More Than a Song Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  ALSO WRITTEN BY CHRIS PAYNTER AND AVAILABLE NOW FROM Companion Publications:

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  And A Time to Dance Excerpt

  About the Author

  Make sure to check out these other Companion Publications titles by Chris Paynter:

  More Than A Song

  A year after Dani Roberts's girlfriend infamously broke up with her on Twitter, Dani attempts to live a quiet life running her bookstore in Francis, Georgia.

  Sexy blues singer C.J. James rolls into town for a limited engagement at the local gay bar. Without warning, C.J. slams into Dani's life, writes a song about her beautiful eyes, and offers a wild and scorching ride.

  Veterinarian Liz Springer has returned to her hometown to mend a broken heart. Liz wants no drama in her life and longs for the peaceful time needed to heal. But when Dani brings her beagle, Frodo, to the clinic, tamped-down desire begins to simmer.

  A firestorm is in the making, and Dani is right in the middle.

  In memory of our beloved Buddy (June 8, 2004 – April 17, 2017)

  You brought love and laughter to our lives... more than you’ll ever know.

  We love you and miss you, pumpkin.

  ALSO WRITTEN BY CHRIS PAYNTER AND AVAILABLE NOW FROM Companion Publications:

  Playing for First

  Come Back to Me

  Two for the Show (Book 2 in the Playing for First series)

  Survived by Her Longtime Companion

  And a Time to Dance

  To Love Free

  From Third to Home (Book 3 in the Playing for First series)

  COMING SOON:

  Book 4 in the Playing for First series

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, locales and events are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  More Than a Song

  Copyright © 2017 by Chris Paynter

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, save for brief quotations used in critical articles or reviews.

  Cover design by Stephanie Solomon

  Editor: Nann Dunne

  Published by Companion Publications

  www.ckpaynter.com

  ISBN: 978-1-942204-15-2

  First edition: June 2017

  Printed in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom.

  Acknowledgements

  First, I’d like to thank my editor, Nann Dunne, who always improves each book I write. Thank you for catching my overabundance of “-ing” words in this one, plus some overused phrases. Like most authors, there’s always at least one phrase that pops up waaay too many times in the first draft. I look forward to working with you on the next one, Nann.

  Thank you, Toni Whitaker and Patty Schramm, for your awesome prowess in formatting my ebooks and print copies, respectively. Thank you, too, to my cover artist, Stephanie Solomon. This one really rocks!

  A big thank-you to my wife, Phyllis, who supports me in everything I do, who nudges me to get back to my writing, and who is so patient with me when I zone out thinking about plots and characters. I am so proud of all she does to help others in her volunteer work and in her everyday life. She is the kindest human being I know, and I am blessed to call her my wife. I love you, sweetheart.

  More Than a Song is a bit of a departure for me, and it was a book I went back to after much encouragement from Phyllis. She loved the story and frequently gave me many ideas for the character of C.J. James. I had fun with the humor and dialogue. I hope you, the reader, will also have fun with the story.

  There is one character in this book based upon someone who was very close to us. Frodo the beagle mirrors our Buddy. This is the first book that will be published without Buddy to share in the joy of the release. Sadly, we lost him this year to kidney failure. His death has hit us hard. He was our best friend, our constant companion. But he lives on, not only in our hearts and minds, but as the “face” of Companion Publications. It is his image you see for our logo. We love you and miss you, little guy.

  And, Buddy, may there be lots of toast and a recliner in the happy place you now call home. God’s peace to you... until we meet again.

  Chapter 1

  “I think you’ll enjoy this,” Dani Roberts said as she slid the newly purchased book into a “Dani’s Den of Books” bag. “It’s one of the author’s best.”

  “Oh, yeah?” The blonde gave her a cocky grin, her dark eyes appraising Dani. “You know something about romance?”

  Dani willed her body not to respond to the woman’s blatant flirting.

  “I know something about good writing. I hope you enjoy the read.” She held out her hand for the next customer’s book.

  The blonde took the hint and left. Dani was completing the other customer’s purchase when she felt the presence of her assistant, Tina Dewey. Never subtle, and certainly hard to ignore, Tina was polite enough to wait until the customer walked away.

  “What is it, Tina?”

  “Uh, have you checked Twitter today?” Tina shifted her short, stocky frame, obviously nervous about something.

  Dani forced herself not to roll her eyes. Although she was well aware of how important marketing and social media were to the success of her store, it didn’t mean she had to like what she felt was an invasion of her privacy.

  “You know I don’t read that shit unless I have to. You do most of our twitting.”

  “Tweeting.”

  “What?”

  “It’s called tweeting.”

  “All right, tweeting.” Dani scrutinized her friend a little closer. Tina’s Atlanta Braves hat was slightly askew with her curly brown hair sticking out at all angles. Yeah, something was definitely off. “What is it? Did someone diss our shop?”

  Tina glanced down at her smartphone.

  Dani held out her hand. “Let me see it. It can’t be that bad.” She grabbed the phone, but Tina didn’t loosen her grip. “T, you need to let go if you want me to read the tweet.” Dani still found it hard to believe that adults freely used the word “tweet.” She felt like a second-grader. Tina relinquished the phone.

  Dani saw it wasn’t the bookstore’s Twitter account. It was her personal account, the one Tina had talked her into opening. The tweet was from her girlfriend, Katie:

  I hate to break up on Twitter. It’s the only way you’ll take me seriously. I’m moving back to Indiana. I don’t love you anymore, D. I’m sorr

  “Oh. My. God. She did not just break up with me on Twitter.” Dani sank onto the padded stool behind the register. “And couldn’t she have left some of this other crap out and at least finish her apology?”

  “Well, you only have 140 characters.”

  Dani glared at Tina.

  “Sorry. Look, the woman isn’t right in the head.” Tina raised her hands when Dani started to speak. “She’s not.” Tina thrust her finger at the phone. “That proves
my point. What kind of sick bitch breaks up on Twitter?”

  Dani stared down at the words again. “I guess the woman I’ve lived with for the past two years.” She tried to feel sadness over the loss, but what she really wanted to do was hit something. Hard. Maybe that gave a clue about the state of their relationship.

  Tina gently pried the phone out of her hand. “I don’t want my phone to become a casualty. You looked like you were about to spike it, and this thing ain’t cheap.”

  “I knew there was a reason I hated social media,” Dani mumbled. She walked to the large, plate-glass window overlooking the street and watched as couples, straight and gay, strolled hand-in-hand in front of her store. A quaint, gay-friendly town, Francis, Georgia, lay on the outskirts of Atlanta. She and Katie had moved there two years earlier.

  Tina joined her at the window. She draped her arm around Dani’s shoulders. “It’ll be okay.”

  Dani didn’t answer. What was there to say? Tina moved away to greet another customer. Dani spent the remainder of the day in a fog, alternating between anger and sadness. Tina seemed to sense her need for privacy. At least she didn’t broach the subject of Katie anymore.

  When closing time came, Tina volunteered to shut down the register and drive the day’s deposit to the bank. She clapped her hand on Dani’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go home? If you want, Barb and I can drop by later to check on you.”

  Although Tina and her partner, Barb, were her best friends, Dani felt the need to be alone—well, alone with her two-year-old beagle, Frodo. He always seemed to make things a little better. Even when they’d gone to shit, as they had today.

  “Thanks, T. I think I’ll be okay tonight.”

  “You’re sure?” Tina looked worried.

  “I’m not really sure of anything right now, but I think tonight I’d like to be alone.”

  “Well, call us if you need us.”

  Dani left by the back door, slid behind the steering wheel of her red MINI Cooper, and headed home. Usually, she felt pumped up when driving her car, as if she were a different person behind the wheel. Today, she felt none of that. Her anger from earlier had dwindled into a lingering sadness.

  She flipped on the radio and searched for something to drown out the voice in her head that berated her for staying in a relationship that ended with a breakup on Twitter. Maybe she should’ve seen it coming, but how could she possibly think it would end this way?

  A song came on that seemed to be written for just this moment in her life. The singer, C.J. James, had a raspy voice that reverberated in Dani’s brain as she reached the chorus of the song:

  You kissed me, then said goodbye. I thought you were mine.

  Now all I have left are your lies.

  Yeah, all I have left are your lies.

  Dani pulled into the drive of her modest brick home. Normally, she hopped right out to let Frodo in from the backyard. But today, she sat in her idling car, still listening to the song, as the tears fell.

  “Shit.” She slapped at her wet cheeks, upset that she let Katie get to her this way. A part of her wanted to reach into the console and throttle this C.J. James who tapped into Dani’s every emotion—especially when a mournful guitar solo accompanied the words.

  Dani thought back to Tina telling her it would be okay, but she doubted Tina’s logic. She didn’t have much choice in how to handle this. She either wallowed in self-pity or she moved on, and wallowing in self-pity had never been her style.

  Chapter 2

  One year later...

  Dani opened the shop a little before nine a.m. She stepped outside to breathe in Georgia’s fresh spring air and stretched her body to her full, five-six height.

  The streets were still wet from a rainstorm that whipped through Francis the night before. Dani loved this time in March when temperatures averaged in the mid- to upper-sixties. The almost unbearable humidity would descend with a vengeance later in the summer.

  “Hey, Shelly.” Dani waved at the bakery owner across the street.

  Shelly was picking up some loose trash the storm had deposited at the bakery’s doorstep. She straightened and waved back. “Hey, Dani. How you doing this morning?”

  “Good. You?”

  “Great.”

  Shelly gave another wave before entering her shop.

  A soft breeze riffled Dani’s short, dark hair. At the age of twenty-eight, she was starting to get some gray. Katie had harped on her to dye it, but considering her ex wasn’t even in the picture anymore, Dani was glad she’d resisted.

  After Katie had so publicly dumped her, Dani took a long break from dating and concentrated on her business, despite Tina’s heartfelt attempts to hook her up with any lesbian she thought was suitable for her “boss.”

  Dani would reply she’d just as soon go home, climb into her pajamas, and curl up with a good book—especially something that involved the Civil War. She could get lost in the intricacies of the third day in the Battle of Gettysburg or in General Lee’s decision to split his army and flank Joe Hooker’s troops at Chancellorsville. That was much more enjoyable than a drink-filled night out with a woman whose first thought was how she was going to get Dani into bed.

  Lord, I’m too young to be so cynical. She reentered her shop. She needed to set up a display of a writer’s debut novel, a book Dani had read in two nights. It promised to be a great summer read, and she thought it would go over with the lesbians who ventured to Francis and frequented her shop.

  Dani carried out a box of the books from the storage room. She took down copies of a novel that hadn’t been selling so well to make room for the new books. She’d prepared a display board with information about the author and a short synopsis of the novel. Tina had jokingly told her, “You need to put on there that even I enjoyed the book, and considering my attention span, that’s saying something.”

  As Dani neatly stacked the books onto the table, in her mind’s eye she could still see that clear, hot, summer day when she found the small corner shop with a “For Sale or Lease” sign in the window. Dani had a bachelor’s degree in business and had been savvy with her investments. She used that money to purchase this place.

  She stocked the store with gay and lesbian publications—mainly lesbian. In the past years, she’d included a children’s section and was pleased with how popular it was, especially with some of the lesbian moms. Although Francis was both gay- and lesbian-friendly, the town cultivated its image as a lesbian mecca. A couple of lesbian musical artists had gotten their start here.

  The bell to the door jingled, and two women entered. They parted and perused different sections of the store, but Dani thought they were a couple. Eventually one of the women, the short petite one, arrived at the display Dani had set up. She silently read the information board on the author and book. She picked up a copy and flipped through it.

  “Excellent book,” Dani said.

  The woman looked up at Dani. “You’ve read it?”

  “Yes. I highly recommend it. And, no, the author and I aren’t related, and she’s not my girlfriend.”

  The woman laughed. “You’ve sold me. Looks interesting.” She added it to the books she held under her arm.

  Thirty minutes later, the women approached the counter to purchase their books. Between the two of them, they spent a little over $100. A very nice sale.

  The rest of the day passed slowly. It would pick up the following week, the last week of the month, when the “Women in Music” series started at Carl’s Cavern. It ran through the summer. Carl, the gay owner, had musicians in throughout the year, but starting the last week of March, he focused on lesbian artists.

  At six, Dani locked the front door while Tina balanced the register.

  “Hey,” Tina said, “remember it’s poker night.”

  “Is everyone going to show?”

  “As far as I know. My girl, Barb, will be there, of course. Shelly, Betty, and Monica said they’ll be there, too. I don’t know if Monica will be bringing
her girlfriend. Most of the time, she doesn’t want to play. She just sits there.” Tina made a face. Monica’s girlfriend, Estelle, wasn’t one of her favorite people.

  Dani entered the office and opened the safe. She lifted out the moneybag and carried it to the register. She counted the money and handed it to Tina to check her total. “You know we need to be open-minded about Estelle.”

  “If she breaks Monica’s heart, I’ll be open-minded while I kick her ass. How’s that?”

  “As long as we’re watching over Monica, I think she’ll be okay. You have to remember she’s a big girl.”

  “Whatever.” Tina handed the money over to Dani, who filled out the deposit slip and slid everything into the moneybag.

  “I’ll run this to the bank and get a quick shower at home, first. Are we ordering a pizza?”

  Tina stepped into the office and slipped on her jacket. “Definitely. No mushrooms for you, as usual.”

  “Right.”

  “See you about seven-thirty?”

  “Seven-thirty it is.” Dani shrugged on her lightweight jacket. She left by the back door and locked it behind her. She approached her MINI Cooper parked in the alley behind the building. She slid into the driver’s seat, swung by the bank, deposited the money, and drove the short distance to her home. Pulling into the drive, she spotted her beagle, Frodo, sticking his nose between the slats of the gate in the backyard. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to leave him outside because of Georgia’s thick heat and humidity.

  “Hey, Frodo, I’ll be there in a minute, bud.”

  She heard Frodo scraping his claws against the screen door. “Okay, okay, little guy, I’m coming.”

  When she opened the screen door, Frodo bounded in and circled in front of her in the kitchen. With his head up, he wagged his tail and waited for her to pet him. Dani leaned down and stroked his ears. He lapped it up as his tail thumped against the cabinets.