Here's a good read for readers who need a break from Christmas. Paperback and Kindle (et al).
Custer and His Naked Ladies, an excerpt
Janelle Meraz
Hooper
Newly divorced, Glory’s biological clock is pounding like a powwow drum. She heads back home to Oklahoma, where she meets Soap, a sexy Comanche lawyer who wants to do something about that powwow drum pounding in her head…
1.
Dumped
Glory
was on her way to join her husband on a NOAA research vessel when she tried to
call him to say she was running late. That was when she discovered he wasn’t on
the ship; without telling her, he’d pulled out of the offshore project days
before. With that failed phone call, all of her recent, uncomfortable inklings
fell into place. Her marriage was over. He just hadn’t gotten around to telling
her yet.
That was how she ended up at
Sea-Tac Airport,
halfway between Seattle and Tacoma, with her hair in braids, wearing a
pink Where’s the Powwow? sweatshirt.
She carried only her wallet, a camera, and a faded blue gym bag. The bag was
filled with the same kinds of clothes she was wearing, a few books, and a photo
of her husband. The photo—frame and all—she chucked into a trash barrel outside
the airport. She would have liked to toss it out of the airplane, but she was
pretty sure it would make the stewards cranky if she opened the emergency exit
at 35,000 feet.
Her
original destination, the research vessel, was scheduled to drop anchor over
the undersea volcanoes off the coast of Washington
State. The scientists on the ship were to study the marine life that thrived in
the hot water that spewed out of the craters.
After the research trip, she and her
husband, Rick, were to take a much-needed vacation to Mexico and
reconnect. They hadn’t had any identifiable problems, but her husband had been
moody and refused to talk about it. Glory had hoped he would open up after a
few days rest on a hot sandy beach with a Margarita in his hand. Rick hadn’t
been in favor of the vacation, but Glory had insisted. Finally, he had thrown
up his hands and given up.
Before the research trip, he had convinced her to put all of their
things in storage because they didn’t know if they’d be back in Seattle when the project
was over. There was no use, he’d said, in paying rent while they were gone.
It made sense.
Sort of.
But why hadn’t she been suspicious when he’d insisted on putting all of
his things into separate marked boxes? How dumb was she? The dirty rat! And what would she have done on the research
ship without him for three weeks? Her specialty was in freshwater turtles; there would be no real work for her there. No
paycheck. He was the specialist in
coastal underwater volcanoes. He belonged
there. She would have been nothing more than a guest with no way off the boat.
Her cheeks burned at the embarrassment she felt. What was he thinking?
Her new
destination was her mother’s in Oklahoma.
Getting a last minute ticket was expensive, and Glory was thankful for her
credit cards. No one ever went to Oklahoma
unless they had to, and airline tickets to the Sooner State
were never a bargain. Glory handed the woman at the check-in counter her credit
card and mumbled a quote from a rich friend, “All it takes is money.” The woman
briefly looked up, then, expressionless, continued adding up the full fare
charges on her keyboard.
On her way to the airplane
boarding area, over and over, Glory thought, this isn’t the way normal, educated people get divorced.
I’ve been dumped!
With no explanation.
No discussion.
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