Behind the Scenes of AWAKENING MACBETH

Awakening Macbeth: Brodie Meets Joe

The story so far: University of Virginia professor Brodie Macbeth is trying to recover from her father's suicide and unexpected legacy: she must read his history books and use his Great Seal of Virginia license plate for life or forfeit an inheritance worth millions. His sister, her Aunt Kay, also inherits money and an oil painting. Brodie accepts the terms of the strange will but begins to have nightmares set in locations described in her father's books. She has another nightmare when she falls alseep on the flight to Edinburgh, Scotland, to deliver the painting to her aunt.

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The dream began to dissolve. Rage thundered through her body, blotting out her thoughts and making her heart race. Blood pounded in her ears.

"Excuse me," the strange voice said again.

Disoriented and furious, Brodie forced her eyes open. A pair of enormous blue eyes stared into hers.

"Who the hell are you?" Brodie shouted.

Squint lines at the corners of the eyes crinkled in amusement. "The guy in the window seat who needs to go to the head."

A soft ripple of laughter circled around her. Brodie forced herself past the last visions of the nightmare and found herself back in her plush seat in the first class aircraft cabin. A tall man was standing beside her, stooping a little because of the curvature of the cabin ceiling. Brodie sucked in air as the anger receded, trying to reconcile the place she was in now with where she'd been just a second ago.

"Sorry to wake you," the man said. He had thick blonde hair and a trim country music goatee. Both were streaked with the brassiness associated with spending a lot of time in chlorinated water. "I had a big latte before getting on the plane. So if you wouldn't mind . . ."

Brodie blinked and her heart slowed. The man was obviously trying to move from the window seat on her right to the aisle on her left. She was blocking his way with legs, discarded shoes, rolling water bottle, and dropped book.

"Oh, God," Brodie said. Her fingers felt cold and clumsy as she gathered up the things on the floor then pulled in her feet. "I'm so sorry." she said as he eased past her to the aisle.

"No problem," he said and headed up the aisle, one hand on the ceiling to balance himself against the gentle motion of the aircraft.

Clutching her stuff, Brodie watched the man as he made his way toward the lavatories at the front of the first class cabin. He was wearing a long sleeved maroon shirt, faded wide-legged jeans, and a woven leather belt. His shoulders were extremely wide and tapered to an excellent butt. He had the look of a heavyweight boxer or professional football player; at once both lean and heavily muscled.

An elderly woman slid out of the first row of seats and slipped into the lavatory ahead of him.

The big blonde man stopped at the top of the aisle and turned around as if he'd known Brodie was watching him. He looked straight at her, crossed his eyes, and grimaced at the lavatory door as if he was in dire straits.

Without thinking, Brodie leaned forward and mimed comic tears back at him.

He grinned and Brodie found herself grinning back. Their gaze held down the length of the cabin until the lavatory door opened and the elderly woman came out.

The man turned away from Brodie and she had another glimpse of his extremely excellent butt before he went into the lavatory. She sat back in the seat, still holding her book and shoes, and her mind tricked her into imagining herself with him in a honkytonk bar. She'd slip her hands into the back pockets of those jeans as they slow danced to Lonestar playing "Amazed" from the jukebox.