Ice Steam (Loving All Wrong #3) (41 page)

To Christopher, for splitting all your small wholes into even smaller halves with me. For putting your problems on hold and listening without judgment to mine. For showing up before the ice-block melted and removing the noose from around my neck. You were placed into my life by God himself; I never would have made it through 2014 without you. You give and you give and you give. Even when you have nothing left to give,
you keep on giving
. You inspire me. You make me want to be a better person. I love you, friend. You are truly an angel of God.

To my awesome friend Al, my rock star, for never judging me, never turning your back on me. For being one of the most understanding, kindhearted persons I’ve ever met. For doling out the tight hugs when I most needed them, and being there for me in every way you possibly could. Know that you are loved, cherished, and appreciated.
Always
.

To my wifey, K. Wignall, who did not give up on me. Who determinedly kept reminding me of
who
I was, and why I deserved to
live on
. Your love was exactly what I needed then, because sometimes, in the hard times, it’s so easy to
forget
. And I love you for loving me, for being a friend to the end, in the good times and the bad. I can always trust you to keep me sane.

To Karen, my editor…where do I even begin thanking you? For understanding and helping me out in one of my weakest, hopeless, pride-less moments with this book? There are so few good people left in this world, but
you
are undoubtedly one of the good ones.
God
has seen how kind you have been, and your reward will be great. Thank you.
So much
.

Vashti and Tirza, do I even need to tell you I
adore
the crap outta you?

To my beta readers...whoo boy, what would
Ice Steam
have been without any of you? Elaine Tyra, TJ, Jennifer Belyeu, Tara M., Kaydeen and Lisa McCarty, THANK YOU all for your hand in making
Ice Steam
what it is! Nuff luv, zeen!

And last but, of course, not least, to the readers (especially the ones who hated
Chad’s Chase
but emailed me to let me know you haven’t given up on me yet) thank you, thank you, thank you all, for reading my books, wanting to read more, leaving reviews and telling your friends about them. Each and every one of you are appreciated!
Always

And to all:

ONE
LOVE

ONE
HEART

ONE
BLOOD

B
ack when I just started primary school, my relatives and I used to walk a good distance to the bus stop to catch the first bus that would take us to a second bus stop, where we would catch another bus to get to school.

Sometimes the buses would come packed to the door, passengers hanging out, sweating loads even though the day had just begun, nice suits getting wrinkled. Hardly any space for another passenger let alone a group of us. Which meant we would have to wait for the next bus, or the next after that, or the next after that…

Better to start walking, right? In order to prevent being late for school, that’s exactly what we would do. We would start treading the mile or so it took to get us to our second bus stop.

Whenever we had to walk, we would pass by this old, homeless lady with missing teeth and squinted eyes lying on the street side. She would stick her hand out in front of us and say in a rhythmic fashion, “Pleeeeeeeeeeeze a beg sumting, my fren.”

Of course, we were just kids with naught but chicken feed in our pockets for bus fare and cheap canteen lunch, so we had nothing to give. But we always giggled at how the words bounced off her gums in a ‘
teeeeeeeeeee ta tem tam tim ty ten
’ rhythm.

For years to come, we would walk by this woman morning after morning and see her beg in the same fashion, yet unable to help. Soon we started holding out our hands as we approached her and begged with her in the same sing song fashion; not to mock her, but to be friendly.

By the sixth grade, we saw the old lady no more. Don’t know if she died or if someone helped her off the streets. But we always remembered her. And in our house, whenever we wanted anything from our elders, we would beg in the same rhythmic manner as the old lady.

Even now, as an adult, I still do it! Whenever I really need something from someone I beg like the old lady while struggling to keep a straight face….and right now I
really
need something.

From
you
.

A review.

It won’t cost you a cent. Only a few minutes of your
free
time.

I sometimes wonder what happened to that old lady. I wasn’t able to help her. But look at it this way: there are tons of people like her on the streets. You might not be able to help them. But if you help me by writing a review, it may help a reader to purchase my book, and making an income from my book means this time I will actually be able to help a homeless person on the street!

Do you see how far writing a simple review can go?!

So if you enjoyed this book, then, “
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze a beg sumting, my fren
.”

S
. Ann Cole is a passionate writer and reader, and a lover of anything that distracts her from the real world.  Reader first and second a writer, S. Ann Cole is an exaggerator, a laugher, sometimes overly chatty, sometimes overly shy. She’s afraid of cats, dogs, snakes—heck, she’s only tolerable to gold fishes in a tank. Because if they
do
jump out and try to attack her, the suckers will surely die…

She
hates
chocolate, schmaltz and arrogance.

She
loves
carbs, Chris Brown and humility.

She lives nowhere and everywhere.

Jokey people are her favorite people, as laughter is the way to her heart.

Never mind her foul-mouth (she’s working hard on changing that!), she loves GOD. Fiercely. And believes prayer is the essence of all good, great, wonderful and miraculous things, and
the
most powerful privilege given unto man.

Ann hopes that one day, the right day, when it’s her time (because nothing happens before its time), her hard work will be noticed and appreciated, and she’ll become a “NYT Bestselling Author”…

Uh-uh. Yeah. That’s what she said.

When Ann’s not abusing her computer keyboard, you can find her nosing a novel, watching anything on television that makes her laugh until she breaks into hiccups (
loves
Disney & TBS!) studying the Bible, or guzzling booze.

Email me
:
[email protected]

Or visit my website:
www.AnnCole.net

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