K.C. Kendricks's Blog, page 9

Winding down 2023 and making decisions

December 17, 2023

Every year ends. I always get to this part of December and have a moment of panic. Christmas Eve is in one week. Twenty years ago that meant I'd be preparing for our annual open house, but the world shifted, friends scattered and drifted away, and now, for us, Christmas Eve is a quiet evening. 

It's not a bad thing. We're older now, and the spousal unit is ten years older than me, so he appreciates a quiet evening more than I do. We may take Deuce for a little ride to check out some Christmas lights, but we won't be joining with other people. It's our choice. 

I'm currently working on putting together my retrospective for 2023, which will publish on January 2, 2024.  That's a look back and today I'm looking forward, down a road that has a few twists and turns on the horizon. There are no wrong turns, only choices to make. 

Do I want to try to maintain a website or hire someone? I'd like to do it myself, but can I learn new software right now? 

Do I want to continue to keep Holly Tree Manor as a separate blog, or post everything here? If I post everything here, I can still post over there and send people this way. I don't monetize my blogs so does it matter which way I go?  And do I want to incorporate more videos on the blog and also post them on Facebook? 

I admit to allowing things in my writing realm to slide while I prepared for and settled into retirement. I look around on social media and the girls I "came up with" seem to be gone. I suspect a lot of them didn't want to go indie when so many of the epubs closed. I don't blame them. I miss the camaraderie of being in a group and exchanging ideas that actually work. 

A lot of what I do will be a continuation of what I've always done. If it's not broken, don't fix it. If you enjoy doing it, why stop? 

I've set a deadline of December 31st for myself to decide which road to take. It's likely I'll look to the words of Robert Frost for counsel: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

One can only hope I recognize it when I get to it, and I'm brave enough to take that first step out of my comfort zone. 

      _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC KendricksMy home on the web- Between the Keys:  http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at:  https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys blog, Rayne Forrest, m/m gay romance, romance fiction for Kindle, LGBT gay romance, sci-fi romance, shapeshifters, contemporary gay romance, a writer's life, life decisions, Holly Tree Manor, New Year, Robert Frost, life choices

Is it really a distraction?

December 9, 2023

Two decades ago, when I was a neophyte writer, I was warned to be careful of distractions. Me being me, I looked at where that advice was coming from. Certainly, a publisher and editor would urge an author not to get distracted. They didn't make any money if the writer didn't produce. But a lot of other writers in the old online groups said the same thing. 

I was pretty good at blacking out distractions - in the beginning. Being published was a new thing, an exciting thing. I didn't realize the price I'd eventually pay by isolating myself to write. I missed out on a lot to be a writer and I have a different mindset now. 

Earlier this week I got a phone call from someone asking if I were related to a person who had just passed. Sharing the last name, and knowing the origins of the name, I was sure we were related. It made me curious as to how close the connection might be. I consulted The Book. 

The Book is actually three full volumes of my genealogy. I looked up the deceased person's name and discovered we were connected - if you went back to 1751. There are three main branches in the tree and we're in the same one. 

Searching him out started me on a journey down the rabbit hole. You know the rabbit hole. The one Alice fell into. It does exist and I found it. 

Stuffed into the three volumes are copies of obituaries I've collected over the years. I saved them so that "one day" I could add them to the genealogy software I use. I had the program open so I decided I'd take five or six and get them added. You can guess how that has turned out. 

Is it really a distraction to set writing prose aside for a few days and pursue a passion? I know virtually nothing about my father's family. My father's father died when I was four or five, and my dad tended to avoid his mother, ergo, I didn't see her much in my formative years. My aunts helped a bit but they left out A LOT of family history and I recently learned why. There's a "family secret" that today is just silly. My grandmother had a half-brother born out of wedlock. He's even buried beside a family plot so why didn't anyone talk about him? I suppose a child out of wedlock was a big deal in the early 1900s, but now, not so much. I think it speaks well of my great-grandfather to marry a woman, in those days, who already had a child. 

Taking time to pursue a passion keeps us connected to ourselves. It's one of the reasons I no longer produce six to eight books a year. I could, but I don't. Instead, I stay checked into my life and what I enjoy doing (besides writing). It's the reason I started Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway. I wanted to record my life now so that when I'm an old woman I can look back and believe I did exist and I did have a life. You may think that's a distraction, but it's important to me. 

Writing is important to me, too, but it is a lonely pursuit. To write well, we need to focus on the words. This tends to isolate us. We need our other passions to stay balanced and happy. It's up to each of us to decide where, every day, we focus our time to be happy. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, genealogy, writers on writing, m/m romance, LGBT romance, Kindle romance, passions, distractions, life balance, time management, maturing, family

Comments are good, but...

December 8, 2023

As I begin this blog, it's 7:38 AM. I've been up since about six. The dog runs on "Deuce Time," which means we go outside to pee-pee before daybreak. I do not always want to get up that early, but I love my dog. If he has to go, he has to go. I can relate. 

It's a slow morning for some reason. The spousal unit and I lingered with the Weather Channel, and coffee, for longer than usual. Edging into winter, the To Do List gets shorter. It becomes the Do It Later List. It's a balmy thirty-five Fahrenheit outside and that's reason enough to postpone what chores we can. So I'm at the computer, but I can't lie and say I feel productive enough, or awake enough, to work on a story. 

I've got a work-in-progress that is going well, and an idea for one after that. I don't ascribe to the edict of write-write-write-write. My brain isn't quite awake enough for that yet this morning and I'm not willing to write garbage only to delete it later. 

A couple of months ago, a comment was made to me and I don't remember if it was on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter). I don't remember who made it, either. Anyway, the comment was that doing promo on Facebook groups and X was a waste of time. Well, maybe. 

The thing is, besides the obvious that it's my time, doing a bit of promo in the Facebook groups is something I can do while I finish my coffee. It's also something I can do when I need to take a break from writing to ponder a plot point. It's something I can do when I need to take a break from an outside project, be it to warm up or cool off. 

I'm not sure why this other author felt the need to...what? Criticize? Chastise? Advise? It doesn't matter. Doing promo this way is just how I work and it's fine for me to do it this way. It beats sitting and mindlessly staring into space while I warm up from being outside, or finish my morning coffee. So that's the way it is in my world.  

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, m/m romance, Kindle romance, LGBT gay romance, sexy men, social media, promotions, writers on writing, a writer's life, rural living

You're on candid trail cam!

December 6, 2023

Yesterday I posted over at Holly Tree Manor, showing a picture of me captured by one of the trail cams. I was asked to share it here, too, since as the post says, it's proof I'm not an AI creation. 

See the post at HTM here

_*_*_*_*_*_

It's always a good thing if you can laugh at yourself, or at least shake your head and mutter. 

The weather today left a lot to be desired. Gray skies, dreary. A definite winter bite in the breeze. It was a good day to pull a heavy sweatshirt out of the drawer and layer it with a turtleneck. 

Can you even buy a turtleneck these days? 

If you needed positive proof The Lady of the Manor exists, here it is. I have several trail cams now and it's difficult to walk around the yard and not trip one of them. 

Those windows you see in the background are the windows in my sunroom office. I was peacefully working at the computer when I heard a ruckus over my left shoulder. Of course, it was Loki. He'd chased a squirrel over the woodpile and somehow managed to catch it. I went out and convinced him to let the poor squirrel go. It scurried off, I'm happy to report. 

So there you have it. The fingers that pound on the keyboard are really attached to a person and not to some AI-generated fake. 

And the sweatshirt? Yep. It's an old one from the 1990s. It's got Terry LaBonte's #5 racecar on it. It's warm, too!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, mm romance, LGBT gay author, Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Terry LaBonte, rural living, bad cats, country lifestyle, firewood, sunroom, squirrels, trail cams

Did a year make a difference?

 

December 1, 2023

Today marks the end of my .com website. Did I want to give it up? NO. I did not want to let it go. I still own the .com, but I'm not going to continue to pay for web hosting on a platform I can't work with. I said I was throwing in the towel on it a year ago, but damn it. I really hated to give up. What made the final decision was the way they kept changing everything in the background. Change for the sake of change. 

I started with a website way back in 2004 through Yahoo web hosting. Oh, my god, was it easy! All work was done offline, then once you had a page the way you wanted it, you clicked "publish" and away it went. And it was affordable, too. Having a .com website used to send the message you were serious about being a writer. 

In this economy, that mindset is tough on a lot of newbies with talent and no money. 

So here I am today with all my information at Between the Keys. I want a proper .com website and that means I need to get off my arse and figure it out. One big drawback is I don't want to work online. I'm slow. I tweak a lot. I'm visual so I need to see what it looks like every step of the way. 

The difficulties I've had learning new software figure into my deliberations about the future. I've been asking myself if it's time to retire from writing the same way I retired from the day job. I don't have a definitive answer. 

Blogger is, for me, an easy platform to work with. Right from the start, I had it down pat. Pick a template, pick a background, set margins, and add content. I know, I know. It's working online, but Blogger works. When I click "publish," it does. And I've had Between the Keys long enough that it looks a little different from a lot of other sites. 

Maybe 2024 will be the year I figure out where to host the .com. Or maybe I'll just wait it out on Blogger. More likely, I need to stop obsessing about it. 

 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, writing, websites, m/m romance, LGBT gay romance, kindle romance, rural living, Between the Keys, history, platform websites

Christmas-themed stories

November 30, 2023

It's the time of year when Christmas-themed stories flood the romance market. I went looking for a new read last evening and my search for "contemporary gay romance" yielded two pages of nothing but holiday stories.  Don't get me wrong, some of them are really good. Then again, some of them are not. I've read a few that I sensed were rushed through to meet a holiday deadline. That's the very reason I haven't done one. I don't want to rush it, yet if the season isn't upon us, I don't have the connection I need to the story. 

Then there is the possibility of such a book having a very limited shelf life. Would one leave the book on sale for the entire year, or pull it at the end of December and then re-publish it the next mid-November? 

So much of this time of the year is like that - limited shelf life. I debated about sending Christmas cards this year and decided to simply cut back and send only to those who, like me, still embrace the tradition. But as much as I like the tradition, it may be time for me to let go of it. Prices have increased. Postage has increased. The cards themselves become landfill fodder.

I am in no way saying holiday-themed stories are bad. I'm not saying we should avoid buying and reading them. I'm saying as writers, we need to make sure our Christmas stories have substance, that we don't rush to finish them. We need to assign the same worth to a holiday story as we do all of our stories. Chopping off the story in the middle of chapter three because we MUST get the book out doesn't help us in the long run. Readers are savvy. They can tell. 

Do yourself a favor and make sure your Christmas-themed story has a good shelf life. It's fine to start it this season while you've got the holiday spirit, and not have it published until next season. You owe it to yourself to create a story that will last for many holidays to come. 

 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, Christmas romance, contemporary gay romance, writers on writing, LGBT gay, m/m romance, Christmas cards, rural living, a writer's life, country lifestyle, Between the Keys, writing commentary

Shine a Light and Sumner's Garden

November 26, 2023

It's a bit chilly here today, too cold to do much work outside, so it's the perfect day to play with Photoshop.  

I've run the Facebook groups on both Shine A Light and Sumner's Garden separately, but I'd like to do a combo. The promo card is finished now I need to figure out a good promo "blurb." 

I guess it turned out okay. I like it and that's what matters.

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC KendricksMy home on the web- Between the Keys:  http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at:  https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks facebook.com/kckendricks

 

KC Kendricks, Shine A Light, Sumner's Garden, m/m romance, contemporary gay romance, GLBT gay romance, romance books for Kindle, Kindle romance, fun with Photoshop, book promo, Between the Keys, a writer's life

The screen cap says it all

November 24, 2023

Earlier this year I wrote about doing Facebook promotions and how my spreadsheet was important to keeping me on track. It may seem like a lot of work, but one of the benefits is knowing when to abandon a group. 

This section of information tracks a group I just gave up on today. Being slow to review an entry is one thing. Not posting it at all is something else. And then there are the vanishing posts. 

The main reason I track every time I post a promo is so I don't post the same thing in the same group over and over and over. I see that a lot, and I long ago decided I'd not do it. The spreadsheet also tells me what books I've been ignoring, mostly because I haven't made one of those little promo cards for it. I can make a card and get on the ball. 

Keeping the spreadsheet is definitely worth the effort. I think it's important to note which groups are friendly, which are starting to get spammy, and which one need to be "retired." In the long run, it will save me a lot of time and aggravation, and that's always a win. 

 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, book promotion, m/m romance, GLBT gay romance for Kindle, Between the Keys, tracking, writing business, time savers, spreadsheets

Thanksgiving 2023

November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! Today those of us in the United States stop to reflect upon and celebrate those things we are thankful for. Different countries and traditions have their day of thanksgiving at different times throughout the year, but today is our turn. 

Thanksgiving was a day when my family gathered for a meal, and after the meal, my parents would visit the "other side" of the family. Then, if I was lucky, I'd have some phone time with friends and/or cousins until Dad got tired of my teenage chatter. Back in the day, there was only one phone in the house, and even with a long cord that reached the stairs, he could hear me laughing and that intruded on the football game. 

Years have passed and all that remains of those days are memories. I doubt I'm unique in finding myself cooking a traditional dinner for just two. Far too many cook for one, or don't even bother cooking at all. 

I'm grateful I have the resources to cook the traditional turkey dinner. It's not an onerous chore to me. Instead, it's creating freedom for the next several days and beyond. There may be just the two of us, but I roast a larger bird and we have turkey this and turkey that until Sunday. I make turkey broth for soups and freeze baggies of dark and white meat for baked meat pies. Cooking today makes cooking ten to twelve future meals over the winter months very easy. 

What else am I grateful for? My health, my spouse and family, my home, my friends, and Deuce & Loki. I'm blessed with three beautiful acres of ground to call home. I'm blessed with the opportunity to observe wildlife in my own backyard. 

Troubled times are upon us, yet let us all be thankful. Let's switch off the gloom and doom for a day and live simply, in gratitude, Who knows? Everyone putting some positivity out into the ether might have some lasting effects! 

Psalm 100 (KJV)
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC KendricksMy home on the web- Between the Keys:  http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at:  https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, Thanksgiving 2023, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, gay Kindle books, GLBT gay romance, a writer's life, rural living, roasting turkey, gratitude

Sumner's Garden is now on sale

 November 19, 2023
Sumner's Garden is now available! This is a story I wanted to write for a long time, but as they say, timing is everything. I finally had the time to pull all the bits and pieces together and tell Andy's story. 
Sumner's Garden gets its start in Shine A Light, where our main character, Van, stars in a theater production of a play called Sumner's Garden. I knew when I wrote Shine A Light that some day I'd write the story. 
I hope readers enjoy it, but even if they don't, my satisfaction was in writing it.
KC
_*_*_*_*_*_
Runaway. Drifter. Andy Pulaski made choices.

Fate can rule with a gentle hand, and one bright summer dayshe deposited Andy Pulaski in Sumnerville. Needing to work to earn enoughmoney to get to the next stop in his journey, Andy hires on with Tom Sumner tohelp the older man on his homestead. Andy may be a drifter, but he’s frequentedpublic libraries and educated himself. He looks at every stop he makes as an opportunity to learn. Things are looking up and Andy may staylonger than the agreed two weeks.

Rafe Sumner isn’t too happy about his Uncle Tom hiring a scruffydrifter. He’s been Tom’s helper all his life even if he doesn’t always seeeye-to-eye with his uncle. He doesn’t get along with his mother, either. Heknows his father’s last name wasn’t Sumner and he knows the truth is out theresomewhere. He just can’t find it.

Andy and Rafe develop a grudging respect for each otherwhile working for Tom. It could be that what they’re seeking is right in frontof them. All they have to do is look beyond what happens between them at night.
 

AN EXCERPT FROM SUMNER'S GARDEN

Rafe settled his lips over mine inan almost chaste kiss. It registered in my stunned brain how warm and soft theywere before I fully processed what he’d done. He pulled back and smiled at me.

“I can get the tractor in prettyfar. Ground’s solid right now. We can do this.”

I blinked at him, brain fogged.“We, um, can do what?”

The little smile morphed into ahuge grin. “I’m talking about reclaiming the pond. Do you have some otheractivity in mind?”

I snapped out of the surprisedhaze I’d spiraled into. “Nope.” I held up my index finger and pointed itstraight at his nose. “Don’t ever do that again, Rafe. I’m not some amusementyou can play with for the summer.”

He grabbed my hand and held on,squeezing my finger tightly enough I couldn’t pull away. “I know you’re not sotake a chill pill.” He released my hand and walked past me. “C’mon. Let’s gosee what Tom thinks of your idea.”

Scurrying to catch up, I fell intostep with him. “Maybe we should wait until we get his garden situated. That’shis priority right now. Let’s slow down and think this through. Make a plan.”

Rafe stopped and met my gaze. Yeah,that man wanted to make a plan, but not the one I was talking about. His smokygaze traveled from my eyes to my knees and back up to my eyes. He didn’t needto speak for me to know exactly what he was thinking. Then he switched off thatman-on-the-prowl look and grinned at me.

“Okay. You’re on to somethingthere. He might get pissed if he thinks we’re going to slack off the importantstuff.” He checked his watch. “If we hustle, we can get the other three raisedbeds put together before supper. After supper, we can brainstorm.” He leaned inclose. “And maybe you’ll let me kiss you for real tonight.”

Privately, I might – might – givehim points for being a persistent fellow, but I’d never confess that to anyone.I took a long step back to put some distance between us. “No. I’m not available,Rafe. I’m asking you to respect that.”

“Tom’s watching us. Let’s go seewhat he needs.”

Oh, great. Had he seen Rafe kissme? I didn’t want to discuss it. If cornered, it might slip out that I wasn’toffended in the least and, truthfully, wouldn’t mind if it happened again.

What the hell was wrong with me? Iwas in a safe place here. I’d work hard, sure, but this was also a place for meto rest for the next little while. I didn’t want to screw it up with sex. Nordid I want Rafe to discover I found him…interesting.

Tom called out to us as he turnedto walk away. “Come up on breezeway, boys.”

“Where else were we going to go,old man?”

Jeez. Rafe’s mouth was going toget him in hot water. The next thing Tom did might be worse than the coffeecaper.

“You boys are fixing supper whileI rest a spell.” Tom paused. “Before you do, you two bring the old chair outhere for me.”

Rafe nodded, and I followed himinside to the living room. The room was comfortable, and decorated in warmtones of red, brown, and cream. A fieldstone fireplace dominated the room, butI thought it was great. Most of the furniture was in good shape but stashed inthe corner was a very old, very tattered navy blue recliner on wheels. Rafepointed at it.

“He puts that on the breezewayevery summer. I don’t know how old it is, but he won’t part with it. Says it’sfine for outside.”

I stepped behind it and started topush it while Rafe guided it around the other furniture. Tom snickered at uswhen we had to turn it onto its side to maneuver it through the door.

“Boys, I got that inside all by mylonesome last fall.”

We flipped it back up onto itswheels. Rafe dusted off his hands. “Sure, you did, old man. What are we cookingtonight?”

Tom dropped onto his chair with asatisfied sigh. “Cook’s choice, boys. Rafe, you go find something in thefreezer whilst I have a word with Andy. Go on, with you.” He waved Rafe away.

I was surprised Rafe turned andwalked meekly away, and not very happy he’d left me to face Tom alone. I fearedTom was going to tell me there was to be no hanky-panky with Rafe.

That thought should not havebothered me and it bothered me that it did.

Tom motioned at one of the deckchairs, so I sat and waited for him to speak. It didn’t take him long.

“Andy, I’ll get straight to it. Isaw my nephew kiss you and I saw you backed away from him. Now, you’re both allgrown up and what the two of you may or may not get up to at night in the barnis your business. Makes no difference to me if you do or don’t. What I want toknow is do I need to tell Rafe to let you alone?”

The sincerity in Tom’s voicetouched me deeply. We were virtual strangers and yet he cared enough to offerto advocate for me. It was a gift I didn’t feel worthy of receiving. I shook myhead.

“No, sir. I’ve handled men worse than Rafe.”

SUMNER'S GARDEN
Available at
Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN3JK29LAmazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN3JK29LAmazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN3JK29LAmazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN3JK29L
Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sumners-garden-kc-kendricks/1144352876

iTunes/Apple https://books.apple.com/us/book/sumners-garden/id6471901783
Rakuten Kobo  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sumner-s-garden
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1478675

Universal link to additional booksellers https://books2read.com/u/4E8y6Y

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC KendricksMy home on the web- Between the Keys:  http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at:  https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce:  deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor:  hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks facebook.com/kckendricks


KC Kendricks, Sumner's Garden, m/m gay romance, Shine A Light, glbt romance, contemporary gay romance, gay romance novels for Kindle