The Prince Charming Hoax (42 page)
Read The Prince Charming Hoax Online
Authors: Elyse Grant
Chapter
36
Leah
’
s eyes opened like clockwork at 5 a.m., prompted by her internal alarm. What she wasn
’
t prepared for, however, was feeling calm and rested. Many years of waking in a tense, heavy sweat had conditioned her otherwise. Feeling Jonathan stirring in her bed was another unusual sensation. She smiled and cuddled close to him. These were things she could get used to.
But her state of peaceful contentment didn
’
t last. Her mind was racing with the details of the thousand things she needed to do. She slipped out of bed and put on exercise clothes in the dressing room. She needed to get out and run. And she knew exactly where to go and do it. Just as Leah was about to leave in the elevator, Mitzi showed up, wagging her tail and doing her little circle dance.
Leah grabbed the dog, the leash, and her purse and took the elevator to the garage level. She headed for her car, but stopped short when she saw the empty space. She hit her head with her hand. Her car was at Jonathan
’
s studio!
She took the elevator to the lobby and had the valet bring Jonathan
’
s Jeep around. Mitzi jumped in the back, all excited about taking a ride in the car. Leah adjusted the seat and the mirrors and started to put the car into gear when she remembered this was a stick shift. She sighed. She hadn
’
t driven a car with manual transmission in years, but it must be like riding a bike. Once you know how, you never forget.
She pushed in the clutch and pressed the stick down into first gear. Encouraged when the car began rolling forward, she released the clutch quickly. The car stalled. Leah looked in the rearview mirror and saw the valet smirking. She narrowed her eyes in frustration. She restarted and repeated the process, this time lifting up on the clutch slowly. She managed to get into second gear and out of the driveway. After a few minutes of stop-and-go bucking and fumbling with the gears, she got the hang of it and the rest of the drive was smooth sailing.
Ten minutes later she pulled into the driveway of her new house.
“
Mitzi, we
’
re home. I
’
ll show you around right after we take a run on the beach.
”
Leah put the dog on the leash and headed over the bridge. She began walking, increasing her speed until she picked up her pace to a jog. By the time she reached the pier, the sun was beginning to rise. She climbed the stairs, walked past the fishermen setting up their gear, and continued to the end of the pier. She leaned against the railing to take in the view and fell under the spell of the sky and water.
Leah watched the murky white-tipped waves wash up against the pier and shore. Straight ahead, two ships dotted the horizon, faintly illuminated by beams of tangerine light filtering through one tiny spot in the clouds. As the sun rose, the rays of the light seemed to gather strength and forge a path directly to her. She squinted in the emerging sunlight and pulled her sunglasses down from her head to protect her eyes from the glare. She noticed something odd about the light coming straight down from the sky and beaming out on a path to the shore. It was bright pink. She took off her glasses to make sure of the color. It was definitely pink.
The focused light disappeared as suddenly as it came when the sun rose to its morning place in the sky, and Leah felt released from her trance. The heat of the August sun was strong, even at this early hour, so Leah headed back to the house with Mitzi. She stopped briefly at the car for her purse and hurried around to the back yard.
She took her place at the table on the wood deck and pulled her journal and new purple gel pen out from her purse. An exhausted Mitzi stretched out fast asleep at her feet. Leah knew she didn
’
t have much time today since she left Jonathan stranded at the penthouse. But there would soon be all the time she wanted to sit here with her laptop or journal. Today was only the beginning.
She turned to a clean page and forgot about everything else as she began to write.
The Day the Princess Woke Up
Once upon a time in a land not very far away
# # #
If you enjoyed
The Prince Charming Hoax
, please write a review on Amazon! For the latest updates on book two in the series, tentatively titled
Parallel Lives,
subscribe at the blogs of
Shelley Lieber
and
Elyse Grant
.
About the Author
Shelley Lieber is an author with a split personality. As
The Wordy Woman
, publishing consultant, she wrote
4Ps to Publishing Success
and
Publishing Made Easy & Profitable
for new and aspiring authors.
Her wilder side writes erotic fiction under the
nom de plume
Elyse Grant
. T
he Prince Charming Hoax,
her debut novel, introduces two female protagonists with strong and sometimes conflicting personalities that match her own inner selves: smart, creative, and nurturing vs. sassy, ambitious, and daring.
A third personality common to both Shelley and Elyse is
Vegan Novelist
, who writes about her adventures with vegan food and lifestyle.
Shelley lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, who is remarkably patient and skillful at adjusting to her personality switches.