Crossing Caine's Road — Maggie Hinton

Michael Greyson, former college football legend and subsequent head coach for the Arizona Marauders pro-football team, has lain in a coma for six years as a result of a plane crash. Michael's wife, Melanie, decides to start a new life for herself by making use of her teaching degree for the first time. She packs up her three children and moves to the small northern Arizona village of Buena Suerte, (better known to the younger generation as "B.S.",) where she will teach high school English. Melanie's seventeen year-old daughter, K.C., an award winning trumpet player, is distraught when she learns that the high school band program may be abandoned. But then leather-jacketed, ponytailed Jesse Cockran comes riding into town on his old HarleyDavidson motorcycle. A professional trumpet player from New York City, Jesse will also be teaching for the first time, and, like Melanie, is seeking a new beginning. He moves into a teacherage trailer across the street from Melanie on Caine's Road and she and her children soon become emotionally drawn to him. Jesse has to prove himself to the community in spite of the school board president's determination to find a reason to dismiss him. K.C. commences a feud with Cooke Nasby, an Apache boy from the nearby reservation. And despite Melanie's objections, her father-in-law is firm in his attempts to remove Michael from life support. In addition to this clash of wills, Mel finds herself being sexually harassed by an anonymous stalker. The year is filled with romance, conflict, and tragedy. Mel, Jesse, and K.C. all face crisis which will change their lives and the lives of those they love. Crossing Caine's Road is a story of commitment and second chances, of love and loss.