Excerpt 1
That morning his father had roused him from a
sound sleep. He’d blinked, confused, by the angle of the sunlight. He rarely
slept much past eight since he usually had some sort of training or the other.
“Let’s go son. Time for lunch.”
Brandis had dragged himself up, his limbs
feeling like they weighed a thousand pounds each. His brain buzzed with a
strange sort of energy, his typical state, and not at all welcome considering
it normally didn’t hit him until later in the day. The conversation his father
began as soon as they were seated at their usual diner did not help.
“So, listen, Brandis. These girls…Katie’s
friends from college….”
Brandis sipped his ice water, waiting for his
father to finish the thought. His heart pounded, and his face flushed hot with
embarrassment.
Jack sighed, as if exasperated that Brandis
didn’t pick up the thread on his own, leaving him to carry on with the
awkwardness about to ensue. Then he leveled his gaze, his face open, not angry
or judgmental. “I think that you may be in for some…I mean, they’re…shit.”
“If you are gonna tell me where babies come
from again,” Brandis said, after deciding to ease his father’s obvious
distress. He cocked an eyebrow and half a smile. Jack seemed to relax somewhat
as Brandis continued. “Don’t bother. I already know.”
He flashed his brightest smile up at the
middle-aged woman who stood at their table, coffee pot in hand. She blinked
rapidly at him, and at that precise moment, Brandis got his first flash
of…something…about his power. Up until now he’d merely been “Brandis the
trouble maker, the causer of strife.” Suddenly, he felt strong, amazingly so,
stronger than even the man sitting across from him, a taller, older version of
himself. His body tingled all over, as he tested the smile out again on the
woman, making her slop some coffee out onto the table. His father frowned, but
then chuckled as the woman walked away after they gave their orders.
“Son,” he said, leaning back and cradling the
coffee mug to his chest. “Your adventure has only just begun.”
“Huh?” Brandis picked up his cup but didn’t
drink any. He hated coffee, but had ordered it in a burst of need to be more
like Jack. As he sipped the bitter stuff, he was transported back years before
when he and his dad would spend every single Saturday morning together, eating
breakfast at this very diner. He had adored the man, he remembered distinctly.
His chest hurt at the simplicity of their relationship then. He looked away
from Jack’s deep blue, knowing gaze.
The subject changed of its own accord, and
Brandis let it. Although part of him wanted to ask for advice, a much bigger
part would not allow the words past his lips.
They ate, discussing the upcoming football
season and Brandis’ part in it. The recruiting company Jack had contracted last
year to video his every move would start up with the first game. He’d made
varsity again, technically as backup quarterback to a senior boy. Brandis
didn’t see this as a setback and had every intention of starting under center
by the second or third game.
Finally, when they pushed their empty plates
back and sat looking at each other, Brandis felt more comfortable in his
father’s presence than he had been in a long time. Jack said, “I am pretty sure
at least one of those girls sleeping in the basement is determined to change
the status of your virginity for you probably as soon as tonight.”
Brandis choked on the last sip of lukewarm
coffee. His face burned, and his body tingled again. “I’m…it’s…uh….” He
clutched the napkin in his lap unable to meet his father’s eyes.
“No need to say anything. Let’s just say your
mother is an astute reader of female intent. While I was busy admiring your
sister’s friend’s ass, she apparently read the girl’s mind or something.”
Brandis’ face flushed even hotter.
He resisted the urge to protest, to proclaim
his innocence of such things. Because he wanted it back—those mornings between
them, father and son, man and boy, not this awkward, man and almost-man
bullshit. Because while the thought of one of his sister’s college friends
popping his cherry remained a pleasant fantasy, it also made him feel older
than he wanted to be right then.
“So, I bought a box of condoms this morning,”
Jack went on. “Put some downstairs in the side table drawer and the rest in
your room. Use them please.” He sipped the last of his coffee, looked as if he
were about to get up, then leaned forward, touching Brandis’ wrist. “Have fun.
Don’t be an asshole to women. Let every experience teach you…something. Because
you are nothing as a man if you don’t learn from every woman you…love.” Jack
looked out the window onto the nearly empty parking lot. Then he turned back,
tightened his grip on his son’s arm. “God, you are so…young.” His face fell a
moment, then he perked up again, his eyes twinkling. “Okay, so, your mother
told me to tell you not to let them corrupt you. But all I’m gonna say is this:
always wear protection, no matter what, no matter how much you don’t want to.
And don’t let your mom catch you in the act. I’ll handle her otherwise.”
Then he let go, stood and smiled, draping a
friendly arm around Brandis’ shoulders as they exited the restaurant.
“You really didn’t tell me you were admiring
Katie’s friend’s ass, did you, Dad?”
“No, son. I most certainly did not. You
obviously misheard me.” Jack winked as he stood by the passenger’s side of his
classic Corvette convertible and tossed the keys to Brandis. “Remember what I
told you. Don’t ride my clutch.”
AUTHOR
INFORMATION:
Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger and beer marketing
expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major
college town. She has decades of experience
in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent,
ex-pat trailing spouse. While working as a successful Realtor, Liz made the
leap into writing novels about the same time she agreed to take on marketing
and sales for the Wolverine State Brewing Company.
Most days find her sweating inventory and sales figures for
the brewery, unless she’s writing, editing or sweating promotional efforts for
her latest publications.
Her early forays into the publishing world led to a
groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained
thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the
“WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More
recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels,
which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much “real life.”
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries,
on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and many times in exotic
locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh
voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex
storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight,
frustrate, and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
f you are in the Ann Arbor area, be sure and stop into the
Wolverine State Brewing Co. Tap Room—but don’t ask her for anything “like” a
Bud Light, or risk serious injury.
Elizabeth and Nikki Weigh In
"Wow, Elizabeth, I want to read this book."
"Me too. Maybe we'll get lucky and win it in Liz's contest."
"What contest? You know I love contests."
"One randomly drawn winner will win an ebook or print copy of Good Faith, one randomly drawn winner gets an ebook or print copy (where available) of their choice of a Liz Crowe (Tri Destiny) backlist book and one grand prize winner will receive the ENTIRE Stewart Realty series in ebook OR print."
