Book Excerpt

Here's a short, little teaser from my new release, DISTANT FIRE. There's a longer one waiting for you on my blog at http://conniekeenanwriter.blogspot.com

“I listened to ‘If’ the other day. It’s on one of my ’70s CDs.”

A woman had once told him that men weren’t particularly skilled when it came to reading between the lines, but right then, it wasn’t true. He understood what Linda was leaving unsaid. Keeping his eyes on the road as he pulled out of the building development and onto the road, he told her, “I love that song. But it haunted me for a long time.”

“Me, too. I still, to this day, can’t hear it without thinking of you, Drew.”

Glancing at her, he saw her hand and took it with his right hand, continuing to steer with his left. She gave him a cute roll of her eyes before reaching for the radio switch with her free hand.

“Let’s see how these speakers have held up since high school!” she exclaimed.

“New speakers. Those I did replace.”

“Show off!” After a chuckle, she asked, “How many places did you live since we last met, my—Drew?”

My Drew? She’d meant to say something else but stopped herself.

Subconsciously, he squeezed her hand.
“Just that. Nebraska. Florida. Here. I almost went to California, too, but Lana and Rose talked me out of it. They’d hated it when I lived in Nebraska. We hardly got to see each other, and you know we’ve always been close as a family. I thought I just wanted to travel and see the country. The truth was, I didn’t have any roots.”

“That’s what I felt like, too, for a while,” she agreed. “Like I had no roots, either.”

“But you did. You had roots. Besides the Lord, you had your daughter. And you were a great mom, Linda. That kid turned out as good as she did because of you.”

Because it doesn’t sound like her dad was involved at all in her life. Drew casually left that unsaid; it didn’t need saying. It fact, Linda rarely, if ever, brought up her ex-husband’s name. That was fine by him.

He would have been involved in Valerie’s life. Even taking on the role of her stepdad, he would have been involved. Drew had thought about it that week, how he would have gotten a piano for her to replace the one her biological father had given to his son from his second marriage, despite the fact that Linda, when they were married, had him purchase it for the purpose of having Valerie learn to play it. Drew would have saved up or spent a few years paying off a piano that would have belonged to that little girl.

Together, they would have taken vacations to the Jersey shore each summer as a family. He would have coached her Little League games, like he’d done for his niece when she was little. He would have taken Linda and Valerie, and any children he and Linda would have had afterwards, hiking in the autumn and to cut down a Christmas tree when December rolled around each year.
But none of those things had happened, and Valerie was now a young woman. Those were joys and precious times that would never happen now.

“Thank you, baby. That means a lot to me,” she said softly.

Once more he glanced at her. They had come to a traffic light, so he’d slowed the car to a stop.

Baby, not honey. “Honey” could have been applied to her daughter or a coworker or another female friend. “Honey” was a term of endearment, as well, but “baby”?

That was a whole other word, one that carried an intimacy he hadn’t shared with anyone in a long time.