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With nearly four months of 2022 in the books (no pun intended), needless to say, I've been busy. I re-released my YA series, CommuniKate, with Books 1 and 2 now available on Amazon. I've also been working on several other novels, including the second book in my small-town detective series Silver Falls, and a new romance novel Since Last I Saw You (look for it later this year).

But the largest amount of time has been spent on finishing Losing Adam, the first book in a new series entitled Broken Halo.

Even as I write this post, I am in the process of querying agents for representation. Fingers crossed, but I'm really excited about this project and the potential it has. I am including the first chapter below. As always, I'd love to get your thoughts. Enjoy!

Jumper

When the skin on Eden Shaw’s fingers and toes began to prune, she cut the water to the shower, toweled off, and grabbed the lilac robe from the back of the bathroom door. She’d had the dream again—the same one she’d had every night for the past seven months—only this time, instead of stepping back from the ledge, she had fallen headfirst into the darkness.

That’s new.

After taking a blow-dryer to her hair, she slid into a pair of stone-washed jeans with a rip in the knee, added a T-shirt, then her gray Guess sweatshirt and sat down at the vanity to put on her makeup.

What’s the use? She no longer recognized herself. Two months shy of her eighteenth birthday, Eden was on the verge of becoming an adult. She had every reason to be happy, but ever since it happened, happiness was an impossibility.

She put on her Nikes and grabbed the backpack from beside the bed. Slinging the strap across her shoulder, Eden cut the lights and exited her bedroom, turned left, and descended the stairs to the main floor. After dropping her bag in the hall beside the front door, she went into the kitchen where her parents sat at the table, sipping their morning coffee.

Mary Shaw looked up from a smoldering cup of coffee as Eden entered. “Morning, dear.�

Eden groaned.

Mary shot a glance at her husband, whose face was buried in the morning paper. “I see someone’s in a mood today,� she said, whispering out of the side of her mouth.

Choosing to ignore her mom’s comment, Eden took a plate from the cupboard and stacked two pancakes, then grabbed a fork and knife from the drawer. After smearing a pat of butter between the pancakes, she added a drizzle of syrup, poured a glass of 2 percent milk, then joined her parents at the table.

Her dad looked up from his morning paper. “Anything new today?�

Eden shook her head as she nibbled at the crispy edge of the pancake. Dad looked like he was going to tease her about not wearing any makeup again, but he must have sensed she was in no mood for conversation and returned to his paper instead.

For the remainder of breakfast, Eden didn’t say a word. Instead, she sat quietly while her dad complained about an increase in property taxes and her mom tried to recall the gossip she’d overheard at the beauty salon over the weekend. But Eden paid them little attention. Her mind was a thousand miles away, lost in thoughts too terrible for either of her parents to comprehend. If they only knew, she kept saying to herself as the dark vortex swirled inside her head.

Part of her wanted to tell them everything—how she felt trapped with no way out, how her thoughts had grown darker of late, to the point that she had decided to end it all—but that would only lead to more conversations with Dr. Lowenstein. The thought of spending another hour on the couch listening to his psychobabble was enough to make her stomach turn. Besides, it had been seven months, and even after all the help she’d received, things were no better now than the day it happened. So instead of subjecting herself to another round of treatment, she chose to keep the darkness bottled up inside.

When breakfast was over, Eden said goodbye to her parents, got in her car, and started the engine. As the wipers swung back and forth in rapid succession, she checked the mirrors, and there, staring back at her, was her reflection again. To the casual observer, there was nothing out of the ordinary. She was her typical stoic self—lips pursed, brown eyes tight and guarded—but beneath the surface, a war was raging.

Backing out of the drive, she stopped and raised her gaze to the only home she had ever known. If her morning was a success, this would be the last time she would ever lay eyes on the modest two-story with the porch swing. She’d never again spend a warm summer night sitting on the ledge of her bedroom window, gazing at the stars. Those days were over. Now all that remained was darkness.

Eden took longer than expected to get to school because of the fog. But after carefully navigating the winding country road, she wheeled into the senior lot and searched for a place to park. Taking the last remaining spot, she guided her �94 Corolla between Cameron Jessup’s maroon minivan and Madison Stearns’s new Audi with the skill of a surgeon. Bringing the car to a stop, she cut the engine and killed the lights.

Eden peered through the front windshield at her classmates as they hurried across the parking lot ahead of the morning bell. Right away she spotted Hannah Emery and Olivia Harper, her two best friends. A second later, Jessica Sutton appeared along with her brother Seth and his friend Will. Ordinarily, Eden would be with them, but not today. Today was different. Today was liberation day.

At five minutes to eight, the warning bell echoed over the loudspeaker. With a sense of urgency, what remained of the senior class filed into the side doors, two by two. When the last stragglers disappeared into the labyrinth of hallways and common spaces that made up Avondale High School, Eden relinquished her grip from the wheel, found the recline handle on the side of her seat, and pulled back until it was horizontal. Once Officer Norton had made his final sweep of the lot, she returned the seat to the upright position and breathed a sigh of relief. The bell sounded again—eight on the nose. Phase one of her plan was complete.

Drawing in another breath, Eden shut her eyes and did the one thing she’d sworn she’d never do again—pray. Deep down, in a place she hid from everyone, Eden clung to a shred of hope that God would take pity and intercede on her behalf. He owed it to her after what she had been through. But when another five minutes passed and her final plea went unanswered, she took a pen and paper from her bag and authored the note she’d spent all weekend mulling over.

To her astonishment, the pen glided effortlessly across the paper as the words came easily. She read the letter twice when she was done to ensure she hadn’t left out an important detail. Seventeen years, nine months, and twenty-seven days and everything she had to say fit on a single sheet of college-rule paper. How sad. She folded the paper and placed it conspicuously on the console.

After another deep breath, she was ready. She stepped out into the thinning fog. This is it. Eden Shaw’s swan song.

With a sense of urgency, Eden crossed the lot to the sports complex, twice looking over her shoulder to make sure Officer Norton hadn’t stepped out for his morning cigarette. Long strands of wavy brown hair rode the morning breeze and drifted in front of her eyes. Brushing them away, she descended the hill and found an opening in the fence, then slipped inside and took cover beneath the concrete bleachers.

The grounds crew had the day off, so Eden had the entire place to herself, at least for another forty-five minutes. That’s when Mr. Carson’s first-period PE class would take the field for morning laps. She figured he’d be the one to discover her body. Serves him right. She recalled the time he made her run laps freshman year until she threw up. Perhaps there was such a thing as poetic justice. Taking another breath, she readied herself for phase three.

But before she took another step, a wave of nausea engulfed her. Fortunately, the bathroom was only feet away and there was time to spare. She tried the door—unlocked. Thank God. She locked herself inside and turned on the light, which blinked twice, then buzzed to life. Under the institutional glow of the fluorescent bulbs, she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet, flushed it quickly, then turned on the sink and splashed her face with cold water. Examining herself in the mirror, she was shocked to find that she already looked more dead than alive. A preview of things to come. She used the bottom of her sweatshirt to dry her face.

When she had composed herself, Eden turned off the light and slipped out of the bathroom. She was still alone. The funnel of cool air beneath the bleachers felt strangely satisfying against her face and helped to soothe her upset stomach. As she emerged from the darkness and made her way onto the track, she noticed that the fog, which had earlier been thick and impenetrable, was losing its death struggle with the sun, and in its wake, puffy clouds drifted aimlessly across an indigo sky.

Reaching the stairs, she found the rail and let it guide her as she began the ascent. Halfway up, she paused, her mind drifting to a chilly night in October the previous year. She and Adam had attended the homecoming football game to celebrate their six-month anniversary. She recalled sitting with her friends and cheering as the team played their rival from the neighboring county. The dance that followed was nothing short of magical. It was the first time she had been asked by a boy and the first time Adam told her he loved her. To date, it was the greatest night of her life. Now, as she stood reminiscing, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Eden shut her eyes, trying desperately to hold on to any shred of that memory, but it slipped away. When she finally opened them she blinked back the tears, then resumed her climb, looking over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone. At the top, she paused to catch her breath, then turned and gazed out across the field toward the horizon. She was eye level with the sun now, squinting as its light drove the darkness from the shadows.

Turning back, she put a hand on the rail, swung one leg over, then the other, and found the ledge with her feet. There was just enough room for her size-six sneakers to fit. Leaning forward, she glimpsed the ground below. The height was dizzying, even for her. If her calculations were correct—and they always were—a fall from here would leave little chance for survival.

When she’d first contemplated suicide, she extensively researched the height she would need to achieve her objective. Since her parents didn’t own a gun and she couldn’t fathom slitting her wrists, downing an entire bottle of pills, or dangling from the ceiling like a piñata, jumping seemed to be the most dignified of the available options. Even with something as morbid as her death, Eden Shaw was thorough, leaving nothing to chance.

Of course, if she’d wanted to be one hundred percent sure the fall would kill her, the town of Avondale, Georgia, had better places to jump from than the top of the Chester M. Carlson Memorial Football Stadium. The bank, for one, would have been the ideal spot. Even better would be the water tower that overlooked the park and the Baptist church. It was over a hundred feet tall and surrounded by jagged rocks. But neither of those places held any significance for her. It had to be here. This was the genesis of her pain, so it was fitting this was where it would end.

“You got this,� she whispered, giving herself a last-minute pep talk. Her nerves were shot, but she tried her best to push any lingering doubts away. If she was successful, this was the last time she’d have to worry about nerves or indecision or sleepless nights spent crying and begging for a miracle. Though gruesome, this was a means to an end.

Satisfied with her decision, she considered the brick building on the hill. In the beginning, she had been fond of Avondale High School. It was where she met Hannah and Olivia and where her art teacher, Stan Hillard, had told her that one day she would be a tour de force in the art world. It was also where she had fallen in love for the first time. But that was all before the day it happened. Now the brick monstrosity was nothing more than a constant reminder of the source of her pain and suffering.

Inside the school, completely oblivious to what was going on just a few hundred yards away, were her teachers, friends, and classmates, many of whom she had known her entire life. For the first time since concocting this macabre plan, she stopped to consider what they would say when it was all over.

First, she thought of Olivia, the only friend who had not abandoned her. Then there were her teachers, some she adored, others not so much. Finally, her parents—Steve and Mary. For as brutal as this whole thing had been on Eden, they had suffered too, shedding tears, spending countless nights consoling her when she couldn’t stop crying. They loved their daughter more than anything in the world. Hurting them was the part of her plan Eden regretted most.

When the last vestiges of doubt had been driven away, she looked down. Steady. She closed her eyes, and an image of Adam appeared. He was happy, smiling, the way she remembered him, and for a moment, she was at peace. She would carry this image with her into whatever came next—heaven, hell, eternal darkness, or nothing at all. Either way, he would be there in death, which was better than anything she had left in life.

She was ready. She leaned forward as the countdown commenced. Three� two� one�

“Don’t forget to fly,� an unfamiliar voice called out.

Eden froze in place. Was the voice real or a figment of her imagination?

She turned her head and was astonished to find a young man sitting at the end of the row near the fence.

“I—I didn’t know anyone else was up here,� she confessed as her stomach fell. “How long have you been sitting there?�

“Long enough.� He jumped to his feet.

Even at that distance, Eden could see he was at least six feet tall. His faded blue jeans and flannel shirt fit his frame nicely but were no match for the handsome, angular features of his face. Atop his head was a mass of sandy-brown hair that ended just above his ears. He was gorgeous, which begged the question: How had she missed him?

“You weren’t actually going to jump, were you?� His voice was calm.

Eden looked away, pondering his question.

The young man took a step toward her.

“Don’t come any closer!� She found her voice. “I swear to God I’ll jump.�

The young man froze like a statue and slowly raised his hands. “I only want to help,� he insisted, trying not to upset her. When Eden looked away again, he resumed his approach.

“I said no closer,� she reiterated, swinging back to look at him.

“If you’ve made up your mind, nothing I can say or do will change it,� he said carefully.

She could see the worry in his expression.

When she looked away for a third time, the young man seized the opportunity. He lunged forward and took her by the arm.

“What are you doing?� She struggled to break free.

Amid the scuffle, their eyes met, and a shock rippled throughout Eden’s body. The young man’s eyes, vast and deep like the ocean, were an otherworldly shade of blue, and in them, as if gazing into a crystal ball, Eden saw her entire life play out, beginning to end.

“Still want to jump?� he asked, his words breaking the spell.

With the adrenaline pulsing through her veins, Eden made one final attempt to free herself, but his grip was unyielding.

“I won’t stop you,� he told her as he maintained his grip. “But if you’re going to jump, you’ll have to take me with you.� In one motion, he reached down and took her hand, then lifted a leg over the rail and joined her on the ledge.

“What’s wrong with you?� she roared as confusion and apprehension played about her face. “Have you lost your mind?� She felt trapped.

“Ready?� he said, ignoring her question. “On three. One, two, three—�

“WAIT!� She reached back and found the rail. “Wait. Give me a minute to think.� She tried to concentrate over the beating of her heart. A thousand chaotic thoughts chased each other inside her head, and as she contemplated her next move, she realized she was running out of time. It was one thing to commit suicide, but murder?

Even she had her limits.

Her carefully constructed plan crumbled before her, and Eden cried out in frustration, then climbed begrudgingly over the rail and sat down near the stairs.

“For a minute there, I thought you were actually going to do it.� The young man joined her. “I’m not the greatest with distances, but that’s at least a fifty-foot drop.�

“Sixty-three.� She corrected him as she stared at her feet. “Who are you anyway?� She ventured a look in his direction.

“I’m Logan,� he answered with a crooked smile. “Logan James. And you are?�

“Eden� Shaw,� she replied, feeling a little unsettled.

They shook hands.

“Eden. What a lovely name,� he noted. “I’m glad to have made your acquaintance.�

She tightened her scowl. “Why are you here?� She was feeling more irritated by the second.

He smiled amusingly. “I suppose that depends,� he replied enigmatically.

“On what?�

“On which answer you want to hear.�

“The truth will be sufficient.�

“As you wish.� He took a breath. “I’m here to save you.� He looked out over the football field.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.�

Logan smiled with a corner of his mouth. “You know, in my experience, most people that have just been saved from certain death are a little more gracious than you are. Is this how you treat all your friends?�

“Friends?� She scoffed. “We’re not friends. I don’t even know you� do I?� She turned and looked at him, studying his face for a long time.

Logan shook his head.

“Then why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in homeroom with everyone else?� But as soon as the words left her mouth, she wondered if he were a student at all. Something about the way he handled himself told her he was more mature than any of the boys at her high school.

Logan glanced over his shoulder toward the school. “You’re right. The truth is the first day at a new school always makes me nervous. It’s been that way ever since I was a kid. Normally,� he continued, running a hand through his hair, “the fresh air helps calm me down, but man, did that plan backfire today.� He looked at her, hoping his attempt at humor would have brought at least a hint of a smile, but her icy stare told him she was in no mood for jokes. Undeterred, Logan cleared his expression. “Look, I know we haven’t exactly gotten off to the best start, but I meant what I said about being friends.�

“You don’t want to be friends with someone like me,� she muttered.

“Why not?�

“Because I don’t deserve friends, not after what I tried to do,� she said miserably.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.� He laid a hand gently on her shoulder. “The way I see it, we were just two people trying to clear our heads, that’s all. Besides, we’re the only ones who know what happened this morning, and my lips are sealed.�

Eden turned and studied his face again. “Are you sure we don’t know each other?� She gave him a curious look. “There’s something oddly familiar about you.�

He gave an indecipherable smile. “I get that a lot. Gwen says I have one of those faces.�

“Gwen?� she asked.

“The lady I live with.�

“You mean your mom?�

He chuckled. “Gwen is my� guardian.�

The way he said it made her think that there was more to the story, but considering they had just met, she decided against pressing him. “I’m sorry about ruining your first day,� she finally said, offering a sad smile.

“Ruin it? On the contrary. Of all the places I’ve been, this is without question the most memorable first day I’ve ever had.�

Eden gave him a funny look.

“Think about it. I got out of going to homeroom, made a friend, and any anxiety I had is long gone now.� Logan was checking off the boxes as if they were items on a to-do list. “All in all, not a bad start to the day. Besides,� he continued as the smile faded, “the way I see it, the most important thing is I kept you from making the biggest mistake of your life.�

“That’s a bit presumptuous.� If he hadn’t shown up, she’d be dead by now and her troubles would be over. “After all, you don’t know anything about me or my situation.�

“True,� he said as if he saw her point. “But the good news is, if you have your heart set on slitting your wrists or jumping in front of oncoming traffic, the day is young.�

His words shocked her. “That’s morbidly optimistic,� she replied, unsure how else to react.

“But seriously.� He turned and looked her in the face. “Is this whole jumping thing behind us, or am I going to need to follow you around all day just to make sure you don’t try this again?�

“That won’t be necessary.� She felt as if she were being scolded. Eden took a deep breath and cleared her mind, and although she wouldn’t admit it, she felt a sense of relief now that the suicide attempt was behind her. “I think I’m okay, for now.�

Satisfied with her answer, Logan stood. “In that case, we should probably get to class before they start looking for us.� He offered his hand, and she took it, so he pulled her to her feet and led her down the stairs.