Evans Creek Book 1: Mister Mayor

BONUS

Photo Credits: fodmapeveryday.com and dreamstime.com

When I have a story that I'm working on, I write whatever thoughts and scenes come to mind. I have a general idea of what the story is, and where it will end, but the characters are the ones who tell the story. The characters don't always reveal it to me in chronological order. When I am writing, I put the scenes and notes together like a puzzle and present a finished story.

Sometimes, there are extra pieces that don't quite fit. I keep the pieces and maybe they make it in another book somewhere. Most of the time these extras are just stored. One of these scenes is about Arayna and her mother. I wrote the scene to try to establish the close relationship between Arayna and her parents, but I managed that with her later interactions with them.

This scene was just fluff and, in the end, it joined the majority of the scenes, photos and notes that I had collected to chronicle Arayna's youth since I chose to reveal the important parts of her youth from conversation and flashbacks.

***

A knock sounded on her door and Arayna looked up from her spot on the floor. She was surrounded books and notes, all part of her research for her English term paper.

"What?"

"Hi sweetheart." Her mother came in with a sandwich and a glass of lemonade. "Since you didn't come down for lunch, I figured you must be hungry. How's the paper coming?"

"It's coming." Arayna took the plate and set it off to the side, leaving her mother to find a place to put the lemonade. When her mother didn't leave, Arayna looked up.

"I wanted to talk to you. Mind if I sit down?"

Arayna felt a twinge of nervousness. This didn't happen very often.

"Um...sure." Arayna jumped to her feet and cleared a space on her bed, and finally accepted the glass from her mother's hand.

"Your father wanted me to talk to you. He noticed you seemed a little pre-occupied, maybe even a little sad. He was worried that it had something to do with your crush on Graham."

Arayna blushed crimson. At least her dad hadn't tried to talk to her himself. That would have been mortifying. Even worse than this.

"I'm fine." She mumbled finding her spot on the floor and trying to pretend her Mom wasn't really there, hoping that she would get the hint and just go away.

"I know you've had a crush on Graham for so long. I know it was hard for you when your two best friends started going out together, but then you seemed to be okay. What's going on? Has something changed?"

"Mom, I really would rather not talk about this."

"Too bad. I'm not going."

"Fine." Arayna ground out with irritation. She loved her parents to pieces, but sometimes they were just...annoying.

"I...Graham wanted me to help him find a tuxedo for the homecoming dance."

"Why didn't he ask his girlfriend?"

"She's going dress shopping."

"Why aren't' you going dress shopping with her?" Her mother asked, "Girls still do that, right?"

"Girls do, yes. Pamela certainly does. I'm not going to the dance mom. Why would I spend all my money on a dress for it?"

"Why aren't you going to the dance? It's the last one of the year, right? It's the last time you'll be able to hang out with your friends."

"Mom, I have studying to do."

"It can wait. Is it the money? Do you need more to get a nice dress?"

"I don't have a date. I don't want a date. I don't want to go. This term paper is due and the teacher is a real bi...big stickler for perfection."

"I wonder sometimes that we didn't push you too hard with all those advanced college preparatory classes."

"I'm fine mom. Still have a four-point-oh GPA. Besides, I don't want to go to the dance. I don't like dancing."

"Arayna, you can't avoid them forever."

Arayna clamped her mouth closed against the retort she had ready. She hated that mom could just reach inside her mind and just know what was there.

"I'm not...not really." She mumbled weakly.

"You are. I know it's not how you wanted it to be. I know you probably imagined that he would be your white knight. That he would realize Pamela was the wrong one and that he loved you all along." Her mother sighed and shook her head.

"How did you—"

Her mother shrugged and turned a bit pink in the cheeks. "I wasn't always married to your father."

Arayna just stared. Her mother was just...well, Mom. It was impossible to imagine her as anything else.

"There was a boy once. He was the most...the best..." her mother blushed. "I had the biggest crush. I thought I would die when he came over to our booth at the soda parlor one day. There was a big dance coming up and I was so sure he was finally going to ask me to go with him, just like he always did in my fantasies."

Arayna stared, and only blinked.

"he came right up to my booth, and smiled at me, just like he did in all my fantasies and then he said hi and my heart stopped. I thought I would die in the next second when he turned and asked my best friend to the dance."

"oh." Arayna couldn't manage much more than that as she tried to imagine her mother as a teenager with a crush.

Her mother chuckled. "Don't look so surprised. I told you, I wasn't born this old, you know."

"I know...I just..." Arayna sighed. "Fine. In my ..."

"fantasy?"

"Dream." Arayna frowned. "IN my dream he takes me to dinner at the new fancy restaurant that just opened up in Masonville. He ordered in perfect French and he paid with a $100.00 bill. He borrowed his dad's car for the dance and I was so proud to walk into the dance on his arm...but, I know it was all just a ..."

"dream?"

"Fantasy." Arayna admitted with a chuckle. "Graham hates English class and he sucks at French!"

Arayna's mother laughed and stood to go. Arayna watched and smiled as her mom turned back at the door with a wink.

"I'll tell Daddy you're going to be just fine."

"Thank you, mama." Arayna smiled shyly. "I mean that."

"Any time, baby." Her mother smiled back. "I mean that too."

And with that the door closed behind her mother. Arayna stared at it a minute before she smiled and reached for the sandwich. She really was hungry, after all.