Trusting All I Want

Trusting All I Want is a contemporary women’s fiction novel set principally in Chicago during a whirlwind year in the life of Lana Delacroix, a recovering narcissist who craves new adventures and intellectual challenges as she nears the completion of college.

Her story, told largely through the eyes of three men who figure (or come to figure) prominently in her life, is one of space, boundaries, and provocative options that must be reduced to painful choices.

Prologue:

Flashing paint reflected along the grille of the sedan, each set of three or four stripes passing below to match the pace of the occupants’ hearts.

Her forehead crumpled as her eyes began to squint. High beams ahead signaled for her companion to regain his side of the pavement. He kept drifting though, triggering the oncoming driver’s horn.

Her head turned slightly toward her companion as she looked away from the windshield. He was a blend of predictability and wildness, somewhat complementing her spontaneity. And like him, she too could trigger one’s notice and attention.

“We’re going kind of far from our home base,” he declared.

She pushed his shoulder, briefly flashing an open palm in his direction.

“Planet Earth is my home base.”

He appreciated the clever reply and picked a favorite song that began playing over the car’s booming speakers.

She heard the opening line and rolled her eyes.
“Of course,” she muttered.
The song was memorable, though he’d played it for her only once before, and just in part, many months ago. Again, they heard the tale of a starlet singing in a garden for a man whose soul was both sweet and blood red, as the starlet wondered whether anyone else could put up with her—and her ways.