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  Matt watched with the crowd at the railing as Selena and Rusty rounded the first barrel perfectly, then raced to the second barrel and almost knocked it over. He thought Selena had never looked more beautiful as he watched her long mane of dark hair mingle with the horse’s long orange mane. He couldn’t imagine racing that fast on a horse, only to spin it at that speed around a barrel. It looked almost magical to him, but Selena and Rusty made it look easy. He watched as they sped toward the third barrel—they seemed to have almost too much speed to make it around it. Slow down! He thought, otherwise Rusty’s gonna run too wide. He heard the crowd suck in their breath and he watched in horror as the girl and her horse spun around the barrel at top speed. He saw, almost in slow motion, Rusty’s feet slip in the soft dirt. Matt saw the barrel go tumbling away as Selena disappeared under the horse. He saw Rusty’s feet in the air as the horse rolled completely over, then he came back up onto his feet, shaking his head and looking dazed. Matt had moved without realizing it, climbing over the rails and running through the soft dirt toward the still form of his girl.

  Selena lay unmoving where she had fallen, on her back—staring at nothing.

  Matt was the first to reach her and he dropped to his knees beside her. “Selena,” he screamed.

  “Don’t move her.” He heard someone yell. Matt saw her eyelids flutter before he was pushed out of the way by EMT’s. Oh, thank God, he thought, at least she’s alive. He watched as the medics strapped a thick white collar around her neck, then carefully moved her onto a stretcher. They quickly loaded her in the back of an ambulance and Matt ran for his car, pulling onto the street behind the ambulance and keeping pace with it as it screamed through the sleepy town.

  Selena opened her eyes hours later and, as the room swam into focus, she saw first her mother in a chair beside her, and then she saw from the corner of her eye, her father, Beth and Matt sitting in chairs along the wall. “Matt?” Her voice was low and hoarse, yet the surprise was still evident. Her mother stepped out of the way and nodded her head at Matt.

  “What are you doing here?” Selena’s voice was a whisper as she stared at Matt.

  Matt leaned close to hear her. “I came for you.”

  Selena suddenly remembered the horrible crash. “Rusty?” There was a note of terror in her voice as she asked.

  “He’s fine. Beth took him home. He’s back in his corral, but he’s asking for you.”

  “What’s wrong with me?” Selena felt as if she couldn’t move, as if she were strapped to the bed.

  “You should be back on a horse in no time. Just a few broken ribs and a bruised spleen from the saddle horn. Rusty rolled all the way over you. You just need to stay here a few days so the doctors can keep an eye on you.”

  “Why did you come back here?”

  “I told you Selena, I came for you. If you’ll still have me?”

  “You believe me then? Instead of the Rag Mags?”

  “I believe you, Selena. I’m sorry I was being such an idiot.”

  “You were being an ass,” she said softly.

  “I know, and I’m sorry,” Matt said as he kissed her lips tenderly.

  Her family and Beth interrupted them then as they surrounded her bed, everyone talking at once.

  Matt stayed with her the next couple days in the hospital, sleeping in the empty bed in her room. If Selena even moaned in the night, Matt was instantly awake and at her side.

  She received tons of cards and letters, from friends and family, but also from adoring fans that she hadn’t even realized she’d had. Someone in the audience had captured her spectacular fall on video, and it appeared on the internet and news stories around the country. Young people from all over the country were sending cards and letters by the thousands, wishing her well.

  Matt came home with her a few days later, sleeping on the couch in their small trailer. He took care of Selena while her parents went to work, even though Selena swore she could take care of herself. “I’m fine now, really.” She told him repeatedly. She was getting around okay, just slowly. She was stiff and sore from having a thousand pounds of horse roll across her, and her broken ribs hurt whenever she moved, but she felt perfectly able to care for herself.

  But truthfully, she was enjoying being pampered by him. She had thought she’d lost him forever and she was not going to let him get away again.

  “I love you, Selena,” he told her as she was drifting off to sleep. She felt too sleepy to answer, but she smiled in the darkened room as he took her hand and held it tight.

  Matt finally left her alone for a while after a few days, saying he had to go into town for a few errands. Selena wandered slowly through the small trailer, feeling lost and alone without him by her side. He had been so unbelievably sweet and kind to her, tending to her every need. Now, she was missing him horribly, even though she knew he would only be gone a few hours. She knew he would be going back to L.A. soon and the thought almost brought her to tears. She paced slowly up and down the small space, wishing she knew what their future could possibly hold. She didn’t want to go through this repeatedly, she didn’t think her heart could take it. She wondered if she could stay with him in L.A. anything would be better this the constant ups and downs.

  Matt was gone for several hours and Selena was beginning to worry, when she heard his car coming up the drive. Matt stepped out of the car and stared at her as she made her slow, painful way toward him.

  “I thought you were turning into one of the Hollywood girls I can’t stand,” he said as she came slowly toward him. “I can clearly see now how wrong I was.” She stopped, surprised at his words.

  “You know I don’t even like Hollywood.”

  “I do know that. You’re still the same Selena I fell in love with. The same one I’m still in love with.”

  Selena went into his arms then, kissing him as tears rolled down her face. There was nothing she wanted more than his love.

  Matt kissed her tenderly as she clung to him. “Hey, I have a surprise for you,” he said when she was finally able to unwind herself from him.

  “What?”

  Matt walked over to his car, her hand still clasped in his. He opened the car door and pulled out a folder filled with paperwork.

  “What is that?”

  Matt flipped the folder open, the mischievous smile back on his face and in his blue eyes. “It’s the deed to a ranch…near Santa Fe.”

  Selena’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him.

  “How? Why?”

  “So I can be near you, silly. Of course, I’ll still have to spend some time in Hollywood, but I can be near you most of the time, and maybe someday, you’ll even want to live there with me.”

  “I can’t believe you did this. And yes, I want to live there with you. I want to be wherever you are.”

  Matt kissed her again, this time hungrily. “You want to go see our new ranch, my love?”

  “You bet,” Selena said as a happy, contented smile crossed her face. Now, she truly had everything she wanted. Sometimes, dreams do come true, she thought happily.

  Enjoy this preview of Dream of Echoes, an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards Contest Quarterfinalist. Coming Soon…

  Dream of Echoes

  Chapter 1

  November 6, 2010

  I drove down Interstate Ninety from Seattle, then I cut off onto highway eighty-two and pulled into a gas station. I couldn’t get my credit card to work at the pump and I had to take it inside.

  “Evening,” the clerk said as I handed him my card. He was tall and slim, with really blond hair, almost white. Even his eyebrows were a pale blond and his complexion was almost ghostly. “The future is in the past,” he said as he swiped my card.

  “Excuse me?”

  “True love is on the other side,” he said as he gave me a big smile and handed me back my card, displaying a row of perfect, even white teeth.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” I thought maybe this guy was o
ff his meds or something and I turned to leave. I was almost out the door when he spoke again.

  “Enjoy your journey,” he said.

  “Okay, thanks.” I waved politely and went on out to pump my gas. What a weirdo, I thought as I stuck the nozzle into the gas tank. I could still see him staring at me out the window beside his cash register. He seemed to be unmoving, just standing stock-still and staring at me.

  I quickly forgot the albino weirdo as I continued on my way, my mind drifting back across my mound of problems. I crossed over the Columbia River and into Oregon. The river here was wide and very deep with swift currents and I knew the water had to be barely above freezing. Of course, when wasn’t it? The Columbia was cold as hell no matter what time of year it was.

  I saw a marina on the Oregon side as I crossed the old steel bridge. I quickly took the exit and pulled my car into the marina parking lot. The marina was empty this time of night, but there were lights on the docks that shone across the few pleasure boats moored there, reflecting off the river like huge yellow beacons.

  I’d heard on the radio as I drove down that tonight was the time change.

  “Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed,” the cheery voice of the lady on my radio had been my only company as the miles flew by. “Remember, it’s fall back in the fall, spring forward in the spring,” she went on.

  “Perfect.” I had just been forming an idea the last few miles and that old steel bridge looked perfect for it. “I’ll do it just as the time changes,” I answered the cheery voice on the radio. “And backwards.” I nodded my head as I thought about it. I liked the irony. “Fall back in the fall.”

  I parked my car in the empty lot, put my wallet in the glove box, threw the car keys and my jacket on the seat and started walking. I took my shirt off as I walked toward the bridge and threw it to the side of the road. The cold breeze off the river sent shivers through me, but I kept going, climbing the hill up to the bridge. I was slightly winded by the time I reached it, the wind from the river making it harder to catch my breath. There was very little room between the traffic lanes and the old steel span of the bridge and I stayed as close as possible to the steel girders as I walked to the middle. I began climbing slowly up the steel span, which was easier than I’d thought it would be. There were small steel connecting plates running along the outer edge that made it relatively easy to climb.

  I was about halfway up when I saw two eighteen wheelers coming down the hill on the Washington side. It’s a steep hill and they were picking up speed as they came at me. I flattened myself against the cold steel of the bridge and hoped like hell they didn’t see me. I wasn’t interested in explaining myself to anyone right now. I’d done enough of that shit lately, thank you very much. The trucks blew by me, side by side, big diesel engines screaming, and the wind from them almost caused me to fall. The old bridge trembled under me as they passed. I tightened my grip and resumed my climb. I pulled myself to the top of the span, sat down and kicked my sneakers off, watching as they hit the swift current below and disappeared.

  Would it be high enough? I had never done anything like this before so I really had no frame of reference. I crawled to my knees, then slowly to a standing position atop the steel girder. I stood looking down at the swift current until I felt dizzy. The wind was lifting my hair and it felt like the entire bridge was moving. I stared at the dark, dark river below me for a couple of minutes as I stood there, swaying in the wind. It looked pretty far to the water from this height. I was beginning to think I had screwed up by hesitating. The longer I stood there, the harder it was to consider letting go and falling—falling on and on, my body tumbling head over heels—then the smack of that water. It would be like slamming into concrete, I was sure of it.

  “Shit, I can’t do it.” I was about to sit down when I heard a man yell from the marina. I looked up and he was outlined under the yellow marina lights, waving at me from the deck of a boat. He yelled something unintelligible, but I could only guess what he was thinking. I knew what I’d be thinking if I looked up and saw a guy standing on top of an old steel bridge in the middle of the night.

  “Dammit all.” I turned with my back to him, and to the river. There was no traffic on the highway in front of me now, not even the trucks.

  I looked at my watch. It was a nice watch, the last thing Stacey had given me and I didn’t want to lose it. It was white gold with a calendar and a backlight with a dark blue face. It was one minute past two a.m. on November 7, 2010.

  I could still hear the man yelling at me. I risked a quick look back and he was running up the hill toward the bridge. I took a deep breath of the cold, wet air, let go of the steel girder and fell backwards toward the cold, dark depths swirling below me.