Falling Into Blue Read online

  To my grandpa Ben and husband Dennis!

  My knights in shining armor.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you.

  To my brothers and sister, Ricky, Kenny, Bobby, Cash, and Angie for all the love and laughs growing up. Those times at the lake were the best of times. Skiing, fishing, building six tier pyramids in the water, making mud pies, dodging scorpions, snakes, and tarantulas, playing tetherball or on our treehouse, and fighting over the go-cart. Those memories sustained me, and your love carried me through the hard times. To my brothers, THANK YOU for your military and civil service. I am so proud of you and your dedication and love for our country. To my baby sister, I’m in awe of you as a person and your talent as a designer.

  To my Dad. You inspire me. I love you so much. You were never far and always came if I needed you. You are my voice of reason even when I don’t want to hear it. I love you so, so much. I hope I make you proud.

  To my step-mom, Judy. I won’t be able to write this without crying. I can never express what you’ve come to mean to me over the years. Your business sense and self-confidence is what has inspired me. I was watching, always watching from a distance. Where Grandma taught me to be a lady, you taught me to be a woman. You took over the role of mom for me, and I thank God for that every day. I love you always.

  To my cousin, John, and one of my forever BFFs. Thanks for teaching me the Time Warp even though it was an epic fail. But who the hell cares? Not us! We laughed our asses off. Through my worst times, when my brothers were away protecting our country, you stayed and protected me. I will always remember what you did for me. I forever love you.

  To the Schooleys, you guys are amazing. If anyone ever asks where my crazy humor comes from, I tell them y’all. I love you all so much.

  To my grandma, who was always a lady. She taught me my southern girl ways and manners. And the day I had my head in her lap crying, for patting my back and introducing me to the healing powers of chocolate. May God let you forever rest in peace after raising six hellions of boys and one perfect little angel…

  To my uncle John and aunt Melody, high school sweethearts who are still going strong. Your true love story and absolute dedication to each other and the Lord was something in itself to behold.

  To my Uncle Jim, you really are my strong cowboy with blue eyes. You emanate kindness and warmth. There were things in my life that scarred me deeply and made me fear others, even my own family, but never you. Never, ever you. Thank you for your unconditional, unwavering love.

  Aunt Lori, Dr. Pepper, blonde hair, and bowling. The perfect southern girl trifecta, that is you. You were a quiet cowgirl, and I love you very much.

  Aunt Christina, for loving and taking care of my uncle. For your dedication to teaching and for the beautiful quilt you made me. All of those are treasures.

  To my ALL my childhood and school friends from San Antonio, Texas (Go Bears!), coworkers at the Fort Belvoir Main Exchange on Fort Belvoir in Virginia, and all my fabulous military wives! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the encouragement and for constantly telling me before the book was even done that y’all were my biggest fans. My heart burst daily from your love and friendships. I love y’all.

  To Kristen Ashley, Maya Banks, Lora Leigh, Aurora Rosa, Lila Rose, Nicole James, K.C. Lynn, K. Langston, River Savage, Cassia Brightmore, Samantha Beck, Bella Jewel, Jamie Begley, Belle Aurora, Gillian Jones, Joanne Wylde, Toni Aleo, Kristen Proby, Torie M. Sullivan, T.M. Frazier, Nora Roberts, and James H. Waggoner for being my inspiration. I LOVE YOUR BOOKS! Thank you!

  To my son, Patrick, my favorite hero. You are an amazing man, father, son, brother, and soldier. You are simply Superman.

  To Jenny, thanks for being my son’s Lois Lane and your family’s Wonder Woman all at once. You take care of your boys, Jacob and Wesley, with such strong devotion and love. They couldn’t have a better mom in all the worlds, in all the universes, anywhere.

  To my daughter, Regan, this started with you forcing, yes forcing or maybe guilting is a better word, the Twilight series on me and then later talking me into reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Without that start, I wouldn’t have continued to fall in love with books and reading and would not be here today. You are a beautiful person and watching you being such an amazing mom to Marci Rae blows my damn mind. BOOM!

  Marcus, you constantly impress me. You’re a cutie pie all the way and make a mean drink. Thanks for taking such good care of our girls.

  To Julia and Walter, from the very, very, very beginning you believed. Thank you for listening to story after story.

  Julia, your beautiful gift drove me to make sure I completed this...for your belief in me alone, I am here.

  To Larry, Naty, Sam, Laura, and the entire Maurer Clan in Wisconsin and all over…thank you for being so wonderful and giving me such an amazing man, Dennis

  To my husband, my love, Dennis. My sugar bear! I love you. You are my life. Thank you for believing in me and encouraging my dream. You are my angel, my hero, my knight in shining armor, my Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and even Aquaman. You are every type of superhero and more. You are my titanium bear! I thank God for sending you to me every day. I LOVE PIZZA! Or, better, I LOVE YOUR PIZZA!

  To Debra and Naomi, for your amazing support and belief in me.

  And finally

  To my grandpa, Ben. My first love. Thank you for a beautiful start in life. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for all my cherished childhood memories filled with love and laughs. You left me way too soon, and I miss you terribly every single day. I can’t wait for the day I will see you again and can wrap my arms around your neck and hug you tight…

  www.mascotbooks.com

  Falling Into Blue

  ©2016 Donalyn Maurer. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, or photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the author.

  For more information, please contact:

  Mascot Books

  560 Herndon Parkway #120

  Herndon, VA 20170

  [email protected]

  ISBN-13: 978-1-63177-587-1

  Contents

  PROLOGUE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Falling Into Blue: Playlist

  PROLOGUE

  “Let me drive now,” I whined to Jesse, one of my four older brothers, who had been hogging the go-cart all day. Our grandparents got us the go-cart to make quick trips back and forth between the cabin and lake, which were about a mile apart from each other up in the Texas Hill Country. It was always a battle over who was going to ride or drive on the shiny red go-cart with the black-and-white striped singl
e bench seat, and this summer I turned twelve years old and was finally in the race for a turn.

  It was super cool except for the two long poles my grandpa attached to the back railing that flew about twenty feet into the Texas sky—okay well, maybe I exaggerate—six feet into the Texas sky—and held fluorescent orange warning flags at the top. Those things sucked the cool almost completely out of it, but it was the compromise my grandpa made my grandma when he talked her into letting him get it for us. If we were going to be riding it on the back roads up here in the country, she wanted us to be visible. She had her wish. Even the neighboring state of Oklahoma would see us coming from the orange flags flapping in the sky days before our arrival.

  “No,” was Jesse’s quick and annoying reply.

  “But Grandma told you to give me a turn,” he was ignoring me and we were getting closer to the cabin. I knew if we didn’t switch soon I wouldn’t get a turn, so I pulled out the big guns: “Fine. I’m going to tell Grandpa.” Small rocks and dirt flew as Jesse swerved to the side of the gravel road and got off to switch seats with me. I got behind the wheel, smiling, and peeled out before Jesse was fully seated and buckled in. He started laughing as he held on to the railing to avoid flying off.

  “God, you’re a brat, Jaycee.”

  We were both still laughing as we pulled up to our cabin and noticed our brother Nash standing still as a statue except for a slight head twitch.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked as we continued pulling into the gravel drive by the garage that housed all the fishing poles, tools, life jackets, skis, and the reason we loved coming to the lake each summer, our ski boat. For now, the boat was docked down at the marina in our slip. I glanced in the garage and noticed my grandpa and my oldest brother Jake working on something at my grandpa’s work table, but they didn’t seem to notice us as we walked by.

  “I don’t know, but shit, he looks scared,” Jesse said as we started walking towards Nash. Then Jesse stopped mid-step, grabbed my arm and whispered, “Don’t move.” That’s when I looked down and finally saw it—a snake was trying to wrap itself around one of Nash’s feet.

  ”Uhhh, Nash, don’t move,” I whispered as he glared at me with a do I look like I’m moving? look. “Fine, whatever. I’m just trying to help,” I said, even if it was by stating the obvious.

  I remember each summer, before my grandpa would set us loose to run around the woods, he would give the same lecture: “If you run across a snake, freeze. When it doesn’t sense movement, it will slither away.” I honestly thought that if any of us actually ran across a snake, we’d all take off running and screaming in a panic, but it looks like Nash actually listened. Humph, I’m impressed, I thought.

  “Red is Jack’s dead friend, or Jack’s red friend is dead…” Jesse was mumbling.

  “Um, Jesse, that’s not even close,” I said, as I tried to recite the saying in my own head with us both still staring at Nash.

  “Get Grandpa now, Jaycee,” Nash pleaded, looking at us like we were idiots and rolled his eyes. He knew the correct saying—I could tell by the fear on his face. The snake wasn’t too long, but it looked menacing and it was hissing. It was brown and gray and I could see its nostrils. I didn’t recall gray or brown being mentioned in the saying.

  “Son, going to need you to stand still. That’s a copperhead, and he could bite without warning, so don’t move a muscle—don’t even breathe,” we heard our grandpa say. We turned to see our grandpa holding his gun aimed at Nash’s feet. He always carried a gun. It was normal. We do live in Texas after all. Your great grandma carries a gun here.

  Nash looked at the gun and his eyes bugged out, but he nodded yes that he understood.

  Jesse whispered to Jake and me, “He looks more scared now than before,” and we softly chuckled, but we all had complete faith in our grandpa. He was a mountain of a man with blue eyes and a heart of gold.

  “On three Nash, okay?” Nash gave a slight nod as Grandpa aimed, “One, two…” BANG! We all jumped as the snake splat in half. Gross. Nash looked like he was about to pass out as he stepped back from the dead snake and squatted, leaning down resting his elbows to his knees with his head in his hands.

  Grandpa walked over to Nash and patted him on the back. “You okay, son?”

  “Yes’sir. Thanks, Grandpa.” He stood back up, but, even shaken, managed to point and yell at Jesse and me, “What was that crap?! Jack’s red friend is dead, what the hell?! While y’all were trying to figure out what color Jack’s dead friends are, I could have been bit! And freaking laughing? All of y’all are assholes!” Nash shouted at me, Jake, and Jesse, which only made us laugh harder.

  “Don’t call your sister an asshole, Nash,” Grandpa scolded without any mention of calling Jake and Jesse one. I think I heard my grandpa say, “Well, I’ll be...they do listen,” as he took the shovel from the garage and walked over to the snake carcass, scooping it up and dumping it into the old metal rusted trash can.

  We all turned as we heard the cabin screen door open and saw our grandma, Lila, wiping her hands on her apron, looking concerned and startled.

  “Did I just hear a gunshot?” she said, breathlessly looking each of us up and down to see if we were okay. No one said anything, but we all looked at my grandpa who had already holstered his gun back on his hip.

  “No Lila, honey. You must have just heard me when I dropped the top on the metal trash can a minute ago,” he said, still holding the lid in his hand. He glanced at us with a silent warning.

  “Okay, well supper is ready, so y’all need to head in and get washed up,” and she turned to head back inside the cabin, but stopped and looked back at us all suspiciously when we were all still standing still, not moving or saying a word. Her eyes dropped to my grandpa’s hand, still holding the lid, and then to his hip with the gun. She narrowed her eyes back up at him but let it go and turned to walk back inside. “I swear that sounded like a gunshot,” she said, pulling and latching the screen door. She knew we were up to something, but that something wasn’t that her husband had just shot a snake in half at the feet of one of her precious grandbabies.

  I’m not sure why this memory crosses my mind as I sit in the backseat of my grandpa’s truck while he and Jake are talking in the front seat. Maybe it’s because George Strait is singing "Run" over my headphones and I can’t help feeling that sharing times like those are over, as my family is moving on and no one seems to be in any rush to come back these days. Maybe it’s knowing I can’t go back

  Time is moving forward no matter how badly I’d like it to stop. Jake, who just turned 31 years old, joined the military over ten years ago, and not long after, Jesse followed in his footsteps. They’re only a year apart in age and have always stuck together. Nash, Chase, Abigail, and I are all clumped together in our mid-20’s with Nash being the oldest among us, and Abigail being the baby. Nash is a firefighter and EMT with a VFD in a small town outside the city. Our brother and sister, Chase and Abigail, are moving on as well. Chase is my stepmom Violet’s son and we’re the same age but he still says he’s my big brother because he’s five months older than me. Chase has always carried the McGinty name since my dad adopted him when he was two years old and he works with our dad, while Abigail is enjoying her senior year of college and should finish before her next birthday.

  Jesse is currently home but he deploys a lot. When he’s away, I get random phone calls at any given time, but when he’s able to get a minute to check in on me, he does. Jake is home on R&R from his recent deployment from overseas tour and he and my grandpa have decided to bring the boat back from the cabin for maintenance. It’s October and there’s a deep chill in the air. For most of the country these cool temps would seem normal, but this is Texas so it’s not.

  We pull up to the cabin, and after a quick check on the interior of the buildings, my grandpa locks it back up and takes a walk around the exteriors. He’s looking to see
if the local wildlife is making any paths into the cabin or garage. Each summer, on the first day we arrive, my grandpa does a sweep before he lets us enter the garage or cabin. We’ve relocated families of possums, bunnies, cats, and even rattlesnakes. Well, didn’t so much as “relocate” the rattlesnakes as my grandpa shot up their nest with his shotgun.

  Grandpa and Jake pull the boat out of the garage and Grandpa tosses Jake the truck keys so he can back the truck up to the hitch. I could have done it, but the men in my family seem to have an unnatural attachment to their trucks and cars and only trust other men with their precious vehicles. When they get the boat hitched up and secured, we get back in the truck. I’m bouncing around the backseat as my grandpa starts driving forward down the slightly uneven incline off the property to the road in front of the cabin.

  Grandpa’s decided to take one last drive down to the lakeshore. We get out of the truck and start walking by the shore where there’s a long rocky pier that darts out into the lake. The sun is starting to set as I make my way to the very end of the rocks. I stand staring out over the water at a rocky pier across the lake. On it stands a beautiful lighthouse that signals the entrance to a private cove. I can see the light circling around and I find myself content in just standing there waiting for the light to pass my way again.

  This lake, our cabin, is my favorite place in the world. When my brothers and I were younger, my grandpa would sometimes let us take the boat out on our own since Jake and Jesse could drive. This was so he could spend time with my grandma lounging on the patio under the tin roof off the pier. My grandpa made the lighthouse the boundary. We’d reach the lighthouse and turn and loop back in. So many memories. So many laughs. So much love. This was the place where no one argued over which television station to watch or talked on the phone because my grandpa refused to allow either in the cabin. We had power and water—that was it. He made this our uninterrupted family time and we never complained about being out here, just us.

  I wrap my arms around myself because the temperature has really dropped. None of us brought a jacket because we didn’t count on the fast cool-down. My grandpa apparently notices me shivering, because he walks over and wraps me up in his arms.