Something New

Okay, I have to admit, I’m getting tired of snippets, and I’d guess you must be too by now.  It seemed like a great idea when I thought of it, but the truth is, I can only write so fast and I can’t keep up with them.  All the ones I’ve shared are still on my Snippets Pages, but I’m fizzling.  I’m not going to be writing a new Muddy River for quite a while.  Instead, I’m letting myself play around with a new mystery this month, and then I have to get serious and write my 6th Jazzi book.

I didn’t do anything but have fun over the weekend.  My grandson, Tyler, married his Emily, and our family met in Indy to celebrate with him.  His mom, Holly, lives there, too, but Robyn and Scott flew in from Florida and John’s brother came from Oakland.  A lot of the neighborhood kids who spent a lot of time at our house and Tyler’s school friends who visited here drove in, too.  DH and I met Emily’s family for the first time, and they were warm, friendly people.  We had a Wonderful Time!  DH and I love to dance, so we spent most of the night on the dance floor with our daughters and neighborhood kids.  So did Ty and Emily.  Way Too Much Fun!

Anyway, I’m back to work today, and I thought I’d share the start of my new Lux Mystery.  The whole thing might change before I finish the entire manuscript, but this is what I have for now:

A Lux Mystery

What was taking the freaking gate so long to open? I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel of my yellow Bentley Mulsanne—the love of my life—but it didn’t hurry the process one bit. Why I listened to Keon and bought a house in a gated community in Summit City was beyond me, but he’d insisted with my name and money, I’d be safer. Bullocks! I’d been safe enough living in a condo in Chicago.

I’d promised Gabbie that I’d meet her at Chop’s wine bar at six. In the old days, back when she was poor and we went out to eat, I always picked up the tab. She’d fussed about it at first, but I finally told her that if she didn’t let me pay, I’d quit bumming meals with her family, and I’d be the poorer for it.

Her dad had always insisted that their kids be home for supper and that I was welcome at their table. My parents, on the other hand, barely knew what I was about.  They were beneficent assholes–pardon the language–but it’s true. If I ate at home, I sat at the huge dining room table, served exquisite food on fine china, by myself. The servants fussed over me, but it wasn’t the same.

I loved Mom and Dad, but they spent as little time with me as possible. They gave me anything and everything I could possibly want or need except their time. That’s how I got my name—Luxury Milton Millhouse. “A child’s a luxury I can’t afford,” my mother often told her friends. So they traveled and partied and paid others to care for me.

It hurt. It still does sometimes, but I got over it.

Keon, Gabbie’s older brother, used to tease me and call me poor, little rich girl.

“Does that make you a rich, little poor boy?” I’d counter. His parents both worked and struggled to keep a roof over their five kids’ heads, but what they lacked in money, they made up for with love. Gabbie and I would never have met except Gabbie was so damned smart, she earned a scholarship to the ritzy private school my parents sent me to. Once we discovered each other in second grade, we became inseparable.

Hope you like Lux.  Any opinions or feedback is welcome:)