The Stained Glass Window is available in print and e-book versions. Here’s a short excerpt:
Chapter 1
I stood in my brightly lit kitchen, stirring pasta into the boiling water. I was starved – ready to eat anything.
Yup, this was my life. Forgetting to eat until I was so hungry, I could eat anything. Forget about decent food; had there been chips in the house, I would have choked down a whole damn bag while the water boiled.
Why not eat like a normal person? Well, truth be told, I’m not exactly normal.
Three minutes were left on the timer, and everything else was ready. I had some chopped chicken with spinach, onions, and zucchini ready to be tossed with the pasta and some olive oil. A shower of Parmesan over the whole thing, and it would be a great dinner.
Dinner? Had I eaten lunch? Shit, I bet I didn’t. My last meal had been an early morning cup of coffee and a banana. No wonder I was famished.
Taking a sip of wine, I tapped my foot as I contemplated eating crunchy pasta.
Just then, the phone rang. No, I thought, not now. I wanted food. My phone was on the table, so I couldn’t see the caller ID. Whoever it was, they could wait. If it were important, they would leave a message or call back, buying me enough time to drain my pasta, toss my meal together, and sit down at the table. I could return the call once I got a few bites into me. Finally, Alexa sounded the timer. Once I dumped the pasta into the pan with everything else, I gave it a rudimentary stir and scooped most of it into a pasta bowl.
The blasted phone was ringing again. Still nope. I was grating the cheese over my bowl, ready to take it and my glass of wine to the table. Only then would I see who wanted to talk to me so badly.
At the table, I quickly ground a decent amount of black pepper onto my meal, then a dash of salt. I topped off my wine and took my first glorious bite. It may not have been fancy, and maybe not even that good, but it was ambrosia to me. No, not the gross marshmallow “salad,” but the food of the Greek gods. In fact, it might have been the best meal I had ever eaten, or at least the best since yesterday, when I’d forgotten to eat then too.
Three bites later, I was ready to look at my phone. Two calls in quick succession, and as I looked at the screen, I realized they were both from James Lions. Hmm…Was he going to make my day or ruin it?
Just then, my phone lit up with a text. Lil – call me! It was James again. I took a sip, then hit call. He answered on the third ring. “About time,” he said.
I smiled. James always made me smile. “I was making dinner. You could wait until I’d had a couple of bites.”
“You should treat me better, you know that, right?”
That made me laugh. “I know. You’re a prince to put up with me.”
“Good to hear you say it.”
“Always good to make you happy.” I took another bite, chewed, and swallowed. “So, what’s up?”
“She’s dead.”