Day 6

Dear Diary,

Normally I would skip a day, you know, take a break on this whole journal thing. But today I hit a milestone! I did the math Day 1, and figured that each week I needed to write at least 17,500 words. And I did it! Okay, so it's a little more towards Sunday, Week 2, than Saturday, Week 1, but I did it!

So, here are the stats:

Goal: 70,000
Day 6 total: 6,453
Day 6 running total: 17,816
Words remaining: 52,184

I'm getting more excited about this the more I write. There are some unexpected things going on. I can't wait for you all to get to read it. But, since that isn't going to happen just yet, because NO SPOILERS! You're going to have to stay content with a little (unedited) excerpt again.

She let out a groan. “You aren’t sending me to stupid Dr. Porter’s office for today’s appointment, are you?”

“No, no, of course not,” Todd recovered. “No, you’re going over to Lacey’s. The Martins thought it would be nice to see you, but since they have guests, they can’t leave. They invited you to join them for lunch today, and your mother and I thought that sounded like a good idea.”

Jamie Lynn’s eyebrows rose quizzically. “You never let me leave the house.”

“Dr. Porter says it might be a good idea to start loosening the reins a little,” he shrugged, making it up as he went. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes. Dr. Porter would probably kill him if – no, when – she found out what he’d said to Jamie Lynn. “So we thought we’d start small when the invitation came in from the Martins.”

Jamie Lynn smiled genuinely for the first time since she’d been home. “Seriously?” her voice was shrill as she tried to contain her excitement. “I actually get to go see my friends?” She rushed forward and hugged her father. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Yes, well –” he set her gently aside and motioned toward the front door. “Your car has been waiting for almost forty minutes.”

“Right, sorry,” she nodded. She rushed to the door, pausing with her hand on the knob. “Thank you so much, Dad. You really don’t know what this means to me.”

She pulled the door open, and, still smiling at her father, stepped outside and into something tall, solid, and muscular. The tall, solid, muscular person hadn’t been paying attention – and hadn’t expected to be bowled over by a nineteen-year-old girl – and stumbled backwards, bringing Jamie Lynn with him.

“Oh crap!” she scrambled to her feet, dusting herself off. “I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention. Are you okay? I normally don’t knock –”

She stopped brushing herself off to glance down at the man on the pavement. She gasped, her hand flying to cover her mouth. With a quick little nod, he communicated everything to her. She pasted her smile back on her face and picked up without missing more than a half a breath.

“I normally don’t knock people over when I walk out of doors,” she laughed casually. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he smiled and nodded as he stood and brushed some dust from his jeans. “It appears I caught you as you were leaving?”

“Yeah, just going to a friend’s house,” she smiled. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Why are you here?”

“Not now,” he growled under his breath. “Well, I’m late for an appointment with your father, so I guess I’d better hurry in.”

He stepped into the house where a nervous Todd Turner waited for him, eyes wide with concern.

“Todd! So good to see you again!” He stepped forward, offering his hand.

Jamie Lynn watched as her father exchanged pleasantries with him.

“Justin, I’m so glad you could come on such short notice,” her father smiled at his guest as he shooed her politely away and shut the front door in her face.

Who is this Justin character? Stay tuned and maybe I'll tell you. ;)

XOXO,

Jo