The Unremembered Girl Book Blog Tour, Excerpt, and Giveaway #LoneStarLit

Excerpt from The Unremembered Girl

By Eliza Maxwell

“Where you headed to?” Apollo asked as he grabbed a broom.

Henry didn’t know what to say to that. “I don’t really know. Nowhere, I guess.”

The other man raised a brow at him. “Nowhere, huh? A man going nowhere’s usually intent on leaving somewhere behind, in my experience. Where you from?”

“Texas,” Henry said.

Apollo nodded, like that was the answer he’d expected.

“You got a Texas look about you. See lots of Texans come through here. Usually headed down to New Orleans, looking to get up to some trouble.”

“Not looking for any trouble,” Henry said with a shake of his head.

“Yeah, you got that look on you too. Like trouble done got your number down by heart.”

Henry sighed and pushed the half-empty plate away from him. The food was sitting like a ball of lead in his belly.

“Trouble of the female persuasion?” Apollo asked.

“There any other kind?” Dutch threw in.

Henry didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.

“Sometimes, when you’re young, you know, it’s not always easy to recognize the value of a good, steady woman. They’re like fine wine. Need to be savored. Appreciated. She a good woman?”

Henry had been trying to hide from thoughts of Eve for hours, but the question brought her to his mind, fresh and clear as if she were standing in front of him.

“Not exactly,” Henry said.

Apollo gave a low whistle, leaning on his broom.

“Well, then. That’s a whole other story, ain’t it. I had me a ‘not exactly’ good woman once too.”

Henry saw the two men exchange a look that said more to him about their friendship than their insults ever could.

“Long time ago now. I love my wife, brother. I do,” Apollo said with a shake of his head. “Best thing that ever happened to me, no doubt about it.”

“You got that right, man,” Dutch said.

“But I gotta tell you, friend. You’ll never appreciate the daylight till you’ve walked on the dark side of the night, without even the stars to show you the way.”

“You’re so full of shit, Apollo.” Dutch didn’t sound like he was joking this time.

“No,” the man said, shaking his head. “No, I ain’t. You say what you want, Dutch. Probably all true anyway, but damn . . .” He had a far-off look in his eyes, and Henry could see he was a long way away from this Louisiana diner, with his dirty apron and a broom in his hand.

“That woman was lightning. Nothing on God’s green earth can make a man feel as alive as the love of a bad woman.”

“Did you hit your head on something back in that kitchen? One of those iron skillets fall on top of you?”

Apollo ignored his friend. He looked at Henry out of old eyes that showed a spark of the young man he must have been once.

“I tell you, it got bad, son. Real bad, in the end. But I never regretted it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want it back. My Linda and me, we got a good thing going. Been going for a lot of years now, and I wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world. But I still remember the smell of lightning. Yes, sir, I do. That’s a smell you don’t ever forget.”

Dutch swiveled his stool to face Henry.

“Take a piece of advice, boy. Don’t listen to that shit. That woman nearly put him in the ground.” The old man fished in his pocket, pulled out some wrinkled bills, and slapped them on the counter. “You got a woman like that at home, a crazy one? There’s only one thing to do, and that’s get in your car and get as far gone as the road’ll take you.”

Apollo shook his head. “Dutch, you never did get it. There’s no shaking loose of that. Doesn’t matter where you go, once she’s in you, that’s where she’s gonna stay. It’s like a virus. Nothing to do about it but hope you’re still kicking once it runs its course.”

Dutch shook his head. “You’re a dumbass, Pollo. Don’t listen to him, Texas. You saddle up your ride, and you ride like hell in the other direction.”

Dutch looked at Apollo with a face on him like an old schoolteacher’s, almost prim in its disapproval. “Give Linda my best, will you,” he said.

“Your best? What the hell she want with your best? She’s got my best, fool,” Apollo said to his friend’s retreating back, but Dutch just lifted a middle finger over his shoulder as the bells over the door signaled his exit.

“He’s right, you know,” the older man said. “Probably, you should keep on keeping on. Smart thing to do. You a smart one, boy?”

“That’s a damn good question,” Henry muttered.