Another Excerpt

Here is another excerpt from my upcoming novel, Oleanders in Alaska. I hope you like it.

What she heard first was the scratching of his key in the lock. He missed frequently and as a result, the golden orb that jutted out from above the door handle on their stained oak front door was badly scratched. He never seemed to be able to fit it in on the first try. On the night of their wedding a similar thing had happened with their honeymoon suite; he had been carrying her in his arms, and set her down gently to open the door. This was not how she imagined it, but it was the modern world, and he couldn't kick the door open when it required an electronic key card. So she stood as romantically as she imagined possible and watched his pitiful efforts to open the door. First he slid the card the wrong way down the slot, and then he did it from bottom to top, and both times the light on the room door flashed orange, until eventually it flashed red.