This month’s excerpts are from the next stand-alone short story I plan to release (still working on the title). I don’t have a blurb yet either, but it’s about an American guy’s up-and-down relationship with a French girl.
In this scene, Daniel and Mireille are taking the train to Avignon to start his program.
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Mireille tucked a stray strand of her thick dark hair behind her ear and asked, “What book did you read on the airplane?”
“How do you know I had a book?”
The look she gives him says of course he had a book, who wouldn’t have a book on the plane?
“The Stand by Stephen King; have you read it?”
“Yes, of course – you think we French don’t read American books?”
“No, it’s not that, it’s not that at all,” he said as he combed through his mind, trying to think up something he could say so that it didn’t seem like he was insulting her, when she smiled. Full pouty lips, French lips formed by centuries of romantic-sounding words, revealing crooked teeth. Far from perfect but captivating nonetheless.
* * * * * * * * * *
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Terrific scene on a train. You gave us the whole picture in a few sentences.
Down to earth snippet, ED. :-)
If he was reading The Stand, it must have been a long flight. I’m glad that she pegged him as a reader, like herself. If she’d pegged him as a businessman, she may not have bothered asking him about a book, but about his spreadsheets.
What else could you do on a plane but read? There’s nothing else a sensible person can do. :)