Late Start to the Party

While I was working on ticking off items on yesterday's to-do list and thinking about today's, I realized we're almost halfway into July, and I never kicked off the normal month-long birthday party. To be honest, I haven't given much thought to my birthday this month, other than when I had to reschedule a doctor's appointment from the day after my sister's memorial to my birthday in order to be seen sooner rather than later. Usually by now, I've figured out birthday cake and dinner if things are going well. I guess I need to think about those things this week. And maybe a party date and time for the Facebook page.

The chocolate cake above looks yummy, maybe I'll just go with simple this year, get a chocolate cake from the grocery store bakery and dinner that requires only minimal effort. That feels like a recurring theme for this spring and summer's family event dinners, definitely not my norm. But this year's been a bit out of my norm for the last few years, with starting the new day-job in January, and book events on weekends when we would ordinarily have something else going on, and then my sister. Maybe we can get back into our normal mode going forward now.

For now, though, I still have a few things on today's to-do list to knock out, so I've got a quick snippet for you today from Light the Way Home.

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            Lucie had been on Mac’s Light Island for almost three weeks, but the view from the back door of her temporary home still took her breath away. Right now, she realized she’d been standing there staring, slack-jawed, at the sunlight glinting off the grey-blue ocean waves for a good five minutes. Shaking her head, she pulled the door shut and stepped down onto the sidewalk, feeling in her purse for her car keys.

            She closed her fingers on the fob as a giggle reached her ears. She turned to the white picket fence that bordered the property next door as a big multi-colored ball sailed over it, toward her. “Oh!” She caught it before it hit her in the face, then started across the grass, balancing the ball on her hand.

            Another giggle sounded as she neared the fence, so she adjusted her direction a tiny bit and came to a stop looking directly down onto a tousled blond head.

            “I think you lost something,” she said.

            The little boy’s face tipped up quickly, his blue eyes wide with surprise–as if he couldn’t believe she’d found him already.

            Lucie grinned and held the ball higher.

            He smiled as he got to his feet, brushing off his jeans-clad knees.

            From seeing him playing outside several times already, she’d guessed he might be four, but now at close range, she scaled that back to three.

            “Hi, I’m Hayden,” he said, holding out his right hand.

            It was her turn to be surprised. She shook his hand, bemused. “Hi, Hayden, I’m Lucie.” Not too many three-year-olds had such good manners. Aside from the ball toss at her face, that is. “Nice to meet you.”

            He glanced up at his ball. “Me an’ my dad are your neighbors.”

            “I see that.” She noted he hadn’t mentioned his mom. “Who were you playing with?” She gave the ball a little bounce.

            “Maybe you wanna play with me.” Guileless blue eyes locked on her face.

            Ah. She squelched the pang in her chest. “I wish I could, but I’m on my way to town. Maybe we can play another time?” she added when his grin vanished.

            “Like this afternoon?”

            “Hayden!”

            The deep voice got her attention–and the boy’s–just before a tall, sandy-haired man rounded the back corner of the next-door house.

            Lucie’s mouth went dry. Wowza!

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If I can get today's chores checked off the list, I can spend a little time on my photo scanning project again later. How are you all doing this week? Finding some reading time, I hope, and not just working until you crash every day. I'd love to hear!

Until next time, happy reading!