Amy’s Adventures in the Pacific Northwest—Part 6

The Bank Job

By Amy Lane

I have had decent luck traveling, really.

No airplanes zooming through tornadoes.  No being flown home in an oxygen tent. No kidnap and torture lasting for weeks while my helpless family tries to barter for my safe return.  On the whole, I live a charmed life.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had some… uhm, adventures of the small and annoying kind, and when you’re writing a story about someone traveling to a new place, every experience, big and small, annoying and terrifying, comes into play when you’re shaping your character and his adventures. And for me, one of the scariest things is being in an unfamiliar place without resources, which is why, I think, Avery’s trip to Bluewater Bay went less than smoothly.

See, once about three years ago, we were on our way to San Diego and the little kids were in the back of the car, bickering insufferably. I mean… insufferably.  I was used to it—I dealt with it every day after school, but Mate?  Mate handed me his phone.

“Find me a Target!” he barked, about an hour and a half into the trip.

“A what? Why?”

“Just find one!”

“Okay, so get off here, and go over the overpass and go back about five miles ago. It’s there.”

“Awesome.”   There was twenty minutes of furious silence while he made his way there, and the next thing he said was, “Everybody stay in the car.”

There was a twenty-minute wait, while I looked around the neighborhood and softly sang “Stuck in Lodi Again” to myself.  I’ve been told all towns named Lodi are the same—I don’t think I’ll make a trek across the country to find out any time soon.  When Mate returned, he had a DVD player kit to hang on the back of the seats. Each kid could watch THEIR OWN MOVIE. I can hear you thinking, “Genius!”, right? Because it was!

Right up until we got to the next gas station, where Mate’s card was rejected.

We used my card until we got to the resort, and then we called our bank.  The conversation went like this:

“Yes, my husband’s bank card was put on hold—why did you do that?”

“Well, we detected unusual activity. Did you make a large purchase from a Target outside of Lodi?”

“Yes we did. The card has not been stolen.”

“Good to hear. We’ll just cancel it and send you a new one.”

“WHAT?”

“Oh. Oops! Didn’t mean to do that.  Well, your card will be at your house in five business days, so it’s okay.”

“We’re on vacation. What do you mean we have no bank card??????????”

“Well, I mean, it’s only five days.”

Yeah—I blew a gasket, and then called in the manager and blew another one, but there was nothing we could do. Apparently that is one switch that cannot be unflipped.  I mean, it was okay—I had a card, and we got cash at every opportunity, but still—it was a major inconvenience.

Now some of you may be asking, “But, uhm, gee… why didn’t she just go into a bank and make a withdrawal?”

Or maybe just my editor, because quite frankly, I didn’t think about it until developmental edits, when I got the question, “Why didn’t Avery just…”

But then, maybe that was the point.  Avery is inconvenienced—nothing is dire. When he sees Cal struggling with real poverty and real consequences, he is really impressed.  Impressed enough to want to be a better person than the one who left California.

I wish I improved so much whenever I left home!

 

Blurb

Cal McCorkle has lived in Bluewater Bay his whole life. He works two jobs to support a brother with a laundry list of psychiatric diagnoses and a great-uncle with Alzheimer’s, and his personal life amounts to impersonal hookups with his boss. He’s got no time, no ambition, and no hope. All he has is family, and they’re killing him one responsibility at a time.

Avery Kennedy left Los Angeles, his family, and his sleazy boyfriend to attend a Wolf’s Landing convention, and he has no plans to return. But when he finds himself broke and car-less in Bluewater Bay, he’s worried he’ll have to slink home with his tail between his legs. Then Cal McCorkle rides to his rescue, and his urge to run away dies a quick death.

Avery may seem helpless at first, but he can charm Cal’s fractious brother, so Cal can pretty much forgive him anything. Even being adorkable. And giving him hope. But Cal can only promise Avery “until we can’t”—and the cost of changing that to “until forever” might be too high, however much they both want it.

BUY LINKS:

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

ARe

Amy Lane exists happily with her noisy family in a crumbling suburban crapmansion, and equally happily with the surprisingly demanding voices who live in her head.

She loves cats, movies, yarn, pretty colors, pretty men, shiny things, and Twu Wuv, and despises house cleaning, low fat granola bars, and vainglorious prickweenies.

She can be found at her computer, dodging housework, or simultaneously reading, watching television, and knitting, because she likes to freak people out by proving it can be done.

Connect with Amy:

Website: greenshill.com

Blog: writerslane.blogspot.com

Twitter: @amymaclane

Facebook group: Amy Lane Anonymous

Goodreads: goodreads.com/amymaclane

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for an eBook package of all of Amy Lane’s backlist titles with Riptide! (Excludes The Deep of the Sound and anthologies.) Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on June 20, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win!

 

Dont forget to check out Vicki’s review of The Deep of the Sound posted later today !