Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: Somewhere Between Water and Sky | Elora Ramirez | Excerpt

Welcome to our stop on Somewhere Between Water and Sky tour for Elora Ramirez. This tour is hosted by Ink Slinger.

Somewhere Between Water and Sky
Shattered Things #2
Author: Elora Ramirez
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: September 18th 2014

I heard it said once that every human is a story with skin.

If this is true, paragraphs would be etched in the scars on my wrists.

Whole chapters could be written about the way my heart pounds when I startle awake.

And every single one of my tears could fill a book.

But stories, with all their promise, only leave room for disappointment. I don’t have room for that anymore. I left it all—the hope, the love, the promise—back in my old life with the ghosts I’d rather forget: Jude. Emma. Pacey.

Kevin.

This is how I dare to move forward and to believe in a new beginning. I let go of the old. I just grab the new and run. I don’t wait around anymore. I can’t.

Waiting leaves room for the voices.

Somewhere between water and sky, I'll find a way to burn these voices to the ground.

Excerpt

Jessa calls me in the morning.

My phone, hidden underneath my hip, buzzes me awake.

“…hello?” I scratch out a greeting, confused and squinting against the sun peeking through the hotel blinds.

Note to self: shut the curtains tonight before going to bed.

“Stephanie. Don’t freak out, but Ren and I are down in the lobby. We’re taking a day trip to San Diego. Come with us to Sunset Cliffs?”

My heart slams in my chest. I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at the screen and see The Best Friend You Never Knew You Had as the contact name.

“What in the actual fuck?”

“…she’s freaking out.” Jessa whispers away from the receiver.

“I can still hear you. How’d you get my number?”

“Listen. We’re not crazy, just curious, and I may have followed you home last night after work. Oh and um…never leave your phone unattended at work. Just trust me. I saved you from many a picture last night. You’re welcome.”

I wrinkle my nose.

“I’m so confused right now.”

“Understandable. But you should also be excited. Two strange people are waiting for you in the lobby to take you on a road trip! It’s like Ren’s dream movie role.”

I hear him snort in the background.

“Seriously?”

Ren’s voice cuts through the line, low and rumbly.

“What will it be, Stephanie? The red pill? Or the blue pill?”

I hear shuffling and Jessa pushing him away.

“Don’t. Be. Weird, Ren. I told you. Harness the Nerd.”

He just laughs and mentions something about grabbing a muffin from the continental breakfast area.

What the hell?

“Jessa…I don’t know you.”

“Fact.”

“You could kill me.”

“Not possible. But I can see how that scenario would play through your mind right now.”

“Do you normally try and kidnap strays who live in hotel rooms?”

“This isn’t kidnapping, sweetheart. And you’re not a stray. This is a rescue mission. You need fun! You mope and grow all self-reflective at the coffee shop. It’s starting to freak customers out.”

“Wait. Really?”

She laughs. “No. But. You do dart around like you’re ready to run at a moment’s notice. And, chalk it up to my dad being a professional counselor, but I can spot the ones who need some extra attention.”

“You’re calling me broken.”

“I’m calling you needing a friend.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually considering this.”

“I’m very convincing butplusalsotoo I think you just really want to get out of that stuffy hotel room. Come onnnnnn. It’ll be fun. See you when you get down here.”

She doesn’t even let me respond. She hangs up and I sit there, staring at the ceiling, the phone still stuck to my ear. I didn’t even talk to her for five minutes and I’m already exhausted. What would a whole day be like? I smile and jump out of bed, grabbing the nearest and cleanest clothing I can find. Throwing my hair into a pony tail, I brush my teeth, slide on some lip gloss and walk out the door. It’s only after I get to the elevator that I realize exactly what I’m doing and I laugh under my breath.

Yep. Certifiable.

Elora Ramirez lives in Austin, Texas with her chef-husband. At the age of four, she taught herself how to read and write, cutting her teeth on books like Dr. Seuss and writing anywhere she could find the space--including her Fisher Price kitchen set, the pages of picture books and Highlights Magazine. Since then, she's grown to love the way words feel as they swell within her bones. Writing holy and broken is her calling, and pushing back the darkness and pursuing beauty through story is her purpose. She embraces the power of story and teaches women from all parts of the world how to embrace theirs. She has a knack of calling things out , the truth and the detail, the subversive threads that make a life a story. She loves hip-hop, wishes she lived by the beach and cannot write without copious amounts of coffee, chocolate, music, and her husband's lavender liqueur.