Her Roman's Hand

Excerpt From: Her Roman's Hand

Lyla Thomas slowed her car, coming to a complete stop at another red light on the busy main thoroughfare running through Dennisport. The small town sat mid-point on Cape Cod, a perfect little summer vacation spot. As she drove, the hot sun beat down on the tarred road, creating a shimmering mirage. It looked as if a small pond glistened in the middle of the street.

While she waited for the light to turn green, she thought about everything she’d done so far. She had been whale watching, she’d even experienced that crazy placed called Provincetown, where all the drag queens hung out, but her favourite New England coastal treat came to mind, quickly overtaking all her other memories…

Lobster roll.

She reached down and fingered the waistband of her shorts.

“Damn, they’re tight,” she muttered.

Inspiring and motivating people to change their lives was her sole support, but lately, it didn’t fulfil her.

That’s probably why she ate all that lobster roll.

It filled a void. Deep inside.

The light finally went from red to green. Lyla pressed her foot on the car’s accelerator and drove down Route 28, her mind filled with ideas on what she could do to branch out on her own. She’d worked for BestUCanBe Corporation for the past ten years, allowing them to capitalise handsomely on her talent. They, in turn, fed her speaking engagements and seminars where she taught employees of major corporations to be the best they could be.

Bored.

Stifled.

Searching for more.

Those words rang in her head. She’d heard them many times, but now she had to admit that for the most part them came from…

Her.

She should be grateful she had a job in this lousy economy, she should be ecstatic that companies still wanted to hire her, but the truth stared her in the face. Lyla couldn’t stand to hear one more person complain about their boss, co-workers and how much damn work they had to do and how tough it was to do it.

She truly enjoyed the last seminar she did on her own. She promoted it, sold it, and worked it all by herself, savouring the experience of a mixed audience who truly desired to change their lives for the better and not simply mewl about it.

Monotony was the enemy. It sapped her strength and drive like the most rampant disease. Maybe it would be fun to reinvent her stifling career.

Ever since she graduated from college, she’d been on her own. She’d had to fight with her parents to let her attend a non-catholic university. Grudgingly, they gave in, but her relationship with them had become strained over the years.

Then again, she was never quite the obedient child they had hoped for.

She didn’t want to spend her entire young adult life in the confines of strict, religious-infused education. Lyla always fought for what she wanted, even as a kid. She had to otherwise, her parents would have mowed her down in their quest to make her into the perfect little person they thought she should be.

That battle continued into adulthood. She won, but at a high price.

If things didn’t pan out, she couldn’t go crawling back to Mommy and Daddy now.

She’d network her ass off if she had to. She’d supplement her income by waiting tables or pumping gas or anything she could get her hands on. Whatever she had to do to invigorate her own business as a motivational speaker.

he glanced at the sunny, blue, cloudless skies surrounding the Cape.

She had lots of thinking to accomplish. Tons of ideas to sort out.

At least she picked a wonderful location to do it in.

Lyla slowed the car to a halt at another red light. She tapped the steering wheel in time to the beat of the music coming from her iPod. Glancing around, she noticed a small house set back from the road.

She read the words on the sign over the door. “Hardin Books.”

Strange.

She’d been up and down Route 28 many times since she’d arrived in Dennis. Why hadn’t she noticed that particular store on her previous trips?

She could sit her ass on that beach chair the Crossair Resort provided, stick her toes in the water and read a good old-fashioned trashy novel.

It sounded like heaven.