As BOOK SHEPHERD, I help create books: write, edit, format, publish
02/26/2025
In honor of the late Roberta Flack, whose songs I adored...
Here is an excerpt from my first book using the songstress's lyrics.
FYI, *Rhythms & Muse* is a contemporary women's fiction story, whose action takes place in Hollywood in the early aughts, and in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in the late 1970s. It's a feel-good love story about a young female Grammy winner who returns to her roots to find fulfillment. In this scene, she's a teenager in Cd'A.
"Alex keyed into the last few phrases of a Roberta Flack hit, singing along quietly. “The first time ever I saw your face, your face, your face… your…”
She stopped.
She said it slowly, “Your face. Y-F.”
Song lyrics. Were they really song lyrics? Yowsers! Had he written a love song on the back of his school picture to her? Was it possible?
Alex ripped the headphones off and ran over to the piano bench. Up went the lid, out came the sheet music she’d played a billion times before. She quickly read through the lyrics. It had to be!
She ran upstairs into her room, grabbed Matt’s school picture and sat on the bed comparing the first letters of each of the words.
She read silently. The first time ever I saw your face… Speaking aloud, she compared. “T-F-T-E-I-S-Y-F.” Reading and comparing, she went on, tracking every letter.
The last phrase came out in a whisper. “‘Your face.’ Y-F. Whoa!”
Alex sat on the edge of her bed, one hand limply holding Matt’s picture, the other empty, its music fallen to the floor. She froze there for a moment of eternity, trying to quiet and organize her thoughts. How could this be? Does he really feel this about me? If he does, what am I going to do?
Alex spent the rest of that day worrying what she was going to say to Matt about his riddle. Every conversation she imagined made her stomach flip as she rehearsed and re-rehearsed possible scenarios in her bedroom mirror.
[The next day…]
As she walked through the double doors, Matt almost ran into her. She could see he was startled to see her, but he quickly recovered and stopped. She felt his gaze following her as she continued on into the lunchroom. After her retreating form, he asked, “Hey, Alex. So, what did you think of my riddle?”
Alex’s knee-jerk reaction was sarcasm. She stopped, turned to face him and, without thinking, said, “It’s just what I would expect from you, SuperMatt… more Flack!”
She spun on her heel, barely catching his delayed chortle. She sighed in relief and continued on her way."
