Excerpt
Breathing in against her discontent, she blew the frustration out, raised her hips, and pushed back into downward-dog. Her hamstrings tightened momentarily before relaxing into the pose. Her rebellious body coerced into submission, a sigh escaped her lips, her mind relishing in a moment of peace. Lowering her knees to the mat, she settled back onto her heels, hands in prayer position in front of her heart. Her gaze drifted over to her phone again. Nothing. Irritation seeped its way back in. She didn’t have time for all this foolishness. One more day. If Finley didn’t call by tomorrow, Cathyanne was going to hunt her down and force her to talk.
Getting to her feet, she walked over to the window and pressed her palm against the glass. The heat from the other side bled into her cold skin and traveled up her arm. She closed her eyes, memorizing the feeling while savoring the breath moving in and out of her lungs. “Come on, Finnie, let me help you,” she whispered. Beyond the window, birds actively called to one another. A dog barked. A golf cart whizzed to a stop.
She opened her eyes to see two of her neighbors setting up to putt on the 12th hole. Her 3,200 square-foot house backed up to the exclusive Bluegrass golf course. She’d played regularly when her second husband had still lived here.
Now, she only watched.
The couple spied her and gave a halfhearted wave. She waved back with matched enthusiasm. Cathyanne wasn’t well acquainted with many of her neighbors. She’d never been good at polite chitchat. Plus, her ideas and opinions always seemed a bit too strong, lingering around the outside of normal. To put it plainly, people generally found her to be a smidge odd. As if there were a glass wall between her and everyone else, she could see them—watch their lips move—but an understanding, a real connection couldn’t be formed. The only time she didn’t feel out of place was when she was working. She was good at transforming people, at making them into more acceptable versions of themselves, achieving for others what she’d never been able to do for herself.
Author Julie N. Ford
A graduate from San Diego State University with a BA in Political Science, Julie N. Ford also earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama, which has only made her better able to recognize the unhealthy, codependent relationship she has with writing. Professionally, she has worked in teaching and as a marriage and family counselor. She is the author of six women’s fiction novels, including Count Down to Love, a 2011 Whitney Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she entertains delusions of being a master gardener, that is, when she’s not killing the unsuspecting plants in her yard with her good intentions. She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, two daughters, and the cutest Scottish fold cat you’ve ever seen. She loves to chat with readers.
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