Lightning Strikes Twice

By H.T. Miles

Whether you call it Cupid’s arrow or a Lightning strike, love hits just as hard!

The city of New Orleans casts its spell on both residents and visitors. More than one world-renowned star has come to the city known as the Big Easy and never left. The music, the culture, and the people will pull the visitor and the native son back time and time again. A young retired musician picks his guitar back up and wins the heart of just such a visitor. When the woman turns out to be a world-famous star of the silver screen sparks fly and yes Lightning Strikes!

READER ADVISORY: The reader should be warned, that visiting New Orleans, LA, can affect your moral compass; depictions of various sex acts in this book are by consenting adults.

PUBLISHER NOTE: Contemporary Romance. 72,938 words in total.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luminosity Publishing LLP
• Release date: Jul 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463542514

H.T. Miles

I am a widower that would write short stories and poetry to the love of my life. As a lover of romance novels and erotic fiction, I have simply taken the free time I now have, after taking care of my late wife, to write about certain events that I became aware of over the course of our marriage. The events of my books never happened to us, but they did happen to friends and neighbors. I have of course, changed the names of the people involved, and added a little here, and a little there, to give the stories a better “bite” if you will. The only way I have found to silence the “voices in my head” is to put these events down on “paper.”

Book preview

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

H.T. MILES

Whether you call it Cupid’s arrow or a Lightning strike, love hits just as hard!

The city of New Orleans casts its spell on both residents and visitors.  More than one world-renowned star has come to the city known as the Big Easy and never left.  The music, the culture, and the people will pull the visitor and the native son back time and time again.  A young retired musician picks his guitar back up and wins the heart of just such a visitor.  When the woman turns out to be a world-famous star of the silver screen sparks fly and yes Lightning Strikes!

READER ADVISORY: The reader should be warned, that visiting New Orleans, LA, can affect your moral compass; depictions of various sex acts in this book are by consenting adults.

PUBLISHER NOTE: Contemporary Romance. 72,938 words in total.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

H.T. MILES

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Table of Contents

DESCRIPTION

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

CHAPTER ONE: The Revelation

CHAPTER TWO: Not the Right Thing

CHAPTER THREE: The Short-Term Consequences

CHAPTER FOUR: Putting the Truth in the Relationship

CHAPTER FIVE: A Destined Match

CHAPTER SIX: A Perfect Relationship

CHAPTER SEVEN: Moving On

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Trip South

CHAPTER NINE: A Return to a New Home

CHAPTER TEN: Unplanned Parenthood

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Moving On

CHAPTER TWELVE: Tying Up Loose Ends

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

H.T. MILES

LUMINOSITY PUBLISHING LLP

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

Copyright © July 2018 H.T. MILES

Cover Art by Poppy Designs

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this literary work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the trademark status and the following trademark owners mentioned in this work of fiction:

Bvlgari

Louis Vuitton

DEDICATION

I used to live close to the great city of New Orleans Louisiana USA. I know the greater metropolitan area of New Orleans very well. I have traveled the world and visited many cities, but this city is by far my favorite international city. While it has its problems, the people make it special. As a man and a father, I would like to thank my children for being my ballast, as a sailor would say. They keep me afloat in a sea of rough waves. In the dedication of my first published book, I thanked the professionals at Luminosity Publishing for taking a chance on a new author. They continue to surpass my expectations. The professionals there continue to be a joy to work with, and I hope we have a long relationship.

CHAPTER ONE

THE REVELATION

Ricky Lawson brushed his brown mop top head of hair out of his eyes as he sat in his boss’s office on a Thursday, just before noon. The news was not good, the New Orleans office, of which both men were senior employees, was being hit with budget cuts. The corporate decision handed down today via video conference was to reduce all employees to thirty-two hours, eight hours a day, Monday through Thursday. The building would be closed the rest of the time.

After the formal briefing between the two men, and just before the meeting ended, Joe Pfister, the boss remarked, Ricky this is a great chance for you to get back on stage. Surely you can find a gig for that guitar of yours. This way that wife of yours really does not have a leg to stand on, because now you really need the money. I am giving everybody the rest of the day off. These changes start immediately so I will see you Monday morning. Okay?

The younger man laughed as he snorted back, She will make us eat beans and weenies before she lets me get back on stage. She is scared to death that some young groupie will unzip my fly before I can get home to her. Not that I ever gave her a reason to worry, but you know how some women are!

The local rock star had retired at his wife’s urging three years prior to help raise their two sons, due to his wife’s career advancement and her concerns regarding the rock star lifestyle. As far as he was concerned, he had just been a local, house band musician. The man was not a songwriter or a golden voice front man. He thought of himself as just a half-way decent guitar player. The day job paid the bills and provided the health insurance that he, his wife and two sons needed, but not being on stage ate at his soul.

Losing twenty percent of his pay would force changes.

The potential for another ugly confrontation with his wife, Amy was not something he wanted to face. He did, however, want to get home and think. On his way, he passed by Tipitina’s which was his last gig, a well-known nightclub/music venue and as much as he wanted to pull in and talk to its manager, he kept driving. The knowledge that his wife would more than likely ask if he had already put out feelers made him keep going, so he could be honest with the woman when he said no.

Ricky pulled his classic Land Rover Defender into the driveway and noticed his wife’s car was home. The husband thought that maybe she had come home for lunch. As he unlocked the front door, he could hear his wife walking around upstairs.

Just as the six-foot-one-inch slim man topped the stairs, he heard her hitting a number on her phone using its speaker function, and he heard his wife greet the other person on the call with, Hey, babe, can you talk?

A man’s voice responded, "Yeah, sweetie, what’s up?

Ricky’s mind saw red, and he instinctively grabbed his phone and enabled its record app that he used to make notes on for potential song lyrics as well as possible solutions to problems at his day job. He glanced in the bedroom and noticed Amy was looking out their bedroom window towards the backyard.

The shocked husband took the opportunity to toss his phone onto the bed to get a better recording as she spoke again.

Didn’t you tell me you had a vasectomy a few years ago?

The male voice laughed. Yeah, babe, you remember we had been belly bopping for about three months, and you complained about the condoms. I suggested you go back on the pill and you laughed saying that all you needed was for hubby to find your stash of birth control pills. So I got snipped, and now both your hubby and I get you skin on skin, and it is heavenly. I am glad we are both about the same size down there, so you don’t have to worry about being too loose for him. Why do you ask?

The wife snapped, Well, one of you must have had the vasectomy become undone, ’cause I’m pregnant. And you two are the only men I have slept within five years.

Ricky decided he had heard enough, he knew his procedure was reversible, but it had to be done surgically. Even so, he had put quite a few frozen baby makers away just in case he or his wife changed their mind. The husband walked into the room but did not address his wife.

She was still staring out the window, so caught up in her dilemma that she did not even notice his presence until he snatched the phone away from her. The sudden realization that her husband was home made her scream. After she had run out of air, she fainted dead away.

The husband spoke loudly into his wife’s phone, You have thirty minutes to get your ass over here, or something bad could happen to your girlfriend. With that, he clicked off the phone and powered it down. Finally, he stuck it in one of the drawers of his wife’s dresser.

The angry man then picked his wife up off the floor and laid her on the bed. All five feet five inches of slim, blonde bombshell of a woman. He had fallen in love with her at first sight. The woman’s beauty from her long elegant toes to her emerald green eyes to her light, almost platinum blonde hair had simply stolen his heart in an instant. Now he was fighting the urge to wrap his fingers around her thin neck and choke the life out of her.

Instead, he went to the closet, retrieved four suitcases and began to pack. The man’s plan was a simple one — run! He would turn and run to the solitude of his grandfather’s boat. The old trimaran danced on the water like a ballerina, and it was where he could escape while he decided what to do.

An hour later he realized the boyfriend was not going to show up and he suspected his wife was playing possum.

Ricky picked his phone up but did not turn off the recording app as he began, "I know you are awake coward, so here is the news flash for you. I heard everything, you are carrying somebody else’s child, and your boyfriend says it is not his and I know it is not mine. So that means you cheated on me and then you two-timed or is it three-timed your boyfriend with yet another guy. I wonder if your boyfriend will forgive you?

Anyway, in the real world, I came home early because our company has cut the New Orleans office back to thirty-two hours a week per man. At least we get to keep our benefits package. I will be living on the boat from now on, and I will file for divorce claiming adultery and citing that you are pregnant with another man’s child. Because we both know it is not mine.

His wife did not answer him or acknowledge his statements, except for the tears that were streaming down her face. She did not even open her eyes as he left with the four suitcases full of clothes.

His parting shot was: I will not come into this house unless the boys are home. Oh, by the way, after you fainted, I told your boyfriend something bad was going to happen to you if he did not get here in thirty minutes. He never showed, just so you know. I bring that up because I remember you going to a holiday party alone when the sitter did not show up, and you called me at two in the morning saying you had too much to drink and had flirted too much with some guy that was refusing to take no for an answer. I left the kids here, called a neighbor to come over, just in case. Then I proceeded to drive to the damn party and fight a big drunk to protect my wife who admitted to causing the problem with the goon by flirting too damn much. But at least I cared enough to come. Your boyfriend must not because he is a no-show. But then he did not impregnate you either now, did he?

With that, he walked out of the bedroom with a luggage train behind him, each suitcase strapped to the one in front. Once all four cases were loaded in his Defender, he went back for his guitars that were attached to hand-carved wooden hands coming out of the wall above the couch in the living room. Removing the four-functional works of art left the living room bare and would be a daily reminder that he had left the building, just like Elvis.

With anger now riding up in his soul, he could not resist one last parting shot; so he climbed back up the stairs to the master bedroom and announced, You know I just realized that this is my failure. After all, you had foreseen me cheating on you if I kept playing at local music venues. Forget about the extra money you said, the risk of me succumbing to temptation you said was not worth the extra money, and you were right, because I have not cheated on you since I quit the music business. Obviously, you were right. But I failed you because, I failed to realize you would give in to temptation doing whatever you did, so the failure is all on me. So I accept full responsibility, and I commend you for seeing the future and protecting my virtue. I am very sorry I could not do the same.

The sarcasm was so thick in his voice that a blind, deaf and mute person could have noticed it. Amy continued to keep her eyes closed as he continued to verbally shoot arrows at her. She refused to acknowledge him and finally he turned and left.

The wife lay on her bed weighed down with the realization that her marriage was over, but the question of the day was: If her husband and her lover both were shooting blanks, how in the hell did she wind up pregnant? The only other sexual activity she had in the last five years was a company-sponsored stress seminar which had been an all-woman event, no men allowed. There had been no gate crashers.

The woman remembered that no man was even allowed in the set of rooms the girls had rented for the weekend. And while she did have wild, kinky sex with some of the other women there, no sperm donors were there, so how did this happen? For five years she had gotten together with Billy once or twice a month for sex. The woman could not lie and tell herself it was just sex; she had feelings for the other man. Because of the boys, Amy had been sure Ricky would forgive her, and she would stay. This latest complication could very well end her marriage and end it in an ugly way. Her husband would not need photos, all he would have to do to prove adultery would be to show his sperm tests from their family doctor. The woman had already set up an appointment with her OB/GYN for next week as a follow-up appointment. She had thought about an abortion, but now that Ricky knew about the pregnancy and the affair she would consider other options. Her thought process settled on the best course of action for her mental well-being. In her mind, that would be to bring the baby to term and give the boy or girl up for adoption. She had to think of what to tell their two sons, and she was very concerned what her husband would tell them.

* * * *

When Ricky left his house, he noticed the time. First, he dialed their family doctor’s administrative phone number that most patients did not have and talked to the office manager. He asked for an appointment to check his swimmers, just in case and a comprehensive STD panel.

The woman muttered, Oh my god, tell me she didn’t!

The husband ignored his friend and said instead, When can I come in, Jackie?

Any time for you, sugar, just tell the front desk you are here, and I will put you right in. I am really sorry, Lightning, Jackie Simpson said, using his nickname.

Lightning was his stage name due to his ability to play the guitar fast — very fast.

Realizing that his two sons would be getting out of school at that time of day, he made a couple of turns so that he came up beside their school. As a born and bred New Orleanian, he had no problem parking on the street. Nobody with bad intentions would want a twenty-year-old Land Rover Defender. He scanned the playground for their nanny, who was a college co-ed that was in charge of picking them up from school and keeping them until either he or his wife got them. Aaron, named after the king of rock and roll’s middle name and Buddy after Buddy Holly were talking to Nancy, the nanny, so he left his Defender on the side of the road.

He walked over to the fence separating the school playground from the city’s streets, and a minute later landed on his feet after scaling it with several teachers shaking their heads at him disapprovingly. As he approached his sons, he smiled at the young woman, a red-headed heartbreaker even now. The boys ran to him, after several minutes of hugs and with tears in his eyes, he told them the truth. Boys, I am going to be staying on great grandfather’s boat for a while. I will see you a couple of times a week at least until . . . well, until your mother and I decide what to do. I am sorry that’s all I got. I love you both.

The two boys looked just like him, and that always made him smile, now more than ever.

Ricky addressed Nancy: If you need anything let me know, I do not know what is going to happen, but I will not be home except to see these guys.

The young woman just nodded, not knowing what to say.

As he walked back to the fence, he heard a loud female voice shout, The gate is just right over there. But he went back the way he came.

On the other side of the street, a tall, dark-haired slim woman watched with fascination as the man defied authority and seemed to get away with it. The woman was struck by his grace and an aura that seemed to be present with him. She felt a pull towards the man that she could not explain. Her eyes followed him to his old SUV and then she forced herself to refocus on the teachers and students in the playground. The woman had been observing the school all afternoon, fascinated by the interaction of the adults and children.

Thirty minutes later the thirty-three-year-old father of two was standing in front of the receptionist at his family’s doctor’s office as he asked for Jackie. The doctor’s office was part of the Tulane medical complex not far from his sons’ school out towards the Audubon Zoo. The building was surrounded by beautiful old growth oak trees, and it was one of the last stops on the streetcar line, not that he was riding it today. The modern glass-enclosed building looked so out of place among the trees that it always impressed him whenever he needed to visit.

Of course, he was one of the lucky ones, he never had to wait for an appointment, ever. The father of two was always ushered in with the minimum of disturbance.

When his first child was born, Ricky experienced the elongated wait of the average patient in a US doctor’s office. After two hours, he and Aaron were finally seen by the nurse and then thirty minutes later the doctor. As he was leaving one of the nurses mentioned to another staff member that she wished she had tickets to an upcoming sold-out concert by Aerosmith. The father happened to know the promoter of the event in New Orleans. The man made the call, and since the other man owed him a favor, he was given six tickets of a sold-out event four rows from center stage. At the time he was still performing, and he was asked to sit in on the opening act for which he would be paid.

It turned out to be a win-win for everybody. It was not lost on the nurse that attended the event that Lightning magically appeared on stage and she also had tickets to the concert she had wanted to go to. The next time he had to take Aaron to the doctor, as soon as he and Aaron sat down, their names were called. It was as if he had negotiated a barter system, no waiting for an appointment to be seen by the doctor or nurse. The unspoken agreement was that in exchange he would get the nurses and other staff of the clinic any concert ticket they wanted and introductions to the that night’s performer when possible. The exact terms and conditions of the agreement were never mentioned directly by the father or by the staff.

The New Orleans music community was a small universe made even smaller by Hurricane Katrina. Ricky Lightning Larson was a bright star on the local music scene. The nurses loved being in with a member of the local music community and its unique system. The doctor did not have a clue. He, like most doctors in the US simply did what he was told to do by his handlers, see this patient, see this drug company representative, go to this charity ball, go to that convention and so forth and so on.

So, one day when a little ole lady caught on to the scam and threatened actual litigation for the special treatment of Ricky and his kids, he had to protect the blissfully ignorant doctor.

The male medical professional stood over six foot six inches with shoulders that seemed to be four feet wide. However, the little ole lady had marched up to the big man and grabbed him by the tie. She then proceeded to jerk him down so that he was eye to eye with the five-foot-two-inch woman. As she began to verbally abuse the man, all of