He wouldn’t hold my hand. Maybe it was flashes of my creamy skin through black crochet. The way I harvested salad from my plate. When he paid the bill, we stepped onto blue stone, merged with soupy air.
“Let’s walk…….if your feet will be okay in those shoes.”
I bit my tongue. “They’ll be fine.”
I clacked beside him, my footsteps mirroring jumpy insides. Will this be the night he kisses me?
Once I stumbled. On purpose. I never told him.
He knew.
I slithered my hand through the crook of his arm. The first time I touched him, on the way to watch a man sweat into the crevices of his magic violin. Erotic.
Almost.
The way music merges with desire to render love.
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Thank you, Jason Nichols of the Charleston Concert Association, for posing for this picture with me. Sure, it’s awesome that you wanted my book, but I’m grateful for this memory, conjured by a poster on a wall. MTM and me. Our second nighttime date. Joshua Bell with Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28gEpKs1Ykc&w=560&h=315]
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Last Friday, I was honored to speak at the Myrtle Beach Chicora Rotary Club on the first day of Myrtle Beach Bike Week. I always donate $1 from the sale of every book at Rotary meetings to Rotary Literacy initiatives. As I started my yesterday, I cried when I found this note in my inbox:
Thank you so much for visiting and speaking at Chicora Rotary this past Friday. i downloaded your book to my Kindle and cannot wait to finish reading it. I will be a follower of you writings forever. This book is amazing. Thank you , thank you, thank you for sharing your world with the world.
Enter to win one of five signed copies of To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis by clicking here:
Or, buy a copy today, and I’ll donate $1 of the purchase price to Rotary Literacy programs that help children and adults learn to read. Send your receipt to readme(at)andrawatkins(dot)com for credit. Click below to purchase in your favorite format.
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35 Comments
you wear that dress during motorcycle bike week and you’ll get EVEN MORE attention in it than normal!
I wish that dress still fit me, but I got rid of it years ago.
sounds like it is time to buy a new one!
The reason I couldn’t fit in the old one is because you always see me at places like Lee Lee’s for lunch. 🙂 We should have lunch there sometime, since we both like it so much.
Or at least go somewhere and sit at the same table! lol
Andra, that is such a cute, funny and sweet story. And congrats on continuing to receive rave reviews for your book. You deserve every single one.
I hope you’re fully recovered from your move, Mary.
I’m not done moving, Andra. My friend and I are still packing up boxes for storage, I’m packing up my stuff for the new place. Movers come for the big stuff next week Tuesday. This is a long, never-ending process.
It ends, Mary. Really. It does.
Love that story!!!! And that video. Yowza! You’re great at writing chemistry!
We had lots of chemistry, even when he was pretending only mild interest. 🙂
Ooh. Steamy!
To match the weather here, most of the time. 🙂 Glad you’ve got internet at your new place.
Wonderful – in every way, Andra.
I hope you’re starting the week with warmer weather up your way, Penny.
That is really a sweet note. And the date…well…that is hot and sweet.
I dream of the day I get ten of these notes, because the concept of more than that feels impossible today.
I hope you had a good weekend. I got lost in a black hole, but it ended well. 🙂
*sigh*
This is an off-the-subject question, but how many Lewis & Clark things are in your area, Lori?
wonderful and sweet story, andra )
A sappy start to the week, but I’m not eating sugar this week, so I needed something like it someplace. 🙂
You should think about writing a love story. Not necessarily autobiographical, but perhaps loosely based on yours and MTM’s relationship. Some of your best (funniest, sweetest, juiciest) writing on this blog is stories about the two of you together. I would buy that book!
I’ve written a love story, Nancy. I’ll never publish it……..okay, I shouldn’t say never, as it’s basically ready to go. I grew to hate that book in the process of writing and revising it, and I still can’t imagine letting people read it and associate it with me.
…but you should. It’s good. Just different from To Live Forever. BTW–this was a wonderful post.
It’s good but not great. I don’t think it highlights my strengths as a writer like TLF does.
Pseudonym? 🙂
“Those shoes”. Little did he know those shoes would ’cause’ you to need his arm. 🙂 Que romantico! 🙂
I’m sure he knew. He’s waaaaaaaaay smarter than me. 🙂
I’m sure he knew too. He would be silly dumb not to see what he had in you!
Rotarians are nice people – particularly to nice people.
They’ve been huge supporters of my novel so far, Col. I have my first book club appearance tomorrow night, and it came through Rotary.
I love that you give to the Rotary sponsored literacy program. I’m not at all surprised, but it is a generous. I hope you’ll continue to share about some of the places you appear and the lovely people you are meeting. I enjoy hearing!
I love your story, Andra. It evokes happy (and funny) memories of my first few dates with my husband 🙂 And how wonderful of you to donate to literary programs. The power of reading is something too many of us take for granted. And may you continue to get many such reviews as you share in this post!
Love the craft in this post, especially what you did with the opening 2 sentences.
I’ve got to learn that I cannot sneak a peak at your amazing blog when I am still at work. I’ve got chill bumps and I am holding back tears of joy for you. The email…
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