Seventeen-year-old Mae is convinced that the consequences of her poor decisions have caused the untimely deaths of her dad, sister Laura, and grandma who all die within a year, no matter how ludicrous her thoughts seem to those she loves. The solution? Run away so no one else she cares for gets hurt (even if she has to keep a GPS tracker on her phone at all times).
Desperate to earn her diploma and salvage something of her life, she transfers schools when people get too close. After switching to Woodson Prep with only two months to go until graduation, Mae keeps her goals in sight. But when she meets Ty, the “perfect boy” with his own secrets and a relentless interest in Mae, she must decide if she can stop running from the past and still protect those she loves.
Excerpt:
“Is this for me?” I ask as Ty stands in the center of the clearing with a yellow rose in one hand.
“No. It’s for that grandma who’ll be passing this area in about ten minutes. I’m just practicing my delivery.” He’s so cute when he’s being sarcastic. I take the rose. In an instant I am shocked back to the day of Laura’s funeral. Everyone in her sixth grade glass brought roses to the cemetery to lay upon her grave, yellow ones, her favorite color.
“Why aren’t you smiling?” Ty asks. “Did I do something wrong?”
“N…no.”
“Your hand is shaking,” he says coming over to my side. “Sit down.” He points to the picnic table. “Mae, if you don’t tell me anything I won’t ever be able to help you. I want to help you. I know what it’s like to need help. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, too. And I’m willing to tell you. It’s weird because I hardly know anything about you, but I feel like we’re a lot alike.”
“We’re nothing alike,” I say. I want to tell him. But if I do? Then what? He won’t understand. No one does.
“Is yellow not a good color for brunettes?” he jokes. I can’t help but smile. He takes the rose, breaks off the stem, and tucks it behind my ear. He leans in to smell the rose and kisses my cheek. Only the crunching of sticks from the older couple on the path stops him from reaching my lips.
In October 2010 I had an essay published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories For Mothers. Another essay will be published in November 2013 in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just Us Girls.
In 2012 my debut picture book wasreleased by Bronze Man Books. Am I Like My Daddy? follows the journey of a child who seeks to learn if she is anything like the dad who died when she was young.
My middle grade novel, Confessions of a Corn Kid, as well a YA short story trilogy, The Lexie and Rhett Chronicles, and To Know Me, were released direct to kindle in 2013.
I am a great eavesdropper and person profiler which proves a fabulous advantage for a writer. As my favorite shirt says, Be careful or you’ll end up in my novel.
of To Know Me (mobi) (US)
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