The Life I Now Live (24 page)
Thirty-three years old and spending my life at Doodle Dandy Dog Candy didn’t exactly provide the most friendships. And the friends I did have were all married and sprinkled across America. Kids. White picket fences. Minivans. The whole eight-and-a-half yards of normalcy.
Miranda could say I was normal all she wanted, but I didn’t have kids, a white picket fence, and certainly no minivan. Couldn’t fathom driving one of those ghastly things.
A text popped up on my phone screen. Miranda finally responded. W
hat’s going on tonight Mr. Rhodes? Counting the tiles in your ceiling again?
You are so annoying
, I typed back, then erased, and typed,
If you think I’m so boring how about answering your phone so I can live a little?
Miranda:
Impossible. I’ve tried. You are not receptive to my ingenious plans.
Me:
I’m coming up this weekend and I will be at your house Saturday at noon. If you want to hang out... be there.
Miranda:
Is the glass half full or half empty?
Me:
The glass is a figment of your imagination. See ya Saturday
.
I couldn’t figure out if she was genuinely an annoying person or if the age difference made her seem immature. Especially the hair. I can understand dying your hair every so often, but almost every week? And I’m not talking brown or blonde. I’m talking rainbow bright.
Immature, annoying, either way she made me laugh and shake my head. And I needed a break this weekend anyway.
After an exhausting drive to Philly, I stood in front of her apartment door, caught my breath, and knocked. A few seconds passed, the door knob wiggled, and the door jerked open to reveal a grinning Princess Leia. A grinning Princess Leia with pink hair.
“What the hell are you wearing?” I said. “I thought we were going out to eat?”
“What? You don’t like?” she said in a hushed Princess Leia tone. “Let’s walk the town and pretend we’re fighting evil.”
“Seriously, Miranda.” I shook my head. “Change your clothes. Is that
Moonage Daydream
playing in the background?”
“I’m not changing. You need to change.” She pulled the edge of my sleeve. “Brown, brown, brown. Every time I see you. Do you own anything else?” She tugged my hair. “And do you ever wash your hair? I’m all about the Kurt Cobain look if you can make it appealing, but this ain’t appealing buddy.”
I turned and walked away. Fast and agitated. She yelled from the doorway. “Don’t be so boring. Live a little.”
I got in my car, slammed the door, and stared off before starting it. Why did I let her frustrate me so much? Her opinions didn’t matter. Boring is relative. To an introvert a party with a big group of people is boring. To an extrovert a calm afternoon at the bookstore is boring. I’m not freaking boring, I convinced myself. She didn’t even know me. How could she judge who I am based off my shirt choices and lack of desire for roller coasters?
“I’ll show her how ridiculous this is,” I said to myself, then started the car and made my way to the mall. Took a while to find everything I needed. Once I did, I changed and drove back to her apartment, and threw rocks at her window until she appeared in the doorway, still Princess Leia. I hid from her view, then flapped into sight, light saber glowing in the evening air as I twisted it and turned around as though fighting some invisible person. “Come down, Leia. I am the force. And I am with you.”
She covered her mouth with her hands and laughed, then jumped up and down like someone who won the lottery. I waved her down. She held up her hand, ran inside, and returned with her purse and keys.
“Miracle of all miracles,” she said, smiling way too much. “No guy has ever dressed up like Han Solo for me.”
“No guy ever will again. Seriously, you realize how dumb this is, right?”
“It’s fun. And I think you look kinda good like that.”
I laughed. “You do this for some kind of validation. It’s not normal. If you were truly confident in who you were you wouldn’t need to change all the time.”
She rolled her eyes and walked back to the steps. I grabbed her arm and forced her to look at me. “See,” I said. “You run from what I’m saying because it’s true. You don’t want to face the person you are so you avoid her by being all these other people.”
She jerked her arm from me and stomped up the stairs, making it a point to slam the door as loud as possible. And me. Alone. At the bottom of the steps, wishing I didn’t have to be so opinionated. Or at least didn’t speak my opinions so much. David Bennett spoke his opinions and everyone loved him. But everyone hated Derek Rhodes whenever he spoke up.
Still. I was right.
Out Valentine’s Day 2014
Heart on a Shoestring
Rebelling against a life of black and white,
Miranda Ryan
paints the world in a technicolor fever. She spends her free time on park benches, analyzing people from the outside in and creating whimsical stories about their lives. Unbridled and full of life, her ever-changing heart is a revolving door no man can figure out. And she likes it that way. But when Derek Rhodes enters her life, he stubbornly challenges her every move. As she unsuccessfully avoids this opinionated prankster her colors fade to gray and she is forced into a choice . . . to lose the self she knows or the self she has never been.
Derek Rhodes
wears the same shade of brown every day and avoids eye contact with strangers, until Miranda walks into his life and splashes his world with streaks of colors he swore he’d never touch. Drawn to her imaginative personality, he finds himself questioning his own cynical nature and flat-lined ideals, only to fall in love and realize the only woman he’s ever let into his heart has no plans of letting a man into hers. Follow them both as they poke and prod and test each others limits on a journey of discovery.
Heart on a Shoestring
Book 4 of The Unspoken Series
Out by Valentine’s Day 2014
QnA with Marilyn
Q. Why did you have to make Sarah get burned? I feel so bad for her!
A. Sarah is a strong character and very beautiful. She fought cancer and won. She is hard to break and she needed to be broken. There’s pain inside of her that could only be opened in the most dreadful circumstances, but in Book #5
Bloom
you will see her blossom into something even more beautiful and I can’t wait to share her story with you.
Q. Is Sarah’s story based on anyone in real life?
A. Yes, every character I write about it based off of something or someone I’ve seen before. Sarah’s story is realistic and gritty, but oh so beautiful too.
Q. Was it hard for you to write Heidi & Patrick since your ideals are more in line with Ella?
A. A little. I’m Ella through and through, so writing about two people falling in love after being married once isn’t natural for me. I’m definitely a “one person is it” kind of girl, but people change and my ideals have been challenged, just like Ella. I’ve had to look at love from different angles and realize they are all just as valid as any other. Just as beautiful in their own way. As unique as the people in love. It was hard at some points to write Heidi & Patrick, but these people come alive on the page and if I don’t let them do and say what they would do and say, they’ll end up all the same. Little replicas of me. So I need to let them grow and be who they are.
Q. What’s the deal with Mwenye? Is he really innocent?
A. You’ll find out in Book #6
A Starless Midnight
. This book will be different than the others. Of course the romance will still be there. The beauty. But it will play out a little darker. There are political undertones in this one. It deals a lot with racism and true justice. Something I’m really passionate about
.
Q. So there will be a book for Nora and Myra too?
A. Yes! You’ll get to read their stories in their own books. We’ve listed the order
on my website
for anyone interested.
Q. How can I get free books? I’m obsessed with this series!
A. Apply for my street team.
Details are on my website!
Q. Have you fallen in love yet yourself?
A. It’s a secret, but my heart is set on someone special right now. :)
Q. Will you start another series after this?
A. Yes. I’m tossing around ideas right now. It’s like creating a new world after I say goodbye to this one. I need to pick a setting, find the right people, and develop the story from there. I enjoy writing smaller books that link together as part of one huge story, so I think I will definitely start another one after this. Stay tuned for more updates by signing up for my newsletter!
If you have any questions you’d like to see answered in the next book, please email them to Marilyn at [email protected] and we’ll select some to answer. You will also receive an answer from her via email. She adores her fans and responds to every email she receives.
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