Summary

It’s not really about a story, it’s about a place: small but special beyond compare. There’s 18 miles of snow white sand, bordered by warm gulf water and protected by a ban on high rise development. There’s restaurants and retail, boogie boards and bikinis, but most important there’s people. Those people are of a most unique nature. Jake Burns is one of those people. He’s a man without a mission.

Since moving to the snow white beaches of South Walton County twenty years ago, life has been easy. He’s inherited a market on a little beach road and has kept it going despite the lure of easy money from big developers. But when Eden Brockwell, a young woman to whom he is a reluctant father figure, dies by crashing her car into his market, emotions that were dead in him for so long soon drive him to the point of loosing everything he has.

Jake works to keep those around him distant. Past flames like Eden’s mother Shelia haunt him. Those who have made a success of themselves with the growing popularity of the area like the wealthy developer Walter White and his son-in-law Andrew Troy barely deserve a condescending acknowledgement in Jake’s eyes. But it is a woman named Debbie Baylor who he meets right after Eden’s death that starts him to feel again. Disillusioned by the path her life has taken, Debbie has come to the beach for renewal. There is a spark from the start between them that drives Jake to discover the truth behind what happened the night Eden died. His search for the truth nearly drowns Jake in troubles. Debbie tries to pull him out, tries to reach his heart. But he can’t stop. Emotions that were so long dead now become his master and he heads for his great confrontation.

About Me

Me, I have a day job just like 99% of the writers out there. It’s a great job in every way: good bosses, nice hours and fair pay. At home I have a lovely and kind wife and an intelligent and well adjusted son. By all practical measures I shouldn’t mess with a thing. But I have to write. And I plan to keep writing as long as I can. So there’ll be more to follow and it’ll show up here… on beach time.

And if any other aspiring, serially rejected authors happen to come across this I’d give you one piece of advice: get yourself a webpage and post your work online (after having it copywrited). This is, all things being what they are, the best way to reach your audience with your voice. But it still doesn’t pay the bills.

County Road

a novel by

Parker Pruett

1-Pretty Well Matched

2-The Price of The Deal

3-A Girl Dies

4-A Long Overdue Dinner

5-The High Tide

6-Debbie Looks Around

7-Trojan Artifacts

8-Why They Go To Eden

9-Lunch Above The Market