Sneak Peek of Small Town Start
She was late. She, Jenesa Olson, the most reliable woman in the world and the veritable embodiment of punctuality, was actually late. She had never been late in her life. Well, almost never. Once, when she snuck in five minutes late when she was twelve years old, her father had gotten so mad at her she'd made an oath: never be late again. It had become ingrained in her DNA to always be on time. Yet...here she was, sprinting to her car like a mad woman. As the seconds ticked by, Jenesa's frustration skyrocketed. “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she reprimanded herself under her breath as she tried to juggle the awkwardly large cage in her hands. She nearly tripped four times from that cursed clicking noise of her stiletto heels, a situation that would have been comical if she hadn't been so livid.
A terrifying screech bellowed from the tiny prison, and she almost dropped it in shock. She rolled her eyes and gently rocked the cage to try and mollify the occupant. When the animal inside only wailed louder, she shifted the cage to her left hip and quickly reached her panic-stricken fingers into her handbag, fumbling to find her keys, only to be greeted by pockets full of lint and forgotten lip balm. "Really? Missing? Now of all times. Terrific," she mumbled in frustration. Where did she put them this time?
She clumsily dropped the cage onto the ground, its contents clanging and rattling against the sides. As she chucked her purse on the hood of her white Mercedes, the contents strewn out in a disorganized heap. This was wildly out of her comfort zone; how could she let this happen when her whole life was at stake? “You know better than to be late for the most important meeting of your lifetime. Your dad would be ashamed,” she muttered to herself, shaking her head in disbelief as she rummaged through the contents in an anxious frenzy.
From behind her, she heard some wildly-enthusiastic cat-calls and whistles, followed closely by a deep, male voice with a Southern drawl, "Lookin' mighty fine today, ain't ya, darlin'."
Another man called out, "You might be able to get a ride with him."
She felt her blood turn to ice and a shiver run down her spine. She stood still, dreading the inevitable. Oh great , she thought, that's exactly what I need when I'm already late for an important meeting and I lost my car keys. Creeps hitting on me when I least expect it, like today of all days. Why did they even bother? This wasn't the first time she had to fend off unwanted male attention, but she certainly wished it was the last. To top it off, it looked like today was the worst possible day for them to mess with her.
“Need some assistance?” a third man suggested, in a low, sultry voice that was uncomfortably close. She could feel his presence looming. His breath blasted her, giving her chills. "I'm quite handy, if you know what I mean." This caused the other men in the group to erupt with laughter .
Her reaction, on the other hand, was far from positive. The suggestion made her stomach churn with revulsion. She took a deep breath, mustered up her courage, and spun around to confront them. Her long, brown hair swishing around her shoulders in an exaggerated fashion as she crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? 1985 wants its crude pick-up line back. Why don't you go find a time machine and travel back there so you can leave me alone?"
The three figures standing before her were a motley crew of grizzled gents, overflowing with muscles so big that their stubby t-shirts and jeans could barely contain them. One even had a belt buckle so big and flashy that it looked like an absolute miracle it stayed on his girthy waist. She took one look at them and knew right away that they were total troublemakers. They all looked like someone had stolen their candy, and none of them seemed remotely happy about her comeback.
The man standing closest to her gave her a dirty look. "Well my, my…that was mighty ruuude of you," he drawled out mockingly, his face displaying an annoyed grin. "All we were trying to do was offer you a little help."
"I don't need help. I’m not a damsel in distress,” she snapped out.
"That's what's wrong with all you uppity city women. You walk around in your flashy form-fitting suits and spiky heels and expect men not to react. I mean, look, you're even driving one of those fancy foreign cars that cost more than most people’s houses around here,” the second man complained.
“You’re just jealous I make enough money to buy it,” she retorted, though after she saw their angry scowls, she immediately regretted saying it.
“Doesn’t matter much if you can’t work it properly. That’s what’s wrong when a woman acts like she can do anything a man can do, but clearly, can't," a third man stated with a sneer as he gestured to the mess on the front of her car.
"Maybe we should teach her what a man can do." Before she could move away, the man closest to her reached out and grabbed her roughly by the arm.
Her hazel eyes widened with fear as she tried to think what she was going to do to get out of the precarious situation.
Just then, an earsplitting screech echoed from behind her. She whipped her head around, her gaze quickly settling on the ground where her caged monkey had broken free. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the small, brown figure darting towards the first man. Before she could even process what was happening, the little guy had already leaped onto him and began savagely biting and clawing at him in a wild fit of rage. The guy stumbled backward, flailing his arms as the monkey jumped around him like a frenzied conductor with a diabolical grin on his face. The mini band suit he was wearing only added to the hilarious irony as the monkey clung to the man's chest and beat on his head with his tiny fists. It almost looked like an outtake from an old Looney Tunes cartoon!
The guy let out a startled shriek and begged for her to get the animal off him, but his words were no use. The monkey was too determined to continue its mischievous rampage and merely cackled at him in response. Within moments, the man was able to shove the little beast off him and take off running in the opposite direction, his friends hot on his heels. The monkey enjoyed its victory, gleefully scampering back to its cage.
Jenesa couldn't believe it. Relief and gratitude mixed with a strange sensation of pride-and a touch of smugness flooded her veins. As she watched the men retreat, running like their tails were on fire, she thanked her lucky stars that her brave little monkey came to her rescue. Without his help, she might have been in big trouble-and not just the kind that ‘a little monkey business’ could fix.
She kneeled down and poked her head in the cage. “Thanks, Hershey. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t had my back, literally.”
Apparently, he was already done with his protection mode. He stuck his tongue out and turned his back on her. That’s how it always went; one moment he was her best friend and the next mortal enemy. "Fine, have it your way," she grumbled as she stood up.
Urgency was gnawing at Jenesa as she quickly pushed her unsavory experience with the men out of her head. She raced to the hood of her car, feeling immense pressure to get to her meeting on time. Anxiously, she rummaged through the contents, a wild panic rising within her. Her heart leaped, and she almost cried when she spotted her keys in the side zipper compartment where she always kept them. “Of course,” she muttered as she snatched up her things and wiped away the lone tear at the corner of her eye. "Figures."
A piercing screech echoed in the air once again. It was clear that Hershey was desperately trying to break free again and Jenesa was not in the mood to deal with it. She sighed heavily, knowing what she had to do. She grabbed her keys and flung open her trunk to grab a giant pink blanket. She swiftly stuffed the monkey into the backseat and covered up the noisy animal. Jenesa slammed the door shut and slung herself into the driver's seat. Before Hershey could make another sound, she sped away to her destination.
After two contractors had walked off the job of renovating her bed and breakfast, she'd scrambled to find anybody else willing to do the job. She was meeting with the last contractor in the county, and if he refused to work with her, she would have to shut the doors before they were even open. Beginning the meeting by keeping him waiting was not the way to go about it. She hoped he hadn't already taken off and left her high and dry. If Jenesa wanted to get her business back on track, she had to make sure this meeting didn't turn into another disaster.
A shrill screech filled the car, causing Jenesa to jolt and the car to swerve wildly to the right. “What the—” She grumbled, shooting a glance over her shoulder at the backseat as another ear-piercing shriek echoed in the vehicle. Her sister, Bridget’s, abandoned monkey was making a racket as usual. Jenesa shook her head and reached into the backseat to gently wobble his cage. “It’s okay, Hershey, we’re almost back at the house.” Of all the things she was expecting when her little sister ran off to join a commune, inheriting a pet monkey wasn't one of them. She sighed, resigning herself to yet another mess that Bridget had left her with. She had been picking up her sibling’s slack ever since their parents died ten years ago, and it seemed she was going to have to keep doing it.
Jenesa huffed under her breath as she scowled at the clock in the dashboard. It mocked her with its ‘10 AM’ reading. “Perfect,” she grumbled, “officially late.” For a woman who prided herself on being fifteen minutes early to every appointment, this was a truly terrible predicament. Who knew she'd have to drive two towns over for a vet who was even willing to treat a monkey? As it turned out, after all her concerns about him croaking, all that happened was that the foul little beast got into her fruit bowl and ate more than his fair share .
She was already dealing with enough problems, yet she was now stuck with the responsibility of taking care of a mischief-making monkey while trying to fix up her B & B. Her last contractor had warned her that the old Victorian had too many problems to be able to be fixed, and it should just be torn down, instead. If she had only gone to Hero and inspected the property in person rather than purchased it online, sight unseen, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten herself into this mess. She had given up a successful career as a corporate lawyer in order to follow her dream, only to have it come crashing down around her. With her entire life savings invested in this project, she had no choice but to make it work.
“Don’t forget, you’re a giant slayer,” she reminded herself. “You slay giants for a living. No one is better at it than you.” Her current giant may not be like the ones she fought back in New York City, but she could still slay anything that came her way. When she wore her custom-tailored power suit with the pearl earrings and necklace, and designer shoes with red bottoms, she felt just like David when he took down Goliath. That was the exact attitude she needed to overcome all the obstacles that had been thrown in her way and make her old Victorian the best B & B in all of Texas. Correct that, in all of the South. Heck, why stop there? She could shoot for the moon and aim for all of the United States if she pushed herself hard enough.
Jenesa heard her phone ding, and her heart shot into her throat as she expected to read a message from the contractor, saying he was done waiting at the B & B location. Breaking every law of the road, she grabbed her phone to take a peek. What she saw, however, was a problem of an entirely different sort .
“Bounced check,” she screamed at her phone in disbelief, as she flung it on the passenger seat of her car, causing her phone to activate and the robotic voice of Siri to ask Jenesa what she needed. Hershey freaked out all over again, causing her to jerk the wheel a second time.
Then without warning, her car suddenly and violently slammed into something with such force that it came to an abrupt stop. The sound of metal crunching and glass shattering filled the air like a train colliding with a wall. The force of the impact threw her forward, her seatbelt digging into her shoulder and barely keeping her from hitting the steering wheel. The whole car shook and the engine died out in an eerie silence.
She looked through her windshield and her eyes widened. Behind the glass, a massive gray object had filled her field of vision. Her hands rose to her face as she tried to make out the details. It was solid and immovable, so large that her car appeared to be nothing more than a crushed ant under its tires. How on earth did this happen? She couldn't believe that she had crashed into another vehicle. One moment she was driving down the road, and the next she had suddenly slammed into a truck stopped on the road. She screamed and pounded the steering wheel with her slender fingers, causing Hershey to shriek in the backseat again.
Jenesa was still reeling from what happened when an irate man sprung from his truck, followed by a German shepherd. “What the heck is wrong with you? What possessed you to ram into a stopped car at a red light?" he bellowed, stomping toward her car. "You better get out here and make this right, pronto.”
She wasn't sure what she was more shocked by, the fact that she had been in a fender bender or that the other driver was now demanding a confrontation straight out of an old western movie.