Hello friend! Cara Joy here. Here’s an excerpt from my latest book, The Summer We Found Home.
What can you expect?
- He’s a small town doctor; she’s a social media influencer
- He’s her brother’s best friend
- He falls first
- Romance set in a small town
- She comes back home after a divorce
- She takes care of his chronically ill niece
- Sweet conversations and laughter around the kitchen island that leads to a happily ever after
- Faith themes and Bible references
Ready? Here’s the first chapter.
Grayson Hill. 16 years earlier…
I wave at the couple wearing matching forlorn looks on their faces standing on the wraparound porch of the house that became my second home when I befriended Benjamin Pope during freshman year of high school. At the time, Kendra, Benjy’s younger sister, was an acne-faced middle-schooler with braces.
That acne-faced middle-schooler is now all grown up. Kendra Pope is now eighteen and today I am driving her to the San Diego International Airport, twenty miles away, so she can catch a flight to New York. I glance at her parents standing on the porch again as I sit in my old Toyota Camry and slam the door shut. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Samuel and Leslie Pope are sad that their daughter is moving clear across the country. In my estimation, Kendra is rotten for doing this to her parents.
“You know you’re breaking their hearts by moving all the way to New York, right?” I eye Kendra and tell her through gritted teeth. Arms folded, she keeps her eyes straight ahead, and doesn’t look my way. “I know that, Grayson. And I don’t need a lecture from you. Benjy already gave me one,” she spits out in that bratty voice that grates on my nerves. Okay, good. She still gets on my nerves. Over the last year, Kendra has metamorphosed into a cinnamon-skinned bombshell. And I don’t know what she did with her hair, but it has a dark honey tint to it. I have no idea why those two food items come to mind when I look at Kendra. But the fact that she still grates on my nerves is good because it just means those thoughts are a blip on the radar. An anomaly. Nothing beyond a male noticing his best friend’s sister is maturing as a woman. Thank God.
Dr. Samuel Pope is one of the finest men in Dove Canyon. One of the finest men I’ve ever known in this life, period. He’s a dedicated family doctor, a leader at church, and an outstanding citizen. If the world had an award for Best Father, Samuel Pope would be in the running. I never met my father. Meeting Dr. Pope as a teenager made me forget that, though. There have been many nights when I’ve lain awake and thanked God that my grandmother moved me and my sister to live in Dove Canyon. God knows what might have happened to me if we’d never come here and if I’d never met Dr. Pope and his wife. They always make me feel welcome. They’ve never looked down on me and have always considered me one of the family. If there were angels masquerading as humans, I would be inclined to believe Samuel and Leslie are. Which is why I wonder how such wonderful people managed to have progeny as aggravating as Kendra.
“No need to get bratty, Kendra,” I respond through gritted teeth. “Benjy would have driven you himself if his flight hadn’t been delayed. I’m doing this because of him and your parents,” I say as I pull out of the driveway. There’s always been this weird tension between me and Kendra. I was hoping things would have changed now that I am in college. But every time I get around her, no matter how long it’s been, the tension is there. And today is no different. Especially after seeing how sad her parents looked as we pulled out of their driveway. For several minutes, the car is silent except for strains from Stacie Orrico’s There’s gotta be more to life coming from the Christian radio station I keep my dial on.
And then, almost as if she was not trying to let me hear it, she says, “Thank you for driving me to the airport, Grayson.” We’re waiting at a red traffic light and are only another light away from the exit that leads to the highway. I glance at her in mild surprise. Kendra is looking through the window on the passenger side of the car. A few minutes ago, she had looked stoic. Now, the sadness on her face is unmistakable. I focus back on the road, feeling a little guilty that I haven’t always been the kindest to her. Another thought assaults me: She is beautiful. I sigh quietly and shake my head just as the light turns green. I’ve always seen Kendra as my best friend’s annoying little sister. Nothing more. This new awareness of beautiful Kendra is unsettling. What is more unsettling is that Kendra just thanked me. She’s maturing.
“You’re welcome. I’d do anything for Benjy,” I respond. “Yeah, you would. I wish I had friends like that,” she says in a subdued voice that makes me feel even more guilty for the way I’ve been treating her today. “Hey, I’m sorry about my comments earlier. I know how much your parents love you. Seeing you move across the country must be hard for them,” I chime in, trying to get us back on good ground. Even though she is annoying, it seems today Kendra is revealing a side of her I’ve never seen. I have a sister too. Tamara can be annoying and yet, I love her and she’ll always be my sister. That’s how I have to see Kendra too.
Once we’re on the highway, Kendra turns to look at me. I keep my eyes on the road but I’m aware she’s looking at me. “You’re joining the Navy in a couple of weeks. You’ll be going to Virginia for boot camp, right? Don’t you think your grandmother and Tamara will miss you too?” Wait, how had this conversation turned into one about my life decisions?
“Of course, they’ll miss me. And I will miss them. But I’m joining because I don’t have much of a choice. I worked my way through college. It was hard,” I tell her. I didn’t want to be saddled with student loans after college. And so, I worked hard to make it happen. I lost count of the number of times I dozed off in college classes because I was coming off a late shift working a second or third job. I got a handful of scholarships that helped, but I had to work for everything else. I finished my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology without student loans and I am so proud of that. Medical school is far more expensive and working while I go to medical school is next to impossible. “I want to be a doctor and med school is expensive. Joining the Navy will allow me to achieve two goals: serve my country and get financial aid to finish medical school. I plan on moving back to Dove Canyon when I’m done.” I don’t know why I feel compelled to explain my decisions to Kendra. I rarely divulge this much information beyond telling Benjy. But then again, it was almost a twenty-minute drive to the airport, and I didn’t like the awkward silence between us earlier and so I don’t mind.
“Why do you want to move back to Dove Canyon? There’s literally nothing that ever happens in that town,” Kendra says with a tinge of incredulousness in her voice. I glance at her and observe the quizzical look on her face, which makes me smile. I’ve heard that so many times from others. But for me, Dove Canyon will always be home and I decided a long time ago that I will contribute in whichever way I can to making our small town better.
“Is that why you are moving all the way to New York? Because nothing ever happens in Dove Canyon?” I ask in response, keeping my eyes on the road.
“Lots of people move away from Dove Canyon, Grayson. I will not be the first and I will certainly not be the last. And like you, I have dreams and goals. New York presents the best opportunity for me to make those happen.”
“What do you dream about, Kendra?” Whoa! I mentally shake myself at my own question. When had Kendra Pope’s dreams become important to me?
“You don’t have to answer that,” I try to backtrack. “You’re actually the first person who has asked me that,” Kendra’s voice sounds dejected. “That’s not true. I’m sure your parents have asked you,” I say in an upbeat voice. I didn’t know my father. I spent most of my growing years with my grandmother while my mother was overdosing on weed, and living like she hadn’t brought children into the world. I always envied Benjy and Kendra’s relationship with their parents. I promised myself a long time ago that when I have children, with God as my helper, I will never make them feel unwanted.
“I told them. But they don’t think it’s wise. They think I should be doing something practical like go to nursing school like my mom or become a teacher like Benjy,” Kendra huffs in an exasperated voice. I find it hard to believe that the lovely couple I know would dismiss Kendra’s dreams. And if they did, I know it was likely coming from the right place, even if it didn’t feel good to Kendra. “I’m sure they have their reasons,” I try to encourage her. I follow that up with, “Okay, fine, what are they? What do you dream about doing, Kendra?”
“Promise you won’t laugh.”
“I promise.”
“Okay, there is this website called YouTube,” Kendra starts. “I’ve heard of it. People post videos there. You want to go and work at YouTube?” I crease my eyebrows in question. These new social media websites have been popping up everywhere. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of them. I am still catching up with all there is to know about email at this point in history.
“No. I want to be a YouTube star.”
What in the world?!
I have to fight the urge not to burst out laughing, especially because of the innocently genuine voice Kendra just made her declaration in. Tamara had mentioned YouTube before but I wonder why anybody would want to post videos about themselves on the internet. People had a hard enough time becoming TV stars. But a YouTube star? This is the first time I’ve heard anyone say they wanted to be a star on the internet. How did a person make money doing such a thing, anyway? I bite the inside of my mouth to keep from saying something that would hurt what already look like fragile feelings. Becoming a doctor or a teacher or a nurse—you knew where your money was going to come from. But a YouTube star? I grip the steering wheel tighter as I try to find my words.
“Ummm…is that even something people do? How do they make money? Is that like becoming a star in Hollywood?” I finally ask.
Kendra huffs and angles her body away from me again. “Nobody understands,” she says.
I can’t explain why a silly emotion just gripped my chest, but it does. I know what it’s like to be misunderstood and dismissed. Although our grandmother did her best to raise me and Tamara with all the resources and love she had, we grew up poor. Until I was fifteen, Tamara and I slept in sleeping bags and couch cushions in the living room of our grandmother’s one-bedroom apartment. We packed the sleeping bags away in the morning to get ready for school. It was a good month if Granny said nothing about the light or water bill. Thank God for school lunches because sometimes that was the only proper meal we ate all day. I once asked the lunch lady at school for two sandwiches after all the kids left the cafeteria so that Tamara and I would have something to snack on after school. That lady had been so kind that after a while, she prepared brown bags with school lunch left-overs for us and she would hand them to me discreetly just before the end of the lunch hour.
Unfortunately, not every adult I encountered in my youth was that kind. There were adults in the community, teachers included, who reminded me more than once that the statistics were not in my favor to go to college, let alone finish. Yet, I beat all the odds. God is faithful. In a few weeks, I’m joining the Navy. Another step closer to my dream of becoming a family doctor. If I can achieve that with all those odds against me, maybe Kendra can succeed at becoming a star on the internet. I’m living proof that you have to hold on to your belief in God and your dreams stronger than people’s discouraging words. I rack my brain for something encouraging to say to Kendra, even though a part of me also wants to echo her parents’ words for her to do something practical.
“Look, Kendra, if that is what you want to do, then I wish you all the best, okay?” I say.
“Really?” her voice is still subdued.
“Well, yeah. I mean, people said it would be a miracle if I made it to college, but I finished college, didn’t I?
I glance at Kendra to find her looking at me. Her brown eyes are wide and a smile is growing on her face.
“Yeah, you did,” she responds with more energy in her voice this time.
“If anyone can become a YouTube star, it’s you. You are smart, and you never back down. I think YouTube will never know what hit them,” I encourage with a grin. Her smile is wider now. I wonder if looks count if one wants to become a YouTube star. If it does, then Kendra has nothing to worry about. She is definitely winning in the looks arena. But I am not about to admit that to her.
“Thank you, Grayson. That means so much to me! I don’t have a choice but to make it work, you know? And I am going to work hard to make it happen.” Kendra’s voice is all the way perked up now.
“You’re welcome. Just promise me one thing?” I say.
“What’s that?” she asks.
“If things ever get difficult, don’t forget that you have people who love you back home in Dove Canyon. There’s no place like home.”
For a few seconds, the car is silent and only the faint sound of the music from the car radio fills the void around us.
Finally, Kendra says, “I won’t forget that.”
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