Star Bright

A Bluehills story for Tako Taco Tuesday

It’s Tuesday! You know what that means! There’s a new story fresh from my keyboard.

Well. Sort of. Truth be told, I knew I had written the first starts to two or three Bluehills stories back when I had recently finished Farmhand, and wanted to write more in that little town. Last week I’d teased those, and then… I couldn’t find the bit I had written for Jed and his lady. I did find a few thousand words I had written about Glenn, Irina’s best friend. So! You get Glenn’s chance at a happy ending in this week’s Tentacle Taco Tuesday romance story.

It’s a sweet one, and longer than my usual offerings will be, as I had a considerable head start. I was a little worried about writing up something I’d begun so long ago, but I think I pulled it off. You tell me! I can’t remember how I’d originally planned for it to end, or even if I’d abandoned it as I couldn’t think of an ending. Like all short stories, I’ve had to pack a lot into a small space, so you can let it bloom in your own imagination as you pick up the edges of characters and fill in the blanks I’ve left.

Star Bright is now available from Amazon, and for a low price of you can’t even buy a coffee for that any longer, you can support my writing habit and encourage me to keep Tako Taco Tuesday going all year long.

Enjoy! Let me know how you liked it, and next week, I will have Jed’s story for you, even if I do have to write it up from scratch.

Sample

The young woman sitting at the counter in the Bluehills Diner finished writing a short note on the back of a postcard she’d picked up at Lupe’s Everything Shop, and signed it with a simple “C.” She flipped it over to look at the picture on the other side, and picked up her coffee cup with a smile. Her Dad was going to like this one. 

The older waitress, whose nametag was stitched onto her apron, looked down at it and chuckled. “You don’t see those ‘round here much anymore.”

“A jackalope? Or the postcard?” The young woman looked up with an impish smile. 

“Either. Need more coffee honey?”

“No, thank you. I really need to make up my mind, and more coffee is just delaying the inevitable. The pie was delicious, by the way.”

Drema beamed. “I will let the cook know, we bake them here every mornin’ and never the same flavor in a week or more. Dependin’ on his mood.”

“I wonder if you might know of a place where I can rent a room for a week or too? Clean and quiet… I just want to spend some time up here where the air is clear and I can use my telescope to make some observations. School is in the city light-pollution zone.”

“You’re a college student?” Drema tilted her head a little, looking like she was thinking. 

“I’m a grad student. No money, so I really shouldn’t try a hotel for that long and blow my budget.”

Drema looked at her closely for a minute, and then nodded a little. “I think I know a place. Give me a minute or two, ok?”

Left alone at the counter, the woman turned on the stool and looked out the big plate-glass windows, over the red leatherette booths. This was a real old piece of Americana, and she had been delighted to find it when the snow started an hour or more ago. She hadn’t really had a destination in mind, other than out beyond the city where she would be able to photograph the comet without the lights interfering. If all went well, the comet would swing close enough to the earth to trigger an aurora, which would be a great bonus for her photos. 

The snow was at the picture-perfect stage, speaking of photos. Fat, fluffy flakes drifted lazily down from the sky, covering the world outside in a blanket of white. Perfect. Not. She needed to drive in this, still, and that was looking like a tricky proposition. She heard Drema coming through the swinging door, and turned back to face her. From the smile on the older woman’s face, the conversation about a place to stay had gone well. 

“I’m sending you up to the Macquire place.” Drema announced. She looked over the girl’s shoulder at the snow and frowned. “You’ll be alright if you drive careful, it’s about ten miles out of town.”

Using a take-out menu, Drema sketched directions roughly. “Gray Macquire is the man you’re talking to, he’s a real old-fashioned gentleman. His son Dev just married the prettiest lady you’ll ever meet, and they are good folks.”

Feeling as though she’d stepped into a whirlwind, the woman at the counter wordlessly took the map, wondering what she’d gotten herself into. 

“Oh!” Drema exclaimed. “Hold on a sec.”

As she was getting her coat on and a scarf wrapped up to her nose, the waitress reappeared with a covered pie dish. “Gray asked for me to send this, sinc’t you were coming. Luck, honey.”

Pie in hand, the newcomer stepped out onto the small porch, and took a deep breath of frosty air. At least it wasn’t dark. 

The drive wasn’t too bad. The roads, like most in this area of the state, were straight. She only had one turn before she got to the very long driveway that led her toward the Macquire place… at least, she hoped that’s what it was, and not some stranger who’d meet her at the door with a shotgun. People around here weren’t unfriendly, they were just cautious. 

The snow had fallen off, a lull in the storm, she guessed, as the clouds had gotten, if anything, lower and darker. She parked next to the old woody station wagon with a sigh of relief. In the growing darkness, she could see a big house to her left, windows warm with light, a barn in front of her, and a smaller, dark building in between them. Someone opened the farmhouse door, throwing a long rectangle of yellow light out onto the snow, and she got out of the car.

Read the rest right now!