Reunion in the Desert by L. A. Keller
Here's a snippet of my recently released short story. This was my first venture into writing short story romance and my first time participating in a share series event. I found it difficult to write a complete story in only a few thousand words. If time allows, I may try another - if Jayne's third book is finished first!
You can read the full short story on Kindle. It's available in EBook only.
Reunion in the Desert
Whoever
first said “It’s a dry heat” was crazy Dani thought as she slid onto the
scorching seat of the rental car, careful not to touch any metal surfaces. She
wondered why anyone ever thought leather seats were a good idea when the
Phoenix temperature could easily hit one hundred and fifteen degrees in summer.
Her friends back in New York City complained all summer long about the heat but
she knew they’d never been sitting in rush hour without air conditioning when
you could fry an egg on the pavement.
It
had been an especially long four hour flight from the Newark airport and a
migraine pounded between her eyes. She booked the trip on impulse to see her
grandmother, Roz the one person to whom she could always turn in times of great
joy or need.
She
set the air conditioner on high and put the windows down to blow out some of
the hot air. Her stomach churned and sweat made her designer t-shirt cling to
her back like a second skin. Dani hadn’t been back to the eastern area of
Scottsdale, known as Rio Verde since her grandfather’s passing last year. So
much had happened in her life, both good and bad. She wasn’t sure if she was
running away from New York as much as she was running to the place she knew as
home. The last year with a man she had idealized had left her wounded,
physically and mentally.
The
Fisher family ranch was surrounded by the Tonto National Forest. Passed down
through generations, their land extended to the Verde River which flowed
southward until it became the more famous Salt River. She sighed at the memory
of how the water would lull her to sleep on a hot summer afternoon under the
old Desert Willow.
Exhausted
from the long trip across the country and over eight miles of bumpy dirt road, she
paused a moment after she pulled into the driveway. The original house built in
the sixties was made of Adobe brick. Multiple additions stuck out in every
direction of mismatched stone, brick and siding and were almost overtaken by
native plant life. Mesquite trees
towered over the rolled tile roof. Her view of the back of the property, where
once she watched her grandfather train horses for the rodeo, was blocked by
massive yellow Oleander bushes which stretched their spindly leaves in every
direction.
Happy Trails,
Leslie
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