Do I have 44,000 more words worth of story?

So let's see.

Aileen and Jeanie are best friends. One is a bit of an introvert and one is a bit of an extrovert. Jeanie's latest "The One" is a man who works Renaissance Faire, has a day job as a Social Worker, and picks up night shifts at a bar to make ends meet. This man, Christian, meets Aileen for the 1st time and starts to fall for her. Jeanie is a bit of a drunk, starts a downward spiral, has a meltdown and pushes all her friends away. This pushes Aileen and Christian toward each other. They struggle with how to tell Jeanie.... and then?

Does Jeanie go to rehab? Does she go home to her family in Montana to get her metaphorical groove back? Do Aileen and Christian stay together or do the circumstances of their initial hook-up prevent them from starting something solid? Does Lassie alert everyone in time to rescue Jimmy from the well?

BIG GIANT SIGH OF FRUSTRATION.

Also, grades were due today. And? Our department is running an after-school intervention next week for students who haven't turned in an essay. Who is organizing said intervention? Me. Who VOLUNTEERED to do so? Me.

Do y'all see a pattern here? I take on too much.

But I'm not quitting. I'll keep on with this novel. It very well may take me longer than the month of November. But I really want to finish it and to have an actual product at the end. Even if no one reads it (well, other than you).

I have to confess that I'm not allowing my husband to read it. I might at some point, but he's not really a reader (I know, I know - but remember that thing about opposites). Wonderful husband, amazing father, hates books. (Ok, so hates is an exaggeration). So it's quite possible he won't even want to read it. I have mixed feelings about that. While I don't necessarily want him to read it, I also kinda want him to WANT to read it.

Do you see how this makes me a crazy person?

At least I have you, dear reader - who has seen my page 53 times. So either one person is clicking a few times a day, or there are actual a handful of people who are interested enough to read. I'm going to imagine it's the latter and not the former. Wait, which one is that? I hate that phrase, it always confuses me.

I hope it's a half a dozen readers. That's what I meant.

Of course, now that I've shown you my crazy, you won't come back.... or maybe you will, because I have AN EXCERPT!

This is after the 1st excerpt, but before the second. I like to keep you on your toes, apparently.

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            “Hey Jeanie, where are we meeting Christian and how long do we have to stay?” I asked as I turned toward her. Only she wasn’t there. In her place was a man dressed in a yellow shift, brown pants, and a matching hat who was holding up a basket of what looked like squid parts.

            “Would you like to try a succulent squid my Lady?” he asked as he pushed the basket of putrid seafood nearer to my face.

            “Uh, no thanks” I replied as I backed away quickly. Where the hell is Jeanie? I wondered.

            My cell phone buzzed. Ah, that must be her. Maybe she just went to the bathroom.

            I reached into my bodice and grabbed my cell, which was wedged (rather uncomfortably) in between my breasts. I decided that this was not my day. Between bruising my ribs in a corset and fishing my phone out from between my breasts, I had had my fill of uncomfortable situations. I was hoping I wouldn’t need my cash or ID at any point since they had probably migrated their way down my cleavage and were probably resting somewhere near my bellybutton.

            It was a text. It read found the Man, by the beer garden, meet me there

            Great. Now I had to find my way through the throng of rotten fish, sparkly fairy wings, and men attempting to personify Johnny Depp all by myself. Jeanie, you owe me, I grumbled to myself as I picked up my heavy skirts and tried to navigate through the throng. During the minute I had stopped to check my phone, the crowd had increased and included what looked like a herd of Tinkerbells being directed by a trio of women in matching tie-dye shirts. People moved aside for the children and so I decided to follow the group and hope they lead me in the right direction. At the very least it would reduce the odds of being accosted by another man carrying rotten meat.

            I lucked out. The school of faries came upon the beer garden rather quickly and as the fairy wranglers quickly shooed the children away from the 21 and over area I made a beeline for the bouncer.

            “ID?” he asked as I stopped short.

            “Um, yes. I think.” He looked at me quizzically. “I, uh, well. look. This is my first time at the Renaissance Faire and I was told to keep all my stuff, well, I mean. It’s in my bodice. Somewhere.” I looked at him pleadingly.

            “Sorry, can’t let you in without ID.”

            “Damn. Ok, I understand.” I pulled out my cell and dialed Jeanie. No answer.

            Damn it, I thought angrily, where IS she?

            The tap on my shoulder caught me off guard.

            “Excuse me, Aileen?”

            I turned around startled and found myself staring into the eyes of a Viggo Mortensen look-alike. His shoulder length hair fell down in waves and his eyes were a grey green color with an intenseness that sent a shiver down my spine. How does he know my name? I wondered to myself.

            “Yes… do I know you?” I finally managed to stammer.

            “Well yes and no, I’m Christian,” he replied with a winning smile. It should be illegal to have teeth that white. I thought. Damn, Jeanie was right. This one is cute.

            “Ah, nice to meet you Christian,” I held out my hand to shake his, but he opened his arms wide.

            “I’m a hugger,” he explained as his rather muscular arms enveloped me. He was the best smelling thing I’d encountered at the Renaissance Faire thus far, but to be fair, I had recently been forced to smell some overripe sea food. So the bar wasn’t set very high.

            “Hey, thanks for letting us borrow costumes,” I said as he let go. “It was really nice of you.”

            “No problem,” his smile really was mesmerizing, “couldn’t let you ladies walk into Faire looking like Turkeys.”

            “Wha?”

            “It’s what us Rennies call customers,” he said as he took my arm and lead me into the beer garden, “It’s alright John, she’s one of mine.”

            One of mine. The words repeated themselves over and over again in my head. He was either very sweet or incredibly presumptuous. I decided to hold off on judgment until I got to know him a little better. In the meantime I was scanning the crowd to try and find Jeanie. She was in for a lecture.

            “Jeanie sent me to come and get you,” he said, reading my mind. “She remembered that she had you put your ID and cash inside your corset before she laced you in, so there’s no way they’d let you in without an escort.”

            “Well, wasn’t that nice of her,” I replied.

            He laughed. “You can’t get too mad at Jeanie, her heart is in the right place even if her head rarely is.”

            “That’s pretty spot-on analysis, especially for someone who’s only known her for two weeks.”

            “Well, my Bachelors is in Clinical Psychology and my Masters is in Social Work, so I’ve gotten pretty good at reading people.”

            “Wow, impressive,” and I really was impressed. The usual caliber of men Jeanie dated was significantly less than this guy. Handsome, polite, and college educated? She’d hit the jackpot. There HAD to be something wrong with this guy.

            “So what do you do Aileen?” he asked, “Jeanie has been rather vague with the details.”

            “It’s because she’s embarrassed of me,” I laughed. “I’m actually a Kindergarten teacher. She can’t stand that her best friend is so mundane. Last week she set me up with a guy she works with, but told him I was an investigative reporter. Poor guy was more than a little disappointed.”

            “There’s nothing shameful about being in education,” he replied. “In fact, it’s one of the most noble professions. Very few people can impact a child’s life like a teacher.”

            I smiled. I think I was going to like this one. Jeanie had my seal of approval to continue to date him.

            “Ah, speak of the devil,” I said as we stopped at the ale stand. “There’s my bestie.”

            And there she was, playing a game of giant tug of war with a man who was twice her size, both horizontally and vertically. To make the game “fair” he had blindfolded himself and was standing on one foot on top of a small box. Jeanie was laughing so hard she could barely hold the rope. The giant man won easily.

            “Hey Aiai!” Jeanie yelled as she spotted me from her new spot on the grass. “You found us!”
            “No thanks to you,” I replied. “You totally owe me a beer.”

            “Coming right up,” the giant man said as he helped pick Jeanie up from off the ground. He walked the two steps over to the ale stand and grabbed a goblet the size of a large baby. I eyed the container suspiciously.

            “It’s good Aiai, try it,” Jeanie encouraged.

            “You can trust it,” Christian said, noticing my hesitation, “Tiny here makes the best home-brew.”

            “Alright,” I cautiously picked up the goblet. It was definitely a two handed proposition. The thing weighed a ton. I took a sip.           

            “Nice,” I smiled at Tiny. “Very impressive, thanks.”

            “You’re quite welcome,” his voice was low and soft, very soothing and unexpected. “I make it right before we open every year. Lately the batch has only been lasting through the first weekend, I’m actually thinking of bottling it. Just need to come up with a name.”

            “Oh have Aiai come up with one, she’s good at that stuff,” Jeanie gushed.

            I smiled, “I’ll have to think on it. Maybe something like ‘a big beer for a little bottle’”

            “I like that line of thinking,” replied Tiny, “it suits me.” He picked up his equally large goblet and drank thirstily.