In One Picture: Reina Torres’ “Sweetgrass Summer” (Contest)

In One Picture: Reina Torres’ “Sweetgrass Summer” (Contest)

The winner is…Miki!
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Sweetgrass Summer by Reina Torres 

A rock-steady rancher, determined to give his love a slow traditional courting, is surprised when she takes the reins

I love history and culture! When I go somewhere on vacation, I tend to be on the move more than when I’m at home. I love museums and living history sites. It’s so exciting to learn about life in different places. When I fell in love with books, it was with stories like Little Women and Little House, learning about the lives of people in other times. The things they did to pass the time fascinate me.

In every one of my stories, there are puzzle pieces that need to fall in place for the story to be complete. Those pieces can be a song I hear on the radio. A Youtube video. Sometimes a random picture someone posts on Facebook. I never know where they will come from, but I know when it happens!

When the topic of “Cowboys” was announced for this anthology, I had just seen a silver ring that was created to look like a sweetgrass braid.

A cowboy. A sweetgrass braided ring.

And it just fell into place!

Much love to Delilah for creating this anthology and breathing life into it! I hope you’ll love my story “Sweetgrass Summer.” ~Reina Torres

Snippet from “Sweetgrass Summer”…  

Silas Witten walked into the Sweetheart Diner and stepped up to the register with cash in his hand.

The cook in the kitchen lifted his head and gave him a nod through the window. “I’ll be right there, Silas. Just waitin’ for the chicken to cool enough for the box.”

It wasn’t anything Silas had to worry about. He was always early for the pickup and didn’t mind the wait.

He did mind the curious looks that turned in his direction. The diner was appropriately named, as it was smack dab in the middle of the town. Some towns were centered around a church or a town hall, but Sweetgrass was centered around the diner. Looking down the line at him were the preacher and his wife, the mayor and her husband…and his aunt.

His aunt raised a curious brow at him before she spoke. “Going somewhere special, Si?”

She didn’t have to ask. No one did.

Everyone knew what everyone else was up to in Sweetgrass, and they all knew where he was going.

“I’m heading over to the Parish place.”

Every head in the place nodded as looks were exchanged around the room.

“That Juno,” the preacher started in, “she’s a fine girl, son. A fine girl.”

“A fine woman,” his wife said with a nod. “It’s about time for you to put down roots, young man.”

At five and twenty years, Silas had roots enough in Sweetgrass soil. He was the fourth generation of Wittens who had lived and worked with the same Montana soil under their fingernails. He’d also had the reins of the ranch for a good year since his mother had moved back to Boston to take care of her sister who had entered hospice. He had roots, but he knew exactly what the preacher’s wife was thinking. What everyone in the diner was thinking.

It was time for him to settle down with a wife.

And everyone knew that woman was Juno Parish.

The cook came out of the kitchen with a big grin under his mustache and above his beard. He set the picnic basket down on the counter and gave Silas a nod. “Big day, son?”

The room went silent at the older man’s words, and Silas fixed a steady gaze on the cook as he handed over his money. “Thanks, Jack.”

Without another word, Silas lifted the basket off the counter and walked back out to his truck. He had a date with Juno, and he wasn’t going to be late.

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Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, answer this!
What craft/folk art do you remember from your childhood? Do you still practice that craft?

About the Author

Reina Torres is an author for whom reading was always a way to escape, dream, and travel to different times and places. Writing was a way to discover new adventures and share those stories with others. Reina writes across a number of different romance sub-genres, remembering that those who wander aren’t always lost.

18 thoughts on “In One Picture: Reina Torres’ “Sweetgrass Summer” (Contest)”

  1. One thing I remember doing as a kid was potholder looming… have not done it since then…

  2. As a kid, mom and grandma taught me to knit, crochet, darn socks, embroider and sew. I learned woodcraft and painting at the local park district. Of course we made those potholders with loops on the loom and played with wood-burning kits as well. I still do all of the above, except the wood-burning and loops on the loom, I prefer to crochet or knit potholders.

  3. My grandma taught me to knit but never how to finish so I had many endless “scarves” with open ends. I want to “learn” again and this time how to finish 🙂

  4. I had a French Knitting doll that I used to have fun with. I bought my daughter one when she was younger. It’s been a long time since I did any French knitting.

  5. I used to do a lot of different handwork. My favorite was counted cross-stitch. I had to give it up because of problems with my shoulder and neck.

    1. oh i know how that goes.. for me it was my vision.. but cross stitch always gave me the giggles i loved it so much

  10. I learned macrame from a library book when I was in junior high, LOL! And no, I don’t still macrame 😉 But I did much the same with crochet, and that is something I still do.

  11. We made a log planter that we used to take to the cemetary every year with home grown flowers. You used tin cans, taped together ene to end, taped 1/2 of a toilet paper roll on both sides for limbs that had been sawed off, you used an old fashioned can opener to cut a hole in the top of both cans (to hold water and flowers), covered the whole thing in plaster paris, used a fork to make it look like bark and painted it with brown shoe polish. Have made one since I was a child.

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