Publication
Date: April 2018 (First Edition)
Genre: NA
Romance
“Isn’t
hope in some form our best case scenario?”
More
than a year after graduating from college, Nyra is beginning to
wonder when her life, professional and personal, gets started. Was it
like this for her mother? She doubts it, but things were different,
then. Nyra’s reality is nothing like her mother’s. Each
generation confronts its own challenges.
Still,
she’s tired of feeling like she’s wading through waist-deep wet
cement. Buried somewhere deep in a future she can sense but not feel,
Nyra can hear the siren’s song of hope and hypothetical options
whispering to her. She’s so ready! But is the song she hears hope
or just an illusion?
Best
Case Scenario is the first act in Nyra Westensee’s journey from
student to self-aware, fully actualized woman.
CW: Mature
Content/ Adult Situations/ Sex and Sexuality
Fifty
(50) percent of all royalties earned through the sale of Best
Case Scenario, print or electronic are donated
to Stand Up for Racial Justice.
Excerpt
Splashes
of mid-afternoon sun dapple the stairs retreating down to the beach,
shaded by a green archway of Eucalyptus, Hibiscus and Bougainvillea,
still blooming fiery red. “Steep,” Toni observes. The sign reads,
Coastal Access. Open to the Public—Thousand Steps Beach.
“It’s
not as bad as it looks,” Nyra assures her. “And it isn’t really
a thousand steps…more like three hundred, I think. It just feels
like a thousand on the way back out but—”
“Greaaat…there’s
no easier way?”
“Not
unless you have a boat.” Nyra shrugs. “Sorry.”
“I
get it. Payback for riding your ass these past few weeks, right?”
“No!
And it’ll be way worth the climb.”
“Better
be.” Toni pulls her sunglasses down to give Nyra the benefit of her
best stink-eye, softened with a teasing smile.
“I
promise. Let’s go.”
Toni
grabs Nyra’s hand to stop her. “And you keep your promises,
right?”
Nyra’s
heart races and she squeezes Toni’s hand, drawing her toward the
stairs. “Come on,” she says. “Low tide was almost an hour ago,
but the caves will still be dry.”
The
whole way down, Nyra is acutely aware of the caress of Toni’s eyes
from the side and the warmth of the hand she’s still holding.
Sunlight winks at them periodically, through the canopy overhead.
Twice on the way down, the tickle of a low-hanging branch against her
shoulder makes her shiver. Fear, anticipation—both?
At
the bottom, they break into full sunlight that seems to bless the
translucent waves, staining them a delicate tourmaline. Strands of
kelp mark the last high tide line in the sand. Nyra is surprised to
find the beach deserted.
She
shrugs out of her hydration pack and sheds her sweatpants, revealing
skimpy bikini bottoms. “We’re guaranteed to get wet somewhere,”
she explains. “Either in the caves or the tide pools.” She
glances at Toni’s navy-blue Capri leggings. “Those may salt
stain. I have an extra pair of shorts in my pack you can wear if…”
Toni’s
already skimming her capris over her hips, to reveal ivory panties,
with lace trim. She exchanges her capris, still warm to the touch for
Nyra’s shorts. “Thanks,” she says.
“My
pleasure.” Nyra rolls Toni’s leggings carefully and stows them in
her pack, along with her sweatpants.
She
takes a deep drink from her hydration tube and offers it to Toni.
After a tentative sip, Toni takes a deeper drink. “Tastes like
pomegranate,” she notes.
“My
brother Kip used to get on my case about not drinking enough while we
were out hiking or at the beach,” Nyra replies. “But I can’t
stand drinking plain water, especially after it gets warm. So, I
started adding ice cubes and flavoring to make it more palatable.”
“Good
idea!”
They
poke around in the tide pools, where Nyra points out black and wavy
top Turban, Sea Anemone, Limpets and a startled Shore Crab, scuttling
across the partially submerged rocks. She can’t recall it ever
being this deserted.
The
tide’s still low enough to clamor around in the exposed caves, worn
smooth by wave erosion in some places, rough with barnacles in
others. Where boulders are routinely awash, moss clings to them,
filling the air with the humid, organic scent of life.
“I’ve
lived in Southern California almost ten years,” Toni observes, “and
I had no idea this was even here. I thought you had to go a couple
hundred miles up the coast to find places like this.” Her eyes meet
Nyra’s and she steps closer. “Thanks for taking the time to be my
tour guide, today.”
“My
pleasure,” Nyra replies. Toni is so close now, Nyra can feel her
warmth. Even in the subdued light of the cave, she feels the pull of
her eyes. Nyra’s stomach spasms as Toni’s hands slip around her
waist. She looks up, offering lips that tremble when Toni’s find
hers. She kisses back, tentatively, then insistently.
Apprehension
melts into desire, spiking Nyra’s blood with excitement as her lips
bloom open to welcome the probe of Toni’s tongue. Nyra’s hands,
as though with a will of their own, slide over Toni’s hips, pulling
her closer. Her thoughts swim to the caress of Toni’s ripe, sweet
mouth.
She
can feel herself opening up and the cave’s humid shelter mutes the
outside world. Time feels elastic, as though it’s bending to their
will, making the moment last. Even the irritant of the rough cave
walls digging into Nyra’s back can’t distract her, until the
sound of water sluicing into the cave brings her back to the present.
A
thrill of apprehension competes with frustration and the hammering of
her heart. “We should go.” Nyra’s whisper sounds dry, raspy to
her. “Tide’s coming back in. And…the walk up always feels
longer than the walk down.”
Available
on Amazon
About
the Author
Dirk’s
path to authorship wasn’t quite an accident, but almost. It’s not
that he didn’t write. He did. But through two previous careers,
first as a Marine officer and subsequently as a corporate trainer, he
started way more stories than he finished.
In
the backwash of the 2008 financial meltdown however, Dirk’s
employer filed for Chapter 11 protection and laid off more than half
it’s staff. Cordially invited to leave and not return, he found
himself out of work and excuses. He finished his contemporary
last-chance romance entitled West of Tomorrow the
following year.
Since
then, Dirk has written five more books, including Best-Case
Scenario, Act I of Nyra’s Journey and it’s squel, (Act
II) entitled The Year of Maybe, published earlier this
year. He also writes for Medium, blogs on his website,
where you can find a full list of his works and subscribe to Smoke
Signals, his newsletter.
A
member of the Southern California Writer’s Association, Dirk lives
in Laguna Niguel with his wife their psychotic cat and a 13-year-old
Ball Python named Corona. Besides his passion for the written word,
he’s an accomplished wood worker, snow skier and compulsive gym
rat.
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