by Loren
She smiled. “Thanks.”
Bonus
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Want more? Turn the page to read the first chapter of Hammered, Book 2 of the Lady Part Series.
Chapter 1
Charlotte stood in the kitchen struggling to put the perfect sandwich in the Ziploc bag without crushing it. It was supposedly a sandwich bag, but it needed to be just a few inches bigger. Eventually she managed to wriggle it inside without upsetting her work just as her husband Chris jogged down the stairs. He turned the corner without speaking to her. Knowing he wouldn’t hesitate to leave without speaking to her, she rushed to put it in his lunch bag where a bag of chips, an apple, a water bottle and a can of soda was waiting.
“Here honey,” she said just as he rounded the corner towards the front door. “Don’t forget your lunch.”
He ignored her outstretched hand and shrugged on a worn leather coat. Spring was coming but winter was still clinging to the early mornings, which was typical for South Carolina. By noon, Chris would be carrying that jacket around instead of wearing it.
Charlotte was undeterred by his silence and continued with a smile. “Will you be home for dinner?”
He tapped something into his phone as she stood there with his lunch bag and only when he finished whatever he was doing did he look up. A frown was etched into his brows and his eyes were hard. “Stop being so damn needy Charlotte. I don’t know. Probably not. I have to work late, and you just need to deal with it.”
“I wasn’t asking to bother you. I just wanted to know if I should make your favorite.”
He opened the door and snatched the lunch bag from her. “I will be late, and I don’t have time for any mind games or guilt trips. Cook whatever you want. I’ll get dinner while I’m out. You need to get a life instead of worrying about me.”
She sighed but leaned in to kiss him goodbye anyways.
He leaned back so his cheek was just out of reach and left, slamming the door.
“Bye,” she whispered to herself.
The house felt colder without him. It hadn’t been that warm with him in it and alone, Charlotte went to check on the light of her world.
Sydney, her two-year-old baby girl lay in her little princess bed, sleep and oblivious to all the noise. Confident that she had maybe another thirty minutes to herself, Charlotte went to her bedroom and closed the door, leaving a small crack just in case Sydney called.
It was hard being a wife to a man who didn’t seem to care at all and sometimes, despite doing her best to stay strong, she cried. Not wanting to be a downer, she called the one friend she knew would pick her up. Ginger, one of three best friends she had was who she needed to call. Her smiling face illuminated the cellphone screen before Charlotte pressed call.
“Hey Char!” she said happily. Ginger was that kind of girl, happy and fiercely protective. She was the “can do” girl of the group and the “fuck you” girl of the group. If she didn’t like something, she was going to do something about it. You never had to wonder where you stood with her.
“Hey Ging,” Charlotte said trying to keep her voice steady. It wasn’t nice to call somebody just to cry and quite frankly, she didn’t like admitting that her life wasn’t as perfect as she made it seem.
“What’s wrong?” Ginger knew her well or maybe she didn’t do as good of a job hiding it as she thought.
“Nothing,” Charlotte said more out of habit than attempting to lie.
“Girl you got to come harder than that. I can tell in your voice. So, try again or hang up. Either way, I’m going to finish painting my nails.”
Charlotte snorted in surprise laughter. This is why she called Ginger and not Sheila or Gene. She sighed and said, “okay… I’m just not liking this whole housewife gig as much as I used to.”
“Would there be a specific reason for this change of heart? A year ago, you were claiming you loved it.”
“A year ago, things were different,” she said sniffing. Tears flooded her eyelids and her throat constricted just thinking about it. “I mean it wasn’t as perfect as I made it seem but now, it’s even worse. I feel like my world is falling apart.”
“Okay. Tell me about it.” Typical Ginger, she wanted you to cut right to the chase so she could cut right to the solution. She didn’t like tears.
“It’s just Chris. We’ve been arguing so much lately. He’s always gone for work. I feel like he doesn’t love me anymore. He barely talks to me and I can’t remember the last time we had sex. It’s like he doesn’t even see me and what’s worse, he acts that way towards Sydney too.”
She wiped her face, but the tears kept falling.
“Oh Charlotte. I am so sorry to hear that,” Ginger said. Some people found Ginger hard to read. It was easy to think she was being sarcastic when she was really being genuine but since they had been friends since college, Charlotte knew when Ginger was being sincere. She really was sorry to hear that Charlotte was going through that. “Have you thought about counseling?”
“Of course I have, but Chris just won’t go for it. I told you he’s barely around and when he is here, he just wants to watch sports and be left alone. I mentioned us talking to someone one time and he slept on the couch for a week. He said, and I quote, ‘I don’t need nobody in my business, telling me how to fix my life. I’m just fine.’”
“But you’re not,” Ginger yelled.
“I know that but it’s a two-part effort I can’t make him go if he doesn’t want to.”
Charlotte sighed, and the bedroom door slowly slid open to reveal Sydney smiling a gummy grin at having found her mommy. She toddled forward. Her dark hair was nothing like Charlotte’s. She inherited it from Chris though the curly ends were from her mom. Charlotte spent every morning flat ironing her hair into submission. “Mommy. You sad?” Sydney asked looking up from the grip she held on Charlotte legs. She didn’t wait for an answer as struggled to get on the high bed before stretching her arms up for assistance.
“Is that my Syd,” Ginger said from the phone.
“Mhm,” Charlotte said to Ginger before answering her daughter. “No honey.” Charlotte said wiping her face before bending to pull Sydney into her lap. Sydney’s little legs wrapped around Charlotte’s waist and her head naturally feel into the crook of Charlotte’s neck. Out of habit and motherly love she gave Sydney a big hug. “Mommy’s all better now.”
“Don’t you think you need to get it together? If not for you then for Sydney. She needs a father who’s actually around Char,” Ginger said into the phone.
“I know that Ginger. I do. That’s why I’m calling you. I just feel so useless. I’m stuck at home with a toddler. If I don’t talk to adults and actually do something with my life, I’m going to go crazy. Sitting at home listening to Barney and cleaning is not good enough anymore.”
“Oh my god,” Ginger said excitedly.
“What?” Charlotte said turning her head to hold the phone more comfortably against her ear and neck.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”
“Think of what Ging?” Charlotte said to no avail.
“Okay. Hold on. I’m going to call you right back,” Ginger said before hanging up.
Charlotte stared open mouthed at the black screen. “She hung up on me.”
Unsure how long it would take for Ginger to call back, she carried Sydney to the kitchen. “Ready for breakfast?”
Sydney nodded while chewing on her fingers. “Telly,” she said sweetly.
She loved the Teletubbies.
After turning the iPad to the Teletubbies channel and putting a bowl of oatmeal in front of her. Charlotte sat down across from her, playing Candy Crush on her phone while watching to make sure Sydney didn’t make too big a mess. She was getting into that phase where she wanted to feed herself but sometimes the feeding w
as more of a hassle than it was worth. Just as Charlotte got to the next level, Ginger called back.
“You better have something worth interrupting level 900 of Candy Crush.
“I do! I got you a job,” Ginger announced. Charlotte knew her friend well enough to imagine how she looked on the other side of the phone. Her wide smile was stretched ear to ear and she was probably bouncing up and down on the balls of her toes. She did that when she was trying to contain her excitement. Her hair, the color of her namesake, was probably in a top bun if she was planning to stay home or bone straight and down her back if she was going to work.
“You what?” Charlotte asked again to make sure she understood.
“I got you a job.”
She had heard correctly. “Just like that? How do you know someone in South Carolina Ginger?”
“Come on girl. I’m a civil engineer. We know people all over. My friend Landon started a construction firm out there and he’s been on the hunt for a secretary slash receptionist.”
“So, you thought of me?”
“Yeah. You’re the most anal person I know.”
“Wow. Thanks Ginger.” Anal wouldn’t have been her first guess when listing qualities a good secretary needed to have.
“What? I meant it as a compliment. Seriously. The way you clean, organize and label, all that sounds awful in real life but perfect for this job. Landon needs someone who will keep him in check and on schedule.”
If she was being honest, she did like organizing things and it was better when there was a label on it. “But I don’t want your handouts,” Charlotte said.
“I know and it’s not a guaranteed thing. Honestly. All I did was call him and tell him I think I found the perfect person. That’s it. You have an interview tomorrow and it’s up to you to show up and wow him on your own.”
“Did you tell him we were friends?”
“Nope.”
“Did you tell him I was a stay at home wife?”
“Nope.”
“Did you tell him I haven’t worked in three years?”
“No girl. That ain't none of my business. I’m leaving it all up to you. Tell him or don’t tell him I don’t care but you need to show up because I put my ass on the line for you.”
“Can you tell me about it?”
“I could but then you’ll start overthinking and worrying about it. So, no. I will text you the address two hours before the interview, which is tomorrow at 10am by the way. Which is plenty of time to get Syd and yourself dressed, fed and on your way with or without a babysitter,” she said thwarting all Charlotte’s possible attempts at an excuse.
Charlotte was silent a beat before admitting, “I don’t know what to say.”
“You can say thank you,” Ginger said with a self-righteous air that was earned.
“Thank you,” Charlotte said feeling gratitude in her heart. “You really are the best friend money could buy.”
Ginger blew a raspberry in the phone. “Please. You couldn’t afford me with a platinum card,” she joked and once again Charlotte was choked up. Stuck between a laugh and a cry. Here she was hopeless and jobless and in a span of thirty minutes Ginger had managed to give her a smile and an opportunity to change her reality. “I don’t deserve you,” Charlotte said trying not to let the tears fall again.
“You really don’t but when I needed to quick pack all my shit from California to Chicago, I didn’t deserve you. So, I think it equals out.”
“It’s true. I am the friend you want to have when you need to pack,” Charlotte said sniffing with a smile.
Under Charlotte’s direction and supervision, she managed to have four men hired to completely break down all Ginger’s furniture, pack all the rooms into labeled boxes and have it all Uhauled across stateliness safely to Chicago, Illinois so that they could unpack it in one day. Without her ridiculous organizational demands, the boxes would have been a mess, and nothing would have ended up where it should have been. Left to her own devices, Ginger would still be living out of boxes now, a year from moving. But with Charlotte’s help she was unpacked and living out of her home in one day.
“You’re also the friend I want to have when I plan my wedding,” Ginger added, and Charlotte gasped.
“You plan to get married.”
“Nope,” Ginger said so casually Charlotte giggled, “but if I was, you’d plan it or at the very least help me stay on point. I wouldn’t dare let you pick out any of the dresses but the rest, you can plan. I have no interest in all that crap.”
“Let’s hope you find yourself a man who’s okay with a Justice of the Peace wedding.”
“Amen!” Ginger said so loudly both erupted into giggles.
Sydney, easily entertained laughed along with them.
“But really,” Charlotte said when she caught her breath. “Thank you.”
“It was nothing but a phone call. You have to do the rest and honestly Char, I really do think you’re the best woman for the job.”
“You do?”
“I do. So, do me a favor and knock it out the park tomorrow.”
Charlotte smiled. “I will,” she said and hung up. She had every intention of doing her best, even though that meant she was probably going to have a fight on her hands if she got the job.
Acknowledgments
If you made it this far, I hope you’re not too shaken up. This story took me up and down while writing it and I can only hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, would you leave a rating on Amazon?
What started out as a tiny idea turned into one of my proudest moments. I have to give thanks to God for giving me this talent, my Mom for teaching me the art of storytelling, Theo, for loving me and cheering me on every step of the way, Elisabeth Kauffman, the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of all editors, Jane Hess, the first editor to see greatness in me, and Elizabeth Hess for taking the story from an A-minus to an A-plus with your suggestions. This is only the first of many more books to come, and I hope you enjoyed the ride with me.
Thank you.
About the Author
Loren is a former ghostwriter who has written over 60 novels in varying subgenres of romance, lived in Nicaragua for two years, and risked her life by volcano boarding three times. It was worth it. She has been writing since she could hold a pencil and as a child had her poetry published in the Baltimore Review & the American Library of Poetry. Since then, her ideas have only gotten crazier and her need to see the characters in her head on paper has become more outlandish. Her love for books has completely taken over her life, from reading a book a day to writing story ideas in her completely overflowing notebook. She writes because if she didn’t, the voices screaming in her head would never stop.
Nothing makes her as happy as readers who can’t put her books down. She wants them to laugh, cry, and become insomniacs when they turn the cover of her book. She believes nobody hates reading, they just haven’t found what they love to read yet. Her goal is to create relatable, strong heroines who are flawed and human but deserving of love, and sexy heroes who fight to win their hearts. Living a real-life fairy tale makes her perpetually optimistic. Every character has a little piece of her and her boyfriend, soon to be fiancé. It’s easy to write about love when you’re loved.
She is in a pursuit to make her passion her full time job in between binging Jessica Jones and Narcos on Netflix, convincing herself to work out, and baking because baking is her preferred love language. Oreo cheesecake is her calling card. You can connect with Loren on Facebook at facebook.com/LorenTheAuthor or on any social media account @Lorentheauthor. You can also visit her website, lorentheauthor.com, to sign up for emails about new releases, sneak peaks and bonus materials.
Also by Loren
Lady Parts Book 1
Hammered Lady Parts Series Book 2
(Coming January 2019)
Torched Lady Parts Series Book 3
(Coming April 2019)
Chiseled Lady Parts Series Book 4
(Coming July 2019)