FUN FRIDAY #6: LOCATION

Fun Friday is a day for … FUN! I’ll post a variety of pictures, quotes, facts, etc., about characters and places – both real and fictional – that are in the novels I write. I will then have you either guess something about what I posted, such as what is the name of this location or why do you think a character said this or that in a scene, or I may show pictures of “the real people” for some characters mentioned in my books, or … just whatever floats my boat that Friday!

Let the fun begin!

 
Long before Jack with the Ping-Pong ball head became the fast-food restaurant’s spokesman, this Jack in the Box had been a working operation for many years. This store is located in Austin, at the corner of William Cannon Dr. and South 1st Street.

In my Christian contemporary romance novel Love, Texas – Population 2, heroine Rebekah Stone worked here as a teenager in the late ’80s when she first started dating hero Joel Foster. Guess who worked here in real life? Yup. Moi. (My high school best friend Lorie Chavarria Creech, a.k.a. Sherry in my novel, also really worked here.)

Surprisingly, I never gained weight while working here, even though we got half-price (or was it free?) Jumbo Jacks, curly fries, egg rolls, and my fav—crunchy tacos.

Love, Texas – Population 2 is a novel inspired by a true story—the true story of the relationship between my first love Gary and I. In the book, Rebekah gets her first kiss from Joel in front of this Jack in the Box.

Guess who in real life got her first kiss from her high school sweetheart in front of this Jack in the Box? Yup. The woman writing this blog post—and I’ve been married to “Joel” now for 19 years. Guess I really did look sexy in that blue and white uniform!

Here’s an excerpt from that “pivotal” – haha – scene from my novel.

As we turned in the Jack in the Crack parking lot, I put my purse strap over my shoulder.  “Sorry I had to work today.  Maybe we can get together this weekend.  The schedule comes out on Friday.  If you want, I can call you then.”

Suddenly, Joel put his arms around me and his tongue hit my lips as I tried to pull away.

“No, no.”  I pushed him back, positive my cheeks glowed neon red.  “I can’t kiss you!  I have gum in my mouth!”

“That’s okay.  Kiss me anyway.”  He pulled me toward him.

“No,” I said and turned my head forward.  I don’t know what was wrong with me.  I’d wanted Joel to kiss me too, when I thought about him after talking to him on the phone to arrange this meeting, and when I thought about how fine he looked last year.  So why was I so shy and freaked out?  Maybe it’s just Joel had some vibe that said he knows a lot more about these things and the rest of the world than I did.

“Come on, Rebekah.”  Joel pulled me back to him.  He gave me a deep, soft French kiss, then playfully slapped my thigh and told me to call him about the weekend.