ANNIE'S SONG
copyright 2007 by Sabra Brown Steinsiek
Whiskey Creek Press
ISBN
E-Book 928-1593-74-810-4 Paperback 928-1593-74-810-8
ATTENTION: Only the first nine chapters will be posted here before Annie’s Song is released by Whiskey Creek Press on November 1, 2007. Reading this excerpt may be addicting and you may feel compelled to buy the book (I hope!). No amount of whining or gifts of chocolate will make me reveal anything past the end of Chapter 9! You’ve been warned!
Chapter 1
Annie Morgan stepped back to get the full effect and caught her breath at the vision before her. “Oh, Dante, you’re beyond beautiful,” she said to her best friend, who would be getting married in a few minutes. “Avery is going to be speechless.”
“Really?” Dante whispered as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Is that really me? Is this really happening?”
Annie stepped beside her, and they were framed in the mirror as if time had saved a photograph of the moment. Blonde, blue-eyed Dante Harrington was a vision in traditional white, a tiara and veil crowning her upswept hair. Annie wore a shade of blue meant to show off her stunning red hair and turquoise eyes. Best friends since childhood and roommates for the last four years, they both knew this was the end of an era.
“It’s happening, Dante. Avery is a wonderful guy.”
A soft smile lifted Dante’s lips. “Yeah, he is. I am so lucky.”
They could hear the others in the adjoining room, and Annie said, “One more thing.” She picked up a small box from the table and took out a heart-shaped charm that read “Best Friends Forever.” Picking up one of the ribbons on Dante’s bouquet, she tied the charm firmly in place. “Just to remind you that I’ll always be here for you,” she said as she kissed Dante on the cheek. “Don’t you dare cry! You’ll mess up your makeup!”
Just then, Dante’s mother came in, closely followed by Avery’s mother. The bridesmaids, Erin Scott and Olivia Maxwell, were behind them.
“It’s time, darling,” her mother said as she gave the veil an imperceptible adjustment. “You are so beautiful.”
There was a flurry of activity as bouquets were picked up and last-minute adjustments made to hair and dresses. Then the mothers were gone, and the wedding planner stood ready to start the procession as soon as the mothers had been seated.
* * * *
Christopher “Kit” Maxwell sat beside his parents in the second row as they waited for the wedding to start. He usually didn’t “do” weddings, but Dante was his favorite cousin and his sister, Olivia, was one of the bridesmaids. His mother had made it pretty clear that his attendance was mandatory. His body was present, but his mind was on his meeting with his graduate advisor yesterday morning.
“Mr. Maxwell, may I see you for a moment?”
Class had just finished, and Kit was stuffing papers into his backpack.
“Sure, Professor Nesbitt.”
“I was reading your assignment last night. It’s really not up to your normal excellent standards. I found several misspellings, but, more troublesome, there were instances where you used the wrong word, and places where it seemed whole paragraphs were missing. Is there something interfering with your writing?”
“Three somethings, sir. I live in a house with three other guys, and they’re the partying type. It’s noisy, and I’m always being interrupted. When I was working on that piece, one of the jerks set the kitchen on fire. It was distracting to say the least.”
“Can you move somewhere else?”
“I wish I could, but my job doesn’t pay enough for a good place. With what I can afford, I’d be stuck with the same kind of situation. I figure it’s better to stick with the evil I know.”
“It’s affecting your writing, Kit. You have a real talent. It deserves your full attention.” He handed Kit the assignment he’d been talking about and said, “Take this home and do it again, then I’ll grade it. And keep in mind, you won’t get a second chance when you present your novel.”
Not that he needed reminding. He knew he needed to move. His internship at The Times was unpaid. His graduate teaching assistant position and a part-time job in the library barely stretched to cover his living expenses. Right now, splitting the rent was all he could afford.
His thoughts were interrupted by a murmur in the church as the ushers seated first Avery’s mother, then his Aunt Mary. The music rose as Avery and his groomsmen took their places, watching as the bridesmaids came up the aisle to join them. His little sister Olivia was first down the aisle. She was absolutely beautiful, he thought with surprise. When did she get to be such a lovely young woman? Erin Scott, Olivia’s best friend since kindergarten, was next. He realized that, seemingly overnight, she’d grown up as well, a beauty in her own right. Little Annie Morgan, not so little now and a well-respected presence on Broadway, followed Erin. When the string quartet began to play the traditional wedding march, everyone turned as Dante, looking like a young Grace Kelly, floated down the aisle on her father’s arm.
He had a perfect view of Erin Scott’s profile during the ceremony, and he was struck again by the change in the leggy girl who had been ever-present at their home. Dante and Annie had joined the group in high school, when all four of them joined the same dance class. From his lofty three-year superiority, he’d just considered all of them annoying friends of Olivia’s, filling the house with girl stuff and giggles. Now he was forced to acknowledge that they’d grown up while he wasn’t looking.
* * * *
Taylor and Laura Morgan smiled as Annie walked down the aisle. Tall like her father, with her mother’s red hair, she was a striking young woman. She’d been on her own for five years now, steadily carving out a niche in the New York theater world under her stage name of Morgan Collins. Her first starring role had been the year she’d graduated from high school, and they had made the difficult decision to allow her to pursue her dream while they returned to Laura’s childhood home in Albuquerque to begin new careers.
They’d seen Dante regularly, since she roomed with Annie while she pursued her own dancing ambitions on Broadway. There had been only occasional meetings with Olivia and Erin, although the girls had been a steady fixture in their home while they were growing up. Dante had lived on another floor in their building, and the two girls had bonded the first day they met. Most weekends the girls had slept over at one or the other of their homes. After Erin and Olivia joined their circle, the sleepovers expanded so that each family had all four girls one Saturday night a month.
Laura smiled with pride at the poised young women they had become, while Taylor struggled with the same questions going through Kit Maxwell’s mind. Where had the time gone?
* * * *
The new Mr. and Mrs. Avery Huff turned to face the crowd, who broke into applause as the musicians played the recessional. Annie joined the best man and followed the bride and groom as the others followed them. They escaped into the pastor’s office, where they would stay until the guests headed for the reception. The photographer had been given twenty minutes to take formal portraits before they would all pile into limousines to join the guests.
* * * *
The dancing had been going on for more than an hour, and Annie had not left the floor for one minute. Her shoes had long since joined her bouquet at the table, and she was flushed from laughing when she called a time out and sank into the nearest chair.
“You look like you could use this.” A hand appeared in front of her face with a glass of ice water. Taking it gratefully, she looked up into the face of a man who was vaguely familiar—he had gorgeous blue eyes that she knew she should remember, but the shaggy, dark hair looked wrong.
“Thanks! I absolutely need this...and probably more.” She gave in and asked, “I know we’ve met, but....”
“Annie,” he said with a grin, “I’m wounded. How could you forget me?”
The grin was unmistakable. “Kit! I didn’t recognize you in the fancy suit. What happened to the sweats?”
“Mom wouldn’t let me wear them to the wedding. And I’d washed them, too!”
“How have you been, Kit? You should be finishing your master’s soon if I remember right.”
The grin vanished and he nodded, “Next year, if I stay sane that long.”
“Problems?”
“Nothing big. I just need to look for a new place to live so I can write in peace and get my thesis finished. Hard to do on a part-time salary.”
Before he could say more, Erin sat down next to them. “Any more of that water, Annie?” she asked as she picked up a napkin to fan her face.
“I’ll go find a pitcher and some glasses,” Kit volunteered. “Be right back.”
“Wow,” Erin said as she watched him walk away. “Kit cleans up good.”
“He does indeed,” Annie said. And they both giggled as they enjoyed the view.
“Annie! Come on!” Jake Phillips, the best man, held out his hand. “We haven’t had a dance yet.”
“Jake, I can’t,” she protested even as she let herself be pulled from the chair. Soon they were lost in the crowd of dancers. She caught glimpses of Erin and Kit laughing at the table but never found time to connect with him again.
Chapter 2
It was after midnight when Annie stepped out of the elevator into the quiet loft.
The newlyweds were off on their honeymoon. She’d helped Dante change from wedding dress to traveling clothes, blown bubbles instead of throwing rice, then wearily gathered up her shoes and ridden back to the city with her parents. There would be a family brunch tomorrow, but, for now, she was enjoying the quiet.
She carried her bouquet—Dante had chosen silk flowers—into her room and set it in a bowl on her dresser before taking off her earrings and the delicate necklace Dante had given each of her bridesmaids. She slid the blue gown off her shoulders and let it settle in a pool at her feet, stepped out of it and her shoes, and gratefully pulled on an oversized shirt.
She went back out to the kitchen and got a bottle of water from the refrigerator. She sank onto the couch and let her mind replay some of the highlights of the wedding. Even though her feet were now protesting, she had enjoyed dancing the night away. It had been fun to be with the girls again and to see many of their old friends.
Kit Maxwell had certainly grown up nicely. She remembered him as the supercilious older boy who usually wore sweats and had a basketball in his hand as he headed out the door. He’d never had time for his sister’s friends, and they had never really minded. As a senior to their freshman status, he’d been unattainable. Besides that, he’d been Dante’s cousin and Olivia’s brother, not a real guy worth noticing.
He was worth noticing now, she thought, but she didn’t have time. Even if she were interested in Kit, he was probably dating some cute co-ed whose hours were compatible with his.
Being in the theater tended to take up most of your nights, which pretty much interfered with dating outside of the theater world. If she went out at all, it was usually with a group for dinner at Lunatic’s, the theater district Jamaican restaurant that offered great food, reasonable prices, and compatible hours for the theater people who hung out there.
She yawned then and realized that, if she didn’t go to bed this minute, she’d fall asleep right here on the couch. She forced herself up, turned out the lights, and fell asleep moments after her head touched the pillow.
* * * *
Kit chose to stay at his mother’s house rather than return to the house he shared in the city. He had been pressed into service after the wedding to help load up the mounds of wedding presents Dante and Avery would open when they returned from New Mexico. He’d heard that Annie’s parents had allowed them the use of their home in Albuquerque as a base for their southwestern honeymoon while the Morgans stayed in New York to visit with Annie and her sisters.
After unloading everything at Aunt Mary’s, he and his mother had gone home. Olivia was staying with Erin. His mother said she was going to bed and not getting up “for a week.”
Kit, still too wound up to sleep, went out to sit by the pool to try to relax. Realizing it was after midnight and there was no one around, he quickly stripped off and lowered himself into the hot tub. It was still his favorite feature of the house he’d grown up in. Many a strained muscle had been fixed by a late-night soak.
He’d found himself feeling a little old at the wedding. The bride and her friends had been mere children in his mind for so many years that it was a shock to see them as young women. Annie had always had a presence about her that made her seem more mature than the others, and she seemed to have grown into it now. Olivia would always be his little sister, but he felt like the balance had shifted and they were on equal footing now.
Erin—well, Erin was a surprise. There were times when he’d found her the most annoying of the girls. She always had a drawing pad in hand. He and his friends seemed to be her favorite subjects, although those portraits hadn’t always been flattering. She’d been a giggler, too. He’d never gone in for giggly girls.
The giggles were gone now, replaced by a lovely smile and infectious laugh. They’d found they had a seemingly endless well of things to talk about and had left the reception hall for the gardens where they could hear each other. It hadn’t been until someone called Erin’s name and said Dante was leaving that they’d gone back inside. He’d like to see her again.
Then he remembered the rest of his problems. He still needed a place to live. He considered moving back home for a while and knew his mother would welcome him. As much as he loved her, he cherished his independence more. He pulled himself out of the hot tub and wrapped up in a nearby towel. Scarlett O’Hara was right—he’d think about it tomorrow.
(September 24)
