrete, her hand shooting out to take the brunt of her three hundred and twenty-two pounds. Her wrist snapped. With a sickening crunch, her face slammed into the floor and she felt a crashing inside her head. Someone screamed. Whether it was her or someone else, she couldn’t be sure.

She couldn’t be sure of anything. The whole world had turned a fuzzy gray.

“Carly, hush child!” The woman knelt at Monica’s side, speaking as if through a tunnel. “Are you all right?”

All right? She didn’t think so. She wasn’t sure of anything in those first few moments as she lay drifting in and out of consciousness, not sure what had happened or even where she was. And then it came, like a tornado, sudden and swift.

Pain, ferocious pain. Pain in her wrist. Her face. It became all of her, all consuming. No, she was definitely not all right. She tried to take stock, moving her tongue around in her mouth, assessing. All of her teeth seemed to be accounted for. That was good. But there was something, some deep, jagged thing wrong with her jaw. Another face appeared then, another voice in the tunnel.

“Oh, God. Someone go get Barry.”

Barry. The store manager. Yes, Barry was nice. Capable. He would know how to fix this. Smiling Barry. Balding Barry. It would be better when Barry was there. It wasn’t much, nothing much at all, but she clung to it.

Was she going into shock?

“Monica?”

The woman was gone then, and Barry was there at her side. He was there, but it wasn’t better. His big, warm hand alit on her shoulder. “You’re going to be all right. Can you look at me?”

She tried to move her head but it hurt too much.

“Lo,” she croaked.

“Ok. All right then.” And then the gentleness left his voice and his tone was that of a man in charge. “Sami, have Joel call for a squad. And bring me a bag of ice.” His hand returned to her shoulder and the softness returned to his voice. But it was not her he addressed. “Lord, we trust in you.”

She could not look at him, could not move at all, but in her periphery she saw feet all around her; pumps and sandals, flip flops and high tops and she knew that a crowd had gathered. Lord, she hoped no one had their camera out, hoped she was not at this moment going viral on You Tube.

“Everyone go back in the store,” Barry said. “Give us some room. Go on.” The feet turned and slowly walked away, and for that, she would be eternally grateful to him.

She’d known Barry for two years, since the Stop- N- Shop first opened. It wasn’t the biggest or brightest store in town, but it was close to her home on Euclid Drive and the prices were decent. Barry always took a moment to chat with her, always let her know about the weekly specials. She had always thought of him as rather bland, with his white shirt and blue slacks and receding hairline, but now his presence was like a lifeline. His calm was a port in her storm.

He sat beside her, pressing a bag of Happy Ice to her wrist and talking quietly until she saw the red flashing lights of an ambulance pulling up in front of the store. She tried to distract herself from the pain by focusing on the lovely, cool ice and the smooth sound of Barry’s voice, let them sweep over her like a cool, sweet river.

Two paramedics rushed through the double doors, wheeling a stretcher. They got right down to business with questions. Name? Age? Weight? She couldn’t answer them, couldn’t seem to form the words.

Why couldn’t she form the words?

“Monica, is it all right if I get in your bag and get out your ID?” Barry asked.

“Esh.”

He retrieved her bag from beside her and pulled her license and insurance cards from her wallet.

“Her name is Monica Humphrey. Age thirty-two. She lives at 288 Euclid Drive. Height 5’3”. Weight 322 pounds.”

She felt the shame of her secrets, all of her ugly secrets being spoken aloud.

One of the paramedics took her vitals and radioed the hospital. The other started an IV, and then did things with her wrist and jaw. Horrible, painful things. Once he had her wrist splinted, he tied a bandage around her jaw and over the top of her head, tucking a cold compress inside to control the swelling. Then, grunting with the effort, they maneuvered her onto the stretcher. By that time the crowd had gathered again. As the paramedics jacked her stretcher up into the air, she noticed with alarm that her purse lay abandoned on the floor. Wallet, credit cards, cell phone, a hundred dollars in cash. It could be gone in the blink of an eye. Losing her purse was one of Monica’s biggest fears.

“Vyfurse.”

“I’ve got it, Monica,” Barry said.

On the heels of that solved problem came another one. By now Ginger would be wondering about her, waiting and watching out the living room window. She would be wanting scruffings. Wanting food.

“Vy fat. Vy fat.”

“What’s she saying?” a teenaged boy in a pair of skinny jeans asked.

“I think she’s saying she’s fat,” answered a girl in yoga pants.

“Well yeah, no shiz.”

The girl tittered. Monica had taught middle schoolers for eight years. She’d been insulted and verbally assaulted more times than she could count, and born it with patience. But somehow it had never hurt as badly as now. Tears of frustration and humiliation rolled down her face. “Vy fat,” she said, trying to speak clearly. “Shinsher.”

“I’ll go and get Ginger when I get out of work,” Barry told her. “I’ll take her back to my house. How will that be?”

He’d figured it out. He knew Monica bought expensive cat food and a cart full of premium litter every week. Knew how much Ginger meant to her. They’d talked many times about how Monica had rescued her from a storm drain when she was just five weeks old.

“Hank you.”

Her tears of humiliation mingled with tears of relief. Barry the store manager would take care of Ginger. He would go to Monica’s house after work and get her and take her home.

He would see the weeks’ worth of dirty dishes piled in the sink, the laundry in the hallway and the fast food bags scattered around the living room. He would see the way she lived and how much she hated herself. He would see it all.

Her last conscious image as the paramedics wheeled her out the door was of Barry the store manager watching after her wistfully from the entryway of the Stop-N-Shop, her red purse dangling from his hand.

***

Available!

ALL THE BROKEN PLACES is now available for pre-order on Kindle!!

 

The Reveal!

It’s always fun and challenging to come up with a cover for a new book, to decide on just the right artwork; something beautiful that captures the essence of the story. Because face it, people do judge a book by its cover! After several back-and-forth emails, dozens of photos, fonts, and colors, Black Lyon has done it again! ALL THE BROKEN PLACES is now “dressed” and it looks stellar!

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Sometimes the happiest “happily ever after” is learning to love yourself…

School teacher Monica Humphrey is dangerously close to becoming the proverbial cat lady. Abandoned by her father after her mother’s death, she’s an adult now — alone with her fears, hazy impressions of childhood and an abundance of food to fill the void inside.

Except for when it doesn’t.

An accident one lonely Friday night becomes the catalyst for emotional growth and physical transformation and the doorway to love opens first in the form of a grocery store manager, and then in a little girl in need of a home.

Relationships, like water, she soon finds, seek their own level — and Monica Humphrey is rising up.

All The Broken Places

Coming next month from Black Lyon Publishing!

Morning walk

The best part of my day is my morning walk around the neighborhood with my granddaughters.

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There’s something calming about strolling a baby, and seeing the world through the eyes of a four year old seems to awaken the wonder of spring in me. Bryn is amazed that trees could come in so many colors…

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red

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purple

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white

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and even pink!

She loves butterflies because they are sooo pretty, even the plain white ones.

She loves birds, especially robins, loves the way they flit from tree to tree and forage for their wormy breakfasts in the yards we pass.

She loves flowers because they smell so “delicious”. Her favorites are dandelions, which she calls sunflowers.

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She has a way of seeing the beauty in the ordinary that astounds me.

I love the simplicity of childhood.

I love my granddaughters.

I love my morning walks.

What if…

 

 

What if the worst experience of your life turned out to be the best thing that ever happened?  

What if you took a terrifying gamble …

and lost?  

What if, in losing what you loved, you found the love of a lifetime?

 

ALL THE BROKEN PLACES

By M. Jean Pike  

Coming July, 2019  

From Black Lyon Publishing

 

 

Heatherfield Released In Audio!

Get yours today!

https://www.audible.com/pd/Heatherfield-Audiobook/B07R2124CH?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-148879&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_148879_rh_us

 

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The Dragonfly Has Landed — In Audio!

Exciting news! My literary love story, In The Shadow of the Dragonfly, has just been released as an audio book at audible.com !

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https://www.audible.com/search?keywords=In+The+Shadow+of+the+Dragonfly&ref=a_hp_t1_header_search

 

From above the shadows … light.

Orphaned and impoverished, Gray Baldwin is a lost soul in search of a home, a life and most of all—love. Kicked from foster home to foster home, at last a restored motorcycle and the onset of adulthood give him the means to leave behind all the old threats, struggles and losses that haunt him. When he accepts a job at Hanwell Construction, life’s promising new start is both his hope and his torment.

 

The spoiled daughter of a well-to-do business owner, pretty Hope Hanwell has a past to reconcile and a few tragic secrets of her own. She wants for nothing—and everything, pushing love as far away as she can until love pushes back. When Gray and Hope meet, theirs is a story of heartbreak, redemption and fate at its most devastating.

Email me today to get your code for a free audio copy!