Forever Friday (34 page)
Authors: Timothy Lewis
“Are you implying that you ‘admire’ me?”
She stopped walking and looked me in the eye. Hers were as green as emeralds. She continued. “Depends on whether or not you take a drive with me.”
“Where?”
“Galveston. Thought we might get some seafood.”
“Mermaids? Pink champagne?”
“The answer to your first question is no, not my kind of place. The answer to your second question is only if it tastes like really fine beer.”
After rounding a big SUV, I nearly spilled my coffee. Twenty feet away sat a sky-blue 1947 Oldsmobile convertible. Blue Norther.
“I don’t believe it,” I said, trotting over and running my hand along the gleaming finish. “I’d never even thought to ask about their car.”
Yevette opened the driver’s door and climbed in. “If you’re waiting for a valet to open your door, you’ll be here awhile.”
I hopped in the passenger’s side. The entire car, inside and out, looked as if it had just rolled off the showroom floor.
“Think this old jalopy will take us where we want to go?” Yevette smiled, then started the engine.
“Hope so,” I replied, then grinned at her. “I really do hope.”
1.
Hope
is the novel’s central theme. When Huck met Mister Jack at her secret glen, he instructed her to “grab hope and never let go.” How does Adam describe hope in the final chapter? What role does hope play in your life?
2. In
chapter 10
, Adam admitted that before finding the postcards, he thought soul mates existed only in fairy tales. What do you think?
3. Adam reasoned that he and his ex-wife, Haley, had a scandalous love affair with their own selfishness. What do you think he means? Moreover, he learned that what saved Huck and Gabe from The Long Division wasn’t
romance
, but rather “the willingness each of them had to continually choose each other
over
their own selfishness.” How can you imagine this kind of selflessness looking in a real relationship?
4. How did Clark’s love of material possessions affect his and Huck’s relationship? Even though Clark tried to violate Huck, she grieved his death. Why?
5. How would you define Gabe’s idea of The Long Division? In our age of many distractions and social media, what factors might cause a married couple’s “once shared passions” to separate into “single minded interests”? How can The Long Division be applied to our relationship with God?
For a more detailed
Forever Friday
Readers Group Guide, visit
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=227694
.
One’s dream of breaking into fiction can be a long journey. Therefore, I’m
forever
grateful to the following people who’ve helped make my dream a reality.
Jodi Thomas—who convinced me I had
the gift
, then took the time to teach me the writing ropes. I’m indebted to your friendship, knowledge, and kindness. You challenged me to soar higher than I ever imagined.
Helen Bass—who knew I was destined to write long before even
I
had a clue. Thanks for your constant prayers and encouragement.
DeWanna Pace—who’s masterful critiquing skills helped me discover my voice. Thanks, Dee, for your gentle patience.
Roger Otwell and David Otwell—who convinced me I could write anything, then taught me to smile on camera. Thanks,
pards
, for making me a third brother.
Cori Deyoe—my ever skillful and insightful agent who recognized this book’s potential, then kept on believing. Thanks for your sound advice, friendship, and cheerfully steering me around every pothole.
Shannon Marchese—my
Editor Extraordinaire
, who believed in my voice, my manuscript, and my career. Thank you, Shannon, for your exceptional insight, professional guidance, and listening heart.
The WaterBrook team—Ken Peterson, Pamela Shoup, Amy Haddock, Beverly Rykerd, Mark Ford, Kendall Davis, and Heather Brown. I’m amazed at your incredible skills, tireless creativity, and knowledge.
Nicci Jordan Hubert and Caleb Rexius—you’re masters at what you do.
My great first readers—Ginger Porter, Lisa Rutledge, Rebecca Holmes-Smart, Susie and Rick Culver, Mike and Debi Nichols, Jen Gursky, Joan Gursky, Debbie and Carroll Marriott, Harold Hurry, Suzanne Adams, Millie Otwell, Carmen Terrell, Lyn Dickerson, Bonnie Thorne, Jane Wagner, Terry Beasley, Jan Fulton, Marsha Bigham, Steve Vandiver, Brenda Alcala, Jean Pray, Sandra Dixon, Sara Dixon, Cindy Lewis, John and Susan Clark, Heather Fuller-Jones, Mary Sue Rix, George Rix, Laquitta Doak, Amy Gardner, Cathy Michael, Judy Kelln, Laura Smith, Chandler Shaw, Joleen Walsh, Nancy Sales, Nick and Becky Nichols, Paul and Rose Ferris, Lindsey Moss, Lisa French, Melissa Burns, Marty Farris, Melinda Conway, Michelle Sherrod, Linda Claytor, and Fred Blalock.
A special thanks to Dr. Darrell Bledsoe, who knows everybody east and west of the Mississippi.
Love and thanks to my family and extended family. There are too many of you to name here, but you know who you are.
My parents, Davis and Mary, who encouraged me to freely follow any career path. My mother not only instilled the joy of fiction into my soul but fed my imagination with hundreds of great books.
Our daughter, Lana, because she put up with a stay-at-home dad who always had to write, then tried his best to make a ponytail.
And finally to my wonderful wife, Dinah, who gave me the greatest gift: the freedom to succeed or fail. Without your endless encouragement, strong faith, unconditional love, and daily prayers, this book would’ve never happened.
Most of all, I’m grateful to God, the Author of us all!
Forever Friday
is loosely based upon the lives of my great-aunt and uncle. At their estate sale, I discovered a collection of antique postcards, literally pulling the albums out of the trash heap. (They were thought to have been miscellaneous photos of people no one in the family knew.) It appeared my great-aunt had received a postcard with an original love poem every Friday for sixty years, and the collection had been kept secret. I knew I’d discovered a potentially powerful love story, but there was no conflict, no intriguing plot. So I put the albums on a shelf in my study and waited for the love-story muse to cajole me while I wrote other things. About five years later, I received a phone call from a friend whose wife of over twenty years had left him without warning. He said, “I don’t believe in love anymore.” I remember gazing up at the shelf that held the postcard albums and thinking:
There lies sixty years of love. Married love
. And suddenly … I’d found my story.
Even though my great-uncle’s poems were meaningful, they weren’t the style of prose I wanted for the novel. So I penned my own, adapting a couple I’d previously written. The poem in the prologue, “Two Tiny Shells,” I wrote for my wife, Dinah, shortly after our first date in Galveston. And the poem at the beginning of
chapter 13
, “The Morning of Our Love,” was actually a song I composed for our wedding ceremony.
“So afterward,” you ask, “was there really a porch-swing honeymoon?” Hmm. You’ll have to ask Dinah that question!
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