“All I ever wanted was a life less ordinary.”
Manny
lay flat on her back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she
waited for her clock to hit 6:00. Another day of work, she thought.
Another day older and deeper in debt.
She
had the alarm timed to the millisecond. The jarring noise had barely
begun when she clicked it off. She sighed then threw back the covers and
got out of bed.
She
padded into the bathroom, glanced without interest in the full-length
mirror that doubled as her shower doors and took her morning inventory.
Plain face? Check.
Looking tired? Check.
Thirty pounds overweight? Check.
Dark circles under deer-caught-in-headlights eyes? Check and check.
She shook her head at her limp, mousy hair and wondered when she’d gotten so old.
She
sighed in resignation then conjured up her Perfect Fantasy Man–or
Harvey, as she liked to call him–to give her a morning lift. She cocked
her head to one side as she stared into the mirror and imagined him
standing behind her. She smiled at the handsome man, and he smiled back,
putting his hands on her shoulders. Everything about him was warm, in
stark contrast to the cold shades of grey in which she lived her life.
He had warm brown eyes, warm brown skin, and a warm smooth voice that
always reminded her of golden honey. Today his hair was black with
greying temples, and yes, even that seemed warm to her.
He
was perfect, everything she considered ideal in a man–and
extra-perfect, of course, because he was a fantasy. Just the thought of
trying to establish a relationship with an actual man felt too much like
work.
She sighed and Harvey disappeared.
“Instead I ended up in a rut–everything planned and executed to the minute.”
She
finished her shower and padded out to the kitchen wrapped in a worn
terrycloth robe just as the coffee pot finished perking her morning
coffee. She pulled a white cup out of the cupboard, filled it and took
it with her to the bedroom, where she drank her coffee while she dressed
and pulled her hair into its habitual bun high on the back of her head.
At 6:45 sharp, she was back in the kitchen where she rinsed out the cup
and put it on the rack next to the other three cups from earlier in the
week; they marked the passage of time like scratches on a prison wall.
For
the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good
girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her
career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and
feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed
over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life
will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit
her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving
town on a six month road trip.
After
placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her
mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and
most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s
true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate
attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the
same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.
Now,
armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an
out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to
rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
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