The rain had tapered off by the time Penny dumped the bucket of gross water in the backyard flower bed. She went back into the garage and rinsed the bucket and sponge in the utility sink, but after a whiff of the sponge, she tossed it into the garbage can and put away the bucket and rubber gloves. Leaving all the minivan doors open would allow the upholstery to dry and air out the smells that not even the special enzyme cleaner could eliminate.
Much better odors hit her when she entered the kitchen. Basil and lemon were the strongest. “What are you making?”
Gene smiled at her as he lifted the lid from a steaming saucepan. “Bruschetta chicken, mashed potatoes, and roasted lemon asparagus.”
She pecked him on the lips as she passed him on the way to the kitchen sink. “Bacon or garlic?”
“Plain considering our patient upstairs.” Gene grimaced before he poked at the contents of the pot with a fork. “I hope I don’t get whatever bug she has. I’ve got that presentation at the hospital tomorrow.”
“It’s not like I want it.” She turned on the faucet and adjusted the temperature. “A puking barista isn’t a good way to make sales.”
“I’m sorry you wasted your time off today.”
The quiet in the house finally registered. The family room TV wasn’t blasting at an ear-splitting level. “Where’s your dad?”
“He ran into Aunt Doris’s roommate from college. A lady named Marian.” Gene grinned. “Doris had tried to set up the two of them, but the timing was never right. So they were going out to dinner and then to the Casablanca re-release at the Bijou.”
“That’s great!” Penny meant it, too. Edward needed someone his own age to hang out with, instead of wallowing over the death of Judy. It had been nearly two years since her mother-in-law had passed away. Edward had withdrawn from everyone. His severe depression had worried both her and Gene.
“It’ll us a little private time. Gene laid down the fork, started to reach for her, and stopped. “Penny, not to risk our marriage, but would you please go take a shower? You’ve got vomit in your hair.”
She reached for the section of her auburn tresses he stared at. Goo met her fingertips. Nausea filled her throat. She turned off the kitchen faucet. “I think I’ll go wash my hair and take a shower.”
* * *
A half hour later, Penny’s clean, damp hair was clipped up and out of her face, and she dressed in sweat pants, a sweat shirt, and her wool-lined leather slippers. She shuffled to Justine’s room and eased the door open. Her daughter snuggled under her lilac comforter, bright red curls spread on her pillow. One hand poked from under the covers to clutch Mr. Roosevelt. The poor kid must really feel rough to allow her favorite teddy bear back in her bed.
Gene left a lined trash can by the bed in case Justine couldn’t make it to the bathroom. Her soccer ball night light was plugged into the nearly outlet. A cup with a sip lid sat on the night stand. Good, the kid had water if she needed it.
Penny closed the door and headed downstairs. Her headache had eased with the hot shower, but it was still there. She hoped it wasn’t a harbinger of whatever bug Justine had picked up.
She frowned as she walked down the hallway. The lights from the kitchen were terribly dim. She looked over her shoulder. The storm hadn’t knocked out the power. The porch light still glowed through the stained glass framing the front door.
Upon entering the kitchen, she found two slim white tapers sitting in the candlesticks she’d bought on their honeymoon. Flames burned steadily from their wicks. Gene glanced at her as he poured chardonnay into a wine glass.
“I kept everything warm until I heard the shower turn off.” He handed her the glass and started poring wine into the second glass. “How’s Justine?”
“Out cold.” Penny smiled. “While I don’t wish ill on our one and only offspring, I’m thankful for a quiet evening.”
“Something happen?”
“Just the usual.” The tension in her shoulders ratcheted up a notch despite her hot shower. “Everything I do is wrong.”
“Sweetie, you can’t take everything Justine says and does personally.” Gene set aside his glass and pulled her into his arms. “Puberty literally drives preteens crazy. All these new feelings. Concerns about fitting in—”
Penny laughed and set her glass on the table. “I don’t need you to shrink me. I need my husband.”
“Your husband would tell you the same thing.” He kissed her forehead.
“Let me amend that.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I need my husband to let me bitch. I’m not asking for you to fix my problems.”
“Well, that’s definitely a switch from my patients.” Gene’s wry smile said he’d had a tough day, too. “While we eat, you can complain, and I will let you.”
“It’s a deal.”
* * *
The next morning Gene insisted Justine stay home from school, just in case. Even though he was following the district guidelines for ill kids, it made him the cool parent. Plus, he made arrangements to do his presentation from home so he could keep an eye on Justine.
Penny swallowed her resentment on the drive to her coffee shop. Java’s Palace was her baby. Opening her own business was the only way she was going to break the glass. But everyone had expected her to give it up when she married Gene.
Everyone except Gene himself.
He loved her and would do anything for her. Including giving her the space to run her coffee shop. Reminding herself of that essential fact eased some of the tightness in her chest as she pulled into the Java’s Palace parking lot.
There was already a line for the drive-thru window wrapped around the back of the building. Valerie Simmons, her assistant manager, had volunteered to open during the school year after Justine’s horrendous time in kindergarten. The woman had been a godsend.
Penny opened the door of her minivan, and a blast of freezing air took her breath away despite her insulated coat. The weather report wasn’t joking about the drop in temperature once the rain front passed through the area. She ran to the main entrance and was met with warmth and the delicious aroma of fresh coffee beans.
The line of customers inside the store matched the line of cars in the drive-thru. With a quick nod to Valerie, Penny strode back to the shop’s office, pulling off her coat as she went. After locking her coat and purse in her cubby, she donned her apron and charged back to the counter.
“Valerie, you take orders,” Penny said briskly. “Josie, why don’t you warm and bag sandwiches and pastries?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Josie said with a grateful smile. The college student looked frazzled, and it wasn’t just her blue curls hanging limply from the heat and humidity of the milk steamer.
Penny slid into action behind the commercial espresso machines while Josie manned the industrial toaster, and Valerie rang up customers and poured regular coffee from one of the three pots on the back counter.
As they worked, Penny talked with her regular patrons about the latest community gossip like the need for a new fire engine and the developer who had been buying several vacant parcels of land around town. Or she did until she heard Courtney Lasser’s fake dulcet tones.
“I’ll have a non-fat, soy milk, sugar-free caramel macchiato.” Courtney turned to Penny. “We need to have a conversation, Ms. Hudson.”
“Really?” Penny returned the faux brightness as Valerie handed her the marked paper coffee cup. “I thought things were settled between Justine and Kenny. She apologized and the coach benched—”
“Penny, you know it’s against the rules of the Oakfield Soccer League for an outside vendor to sell their wares without the board’s permission,” Courtney said with a sickly sweet smile while Penny squirted sugar-free vanilla syrup in the cup.
That smile was so sickly sweet she wanted to smack it off Courtney Lasser’s botoxed face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Penny pressed the button to grind fresh beans when Courtney opened her mouth to reply. Her lips formed a moue of distaste at the clatter and whine of the grinder.
Unfortunately, the grinder stopped too soon for Penny’s taste and she pressed the button for the espresso to brew.
“Helen saw you bring in coffee to sell yesterday,” Courtney continued. “I’ll have to ban you—”
“I didn’t sell anything at the soccer field yesterday, much less coffee.” Penny poured the steamed milk in Courtney’s cup while she spoke.
“Just because your friends pay you ahead of time doesn’t mean you can skirt the rules, Penny.”
The headache from yesterday roosted behind Penny’s eyeballs with a vengeance. She dumped the espresso in the middle of the milk foam. “No one paid me for the coffee I brought to the game.” She picked up the caramel bottle, and somehow, she resisted the urge to squirt the contents all over Courtney’s expensive highlights.
“Every other parent brings drinks to the field.” Penny couldn’t stop the contempt dripping from her words. “Why? Neither you or Helen or any other of your perfect moms knows how to brew a decent cup of coffee because you all have your housekeepers do it at home or you come here. So, if you ban me from bringing drinks, you’re going to have to ban everyone, and you won’t be able to be handle the caffeine-deprived hate.”
Courtney stared at her with the same expression of open-mouthed shock as a fish at the Chicago Aquarium had when Justine was five. On the other hand, Valerie tried to stifle a snicker.
Penny drizzled caramel on the milk foam. She popped on the top and slid on the coffee cup sleeve. “Have a great day!” She held out the cup to Courtney with a bright smile.
Courtney’s jaw shut with the distinct click of her bleached teeth. She grabbed the cup out of Penny’s hand and stomped out of the shop on her ridiculously high heels.
Valerie leaned close though there were no more customers in line. “I saw what you wrote with the caramel.”
“You think she’s going to take the lid off?”
“The rest of the staff looks up to you, girl,” Valerie said with a nod at Josie who was refilling the pastry display. “You shouldn’t be writing insults on customer’s coffee.”
“Yes, Miss Valerie.”
“Don’t sass me.” Valerie rolled her eyes. “I’d quit if I didn’t need the health insurance.”
“Nah, you love me too much.” Penny hugged the woman. But Valerie was right. If she expected her employees to treat the customers with respect, she couldn’t be writing “Bitch” on anyone’s coffee.
Even if it was Courtney Lasser.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice - Chapter 1
Here's a little taste of a series I conceived in the student pickup line when Genius Kid was a sophomore in high school. Now he's an Army specialist with a little one of his own on the way.
So yeah, this has been sitting on my laptop for a while.
---------------------------
Penny Hudson guided her white minivan into one of the five free parking slots in the Oakfield Recreational Center, trying to ignore the slight pain right behind her eye sockets that had been plaguing her since yesterday afternoon. The trees around the soccer fields had turned from green to gold and orange since last week’s games. Brilliant leaves gleamed against the dark clouds to the west. The falling barometric pressure from the incoming weather front was probably the cause of her headache.
It would be a race between the soccer teams finishing the last round of games for Saturday afternoon and the storm threatening to put an end to park’s activities. No sooner had she put the transmission into park, her daughter Justine yanked the back door of the vehicle open, jumped out, and raced up the sidewalk toward the park gate.
And left the dang van door wide open.
“Puberty, thou art a heartless bitch,” Penny muttered under her breath. Their relationship seemed to disintegrate when Justine turned twelve this summer. The last thing she needed was a major mother-daughter meltdown in front of the other snooty parents and the resulting clucks and advice.
Francine was the only stay-at-home mom who would acknowledged Penny, Wila, and Dani. Her daughter Brittany was a better player than Courtney Lasser’s son, and Courtney ruled the parents of the Oakfield Soccer League with the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.
Which meant Francine was persona non grata with the other moms, so she hung out with the other three outcasts.
The crisp fall air and the scent of burning leaves mixed with aromas of the four coffees in the drink carrier sitting on the front passenger seat. Children’s shouts and cheers followed on the wind. She stabbed the button to close the back door. Thank goodness, she managed to talk Gene into the top package with the power doors when they bought the van. Otherwise, she might be tempted to slam the head of their oldest child in the manual doors of her old mini ute.
Penny tucked her purse under the driver seat and collected the drink carrier. With the chill wind and the overcast sky, she was glad she remembered her sweatshirt. She pressed the locking button on her fob. The minivan beeped, its lights flashed, and she shoved the fob into her front jeans pocket.
A brand-new minivan, one she didn’t recognize, was parked near the entrance to the stands. She felt a little sorry for the owner. Courtney and the rest of her stuck-up crew would definitely mock the puke green color. She started to pass it when she spotted the gold Saint Christopher medallion hanging from the rearview mirror.
And the dark-haired woman with her head leaning against the steering wheel.
Penny walked around the van and knocked on the driver side window. Dani Elante jerked her head up and wildly looked around. Penny stepped back as her friend popped open the door.
“You okay?” Penny handed the Valencia double mocha from her coffee shop to Dani.
She took a deep breath of the steam that wisped from her cup. “Yeah. Nothing military school wouldn’t fix.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Puberty. God’s punishment for one night of fun. If it makes you feel better, Justine began breakfast with the announcement that I needed to start buying her tampons.”
“In front of Gene’s dad?”
“Yep.” They started walking toward the aluminum torture devices the Oakfield Park Service referred to as audience stands. “I then got a lecture from Edward about how it would be my fault if Justine got knocked up before she graduated because I was too permissive with my hippy lifestyle.”
Dani laughed. “But you’re the epitome of capitalism.”
“But according to him, I’m un-American for dressing of a plain cup of joe.” Penny chuckled along with her friend.
Brown and yellow leaves crunched beneath their feet as they walked up the sidewalk to the entrance. They both paid the token one dollar to enter the gate. Courtney’s second in command Helen Chow made a point of glaring at their cups from Penny’s coffee shop while she took their cash, so they made an equal point of ignoring her. A bottle of antacid couldn’t redeem the burnt sludge served at the league’s refreshment stand.
Penny climbed behind Dani to the top of the stands where Wila Ardale had claimed their usual spot. “I see you joined the minivan brigade.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Dani grumbled.
Penny snorted as she handed Wila her white chocolate mocha. “Yes, you did. Chuck was being a cheap ass, and you should have called him on it.”
Dani bristled at the criticism of her father. “It’s temporary vehicle until I can save up for another pickup.”
Penny tilted her head. “His idea of temporary involved you working at the insurance company.”
Danielle winced at that remark. “Marty needs the help.”
Penny snorted a second time. “And every time you try to quit to finish your degree, your dad lays a million reasons on you not to leave, and your brother gives you a raise. When are you going to start living your own life?”
“I like working there.” Dani’s statement sounded half-hearted. “Besides you’re the one saying I didn’t do my fair share of carpooling, so a minivan makes sense.”
“At least mine’s not vomit green,” Penny mumbled into her cup.
Wila leaned over and gave Danielle a knowing wink. “Don’t let her rattle your cage. She’s just saying that because she keeps losing her minivan in the sea of white ones at the mall.”
Penny scowled at Wila. “At least I don’t need to make a spectacle of myself with that bright red atrocity you choose.”
Danielle sighed. “I miss my pick-up.”
“You’re damn lucky that drunk driver didn’t kill you. A truck can be replaced.” Penny took another sip of her coffee. “But you and Mark can’t.” She immediately regretted her words at Dani’s bleak expression. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
Dani waved her free hand and sniffed back the threatening tears. “It’s not like I haven’t been thinking the same thing. Wila can tell you what a mess I was at the scene.”
“Actually, I was more worried Sergeant Park would end up arresting you for murder the way you were beating on the driver.” Wila peered over her shoulder at Dani’s new minivan and chuckled. “Let me guess. Chuck took the best deal on the lot.”
Penny was thankful for the sort-of change of subject. She’d first met Dani shortly after her husband Heath had been killed by another drunk driver. Dani had sat in Penny’s café, staring blankly at the wall while her plain black coffee grew cold. The two women had bonded while Dani tried to put her life back together.
Francine Coy-Astin plopped down next to Dani. “Neal told him he could order a pick-up in whatever color you guys wanted.” Her hot pink manicure contrasted with the olive green liquid in her reusable drink bottle. She must still be on her juicing cleanse.
Penny handed Francine her double French vanilla espresso. She popped off the lid of the coffee cup, unscrewed the cap on her juice, and poured the espresso into the juice.
“Why can’t you drink coffee like a normal person?” Penny said as Francine screwed the cap back on and shook her bottle to mix the contents.
“Because I care about my health and my family’s health.” She took a drink of her noxious-looking mixture. “It’s why none of my family caught that crud you brought back from Florida.”
“Yeah.” Penny rolled her eyes. “I specifically brought back the plague just to infect the entire town.”
She sipped her pumpkin spice latte. The caffeine helped her headache, but the wind picked up, driving dead leaves across the field and sucking away the warmth she got from the hot milk and coffee. The coaches gathered their teams for their pre-game huddle. Justine’s face puckered into a pout when Coach Cordero named the starters who ran out to take their positions.
Justine stomped back to the bench and dropped on it dramatically. At least, the coach had called and discussed the fight between her daughter and Kenny Lasser. Cordero said he would have benched Justine for taunting Kenny at Thursday’s practice regardless of any threats from Courtney. He refused to reward poor player behavior. His even-handedness when it came to the players was one of the reasons Penny loved him as a coach.
The referee placed the ball on the field between the two teams and raised his whistle to his lips. A horrendous boom behind Penny drowned out the referee and his whistle.
Everyone looked behind the bleachers in time to see a jagged fork of lightning split the boiling black clouds rushing in from the west. So much for beating the storm. Another crack of thunder pierced Penny’s ears. Both the refs and the coaches starting blowing their whistles and yelling for everybody to clear the fields.
Francine rolled her eyes. “And I skipped hot yoga for this.”
“If you want to stay up in these aluminum stands and be electrocuted, fine!” Wila stood. “But get your scrawny ass out of my fu—” The rest of her insult was drowned by another crack of thunder.
A blast of cold wind with even colder splatters of rain obviously changed Francine’s mind. She jumped up and headed down the steps. Heaven forbid the weather ruined her perfectly highlighted blond coif.
Dani hung on to her coffee for dear life as she scrambled down as well. Penny followed, praying the rain didn’t cut loose. The last thing she needed was to slip on wet aluminum, tumble down the bleachers, and break her neck. She stepped onto the concrete, and heavier drops splashed on the slab that anchored the metal.
“Come on, Mom,” Justine yelled. She took off for their vehicle, not pausing to make sure Penny followed, Dani’s son Mark right behind her.
“Nice to know they’re concerned about our welfare,” Dani muttered.
Penny held up her keys and jangled them. “But it’s not like they can get in without us.” They laughed and jogged after the kids.
“See you at girls’ night!” Wila waved before heading in the direction of her painfully bright red ride with her son Derek.
Francine said nothing. She was too focused on grabbing Brittany and racing for their own vehicle.
Justine shrieked as the heavy drops turned into a deluge and yanked futilely at the back door latch. On the run herself, Penny hit the button on her key fob to unlock her minivan’s doors. They were both soaked to the skin when they dove into the van.
“This just sucks!” Justine leaned over the center console to shout in Penny’s ear. “Look at my hair! I spent an hour straightening it, and now, it’s going to frizz!”
Penny rubbed her temples with her fingertips. The slight headache she’d chalked up to the incoming storm grew worse. “Please don’t yell at me.” “I’m yelling because-because-b—” Justine jerked back. “Oh, my god! Get the door open! I’m gonna be—”
Penny’s fingers couldn’t move fast enough. Despite Justine’s effort to turn aside, vomit shot all over the minivan’s center console and the right sleeve of Penny’s sweatshirt.
Including the cup holding her unfinished pumpkin spice latte in the minivan’s cup holder.
So yeah, this has been sitting on my laptop for a while.
---------------------------
Penny Hudson guided her white minivan into one of the five free parking slots in the Oakfield Recreational Center, trying to ignore the slight pain right behind her eye sockets that had been plaguing her since yesterday afternoon. The trees around the soccer fields had turned from green to gold and orange since last week’s games. Brilliant leaves gleamed against the dark clouds to the west. The falling barometric pressure from the incoming weather front was probably the cause of her headache.
It would be a race between the soccer teams finishing the last round of games for Saturday afternoon and the storm threatening to put an end to park’s activities. No sooner had she put the transmission into park, her daughter Justine yanked the back door of the vehicle open, jumped out, and raced up the sidewalk toward the park gate.
And left the dang van door wide open.
“Puberty, thou art a heartless bitch,” Penny muttered under her breath. Their relationship seemed to disintegrate when Justine turned twelve this summer. The last thing she needed was a major mother-daughter meltdown in front of the other snooty parents and the resulting clucks and advice.
Francine was the only stay-at-home mom who would acknowledged Penny, Wila, and Dani. Her daughter Brittany was a better player than Courtney Lasser’s son, and Courtney ruled the parents of the Oakfield Soccer League with the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.
Which meant Francine was persona non grata with the other moms, so she hung out with the other three outcasts.
The crisp fall air and the scent of burning leaves mixed with aromas of the four coffees in the drink carrier sitting on the front passenger seat. Children’s shouts and cheers followed on the wind. She stabbed the button to close the back door. Thank goodness, she managed to talk Gene into the top package with the power doors when they bought the van. Otherwise, she might be tempted to slam the head of their oldest child in the manual doors of her old mini ute.
Penny tucked her purse under the driver seat and collected the drink carrier. With the chill wind and the overcast sky, she was glad she remembered her sweatshirt. She pressed the locking button on her fob. The minivan beeped, its lights flashed, and she shoved the fob into her front jeans pocket.
A brand-new minivan, one she didn’t recognize, was parked near the entrance to the stands. She felt a little sorry for the owner. Courtney and the rest of her stuck-up crew would definitely mock the puke green color. She started to pass it when she spotted the gold Saint Christopher medallion hanging from the rearview mirror.
And the dark-haired woman with her head leaning against the steering wheel.
Penny walked around the van and knocked on the driver side window. Dani Elante jerked her head up and wildly looked around. Penny stepped back as her friend popped open the door.
“You okay?” Penny handed the Valencia double mocha from her coffee shop to Dani.
She took a deep breath of the steam that wisped from her cup. “Yeah. Nothing military school wouldn’t fix.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Puberty. God’s punishment for one night of fun. If it makes you feel better, Justine began breakfast with the announcement that I needed to start buying her tampons.”
“In front of Gene’s dad?”
“Yep.” They started walking toward the aluminum torture devices the Oakfield Park Service referred to as audience stands. “I then got a lecture from Edward about how it would be my fault if Justine got knocked up before she graduated because I was too permissive with my hippy lifestyle.”
Dani laughed. “But you’re the epitome of capitalism.”
“But according to him, I’m un-American for dressing of a plain cup of joe.” Penny chuckled along with her friend.
Brown and yellow leaves crunched beneath their feet as they walked up the sidewalk to the entrance. They both paid the token one dollar to enter the gate. Courtney’s second in command Helen Chow made a point of glaring at their cups from Penny’s coffee shop while she took their cash, so they made an equal point of ignoring her. A bottle of antacid couldn’t redeem the burnt sludge served at the league’s refreshment stand.
Penny climbed behind Dani to the top of the stands where Wila Ardale had claimed their usual spot. “I see you joined the minivan brigade.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Dani grumbled.
Penny snorted as she handed Wila her white chocolate mocha. “Yes, you did. Chuck was being a cheap ass, and you should have called him on it.”
Dani bristled at the criticism of her father. “It’s temporary vehicle until I can save up for another pickup.”
Penny tilted her head. “His idea of temporary involved you working at the insurance company.”
Danielle winced at that remark. “Marty needs the help.”
Penny snorted a second time. “And every time you try to quit to finish your degree, your dad lays a million reasons on you not to leave, and your brother gives you a raise. When are you going to start living your own life?”
“I like working there.” Dani’s statement sounded half-hearted. “Besides you’re the one saying I didn’t do my fair share of carpooling, so a minivan makes sense.”
“At least mine’s not vomit green,” Penny mumbled into her cup.
Wila leaned over and gave Danielle a knowing wink. “Don’t let her rattle your cage. She’s just saying that because she keeps losing her minivan in the sea of white ones at the mall.”
Penny scowled at Wila. “At least I don’t need to make a spectacle of myself with that bright red atrocity you choose.”
Danielle sighed. “I miss my pick-up.”
“You’re damn lucky that drunk driver didn’t kill you. A truck can be replaced.” Penny took another sip of her coffee. “But you and Mark can’t.” She immediately regretted her words at Dani’s bleak expression. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
Dani waved her free hand and sniffed back the threatening tears. “It’s not like I haven’t been thinking the same thing. Wila can tell you what a mess I was at the scene.”
“Actually, I was more worried Sergeant Park would end up arresting you for murder the way you were beating on the driver.” Wila peered over her shoulder at Dani’s new minivan and chuckled. “Let me guess. Chuck took the best deal on the lot.”
Penny was thankful for the sort-of change of subject. She’d first met Dani shortly after her husband Heath had been killed by another drunk driver. Dani had sat in Penny’s café, staring blankly at the wall while her plain black coffee grew cold. The two women had bonded while Dani tried to put her life back together.
Francine Coy-Astin plopped down next to Dani. “Neal told him he could order a pick-up in whatever color you guys wanted.” Her hot pink manicure contrasted with the olive green liquid in her reusable drink bottle. She must still be on her juicing cleanse.
Penny handed Francine her double French vanilla espresso. She popped off the lid of the coffee cup, unscrewed the cap on her juice, and poured the espresso into the juice.
“Why can’t you drink coffee like a normal person?” Penny said as Francine screwed the cap back on and shook her bottle to mix the contents.
“Because I care about my health and my family’s health.” She took a drink of her noxious-looking mixture. “It’s why none of my family caught that crud you brought back from Florida.”
“Yeah.” Penny rolled her eyes. “I specifically brought back the plague just to infect the entire town.”
She sipped her pumpkin spice latte. The caffeine helped her headache, but the wind picked up, driving dead leaves across the field and sucking away the warmth she got from the hot milk and coffee. The coaches gathered their teams for their pre-game huddle. Justine’s face puckered into a pout when Coach Cordero named the starters who ran out to take their positions.
Justine stomped back to the bench and dropped on it dramatically. At least, the coach had called and discussed the fight between her daughter and Kenny Lasser. Cordero said he would have benched Justine for taunting Kenny at Thursday’s practice regardless of any threats from Courtney. He refused to reward poor player behavior. His even-handedness when it came to the players was one of the reasons Penny loved him as a coach.
The referee placed the ball on the field between the two teams and raised his whistle to his lips. A horrendous boom behind Penny drowned out the referee and his whistle.
Everyone looked behind the bleachers in time to see a jagged fork of lightning split the boiling black clouds rushing in from the west. So much for beating the storm. Another crack of thunder pierced Penny’s ears. Both the refs and the coaches starting blowing their whistles and yelling for everybody to clear the fields.
Francine rolled her eyes. “And I skipped hot yoga for this.”
“If you want to stay up in these aluminum stands and be electrocuted, fine!” Wila stood. “But get your scrawny ass out of my fu—” The rest of her insult was drowned by another crack of thunder.
A blast of cold wind with even colder splatters of rain obviously changed Francine’s mind. She jumped up and headed down the steps. Heaven forbid the weather ruined her perfectly highlighted blond coif.
Dani hung on to her coffee for dear life as she scrambled down as well. Penny followed, praying the rain didn’t cut loose. The last thing she needed was to slip on wet aluminum, tumble down the bleachers, and break her neck. She stepped onto the concrete, and heavier drops splashed on the slab that anchored the metal.
“Come on, Mom,” Justine yelled. She took off for their vehicle, not pausing to make sure Penny followed, Dani’s son Mark right behind her.
“Nice to know they’re concerned about our welfare,” Dani muttered.
Penny held up her keys and jangled them. “But it’s not like they can get in without us.” They laughed and jogged after the kids.
“See you at girls’ night!” Wila waved before heading in the direction of her painfully bright red ride with her son Derek.
Francine said nothing. She was too focused on grabbing Brittany and racing for their own vehicle.
Justine shrieked as the heavy drops turned into a deluge and yanked futilely at the back door latch. On the run herself, Penny hit the button on her key fob to unlock her minivan’s doors. They were both soaked to the skin when they dove into the van.
“This just sucks!” Justine leaned over the center console to shout in Penny’s ear. “Look at my hair! I spent an hour straightening it, and now, it’s going to frizz!”
Penny rubbed her temples with her fingertips. The slight headache she’d chalked up to the incoming storm grew worse. “Please don’t yell at me.” “I’m yelling because-because-b—” Justine jerked back. “Oh, my god! Get the door open! I’m gonna be—”
Penny’s fingers couldn’t move fast enough. Despite Justine’s effort to turn aside, vomit shot all over the minivan’s center console and the right sleeve of Penny’s sweatshirt.
Including the cup holding her unfinished pumpkin spice latte in the minivan’s cup holder.
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Release Day - Hero Amicus Curiae
Blurb
Aisha Franklin finds herself representing an old friend who assisted in a supervillain jailbreak in order to exact revenge on one of the escapees. But in the middle of the arraignment, terrorists burst into the courtroom and demand Aisha’s alter ego, the Ghost Owl, in exchange for the hostages.
Meanwhile, Harri Winters and the rest of her team desperately seek a way to rescue Aisha and the other hostages. Will Harri be forced to don the Ghost Owl’s suit one more time?
And if she does, will Harri’s superhero career end as disastrously as it did the last time?
Call us at 888-555-HERO. The Law Offices of Winters & Franklin, where the only thing more dangerous than a superhero is his attorney.
Amazon
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Hero Amicus Curiae - Chapter 4
This is your last taste before Hero Amicus Curiae drops on Thursday!
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Susan guided her rental car into a chain café’s drive-thru to pick up bagels, cream cheese, and caffeine on her way to Mother Defiant’s apartment. It seemed the best way to meet with Eugenia without her traipsing around in her superhero togs.
A huge black SUV pulled in behind the rental. For an instant, worry ran through Susan. The sheriff in Bluffton still hadn’t discovered who had trashed Mom and Dad’s vacation cabin at Christmas. Thankfully, insurance covered most of the damage. But part of her wondered if it wasn’t retaliation for her joining Winters & Franklin. Harri and Aisha had made some powerful enemies out of not just Corvus, but the shadowy clients who hired them to perform their dirty work.
Which included hers and Aisha’s former employers.
Susan never understood why Aisha stayed at that firm as long as she did. Her new partner was a smart cookie. But then Aisha probably wasn’t pimped out to Captain Mojave like Stuart Cheatham tried to with her.
Joining Winters & Franklin gave her an opportunity to put down some roots. Aisha’s husband Rey had some great ideas for revitalizing the Canyon Block that didn’t involve gentrification. A little shop to sell her handmade jewelry sounded like a wonderful way to spend her retirement.
The sedan in front of her rental pulled away, and Susan tapped the gas to pull forward to the window. A jolt to her rental was followed by a horrendous crunch. The idiot in the SUV had hit her.
“You okay, ma’am?” the young woman at the window asked.
Before Susan could answer, the SUV rammed her rental car again and continued pushing the smaller sedan through the drive-thru and toward the street.
Right into the path of an oncoming semi-truck.
--------------------------------------
Susan guided her rental car into a chain café’s drive-thru to pick up bagels, cream cheese, and caffeine on her way to Mother Defiant’s apartment. It seemed the best way to meet with Eugenia without her traipsing around in her superhero togs.
A huge black SUV pulled in behind the rental. For an instant, worry ran through Susan. The sheriff in Bluffton still hadn’t discovered who had trashed Mom and Dad’s vacation cabin at Christmas. Thankfully, insurance covered most of the damage. But part of her wondered if it wasn’t retaliation for her joining Winters & Franklin. Harri and Aisha had made some powerful enemies out of not just Corvus, but the shadowy clients who hired them to perform their dirty work.
Which included hers and Aisha’s former employers.
Susan never understood why Aisha stayed at that firm as long as she did. Her new partner was a smart cookie. But then Aisha probably wasn’t pimped out to Captain Mojave like Stuart Cheatham tried to with her.
Joining Winters & Franklin gave her an opportunity to put down some roots. Aisha’s husband Rey had some great ideas for revitalizing the Canyon Block that didn’t involve gentrification. A little shop to sell her handmade jewelry sounded like a wonderful way to spend her retirement.
The sedan in front of her rental pulled away, and Susan tapped the gas to pull forward to the window. A jolt to her rental was followed by a horrendous crunch. The idiot in the SUV had hit her.
“You okay, ma’am?” the young woman at the window asked.
Before Susan could answer, the SUV rammed her rental car again and continued pushing the smaller sedan through the drive-thru and toward the street.
Right into the path of an oncoming semi-truck.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Hero Amicus Curiae - Chapter 3
Harri Winters resisted the urge to curse and slam down her phone receiver. Instead, she gently set it in its cradle and beat her head against the wood of her secondhand desk a couple of times. The slight pain didn’t change a damn thing. None of the criminal defense attorneys she personally knew would touch Carol’s case.
At the knock on her office door, she raise her head. Steve poked his head around the edge and frowned.
“Another one said no?”
“How’d you guess?”
A wry smile crossed Steve’s face as he entered with two cups of coffee. “The stink of despair and anger, but mainly, the red spot on your forehead.” He clicked his tongue. “You’ve really gotta stop beating your head on the desk, Harri. It’s a good way to give yourself a concussion.”
“Maybe if I injure myself, someone specializing in criminal defense will take pity and realize I tortured Carol.” She gratefully accepted the huge mug with “Lawyer do it with appeal” stenciled on the side. It had been a graduation present from Jeremy, her foster brother and one of her closest friends. She sipped the black coffee and leaned back in her chair.
“I don’t suppose you know anyone back home in Seattle that might be interested in making their name, do you?” She tried giving Steve puppy dog eyes. The same expression his twin brother often used on her. Unlike Rey, Steve had an edge to his personality. It would serve him well as an attorney.
“Mom and Dad are heavily in the tech field.” He shrugged. “Any attorneys they know are corporate or IP lawyers. Anyone I know is in the same position I am—a first-year student.”
Steve took a sip of his own coffee. Plain black java like her. None of the pixy barf crap Aisha and Patty drank or the fairy pee Susan preferred. It was one of the reasons Harri liked the kid.
Her intercom buzzed, and she tapped the appropriate button. “What’s up, Patty?”
“Before you start screaming dirty words in front of the intern, this is a professional call.” Their assistant sucked in a deep breath before she added, “Eddie is on line 1.”
Harri groaned, but Patty was right. Eddie wouldn’t be calling her unless he had to. They’d made their peace since the divorce, but Eddie’s new wife Sarah was absolutely convinced Harri was trying to get him back. Besides, why would she want her ex back when she had her own superhero sleeping in her bed.
The button for line 1 started blinking. She took a fortifying drink of her java before she lifted the receiver and jabbed the button. “Que pasa, Eddie?”
“This hasn’t been released to the press yet, so I need you to keep this between us,” he rumbled, but there was an edge to his voice. Whatever he was about to say was personal.
She glanced at Steve before she answered, “You know who lives in our building. There’s no such thing as a secret.”
“That’s why I’m begging you and your crew not to do anything stupid,” Eddie snapped.
“When have we—”
“There was the time you nearly drowned in Lake Del Oro,” her ex drawled.
Steve winced and Harri wanted to kick Eddie in the samosas. It wasn’t the kid’s fault Professor Paranoia had taken control of Steve’s mind and was using him to trash Rey’s reputation as Captain Justice. She had gone after Steve wearing her current boyfriend’s superhero togs. After fishing her out of the lake, Aisha threatened to break up the law partnership over Harri’s stunt.
And after the near-death experience, even she had to admit it was a stupid move on her part.
Harri cleared her throat. “Do you need one of our clients to suit up?”
“No!” Eddie lowered his voice. “I need you to keep everyone in check. We’ve got a hostage situation in the federal courthouse with shots fired.”
A chill ran through Harri before he finished speaking. Aisha was downtown at that courthouse for Carol’s arraignment.
“It’s Judge Castillo’s courtroom.”
At the knock on her office door, she raise her head. Steve poked his head around the edge and frowned.
“Another one said no?”
“How’d you guess?”
A wry smile crossed Steve’s face as he entered with two cups of coffee. “The stink of despair and anger, but mainly, the red spot on your forehead.” He clicked his tongue. “You’ve really gotta stop beating your head on the desk, Harri. It’s a good way to give yourself a concussion.”
“Maybe if I injure myself, someone specializing in criminal defense will take pity and realize I tortured Carol.” She gratefully accepted the huge mug with “Lawyer do it with appeal” stenciled on the side. It had been a graduation present from Jeremy, her foster brother and one of her closest friends. She sipped the black coffee and leaned back in her chair.
“I don’t suppose you know anyone back home in Seattle that might be interested in making their name, do you?” She tried giving Steve puppy dog eyes. The same expression his twin brother often used on her. Unlike Rey, Steve had an edge to his personality. It would serve him well as an attorney.
“Mom and Dad are heavily in the tech field.” He shrugged. “Any attorneys they know are corporate or IP lawyers. Anyone I know is in the same position I am—a first-year student.”
Steve took a sip of his own coffee. Plain black java like her. None of the pixy barf crap Aisha and Patty drank or the fairy pee Susan preferred. It was one of the reasons Harri liked the kid.
Her intercom buzzed, and she tapped the appropriate button. “What’s up, Patty?”
“Before you start screaming dirty words in front of the intern, this is a professional call.” Their assistant sucked in a deep breath before she added, “Eddie is on line 1.”
Harri groaned, but Patty was right. Eddie wouldn’t be calling her unless he had to. They’d made their peace since the divorce, but Eddie’s new wife Sarah was absolutely convinced Harri was trying to get him back. Besides, why would she want her ex back when she had her own superhero sleeping in her bed.
The button for line 1 started blinking. She took a fortifying drink of her java before she lifted the receiver and jabbed the button. “Que pasa, Eddie?”
“This hasn’t been released to the press yet, so I need you to keep this between us,” he rumbled, but there was an edge to his voice. Whatever he was about to say was personal.
She glanced at Steve before she answered, “You know who lives in our building. There’s no such thing as a secret.”
“That’s why I’m begging you and your crew not to do anything stupid,” Eddie snapped.
“When have we—”
“There was the time you nearly drowned in Lake Del Oro,” her ex drawled.
Steve winced and Harri wanted to kick Eddie in the samosas. It wasn’t the kid’s fault Professor Paranoia had taken control of Steve’s mind and was using him to trash Rey’s reputation as Captain Justice. She had gone after Steve wearing her current boyfriend’s superhero togs. After fishing her out of the lake, Aisha threatened to break up the law partnership over Harri’s stunt.
And after the near-death experience, even she had to admit it was a stupid move on her part.
Harri cleared her throat. “Do you need one of our clients to suit up?”
“No!” Eddie lowered his voice. “I need you to keep everyone in check. We’ve got a hostage situation in the federal courthouse with shots fired.”
A chill ran through Harri before he finished speaking. Aisha was downtown at that courthouse for Carol’s arraignment.
“It’s Judge Castillo’s courtroom.”
Friday, April 2, 2021
New Release!
So far, it's only up on Amazon, but it will be available on the other platforms soonish.
Happy Passover! Happy Easter!
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