Kim Golden's Blog - Posts Tagged "richmond"
30 Days, 30 Stories: Story #14
Time for more of 30 Days, 30 Stories. More fiction. Another scene from a novel I abandoned. I may have to return to it. I rather like this story of people behaving badly.
Story #14: The One I Cannot Have
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“I wish I’d never married her. I wish I’d met you first.”
As soon as he told me how he felt, the words were tatooed in my memory. Sometimes I couldn’t concentrate for hearing his voice say them in my mind. During the day, when I should have been concentrating on my work, I was thinking about Jake and wodnering what he was doing.
At night, we met at my house and pretended to be the married couple that we wished we were. Sometimes we sat on the cool floor of my livingroom and talked about the stories we wanted to write and the books we’d read while over our heads the ceiling fan ticked and whirred. Sometimes we rented foreign films and, curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between us, watched them without ever thinking that soon Helena would come home and this would be over. Neither of us wanted to consider the future.
Everynight I slept in their bed with him. Sometimes I’d wake with a start from the scent of her perfume and believe that she’d come home early and was on her way up the stairs. My heart would be racing and I’d have to remind myself how many weeks, then days we had until her return. Once I’d calmed down, I’d move closer to Jake and hold him while he slept on. The soft waves of his even breathing would lull me and I’d drift to sleep without waking again until morning.
“Can you meet me at my place later on?”
I shrugged without looking up. I was afraid of seeming too anxious, even now when we both knew how we felt about one another. “I can probably come by.”
He knelt by my table and stroked my knee. “Just say yes.”
“Allright, yes.”
He grinned at me and cupped my face in his hands then kissed
me quickly. I drew back without thinking. I couldn’t help it, I was so used to hiding how I felt for fear that someone, anyone would see and tell Helena.
But Jake didn’t care about our being found out. He touched my hair and said, “Don’t be afraid. . . this is probably the best thing either of us have ever done.”
And just then I believed him.
I didn’t doubt him when he said that he loved me, or that he wished he’d never married Helena. I was in love, I was loved. Nothing else seemed to matter.
Story #14: The One I Cannot Have
-------------------------------------------
“I wish I’d never married her. I wish I’d met you first.”
As soon as he told me how he felt, the words were tatooed in my memory. Sometimes I couldn’t concentrate for hearing his voice say them in my mind. During the day, when I should have been concentrating on my work, I was thinking about Jake and wodnering what he was doing.
At night, we met at my house and pretended to be the married couple that we wished we were. Sometimes we sat on the cool floor of my livingroom and talked about the stories we wanted to write and the books we’d read while over our heads the ceiling fan ticked and whirred. Sometimes we rented foreign films and, curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between us, watched them without ever thinking that soon Helena would come home and this would be over. Neither of us wanted to consider the future.
Everynight I slept in their bed with him. Sometimes I’d wake with a start from the scent of her perfume and believe that she’d come home early and was on her way up the stairs. My heart would be racing and I’d have to remind myself how many weeks, then days we had until her return. Once I’d calmed down, I’d move closer to Jake and hold him while he slept on. The soft waves of his even breathing would lull me and I’d drift to sleep without waking again until morning.
“Can you meet me at my place later on?”
I shrugged without looking up. I was afraid of seeming too anxious, even now when we both knew how we felt about one another. “I can probably come by.”
He knelt by my table and stroked my knee. “Just say yes.”
“Allright, yes.”
He grinned at me and cupped my face in his hands then kissed
me quickly. I drew back without thinking. I couldn’t help it, I was so used to hiding how I felt for fear that someone, anyone would see and tell Helena.
But Jake didn’t care about our being found out. He touched my hair and said, “Don’t be afraid. . . this is probably the best thing either of us have ever done.”
And just then I believed him.
I didn’t doubt him when he said that he loved me, or that he wished he’d never married Helena. I was in love, I was loved. Nothing else seemed to matter.
A new serial love story coming on August 1
Confession time: I have a lot of unfinished and nearly complete WIPs on my computer. Some of them are stories that didn't feel right. Others are stories that needed more time to germinate. Near Enough to Hold is one of those stories that needed more time. When I first began writing it, I was going through too many things at once--my grandfather was terminally ill, there was a lot of family drama going on around me and things were NOT great at my day job. As much as I loved writing about Nick and Keisha, I couldn't focus. And the story seemed to fast forward and then zig-zag... well, you know what I mean.
Then three things happened in one week: Philadelphia was hit by an earthquake, a hurricane blew through and my grandfather died on the eve of said hurricane. It threw me for a loop. well, you know what I mean. I had to step away from it.
For months now, the story has been popping up in my mind, reminding me to go back, take care of Nick and Keisha and give them an ending. So that's what I am doing.
Near Enough to Hold is a serial love story. Each part will be at least 3 to 5 chapters long and will cost 99 cents. Once the story is complete, it will be compiled into one full-length novel. I'm not sure I would classify it as a romance, but it's definitely a love story. And it starts off one rainy night in Richmond, Virginia--a town both loved and hated when I lived there while working on my master's degree.
Near Enough to Hold goes live on August 1. For now, it is Kindle exclusive. It'll probably go wide once the entire story is complete.
I hope you'll enjoy following Nick and Keisha's story. Let me know if you have any questions.
