Desdemona Humphries leads a rather unspectacular life. She's a great daughter, grand-daughter, and aunt. She helps her brother coach little league and helps her sister bake for the school bake sales, in between running a bed and breakfast with her f...
"It's about time you got home! I thought Hester was going to keep you all day."
Desi just grinned at her grandmother as she made her way toward the stove. At eighty-eight, Gran was still spry and smart-mouthed, and drove Desi's poor father, her son, to distraction daily. She gave Gran a smacking kiss on the cheek as she handed her a bowl and a spoon. She stirred the beef stew before ladling some of the steaming concoction into her bowl. She heard her phone beep but ignored it as she set her bowl down on the kitchen table and made her way to the corner cabinet for the Wild Turkey. Desi didn't speak until she had her drink and food in front of her, dipping a piece of biscuit into the stew and sighing with satisfaction.
"It took a little longer than we first thought, but it's difficult baking 10 dozen brownies while chasing a two-year-old around."
Gran clucked her tongue in disapproval. "You should have brought her over here. I would have watched the little hellion." Desi chuckled as she shook a finger in her general direction. "You're daddy went on to bed, but wanted me to tell you that he needs you to work on the plumbing in Room Three tomorrow, first thing."
Desi sighed and nodded her head. "That's fine. I'm free until tomorrow evening, although I would like to get some writing in sometime in the near future."
Gran winked at her as she reached over and grabbed her glass, taking a healthy swallow before speaking. "Well, you may enjoy it, but this place pays the bills, young lady, and we have those convention people coming this weekend."
She blew out an irritated breath, but she knew she was right. "I'll have the plumbing fixed before the game tomorrow evening, I promise."
Gran just nodded and stood up. "See that you do. I'm going to bed. Put your dishes in the dishwasher for me and I'll run it in the morning."
After receiving a kiss on the forehead, Desi watched the old woman slowly make her way out of the room. She sat in the silence of the old kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time today, she was alone, and it felt pretty good. She took her time eating, then had another glass of bourbon before cleaning up after herself.
She double checked to make sure the doors were locked and all the lights were out before making her way to her little apartment in the attic. This was Desi's personal space and it reflected her personality. She smiled as she took in the dark red walls and white curtains at the windows, the patchwork quilt strewn across her unmade bed, her clothes folded neatly on the old chair in the corner. She turned her laptop on where it sat on her cluttered desk before she made her way to the ensuite to quickly clean up before donning her nightshirt, which was just one of her dad's old, worn out flannel shirts.
After changing, she sat down at her desk and saw that she had a few emails from Wattpad, the site she wrote on. She clicked on the first one, informing her of a new follower, Bard81, and Desi gave a small grin. She was always happy when people liked her writing enough to follow her. Her followers had grown slowly but steadily, and it always made her happy. The next email was a comment from the same Bard81, on one of her older stories. She clicked on the link and it took her to the writing site, where she saw several notifications telling her that the same person had voted on a lot of her writing. She frowned when she saw the comment the person left:
I have been enjoying reading your works. I have especially enjoyed this story, but I felt the need to tell you that you misquoted the line from Shakespeare, "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness cast upon them." It's wrong. It should be "thrust upon them", not cast. Despite that, this is a fantastic tale.
Desi bit her lip as she read over what the person had written, mentally smacking herself in the head. Now that it was pointed out, it was glaringly obvious. She shook her head and grinned ruefully at herself. She was probably tired when she wrote it. She quickly typed out a response before she gave herself time to think about it.
Thank you so much for the follow and the votes. They are greatly appreciated. Also, thank you for pointing out that mistake. I honestly didn't see it until I looked through your eyes. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.
It seemed like as soon as Desi replied, so did the other person, meaning, of course, that they were online as well.
I have no doubt I will. Your grasp of Tom's personality is amazing. One would think that you know him personally ;)
She snickered out loud as she typed her reply, shaking her head at the thought of such a thing.
Don't we all wish that were the case? Lol, I'm afraid anything I write comes from my imagination and no real-world knowledge of the man, but you flatter me.
She looked at the clock on her bedside table and grimaced when she see how late it had gotten. If she planned on working on the plumbing issues tomorrow, she needed to get to bed now. She shut her laptop and turned off the lights before snuggling down under her quilt.
Desi rolled her eyes as she heard her brother Scott calling her name through the upstairs hall, almost hitting her head on the door of the sink as she crawled out from under it with a pipe wrench in her hand. He grinned as he came through the door of the bathroom, holding out a hand to pull her to her feet.
"Can I help you with something?"
"Yeah, I need to know if you're going to be available for the game tonight. I really need you, Des."
She rolled her eyes again and sighed. "I told you I would. I got the pipe fixed for dad, but now I have to run into town and get the paint for 4 and 5. I'll be there, I promise."
Scott hugged her to him, giving her a noogie in the process, which made her kick him in the shin. She rubbed her head as he laughed. "You're such a short thing, Des. I wonder why you never grew?"
She snorted as she smacked him on the arm. "I'm tall enough, thanks. Not all of us can be gigantic."
She laughed at him as he said his goodbyes and she followed him outside to her old Jeep parked under the shade tree. Desi might be the oldest of the family, but because of her short stature, everyone treated her like the baby. She rolled the windows down and let the radio blare as she drove down the back roads of town, mentally adding and taking things away from her to-do list, thoughts of the story she was working on firmly in the very back of her mind until she could find time to get around to it.
