by Kayt C Peck
The three women walked toward the road, and Judy waved April toward a space where she could park among the plethora of vehicles already present. Terry opened the door and stepped out of the back seat as soon as the vehicle stopped. She stood before Pookie, studying her from head-to-toe.
“You look—” She glanced to see who was nearby. “particularly sexy in that uniform.”
Pookie leaned close, whispering just to Terry. “I’ll look better out of it a little later.”
Terry blushed and laughed as she hugged Pookie. “Will you keep the hat on?” she whispered.
It was Pookie’s turn to blush.
The other four women stood watching the younger couple.
“I don’t know what they’re saying to each other, but it looks interesting,” April said.
“Oh heck, we don’t need to know the details to know the essence,” Judy said.
Sophia laughed her throaty laugh. “Amor juvenil,” she said.
“What?” Judy asked.
“Young love,” Kathleen answered.
April pulled a camera from a bag around her shoulder and walked toward the sculptures. “Wow! Nice work.” She snapped pictures of the art and the crowd. “Can I get a shot of you with the buffalo?” she asked Pookie.
“Only if Judy’s in it too. She helped build it and taught me how to weld so I could do it.”
“I just helped some. Pookie’s the artist here.”
April scribbled a note on a pad. “Both of you then. Helpers count.” Pookie and Judy took positions beside the head of the buffalo.
“This is an amazing crowd,” Sophia said.
“Dulson County’s first sculpture park. It’s a big deal,” Kathleen said.
“We’re all really proud of Pookie,” Judy said.
“Me included,” Terry said.
Pookie walked to her lover and squeezed her hand. “That means a lot to me,” she said.
“I’ve got some news too,” Terry said.
“She most certainly does,” Sophia added.
“You mean besides graduating summa cum laude?” Kathleen said.
“I’ve been offered three different teaching jobs,” Terry said.
Pookie went pale. There was a strain to her smile. “That’s…that’s awesome. Where?”
“One is in the Dallas school system…another in Colorado Springs,” Terry said. She paused, staying silent, a shy smile on her face.
“And, the third is…” April encouraged.
“Oh yeah, the third.” Terry smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “The high school history teacher position at Dulson Independent School District.”
“What?” Pookie said.
Terry laughed, grabbed Pookie’s hands, and twirled her around. “I’ve already accepted the job. I start in August.”
Pookie forgot the dignity of her uniform and performed a jig. “Yes!”
“Yeah, we thought we might help her look for an apartment this afternoon…or something,” April said, glancing toward Judy.
Judy and Kathleen exchanged eye contact, a wordless conversation conducted with raised eyebrows and head tilts.
“Well, seems to me you already have a place,” Judy said.
Pookie froze mid-jig. She held her breath, looking back and forth between Terry and Judy.
Terry looked at her feet. “Well, I was rather hoping…”
“It would be a commute,” Kathleen said.
“I’ll be able to afford a car now,” Terry responded.
Brad appeared in the middle of the group of women. “What you bunch of ladies doing? If you don’t get inside soon, all my mom’s red velvet cake will be gone along with Joe Bob’s homemade butternut ice cream.”
Judy laughed. “That’s settled then.”
“What? That it’s time to eat?” Brad asked.
“That too,” Kathleen responded.
The group herded into the community center, where Pookie was given a hero’s welcome and Terry learned just how very welcome she would be in the Coldwater community.
Sometimes life just can’t get any better.
About the Author
Kayt C. Peck lived the ranch life as a child and young adult and knows the smell, feel, hardships, and gratifications of life on the range. The hard work and determination needed to survive on a Texas farm and ranch helped her as she began a life-long career as a writer that has included working as a journalist, a public-affairs officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and as a grants expert writing applications raising over $30 million for worthy domestic and even international organizations. She has published four other novels, one biography, and written a number of plays, including being a two-time awardee in the Rocky Mountain Voices play competition and receiving a special award for Excellence in Play Writing at the American Association of Community Theatres Region VI 2015 finals. She has authored and published numerous articles, short stories, and poems. Her novels Kiva and the Mosque and Good Water were both finalists in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. Today, she lives quietly in her cabin home in the mountains of northeastern New Mexico.
Other books by Kayt Peck
Good Water- ISBN- 978-1-939062-87-1
The dry plains drew Judy Proctor like a bear to her den…or a moth to the flame. Ranching was her life. The sweat as she branded or “doctored” cattle…the howl of a coyote in the quiet, night air...half-frozen fingers as she cut the wire to loosen hay bales for hungry cattle scratching for survival in snow-covered land…all of the everyday existence on the ranch was her life.
It was where she belonged.
It was a lonely life.
She had tried to leave the ranch to join the “normal” existence of a talented young woman in the city, but it had never been home. When her parents were killed in an automobile accident, she returned to the family ranch as much because she needed it as it needed her. She faced a lonely life to be shared with no better company than Somegood and Useless, her cow dog and the mottled mutt that were her companions.
Kathleen Romero slipped into Judy’s life unexpectedly. She came to the plains to write a story. Would she stay because of the real truth she found in the simple drama of husbanding land and animals?
Unfortunately, even wide-open spaces can be plagued by prejudice and closed-minds. As the two women struggle to know each other, they must also carve a place for themselves among the country-folk who have been Judy’s friends and neighbors her entire life.
The Ladies Room - ISBN - 978-1-943353-09-3
A dream is housed in the dusty, unused storage room above the Pink Triangle, one of Amber, Texas’ two gay bars. Journalist April Sims serves as the reluctant leader in making that dream a reality. Under her guidance an electic group of women build a safe place in a community where being a lesbian can be dangerous and difficult.
April meets Sophia Mendez, a local attorney, as she seeks legal guidance for members of the group. In meeting with the women of the Ladies’ Room, Sophia finds herself dealing with personal as well as professional issues.
When a radical religious group levels an attack on the entire gay community, even to the the point of a vigilante attack on the Pink Triangle, the strength and unity of the women of The Ladies’ Room will be tested to the core.
Only time will tell if the beauty of the dream can override the ugliness of a harsh reality.
Other titles from Sapphire Books Publishing
The House at the End of the Street – ISBN – 978-1-943353-39-2
Natalie Hargrove, a previously accomplished artist, and Caitlin Cassidy should never have met. After all, Caitlin was only a twelve-year-old girl when Natalie was already dead and gone. But they did meet, and it was that dramatic encounter in the house at the end of the street that changed their lives forever. The moment was so powerful, so important, that it drew Caitlin, now a renowned novelist, back to her hometown twenty years later to seek out Natalie’s ghost. Taking up refuge in the dark, broken house, Caitlin believes that getting back to her roots and t
o the bottom of her experience with the ghost will somehow help heal the wounds her life has brought her.
Against the backdrop of a Victorian mansion, a story unlike any other unfolds between Caitlin and Natalie, and leaves them with one lingering question: even if love is enough to bridge the gap between life and death, is it enough to keep a ghost from passing on?
Unspoken – ISBN – 978-1-943353-35-4
Desiree Chevalier is determined to control her own destiny, and that includes shaking her mother’s iron grip on her life. Rosalie Chevalier is not going down without a fight. She’s a corporate raider after all and it just wouldn’t do to have a wayward daughter. When Desiree steps away from the Chevalier fortune to put herself through Mount Holyoke College, Rosalie decides to show up on her doorstep. Although her mother digs in, Desiree refuses to bend.
Rowan Knight is working just as hard as Desiree to put herself through school. She is intrigued by Desiree but also wary of the icy reception she receives each time they meet. Rosalie’s persistent interference in Desiree’s life intensifies the tension between Desiree and Rowan. Will they be able to move past the obstacles in their path, or will their love remain unspoken?
The Flaw in Logic – ISBN – 978-1-943353-41-7
This romantic adventure follows Commander R’cey Hawke, bounty hunter. She leads a mission to a backwater world to retrieve one of the Amalgam’s most wanted. When her space vessel crash lands, R’cey must work with a group of locals who believe in magic, of all things. R’cey soon finds herself on an epic quest that takes her across unbelievable realms. Battles with harpies, imps, golems, and the Demon Aamon, open her eyes to possibilities other than her own version of reality.
Princess Thalia Dumont’s pact with an assassin has an unexpected result. That ill-conceived bargain forces her on a dangerous journey. King Lotar lies under a dark spell and Thalia must find the cure. Along the way, she meets an off-world stranger who will change how she sees the universe.