SLANTED LIGHT

Jackson’s Pond Texas Series, Book 2

by

Teddy Jones

Genre: Literary Fiction / Family Saga / Western Women / Rural Fiction

Publisher: Midtown Publishing

Publication Date: August 21, 2020

Number of Pages: 275

 Scroll down for the giveaway!

Teddy Jones’s earlier novel, Jackson’s Pond, Texas, began the saga of the Jackson family. Now, Slanted Light continues their tale.

Claire Havlicek’s late night call brings her brother Chris Banks from his home in New Mexico back to the town that bears their family name, Jackson’s Pond. She’s collapsed under the weight of threats to her thirteen-year marriage that have undermined her confidence and her will. Her husband, J. D., responds to seduction by a woman in need; theft and the threat of a forced buyout jeopardize Claire’s two medical clinics; drought imperils their ranch and cattle business; a teenage daughter turns to bulimia.

When Claire admits her limits, her grandmother, Willa Jackson, and the other members of her family help her learn that being human, weaknesses and all, can be a source of strength and joy.

Excerpt from Slanted Light by Teddy Jones

CHAPTER 2

Violated

Even though she though she loved being in the mountains in Taos, and seeing Gran and Chris and Andrew, Claire had slept restlessly and woke early while they were there. Tonight, if things worked out, she could take care of some work so she could devote time to replacing Sandra. If things went her way, she’d be back home before the kids went to bed.

She drove the one-block-long alley behind the clinic. Even though it wasn’t quite dark, the sun’s rays sliced low across the building, casting a long shadow. Without leaving her vehicle, she saw the back door was closed. At the end of the block, she turned right and then right again onto Jackson’s Pond’s main street, passing the empty corner storefront where a faded sign, “Hardware,” hovered above its awning. Next, her clinic waited, in the middle of the block.

She parked head-in against the curb and noticed the white door and the long windows that usually added a bit of sparkle to the line of fading storefronts. But this evening, shadows emphasized the empty sidewalk. No sparkle anywhere. And here she was, alone in an empty town with a single stoplight two blocks away. She watched its steady blink in her side mirror.

Seeing the clinic’s bright sign—red and black letters on white—Jackson’s Pond Wellness Clinic—always prompted her to smile, as if a patient might be watching from inside. Not tonight. She had too much to do. Finding a replacement for Sandra wouldn’t be a simple chore. Recruiting to a small town, for the salary they could pay was tough. Finding Sandra had taken months. At the time she had hired Sandra, Claire had wondered if she and Susan, the other nurse practitioner who staffed Calverton, had settled because they were feeling desperate. But she’d plunged ahead, and now Sandra had quit. That gave Claire two weeks, beginning tomorrow morning, to find a way to keep both clinics running. Tonight she’d take care of all the catching up—review charts of patients seen while she’d been in Taos, identify any billing problems, inventory medication supplies. She told herself to stop thinking about J.D. and his bull sale, and to get inside and take care of her own business.

But she didn’t move. As if it happened yesterday, the night she’d decided, definitely, she’d open the second clinic pushed aside her already jumbled thoughts. Two years ago last July, wiping the kitchen counter after supper, she’d said to J.D. “I’m thinking of opening another clinic. The two docs in Calverton have closed their practices to new Medicare and Medicaid patients. People end up in Emergency because they can’t pay. There’s a real need.”

He shook his head and said, “I don’t see how you can do any more. You always take on too much, plus there’s the kids and all you do here at home.”

She’d wanted to tell him that if he helped at all, the kids and things at home wouldn’t be a problem. But she knew what he’d say—that it didn’t have to be all or none. He’d say that and then they’d be off the subject again. Instead, she said, “I’m just going to be supervising. I’ll hire another NP.”

His only response was a long silent stare.

Not waiting for him to speak, she said, “You know I can handle it. Remember I managed graduate school and being pregnant with Jay Frank and Amy a toddler and I’ve never failed to do everything both of them need and take care of you, not then or since I started the Jackson’s Pond Clinic.”

He interrupted, “Yes, and you won’t let me or anyone help with any of it, even if I offer. You don’t have to prove a thing to me. And just so you know, I’d be happy if you hired a housekeeper, or if you never took care of another patient again.” Turning to leave the room, he said, “I’ll say it again, you take on too much. But you’re going to do whatever you want to, so I might as well save my breath.”

After he left the room, she scrubbed at a cast iron skillet, muttering, “I’ll be damned if I hire a housekeeper.” The next day she started searching for a clinic site in Calverton.

Bonus excerpt

Listen to Teddy read an excerpt of her book below.  It starts at 8 seconds in, so give it until that point!  She gives a little background before reading the excerpt, fascinating stuff!

Teddy Jones is the author of three other published novels, Halfwide, Jackson’s Pond, Texas, and Well Tended, as well as a collection of short stories, Nowhere Near. Her short fiction received the Gold Medal First Prize in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2015. Jackson’s Pond, Texas was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in contemporary fiction from Women Writing the West. Her as-yet-unpublished novel, Making It Home, was a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2017 and “A Good Family” was named a finalist in that contest in 2018.

Jones grew up in Iowas Park, a small Texas town. She has worked as a nurse, a nurse educator, a nursing-college administrator, and as a nurse practitioner in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For the past twenty years, she and her husband have lived in the rural West Texas Panhandle, where he farms and she writes.

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

THREE WINNERS! 

First Winner

Signed copies of both Jackson’s Pond, Texas Series books

+ $25 Amazon gift card

Second and Third Winners

Signed copy of Slanted Light 

AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 

(US ONLY)

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