Chapter 1: Mist and Silence He stood there for a long while, staring out across the pasture. Mist clung low over the creekbed where Zoey had once said, “This is where we’ll build our life.” And they had. The house behind him was simple. Rammed earth and timber, solid and clean. Built by callused hands, faith, and stubbornness. A home that breathed in rhythm with the land. Jack took a...
Chapter 1: Shadows in the Stream The morning light slanted in through the kitchen window, casting golden lines across the hardwood floor. Jack sat barefoot at the table, coffee in hand, the rim of the mug worn smooth from use. The house was quiet except for the occasional creak of the new wood settling. It still smelled like cedar and linseed oil, a scent he was starting to associate with home...
Chapter 1: Back in the Saddle The West Texas sun hadn’t changed. It still hung low and angry, like it resented anyone too stubborn to leave. Dust curled behind the rented truck as Jack tightened his grip on the wheel, eyes locked on the horizon. Oil pumps moved like tired dinosaurs in the distance, heads nodding to a rhythm only the land could hear. Zoey leaned back in the passenger seat, one...
The hum of the overhead light flickered as she stood barefoot in the small kitchen of her townhouse, staring at a single slice of toast perched precariously on the edge of a chipped plate. It was dry—no butter, no jam, just toast. Like her life lately. Dry and bland, teetering on the edge of falling apart. She absentmindedly opened the fridge for the third time in five minutes, as though...
CHAPTER I Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” echoed through the air, the guitar lead resounding in the background. Amidst the melodic chaos, his mind drifted to memories of her. He pictured her twirling and dancing to the music, strands of hair obscuring her face, yet her beautiful smile shone through. Lost in the memory, he was abruptly yanked back to reality as a man yelled at him in Spanish...
Where the Moon meets the Sun Chapter 1: The Nurse meets the West Texas Cowboy headed for Timbuktu Today seemed like any other day of her adult life, except she was standing on the deck of a cargo ship docked in Port Savannah, bound for Africa. Zoey sipped her usual hot coffee and immediately regretted not ordering it iced. The Southern humidity clung to her skin like a wet sheet. As she stood...
Her heart was pounding as her thoughts raced. She couldn’t escape the memory of her boss yelling at her at work, or the smug post she saw on social media from an acquaintance boasting about her perfect family. These thoughts only led to more anxiety, as she thought about her parents asking when she was going to move on and reminding her she was still young enough for a family. The constant...
“I got a bad desire, ohh ohh ohh, I’m on fire.” The muffled sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” played in the background. It was warm and dark, and he was so, so very tired. It had been a day, as they say. He just wanted to sleep, and her legs were so warm. Her abdomen looked like an inviting pillow—he could sleep ’til next month. For what he was about to do, another...
Fucking shit! Lola wouldn’t start, no matter how much he whispered his love and adoration into her ear. He pictured his ex-wife, Kelly, giving him that look only she could give and saying how she hated this car because it was just like him: classic good looks but unreliable and consumed too much gas—in Lola’s case—and Jack Daniel’s in his. Kelly drove a beige hybrid and had remarried an...