Simple Loves (with exclusive excerpt!)
G.R. Lyons
I want you to pause right here and think up five simple things that you love. Simple things. Things that don't require effort or cost money. Things that simply are. Can you come up with five of them in just a few seconds?
There was a time when I certainly couldn't do so. Besides being so mired in a series of traumatic events for several years, I was so caught up in this 'race' that is life that I never stopped or even slowed down long enough to appreciate just how much good this world has to offer. It took hitting my own rock bottom to have my eyes opened.
In Illumined Shadows, Colby's life—prior to being rescued—is pretty much the definition of rock bottom. Held captive. Abused. Beaten. Tortured. He can't read or write, and doesn't know that anything exists beyond the four walls of the basements in which he's been held. When Vic finds him, Colby is overwhelmed by the sheer size of the world and all the things in it.
And though he's twenty-one years old, he has the innocence and ignorance of a child, allowing him to discover and appreciate the simple things that normal adults have learned to take for granted. Vic, in particular, has seen so many barbaric things in his career as a missing persons expert that he no longer notices nor takes pleasure in the simple things. His life is all about his work, about the next case, about making up for his past mistakes. He never stops to think that there might be another way to live.
Until Colby comes into his life.
Just like Vic says of Colby, a person who had endured that level of abuse could have so easily turned angry and bitter, hating everything about the world which had abandoned and neglected him. Instead, Colby has an incredible capacity for love, joy, and beauty, marveling at all the wonderful, simple things he discovers once he's free of his captivity: the different colors and textures in Vic's garden, the softness of a puppy's fur, the warmth of a hot bath. In observing Colby exploring simple joys, it makes Vic slow down and start to do the same.
Stop. Slow down. Look around you. I challenge you to find just one simple thing each day, one simple thing that you love about the world or your life. There is so much beauty and wonder to be found in the world, and it's all right there if you just let yourself see it.
I'll leave you with some of my simple loves:
- the smell of onions sauteed in butter
- hot showers
- snapdragons
- the smell of a new book
- being barefoot
- the sight of someone wearing a quirky outfit
- opening all the windows on a warm Spring day
- trees in bloom
- sunshine cutting through the rain
- the swirl of incense smoke
- the softness of a dog's ears
- finding a plot bunny or a plot twist
- rainbows
- the color of a Swiss blue topaz
And a scene from Illumined Shadows, in which Colby discovers the beauty of nature:
“Oooh!” Summer gasped, darting after the dogs and almost pressing her nose to the glass as she looked out at the backyard. “It's so pretty!”
Athan chuckled and shook his head. “I'd better let her go explore, if that's alright.”
“Yeah, of course,” Vic said, then looked down at Colby. “You wanna try coming outside with us?”
Summer gasped again. “Oh, please?” She beamed at Colby, then darted over and took his hand, tugging him toward the door. “Come on an adventure with me!”
Colby looked at Vic with wide eyes.
“It's alright, sweetheart. I'm right here. And Ryley spelled the backyard, too, remember? Bad Man can't get you back there.”
Athan opened the door, and the dogs darted out while Summer kept looking at Colby expectantly. With one more glance at Vic, Colby ducked his head and followed Summer outside, checking over his shoulder every few steps to make sure Vic was right behind him.
“Oh!” Summer let go of Colby's hand and ran to the nearest garden bed, then stopped and gently trailed her hands over every plant within reach. Then something else caught her eye and she flitted off to investigate that instead.
Athan chuckled. “She did the same thing just after we met,” he said, a hint of fondness in his voice.
Vic glanced at him. “Yeah?”
Athan nodded, never taking his eyes off his wife. “Her brother kept her so confined that she thought my backyard was a whole new world, even though it wasn't all that much different from her own.” He paused, his lips quirking into a hint of a smile. “I love how she loves the simplest things. Reminds me not to be too serious.”
Vic smiled and nodded along. Colby was the same way, now that he thought about it. Between his lessons and playing with Sharma, the boy had spent countless hours over the past few months just learning the various rooms and objects in Vic's house, studying the colors and shapes with his eyes and his hands, trailing his little fingers over every surface and exclaiming over the different textures. When Vic looked over to where Colby stood by Summer now, the pair huddled around a tree that dominated one corner of the yard, he found the boy gently fingering the leaves that hung down in front of him, his eyes bright and happy.
A quiet stillness washed over Vic even while that familiar, bittersweet sensation ran through him. He tried to see the yard from Colby's perspective, admiring it for the beautiful, miraculous wonder that it was, something created by the gods and then further shaped by human hands. The shades of brown, rough in texture, rising up out of the earth, branching off and exploding out in soft shades of green, shadowing gently over the springy grass and silky flower petals.
The sunlight danced over Colby's skin as the boy turned his face up toward a vine trailing along the fence just above his head. He reached out, brushing his fingers through the leaves, tracing the vine as it wound its way across the boards and then slithered down to the ground, bringing the boy's attention to a bed of wildflowers that grew there, his soft gasps carrying across the yard over the gentle sound of the breeze through the leaves.
Vic stared at Colby, utterly transfixed by the joy and wonder on the boy's face. Out there, amongst the soft sounds and colors of nature, Colby looked even more fae-touched than Vic had thought when they first found him. His bright eyes were wide as they took everything in, his body unfurling from its usual stooped, shy posture while his fingers reached out to touch everything around him.
Colby suddenly turned to look at Vic and gave him a brilliant smile, then went back to discover more.
Treble & The Lost Boys Series
Book #1 - Ice On Fire - Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 - Heavens Aground - Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb
When Victor Lucius was sixteen years old, a few cruel words out of his mouth led to a brutal tragedy, one that Vic has been trying to make up for ever since. Now, working as a missing persons expert, Vic tracks down and rescues people from abandonment or abuse, trying to alleviate the guilt constantly weighing him down.
His latest case—a boy who was kidnapped at the age of two and then held captive for nineteen years—is by far the darkest of his career. If there's any chance of Vic finally redeeming himself, helping this boy might be it.
But rescuing Colby from his basement prison is only the beginning, and brings a whole new struggle to Vic's life:
Temptation…
(Note: This story takes place in a fictional world, the same as in the Shifting Isles Series. There are multiple gods, different names for the days of the week, etc. A glossary is included.)
Dec 28 - Gay Book Reviews, OMG Reads, Dec 29 - Bayou Book Junkie, Dec 31 - Mainely Stories, Jan 3 - Love Bytes, Jan 5 - My Fiction Nook, Jan 7 - Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books, Drops of Ink, Jan 8 - MM Good Book Reviews, Jan 10 - Gay Book Reviews
Author Bio
While daylighting as office manager for the family auto repair business, G.R. Lyons can often be found working on one of multiple manuscripts or desperately trying to keep up with the TBR pile.
Anarcho-capitalist, quietly ‘out’ trans guy, former belly dancer, coffee guzzler, highly-sensitive introvert, CrossFit enthusiast, and lover of m/m romantic fiction.
Email: grlyons@grlyonsauthor.com
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