On Second Thought by C Spencer

Hear the author reading from On Second Thought by C Spencer @CSpencerAuthor on this episode of Book Clips, the mini podcast that gives listeners a taste of a book.

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Synopsis 

Love is never easy.

But once you add a complicated ex-wife and eight-year-old daughter, you’re playing with a new set of rules. Madisen’s just beginning to figure out those rules when she meets Rae in what becomes an all-consuming affair filled with late nights and exhausted euphoria. Rae is charming. Madisen is smitten. And life couldn’t feel more perfect.

At least, that is, until her ex-wife begins to have second thoughts.

Transcript for Today’s Show

Please note this transcript has not been edited and is automatically generated meaning certain words will be incorrect.

you were listening to book clips a mini podcast in which authors and erasers do readings from novels check out the show notes for the synopsis and by links for this book hi this is C Spencer and I’ll be doing a reading from my novel on second thought we need to go I say checking my phone as I collapse over her shoulder and sulking a bit sure we do she says she holds me so tight I can’t let go before traffic backs up I say I know she says before traffic I mean what’s this scent she’s worried it’s doing something to me but after shoving bags in my deep trunk mid those lenses and whatever else she brought were off and onto the highway and onto a new playlist windows down her elbow at the ledge hand waving in the wind road trips I think are the ultimate way to go no airports no TSA no creepy pat downs no flight cancellations and nobody to confiscate my nail file so I’m pushing 70 past a string of slow laners as I scan for patrol cars and she doesn’t seem to mind I’m snapping the glove compartment as she digs for a mat finding it giving it a shake until that beam of Sun shines through and down its crease making it appear almost transparent and red and green that crooked yellow lion that drives us east so past this semi in one more speed sign which I flat-out choose to ignore eight times she’s taken this trip eight she sang as she slips sandals off and bare heels hit the dash then I set cruise 265 changing lanes as she leads it snaps a selfie with her phone talking through the best part of his song so it’s literally on the sea she sang there duck I mean back in the day I guess it was a boat dock their place is so old in a good way they’ve renovated as I glanced sidelong catching my reflection in those mirrored shades just above that grain thinking this is nice sorry she says what were you about to say then she’s back on her phone and I’m shouting over the wind I wanted to know what you were doing I’m just sharing this on Facebook mind if I tag you she says then tilts her screen to show off our end-of-season tans chapstick lips that smile of hers my profile caught off guard her boyish pink both of us hidden beneath shades so what else do they like I say craft beer she says they’re all about craft beer and baseball two topics I know absolutely nothing about so why don’t you do the talking I say around 60 miles in we finally do hit that bumper-to-bumper the radio keeps warning us about meanwhile she’s thumbing narrating a text heavy traffic might be late well the guy in the car beside us sinks to his – window up muted and we inch ahead ray reclines shades propped atop her head squinting and shaded by hand now cupped to the Sun before she closes her eyes and my gaze lingers down to where fingers clasp better waste her shirt lacks at the belt with shorts that tug at the thigh I don’t think I catch my second wind until we arrive shaking hands and a sort of introduction that needs no introduction given they seem to know too much about me as it is I get the how was your drive and that sort from two who are unoriginal II dressed from head to toe and amid their talk of playoffs and whatever else I just sort of days off and I’m following their lead to the infamous deck or dock or whatever else you want to call it taking it all in intoxicated by the scent of the Atlantic reclined in a low chair resting feet up planks that quite literally eventually drop off to the sea where rain keeps asking how are you doing and can I get you anything with the left that I can’t help but a door near the edge just before the draw a simple slab of wood is resting on steel now solder it into some sort of waist-high platform of a table which is serving more than too many bottles of laggers and ales and odd soda brands each with trendy labels the good kind of tortilla chips and not from the jar salsa squares of cheese and other things and that carries us across four and a half more topics until I’m feeling all too welcome here so by evening we head out to dinner at this place that’s dimly lit with a big glass ocean view and we’re Sir Thomas and a basket of crusty bread then rigatoni marinara baked cheese Chianti until a few glasses in after having indulged we’re heading back to the sand and a late Setting Sun with two and eventually three getting to work on a bonfire and sparks begin to fly in no time it’s really the same kind of conversation everyone has time and again with good people you can’t see often enough the jokes the confessions and still the fire grows hops as I catch that gaze too intent on me and she leans in with a simple hey and I say hey and she’s asking to go for a dip and I’m thinking a night like this was made for bad hair and eating too much and drinking freely not a dip in the sea not bikinis yes she’s pleading and I’m wishing she didn’t have to be so convincing like this gripping tugging me through salty breeze as it whips hair across my face and next were ankle deep and a tide that keeps rolling in and out and over her arm bound around my waist her breasts crushed against my back as one more wave licks and tickles and it’s slow descent trickling as it dips and she’s studying me even with that constant tug out as it hopes to yank me everywhere else but right here a seaweed slips and curls around an ankle under the sky and its vast vibrance and it hits me in a good way helpless but whole way how I wish I could just pause us and this nerves and all of its apprehension and uncertainty its doubts and misgivings if I could hold this just a little longer you might finally make sense and I’m hoping to say something profound like that or maybe something prettier but I can’t really instead I’m feeling a finger tug at a tight strand of hair now resting between my lips and stuck like taffy feeling unstable as the sand sinks and shifts the earth beneath us even as she’s waiting deeper tugging me out gazing back pleading and stretching to my bending as another tide collides up my thighs and she’s amused by this she’s amused radiant in the light when the Sun that sinks deeper into the sea with my shirt weighed heavier the wetter it gets and how deep is she planning on taking me my shirt drenched already floating a stream of foam resting between my breasts her cheek wet against mine that hair dripping skin sugaring she’s warm here I can feel her and her breath sends a chill down my spine as she holds me through its lifting of hips before I settle into its dark it swells around us her thumb smudging against my lips I can taste its salt on my tongue when I reach above and I tongue tight strings off the nape of my neck and my top just floats right off my skin chilled her palm warm hidden beneath buoyant swells of clock now clinging and floating with the tide as she draws me in warms me slips down me what’s me and I can feel her inside me that’s flicking light on the horizon the tang of salt along her skin until I’ve lost count of the waves still crashing last count even as she’s tucking straps retying them covering me dressing me unbalanced as I catch my breath her thighs slipping between mine rubbing steadying my swaying before were hand-in-hand and we head back to the shore having been out there too long and we’ll make our way over smitten guilt-ridden the sand rough the fire hot marshmallows roasting to a sweet crisp chestnut me indulging in her lurid stare how she felt out there how it still feels you’ve been listening to see Spencer reading from my novel on second thought you have been listening to book clips check out the show notes for the synopsis and by links for this book if you are interested in showcasing your novel then check out the show notes for more information