Shameless plug... :)In the spirit of summertime, the Kindle edition of Dimensions will go on sale beginning July 4!
A fast read, it's a great option for an airplane ride, day by the pool, or quick breaks at work.
Currently $4.99, the sale price will be $2.99 until the end of July.
Until then, here is an excerpt:
Lionel was the first man with whom Allison ever fell in love – of all men, a man from the other dimension. It was too much like Sadie. Allison was even in the same point of her life as Sadie had been when she met Bill. Had that been the reason Vera had closed her eyes to Allison and Lionel’s flirtation? It was yet another reminder of Sadie and the past, the one wound that would never fade. Sometimes she envied her neighbors, whose memories still buried old hurts and softened bad images. She used to be like that, but found it unlikely she’d ever regress.
Vera tried to push these thoughts from her mind as she entered her house. She needed to stop blaming Sadie’s death for her own inability to impress important facts to Allison. Vera knew that the more honest she was with Allison, she too would lose some of her memory wash, but she feared it was time to level with her daughter. Her relationship with Lionel may already be too serious.
Vera found Allison on the front porch, a notebook in her lap. She held a pen in her hand but she wasn’t writing – instead she stared at the pounding surf, waves crashing beneath the early evening sky. Vera closed the screen door behind her and took a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs near Allison.
“Where’s Lionel?” Vera asked in lieu of a greeting.
Allison looked at her, surprised, then exasperated. “Mom.”
Vera felt like a broken record, but she began to restate all of her tired warnings to Allison. She reminded her that she still had to act as she always had, to be polite but not too chatty and especially never form attachments to the guests. She was finding the courage to continue – there was so much of which Allison wasn’t aware – and tell her about Bill and Sadie and Matthew, but Allison interrupted her.
“You’re acting as though I’m in love with him,” she said stoically. “He wanted a sandwich. I’m not forming an attachment. I’m leaving for college soon.”
Allison’s cheeks burned. It was a lie, of course, and she had difficulty even saying the words. She cared deeply for Lionel, she loved him. He claimed to love her, too. It was Allison’s carefree attitude, he told her, that originally attracted him to her. He didn’t talk about his home or job, and Allison didn’t press. He did ask questions, and despite Vera’s warnings, she didn’t understand what was harmful about answering banal inquires such as what the next city looked like and how her parents treated the guests in the house. But she dodged more intimate questions with a laugh or a smile. They met discreetly, often sneaking out for a late-night swim when the beach was dark and empty. Allison began to smile as she thought of the previous night, then remembered Vera’s presence.
“I have homework to finish,” Allison announced and closed her notebook.
Vera would later regret not taking Allison by the arm and forcing her to sit there longer, to have the full conversation that Vera envisioned in her head. Instead she let Allison stand and reenter the house.
“Why was I the only woman able find a wonderful man from this dimension?” Vera asked later that night when she got into bed next to Paul.
Paul laughed, and Vera agreed that the question did sound funny when stated aloud, but she was worried.
“Perhaps I should go in and talk to her.”
“Unless this is the point where we’ve done the most we can,” Paul said.
Allison and Lionel’s romance played out just as Vera feared. The differences between the dimensions were apparent, and Allison eventually caved, telling Lionel everything she’d held back about the guests and the role of the house. Vera was furious and also panicked when she discovered that Allison had been so forthcoming with Lionel. She didn’t know what effect that would have on any of them. Paul tried to comfort Vera – they were lucky, after all, that Allison was privy to such limited information. But Vera was still upset, sure that she would have been able to stop things from progressing so far if she hadn’t hesitated. Allison was crushed when Lionel disappeared. They were fairly certain he returned to his own home, but Allison was as inconsolable as if he had died.
“Can he return?” Allison asked repeatedly, much to Vera’s chagrin. The best thing, she figured, was for Lionel to forget about the dimension and never return again. But Allison’s heartbroken face pained her. There was the occasional guest that managed to visit the house more than once – Vera decided she would be honest with Allison.
If Lionel was very strong, Vera told her, there was always a chance he could return.
He wasn’t, and he didn’t.
What bothered Vera immensely was that Allison’s memory of Lionel refused to fade. Her broken heart healed, of course, and later Allison immersed herself in college life. She no longer cried for Lionel, but she clearly recalled him. This confused Vera, for although Allison had an interest in the guests, she never seemed particularly in tune with them. Allison had always lacked the psychic ability that Vera possessed. Eventually they never spoke of Lionel anymore, but Vera was certain that Allison still remembered.
