Going around the curve and arriving at my house, I see that Rye wasn’t joking—Lex’s beat-up old Jeep is indeed out front. I’m getting here later than I’d told him to expect me, but he would’ve made himself at home. Over the past few weeks, he’s gotten more comfortable about coming and going in my house. It started even before, in mid-July, when I gave him a key so he could keep an eye on things while I was out of town for a conference. On returning, I asked if he’d keep the key in case I needed him again. There are times when neither Etta nor I can free ourselves from work, and I don’t mind calling Lex and asking if he’ll stop by the house while he’s out and let in the plumber or whatever. Unlike me, trapped in Casa Loco seeing clients all day, Lex is constantly coming into town from the marina, making regular runs to the hardware store or post office or bank.
Funny, me having two men in my life now. I’m equally fond of both Rye and Lex and often find myself juggling my time between them. Our choice of friends can reveal our needs, I think, and that’s proved true with those two. I give Rye credit for introducing me to the joys of dancing, since he takes me out dancing whenever I need a mental-health break, which is fairly frequent in my business. Then Lex was the one who insisted that I get my work obsession under control. When we first became friends, he was appalled at my hours, not believing that I often stayed at my office for hours after my last client left. One day this summer he barged in and demanded I get a life, for Christ’s sake.
Lex and I met on an unforgettable night at the beginning of the summer and hit it off instantly. I enjoy his company in much the same way I’ve always enjoyed Rye’s, though I wouldn’t put it that way to either of them, since each teases me about the other. No two men could be any more opposite in personality, temperament, and appearance than Lex Yarbrough and Rye Ballenger. Rye is witty, glib, and urbane, while Lex is playful, outgoing, and full of mischief. With his looks, charm, and courtliness, Rye is adored by women and envied by men. Being neither seductive nor flirtatious, Lex cares nothing for adoration or envy. What you see is what you get with him. He’s blunt and no-nonsense, yet he has more sheer magnetism than any man I’ve ever met.
I’m aware that everyone in Fairhope assumes Lex and I are lovers, but I’m used to that; people have made the same assumption about me and Rye for quite a while now. Pushing open the door of my house, which feels blissfully cool after the long walk from town, I find myself chuckling. Well, if certain people think my job is coaching women on the fine art of leaving their husbands and destroying their families, it’s not much of a stretch to see me as a woman who’d sleep with two men at once. How disappointed they’d be to know the truth! Setting my purse and the cake box on the table in the foyer, I see that Lex brought in the mail and stacked it neatly on the table. The only piece separate is The Fairhoper, and since it’s refolded in a crooked manner, I know he’s read it. I wonder what his reaction will be. Although laid-back and easygoing to a fault, Lex is not a man I’d want to cross.
“Hey, where are you, Lex?” I call out, heading toward the back of the house. One thing for sure, he will be in either the kitchen or the backyard, his two favorite hangouts here. Not finding him in the kitchen, I lean over the sink and look out the double windows. Yep, he’s in the herb garden, knee-deep in thyme. I wonder why it is that the sight of him tending a garden never fails to surprise me. I can’t help myself; seeing a man like Lex Yarbrough in my garden makes me think of a story I loved as a child, one about a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight the matador. What was his name, Ferdinand? Kicking off my low-heeled sandals, I push open the back door. It’s been a stressful day thus far, but I’ve learned one thing in my business: Never, ever assume that things can’t get worse.
About the Author
Cassandra King has published numerous short stories, articles, and essays, as well as three other novels, The Sunday Wife, The Same Sweet Girls, and Queen of Broken Hearts. She has taught college writing classes; conducted corporate writing seminars; worked as a human-interest reporter; and published an article on her second-favorite pastime, cooking, in Cooking Light magazine. A native of L.A. (Lower Alabama), she now lives in the low country of South Carolina with her husband, novelist Pat Conroy.
Contact the author at her website: cassandrakingconroy.com
Other Works
ALSO BY Cassandra King
The Sunday Wife
The Same Sweet Girls
Queen of Broken Hearts
Copyright
Previously published by Black Belt Press in 1995.
Copyright © 2004 Cassandra King.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information address Hyperion, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the original print edition of this book as follows:
King, Cassandra.
Making waves / Cassandra King.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7868-8793-1
1.Inheritance and succession—Fiction. 2. People with disabilities—Fiction. 3. Married people—Fiction. 4. Beauty shops—Fiction. 5. Alabama—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3568.A922 M34 2003
813’.54—dc21
2002038792
eBook Edition ISBN: 978-1-4013-4298-2
Hyperion books are available for special promotions and premiums. For details contact the HarperCollins Special Markets Department in the New York office at 212-207-7528, fax 212-207-7222, or email [email protected].
First eBook Edition
Original paperback editions printed in the United States of America.
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Praise for
Queen of Broken Hearts
“Cassandra King has written a wonderful and uplifting tale about women helping other women in a small Alabama town. Full of romance and surprises along the way.”
—Fannie Flagg,
author of Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven
“This novel about friendship, heartache, self-discovery and love—in all its wounding, wacky, and wonderful forms—had me laughing out loud, and then moved me to tears.”
—Sandra Brown,
author of Ricochet
“Queen of Broken Hearts is an absolutely fabulous story of healing and hope, filled with irresistible characters that are beautifully drawn and have great insights into life. I laughed and cried, and you will too … I absolutely adored this book! Congratulations, Cassandra King, on a monumental success!”
—Dorothea Benton Frank,
author of Full of Grace
“These are not ‘The Same Sweet Girls,’ but all those who loved that novel will love this one even more. Cassandra King’s characters are fully drawn, richly imagined human beings, whose lives will continue to resonate long after you’ve turned the last page.”
—Mark Childress,
author of One Mississippi
Praise for
The Same Sweet Girls
“King brings sympathetic characters to vivid life and explores the bonds of friendship. This winning tale should make her a household name.”
—Booklist
“The story’s gentle Southern humor and warmth shine. The characters are true to life, and readers will sympathize with their struggles.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[King] has an eagle eye for life as we are living it right this red-hot minute … a talent for creating memorable characters who reveal themselves in juicy dialogue and smart-talking commentary.”
—Mobile Register
“King’s previous novels, The Sunday Wife and Making Waves, have been praised as ‘rich,’ ‘lush,’ and ‘enticing.’ Overall, The Same Sweet Girls is no different. Its emotional depth is apparent on almost every page, and it lends
itself to the kind of immersion many readers desire in a novel.”
—Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News
“If anybody has written a better book about the power of women’s friendships, I haven’t read it. Cassandra King has caught the timbre and import of women’s voices as they speak to and of each other so perfectly that her jersey should be retired. The Same Sweet Girls is tender, funny, heartbreaking, and astoundingly unsentimental. Over all their lives together, these women have felt everything for each other but regret. I really, truly love this book.”
—Anne Rivers Siddons
“Cassandra King has the gift of telling stories that sweep you away; settling in with a new book from her is like a weekend in the country. This novel of women’s friendship is as original, eccentric, funny, and touching as any in recent memory, and you’ll be missing those Same Sweet Girls long after they’ve taken their vivid lives and loves and left you.”
—Beth Gutcheon
“Just try and resist the allure of The Same Sweet Girls. First of all, you get to sit in the company of a group of colorful, funny, highly opinionated, and infinitely real Southern women. On top of that enough, they will tell you the whole truth, and nothing but, about their loves, deceptions, and struggles. But above all, these women will capture you with the powerful, indelible bond that lies between them.”
—Sue Monk Kidd
Praise for
The Sunday Wife
“A wonderful book. Cassandra King catches these quirky, complex people and their world fl awlessly.”
—Anne Rivers Siddons
“Kept me up till 3 … The Sunday Wife is a tasty, irresistible treat.”
—BookPage
“As slice-of-life stories go, this is an extraordinarily generous one: rich, dense, and satisfying.”
—People
“The Sunday Wife is an intelligent, witty novel, skillfully written.”
—Boston Globe
“A charming read … [King] has a sure winner here.”
—Publishers Weekly
“King explores the nature of love—the destructive power of addictive love, the healing power of mature, mutual love, and the blind worship of an adoring congregation.”
—Birmingham News
“The Sunday Wife … delivers some haunting messages about the nature of love and freedom and forgiveness.”
—Orlando Sentinel
“The Sunday Wife is a complex novel alert to the nuances of the Bible-Belt South.”
—The Daily Courier
“King’s unique characters and artfully constructed story are prizes.”
—The Houston Chronicle
“The Sunday Wife is a dazzling tale of deception, heartbreak, and transcendence. Cassandra King has written a novel that sparkles with vitality and truth. Readers will not soon forget this moving story of one woman’s journey toward independence and the amazing people who help ferry her toward freedom.”
—Connie Mae Fowler,
author of When Women Had Wings
“From the perspective of a minister’s spouse, The Sunday Wife unflinchingly explores the hypocrisy, vanity, and cruelty of leaders and members of a mainstream religious denomination. It’s a wake- up call like that of Elmer Gantry. From page one, the reader will be rooting for the liberation of the courageous and talented wife, Dean, from her repressive husband, as Cassandra King’s enticing novel challenges the reader to avoid the crippling effects of denial and obsession.”
—Sena Jeter Naslund,
author of Ahab’s Wife
“The Sunday Wife is a stunner, a page-turner of a story that’s at the same time smart and funny and alert to the nuances of the complicated South. Dean Lynch in the title role will absolutely steal your heart.”
—Josephine Humphreys,
author of Rich in Love
Making Waves Page 30
