The only good thing about being sick was that she’d lost all the weight she’d gained over the last ten years. When she’d started feeling better, she donated all her large clothes and bought herself a new wardrobe, determined not to gain back the unneeded weight. Although, she could stand to gain a few more pounds.
She slipped into the dry jacket, then walked toward Alex, who was sitting up and fishing in his side pocket. “Hey, pilot, why don’t you start really saving me by bringing that plane over here and flying me to Saint Paul?”
Alex reached into his other pocket, then stood up, smacking his legs. “Damn.”
She stepped next to him. “What happened?”
“My phone.”
She shrugged. “It’s not like you’d get a signal anyway.”
He turned to her, and his eyes were wild. His expression mirrored the look his brother the groom had the previous evening when he thought Alex had forgotten the wedding ring.
“No” Alex grumbled, “but my family could have used it to see my trek. They would at least know the direction I headed. I can’t remember if I brought it on the plane with me.”
Irene narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? Why does your family need to follow your trek? Isn’t that your plane?” She pointed to the red seaplane a few hundred yards down the beach. “Can’t you just fly us out?”
Alex dropped his head. “No, it … ummm … took a lot of gas to land against the heavy winds. If I tried to fly us out, we wouldn’t get far, and then we’d be in a worse predicament than we are now.”
“The radio! You have a radio, right? You can call for help …” Her words faltered at the look in his eyes. “You were looking for Kevin’s radio … because yours …”
“Broke,” Alex finished. “I tried to call in the coordinates as soon as I spotted your wreck, but I wasn’t able to …”
Irene ran her fingers through her damp hair, paced back and forth on the beach. “So … no one knows we’re here?”
Alex rested a hand on her shoulder. “The pilot, Kevin you called him, certainly he called in an SOS, right?”
Irene shook her head. “Not that I heard. He was trying to land, but I wasn’t sure why. I hadn’t heard or seen anything. No smoke. No bangs. One minute we were flying, and the next thing I knew, we were heading straight for a cliff.” She lifted her head skyward. The sun would set in a few hours, and the temperature would drop. She moved from beneath his touch, walked a few paces, then stopped. There was no place to go. Even the cliff face looked impassable. What if the water came in farther? “What are we going to do? We can’t stay here.” She struggled to keep her tone light, to not let him know how freaked out she was.
“It’s okay,” Alex said, lifting his hands to her shoulders. “First things first, I need to do what you did: I need to put on some dry clothes, and then we need to find shelter and start a fire. Someone is bound to fly this path, so they’ll see the smoke. We just need to let them know we’re here. Wanna wait here while I grab some clothes?”
“Uh, no …” She scanned the shoreline again, eyeing some of the seals that were darned near as big as she was. The seagulls weren’t so small either. The way they were circling overhead reminded her of a horror movie she’d seen as a child. Were they hungry? Would they attack?
Alex tilted his head. “Are you okay? There’s no reason to panic yet. We have warm clothes. We’ll find food. We’ll be fine.”
She straightened her spine. “I’m … not … panicking,” she said each word slowly, convincingly. “I’m just pointing out that we need a plan,” she continued in a lackluster tone. The last thing she wanted was for Alex to think she needed him to calm her down. She’d put herself in scarier situations than this when she was trying to prove herself as a journalist.
“All righty then.” Alex turned and headed toward his plane, but then stopped when he reached the unconscious pilot. “He’s about my size. One of these duffle bags must be his, right?”
She shrugged. “I would think so. He carried them from his car to the plane, and I was the only passenger.”
As Alex hauled one of the black bags away from the encroaching tide, Irene dug inside her luggage for the lighter she always carried in her makeup case. With all the traveling she did, she liked to keep a small scented candle with her, along with a corkscrew, coffee, and filters. Even though with her work hours, she’d rarely made time to unwind by doing something as simple as taking a bubble bath or brewing coffee in the morning. Nope. More often than not, she crashed into bed within minutes of arriving home and then pulled through a drive-thru for coffee on the way to work. After receiving her cancer diagnosis, she’d decided not to deprive herself of the simple luxuries in life. In the last year, she’d treated herself to a nightly candle-lit bath and wine, and then homebrewed coffee in the morning. A lot of good those things would do her here. Then again, she had a lighter. MacGyver she wasn’t, but she could start a fire.
She flicked the lighter, smiling at the fact that she was prepared.
Alex flashed a wide grin. “Great. The more sources we have the better, but don’t waste the fuel.” Next to the cliff face now, he unzipped the bag and stared inside. A second later, his head popped up. He stared up and down the beach, then jogged to the second bag.
She was ready to growl at him for his comment, since at least she had a lighter, but his sudden nervous actions confused her. “What’s going on, Alex?” She gathered up driftwood pieces as she walked toward him.
Alex ignored her, dragged the second bag next to the other one, then carefully unzipped it. He pulled out a couple articles of clothing, then plopped down onto the snow-covered sand.
His hand over his mouth, Alex stared up at her. “Don’t light a fire, Irene. The pilot’s friends will be looking for us very soon, and we can’t let them find us.
Thank you for reading this sneak peek of Alex’s Atonement. Find links to it and the other books in the Midnight Sons series on www.CarmenDeSousBooks.com/MidnightSons.
Thank You!
Dear friend, thank you so much for taking the time to read Sam’s Folly. I hope you enjoyed Sam and Nora’s journey. They will return in the other Midnight Sons books, as I know readers love to see what happens next, but each of the books in the series focus on a different member of the Midnight Sons.
All the books in the Midnight Sons series are stand-alone stories — NO CLIFFHANGERS — but I hope you’ll want to read them all, so you can personally meet each member of the team.
Find links to continue the series on www.CarmenDeSousaBooks.com/MidnightSons
Midnight Sons
Sam’s Folly
Alex’s Atonement
Vince’s Chance
Erik’s Revelation
Daire’s Resolution
More Series by Genre:
Romantic Suspense
The Southern Collection
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
The Creatus Series
American Haunts Collection
Romantic Women’s Fiction & Chick Lit
What’s Luck Got To Do With It
Crazy Love
You can find all my books on my website: www.CarmenDeSousaBooks.com.
If you enjoyed Sam’s Folly, please consider posting a review wherever you buy books. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just a few words to let other readers know if they should read it too. It means so much to me to hear what readers loved about one of my books. Your review also helps me to learn what you want to read next time ... and in the case of a series, which characters you want to see more of in the next books or which ones I should knock off.
Thank you again!
Carmen
About the Author
I love writing. As far back as I can remember I created stories — no, not to my parents — with my best friend. We would sit for hours playing with Barbie dolls, creating new adventures with the iconic toy. Then when I was eight, I actually wrote my first story. A horror story about gigantic fleas of all things;
I guess I had a fear of fleas. Who knew I’d grow up to be a romantic suspense writer?
When I was in college, I wrote my first novella. My professor wanted something that entailed drinking and fishing — he was a huge Hemingway fan. Well, he sure received a surprise when he read my short story. It entailed drinking and fishing all right, but there was nothing funny about it. It was sad; it was real life. Luckily, he enjoyed it, even admitted I was the first student who’d ever made him cry and that I had potential.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t in my future at the time. After all, I needed a roof over my head and food on my plate. I was on my own and a career as an author wasn’t feasible at that juncture in my life. At that time, if you didn’t live in the Mecca — aka New York — you didn’t stand a chance, or at least that is what my peers insisted. So, I shelved my dreams and set out for a career. I spent the next twenty-five years in the business world, rising to the top of a Fortune 500 company.
Now I’m back, seeking my dream. And guess what, it’s a new world where dreams really do come true. My first novel, She Belongs to Me, was first published in December 2011. Since then, I’ve shared many of the stories I’d been writing, and I have many more to come. I waited twenty-some years to share my love of the written word, so I hope you will want to read all my stories.
Until next time, happy reading!
Carmen
Acknowledgments
My journey as a writer has been a long one. Although my first book took two years to write and publish, the story took twenty-five years to compile, as life tends to get in the way of dreams.
If it weren’t for my wonderful, supportive husband, my writing would not be possible. He truly made me believe in a happily-ever-after. Without my husband and two wonderful sons, there would be no reason to write.
I would also like to thank a friend who has cheered me on from the beginning, Tina Wainscott. Tina’s books were an inspiration, but more so, her words of encouragement kept me going.
A big thank you to my best friend and cousin, who endure the first drafts of all my books and provide much-needed feedback. Without their insight and support, my novels never would see the light of day.
A thank you to my biggest fan — my youngest son — he has stood by me longer than any other person, championing me constantly through every rough turn in the road. And now, nearly ten years after I wrote my first book, my son is now writing his first series. I can’t wait to introduce him to the world. SOON!!!
And lastly, a heartfelt thank you to my avid-reading friends who continually cheer me on and encourage me to finish my stories. You can never know how much it means to me when I read your reviews and see your wonderful comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I truly enjoy are fun conversations.
A warm thank you again to everyone! I love you all.
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