The Seven Cities Saga (Book 0): Survival in the Seven Cities by Jay Brenham

 
     
     
    CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    Gloria called it getting to know somebody; her best friend Annie called it a "slow burn romance." Whatever the name, Gloria's relationship had transitioned from a smoldering spark to a three-alarm fire.
    It hadn’t always been like that.
    "Gloria, he's a great guy, give him a chance," Annie had said.
    But Gloria had never been interested in the nice guys. Her tastes had always veered toward the dark and brooding, sometimes too dark. And where had that gotten her? Three children without their father, that's where. More out of a favor to Annie than with any hope of meeting Mr. Right, she agreed to meet Roger for one date.
    That was almost a year ago. Today, for what was probably the thousandth time, Gloria looked at herself in the mirror. Her blond hair was pulled back in a messy bun; her bangs were carefully parted and fell to either side of her face. Her black halter top hugged her frame, showing the perfect amount of cleavage. A classic black lace skirt flowed halfway down her thigh. Gloria gave herself a reassuring look and told herself that her appearance was the exactly the right mix between old-fashioned class and today's style.
    Now if only she could get the kids in the car.
    It was as sure as the rising sun that the kids would be late; she hated being late to meet Roger. Not because he would be angry. In fact, he was so easy-going he wouldn't mind sitting on one of the benches at the water front until she arrived. She could show up twenty minutes late and Roger would be all smiles.
    "Izzy, Abby, Bobby!” she yelled, more out of habit, than any direct knowledge of what the children were doing. “Get your swimsuits on! And Abby make sure you put sunblock on your little brother."
    As Gloria came around the corner she saw the unthinkable waiting for her on the couch: three children, fully dressed and ready for the beach. All three were smiling.
    Gloria gave them a suspicious look. "Sunblock?"
    With a curious lack of attitude in her voice, Abby, her fourteen-year-old replied, "Already on, Mom." Anticipating her mother’s next question, she followed up with, "On all of us. And we remembered our faces and ears."
    "And what about Bobby's—"
    "Life jacket? It’s in the car," said Izzy, shaking her head and throwing her crazy tangle of hair behind her shoulder in a dramatic fashion. A lot of attitude for a ten-year-old.
    Abby and Izzy were her girls. They liked princesses and painting their toe nails. For a while she thought Izzy was destined to be a tomboy, but as she got closer to the end of elementary school she became more interested in separating herself from the boys. Despite her slow drift into the traditional feminine she was fiercely competitive, and she took any sort of challenge as a competition.
    Bobby was squirming on the sofa, barely containing himself. Her eight-year-old wild man. What was she going to do with him? He was a good boy but the city was no place for him. Bobby was an outdoor cat, he needed a place to run and their little house in Norfolk wouldn't cut it much longer.
    "Okay, let's go meet Roger,” Gloria said. “Thanks to you guys, we might actually make it on time."
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Gloria spotted Roger sitting on a bench watching the water, just as she expected him to be. He was always punctual. Some men she’d dated liked to play games: they wouldn't show up on time just to see if she would wait. Who was she kidding? There were times when she’d done the same thing, but with Roger it was different. You got what you saw with Roger. Even if she’d wanted to play games with him, how could she? He was so upfront and honest; it would be like kicking a golden retriever.
    He was no pushover though. There was something inside him that nobody expected, a confidence other men didn’t have. They’d been on a few dates before she saw it. One night they’d gone out to dinner at a little Irish pub. He had a Guinness and was teasing her for