A Message from C.C. Crescent

Dear Readers,

It has been a year since the first episode of Pine Lake Stories was posted. After fifty-two episodes, it is time for a little hiatus. The plan is that the story line will pick up again in January of 2013. During the break, if any of you would like to post "guest" episodes, please contact me by clicking on the comments  button at the bottom of the post.

In the meantime, here are some story lines to ponder:

• Has Blake sealed his fate with Jeni?
• Will Jack and Whitney be happy in their new house?
• What will it cost Selena and Biff to return to Pine Lake?
• Will Donati find happiness with Genevra. . . or Priscilla. . . or April?

Who knows what the future holds for Pine Lake Stories?

Until January, best wishes to you all and thank you for reading PLS.

C.C. Crescent

P.S.   Coming soon--my e-book, Turning Points

Episode 52 Fireworks

John Donati had been on a roll. Work was quiet, which meant if there were any criminal activities in Pine Lake, he didn't know about them. His son, Jack, and daughter-in-law, Whitney, were settled in their new home with a child on the way, and John was feeling way too young to be a grandfather. In the past few weeks, he'd been enjoying the kind of no-strings-attached love affair with Genevra Adams that he'd thought he'd never see again at this stage of his life. Genevra had proved to be an excellent companion mentally and physically. Life was good. It worried him when everything was going so well; something was bound to happen to upset the status quo.

For old times' sake, he would occasionally cruise past the house of his ex-wife, April. She'd moved to San Francisco in the spring, but so far hadn't made any attempt to put the house up for sale. The cop in John reminded him that an empty house was a trouble magnet; therefore, he felt it was his duty to keep tabs on the place. Donati wondered why she hadn't sold; secretly, he hoped she would eventually return. For the grandchild.

This afternoon, drifting by her house, he saw a car in the driveway and a woman standing at the front door. For a moment, his heart leapt. But soon enough, he realized the woman wasn't April. He rolled up to the curb, put the police cruiser in park, and got out of the car.

"Something I can help you with, ma'am?" he asked. The woman turned around. She smiled as he approached, and right away he figured that she wasn't casing the joint or up to no good; criminals didn't offer smiles like that to uniforms.

"Officer, do you know if April Donati still lives here? Well, at least I think her name is still Donati. The last time I heard from her, she was considering a, um, change. I actually haven't seen her for years, but she's an old friend of mine from college. We were in Florence together, studying art. "

"May I ask who you are?" Donati knew April kept up with some of her friends from college, and she had gone to Florence her senior year.

"I'm Priscilla Rossini."

Donati recognized the name. April had told him several stories about this woman. In the midst of his recollection, he realized that Ms. Rossini had the most beautiful brown eyes he'd ever seen. Her skin was smooth and luminous, and the touch of gray in her thick dark hair only accentuated the elegance of her appearance.

She held out her hand, which he took. That was the precise moment John Donati fell irretrievably in love.

Episode 51 An Awakening

Blake could feel his blood pressure rising. It was bad enough that Jeni was being as loud and obnoxious as a fishwife; she was also wearing the most outrageous outfit he'd ever seen--what kind of woman wore fishnet stockings and a skin-tight leopard print mini-dress that left none of her ample, obviously pregnant figure to the imagination? Her navel, protruding from the distortion of her belly, was  definitely not a turn on. How could she be so crass? He knew she reveled in attention, but although everyone in the restaurant was staring at her, it was not in a good way. At least he'd been able to talk her into going to the city for dinner. Had they been at Taverna, the humiliation would have been unbearable.

When the waitress came to their table, Jeni didn't hesitate with her order. "I'll take the surf and turf special. And a gin martini with an olive."

"A martini, ma'am?" the waitress asked, glancing briefly at Jeni's bulging midriff.

"Yeah, a martini. You gotta problem with that?"

The waitress looked at Blake, who merely shrugged. He'd had this argument with Jeni before.
"I'm not letting this kid run my life," she'd said. "If I want a drink, I'll damn well have one. Or two. Or four."

After the waitress departed, he sat staring at his well-manicured hands, wondering what demons had possessed him that he was now stuck with this horrible woman. In his darker moments, when he thought about how he had ruined his life, those demons came back and taunted him. "The only way you'll ever be free is if you kill her," they would chant. He was beginning to agree with them.

Episode 50 L.A. Goodbye?

Selena stood before the mirror and took a moment to savor contentment, perhaps even her first sense of joy that her recovery was complete. From this distance and angle, she looked good. The red silk dress was a perfect fit and a stunning contrast with her black hair. The make-up gal had done a great job of accenting her dark eyes, and the scar was barely visible. Amazing what a good Hollywood plastic surgeon could do.

"Hey, babe, you about ready to wrap here?" Biff sauntered up beside her.

"Yeah, we're done. Right, Micky?" she asked the fashion photographer with whom had spent the last three hours.

"It's all good, hon," he replied, packing up his gear. "This was the easiest shoot I've had in a year. I hope we'll work together again soon."

Selena turned to Biff. "It went really well. Mick's a genius. We might even make the cover this time. Not bad for an old scar-face, eh?"

A flicker of something--annoyance, jealousy, pity, maybe even frustration--passed over Biff's face before he answered. "You're beautiful. Now go get changed so we can get out of here."

Biff didn't like hanging around other photographers' shoots. He said it made him antsy, like he should be working harder. Selena didn't understand why he would feel that way. If anyone was going to be uncomfortable, it would be the other guy. How intimidating would it be to have the country's hottest celeb photographer dropping by to pick up his girlfriend?

In the months that they'd been in L.A., Biff Monroe had struck it lucky and established himself as the portrait photographer of choice for Hollywood's elite. He'd made a pile of dough, spoiled Selena rotten, and could pretty much write his own ticket. She knew for a fact that he had enough work lined up to keep them in an upper tax bracket for years to come.

An hour later, Selena and Biff were sitting at a table on the patio at Yabu in West Hollywood. She could tell something was bothering him. He had been too quiet and now he was studying his water glass like he'd never seen the stuff before.

"What's going on?" she asked in a tone that she hoped let him know whatever the trouble was, she would help him work through it.

He met her gaze. "We need to go back."

"To Pine Lake? Are you serious?"

"I'm totally serious."

"But why? We've got it great here. There's nothing for us in Pine Lake." So much for helping work through this one, she thought. The last place on earth she wanted to go was anywhere near her father. She was done with him. And with Pine Lake.

"There's family."

"Yeah. Exactly. How can you forget what happened?"

"Your father can't hurt us. Not now. And that's not the family I was talking about. I need to find out what's going on with my mother that she would run off to Vegas and marry Matt Wilson. What the hell was she thinking?"

"I agree that's kind of a shocker, but he always seemed okay." Selena paused for a minute before adding, "And what about our work? I'm just getting started again."

 Biff shrugged. "That's what airplanes are for. We can travel when we want to work, but I want us to live in Pine Lake."

"OMG."