Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Excerpt From *The Pendant: Maeve*

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The Pendant: Maeve
by Laura Hamby
Available in November from Moonlit Romance

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Maeve’s Ford Escort. Fesco served above and beyond the call of duty, valiantly braving the flood waters of the Great Rain Storm of 1995 in order to rescue numerous dogs, cats and stranded people. During the Great Blizzard of ‘98, Fesco delivered such necessities as food and toity paper to the Pirate Road neighborhood. Yea, you were indeedy a good and noble— ”

“Oh, Lordy, Mair,” Maeve interrupted her best friend, a touch impatiently. “The car didn’t do all that by itself!”

Mara Lee blinked. Licorice curls flopped into her eyes when she tilted her head and regarded Maeve through chronically sleepy eyes. “But you haven’t died yet.”

Maeve snorted. “Some friend you are.”

Mara patted Fesco’s peeling hood. “I was just trying to make you feel better. God knows I’ve tried for over a decade now to get you to buy a new used car.”

“New used,” Maeve mused. “That’s an oxymoron.”

“You’re a moron for getting yourself stranded,” Mara pointed out. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at Maeve.

“At least I got stranded at home.” There had to be an upside to this entire situation. Somewhere.

“Let’s not even go there.” Mara sniffed. “Your home is falling down around your ears. I’m scared that one day I’ll come out here and find you buried under a pile of rotting, termite-infested, six-hundred-year-old wood.”

“The house isn’t anywhere near six hundred years old.” Maeve kept her sigh to herself. She’d had this argument a million times with her well-meaning friend. A friend who came from a large, rambunctious family and therefore had no idea how alone Maeve was. A friend, despite years of tried and true devotion, couldn’t possibly understand that this old house was the only family Maeve had left.

“You’d never know by looking at it. Besides, who’s to say how old the tree was when your environmentally unconscious ancestors cut it down?” Mara groused. She cleared her throat. “Second Big Bro Marc said he’d come tow Fesco later this afternoon. Mick is going to meet us at the used-car lot.”

“Great. Just what I need. Mick going ‘big brother’ on me.” Maeve couldn’t have kept the sigh in this time, even if she’d wanted to try. Mick made it his life’s career to hover over his little sister, and that extended to Maeve, as well, since the women had been attached at the hip since kindergarten.

“I told him to bring his girlfriend. Get in the car. I shoveled out the front seat just for you.”

Mara’s car smelled like moldy cheeseburgers and Dr. Pepper. Maeve rolled the window down as fast as she could. “And you complain about my house when you drive around in this fast-food cemetery?”

“Oh, shut up.”

They burst into laughter at precisely the same moment. Some things never changed— girlfriends, shopping, lunch and drooling over sexy men. These were the four constants in their universe, and they’d never failed.

(c)2007 by Laura Hamby

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