I don’t know about you, but the world seems to be getting pretty (insert your favorite colorful word here) intense. While I like to stay informed, I also like to laugh to deal with stress. And, I need some chuckles these days.

Today, the wonderful C.D. Cain is here to help us laugh with an embarrassing story. Also, CD is giving away 1 ecopy of After the Storm. Below the guest post, you’ll find more details about the giveaway.

Take it away, CD.

I Still Have the Scars

Grace was not something I was born with. Nope, not one bit of it. To this day, I’m the one who trips over the crack in the floor. When I went fly fishing with my little family of three, I was the only one who fell in the freezing water. Yep, that’s me.

When I was in junior high, my mother bought us a membership to our local gym, which was fine with me because I had the biggest crush on the school cheerleader who sat next to me in history. At the time, I really didn’t know what it was yet but yeah, it was a horrendous crush. I hadn’t put two and two together as to why my voice seemed to leave me every time she was next to me or why my palms sweat at just the sight of her. Recognition would soon come but for the time being, working out didn’t sound like a bad idea. Bad idea? Hell, it was a freaking fantastic idea when I met the athletic trainer who was paired with me. She was quite hot in her shorts and tank top. Amazingly enough, I had done quite well with the free weights and machines. After all, I had incentive to not make a fool out of myself in front of Ms. Hot Trainer.

That is until we came to the very last exercise—cardio. Mind you, this was a few years back…like, way back. The treadmills back then were nothing like they are today. It was sort of an archaic piece of machinery with two bright metal handles, a small instrument panel, and a walking area covered with what I now refer to as sandpaper. It was this brown piece of something that covered the rollers on the bottom. Ms. Hottie instructed me to stand with my feet on the sides and hold on to the rails. She turned the machine on, eyed me from the side, and probably thought since I was young that I could handle a higher speed. She was wrong—very, very wrong. She stood there with her beautiful smile as she told me to gently step onto the treadmill and start walking. Her smile is the last thing I remember seeing because when my feet hit that treadmill, it was like someone grabbed both of them and pulled them right out from under me. It took a moment for me to register what had happened. I felt the pain of the sandpaper literally scraping the skin from the side of my leg, arm, and chin, but I hadn’t yet comprehended how I was sprawled out on the bottom of it. It wasn’t until I heard Ms. Hottie screaming for me to let go of the bar that I fully understood what happened. Of course, as soon as I did, I was slammed into the back of the wall. I was a bloody mess splattered against the mirrored wall. I never went back to that gym and to this day break out in a cold sweat if I get on one of those damn death traps. On a happier note, Ms. Hot Trainer did blow on my knee when she cleaned it with the antiseptic spray. So there’s that!

GIVEAWAY 

AFTER THE STORM
Chambers of the Heart: Book 3

by C.D. Cain

Available in Kindle Unlimited

The weight of her heels carried on her fingertips grew exponentially with each step Samantha LeJeune took walking away from the only woman she ever loved. She wanted to turn back, take Rayne Storm into her arms and run away from everything that would keep them apart. The problem was Rayne wasn’t ready to give her what she needed to make a life with her. If she couldn’t run away with her, she would at least run away from her and all of the memories of Alabama. Without a clue as to her destination, she hit the road with nothing on her mind but healing her broken heart strong enough to never fall in love again.

Gentry Bell didn’t really have a home like others would describe. For her, home was a small town filled with suffocating memories of painful abuse and betrayal by those who were supposed to love her. There were only two woman who kept her from moving as far away as possible. The sudden passing of one of those women and a new job with the National Park Service, were her signs that it was time for her to move on. She’s never feared being on her own or venturing out into the unknown. Actually, it has always been her breath of life. But this time, she isn’t alone. Maybe the silence of the wilderness will have the answer she needs to decide what to do about the baby she is carrying.

An immediate connection develops when these two broken women meet on the road that carries them away from the life they were living. But will it be enough to open their hearts to trust again? And if so, will they be strong enough to hold onto that connection when an unborn child seems to be pointing them to return back to a home where memories of trauma and a first love are still ever so present in each of their hearts?

MEET THE AUTHOR

CD Cain grew up in Louisiana fishing the bayou cutoff with her papaw, gardening vegetables with her mamaw and riding her three-wheeler in the woods when given a full tank of gas. These childhood memories are the essence of her Louisiana roots. A woman torn between medicine and creative writing, she eventually decided to do both. When she’s not trying to find precious bits of time around her clinic practice to write, she’s somewhere out and about enjoying nature. This may be paddling on the water, hiking a trail, basking in the view from a mountain or simply sipping a glass of red wine while sitting on her backporch. She lives in Georgia with her wife, son and furbabies.

CONNECT WITH CD CAIN

Twitter / Website

Thanks so much for stopping by today.