Good Morning!
LOT'S going on today... Bayou Writers Group Meeting then The Chosen then (hopefully) dancing. New band playing so we'll see.
As I mentioned Wednesday, all posts through Dec 31st will be Christmas books so let's give Linda Carroll-Bradd the stage with her lovely novella, Stained Glass Memories.....
Caterer Lorelei Warner juggles her fledging Southern California business and raising young twins with the help of her mother and sister. Handling a three-day wedding event stretches her limits…and then her old beau walks in and threatens the delicate balance.
Stained glass restorer Wynn Tatum hopes to cross paths with the woman he left behind to pursue his dreams. What he doesn’t expect is that seeing Lorelei again sparks the feelings from six years ago. Now that he’s held her in his arms again, and learned he’s the father to five-year-old twins, he will do anything to stay in touch. How can his family be whole if he and Lorelei live on two different continents?
EXCERPT:
I’m not ready. Lorelei stiffened. The voice she’d expected, and dreaded, to hear from the moment she won the catering contract for this wedding materialized only a few feet away. Bracing for the impact of seeing her high school love again, she angled her body to face him. At nineteen, he’d been on the cusp of becoming the handsome man who now stood not four feet away. Sun-kissed brown hair pulled straight back from his broad, tanned forehead. His gray eyes stared from under thick, smoky eyelashes she’d always envied. Same as always, she flushed from her chest up her neck. “Wynn Tatum, you do remember your roots.”
“Just as smart-mouthed as always.” He glanced up and down her length, then smiled. “Still as bella as I remember. You haven’t aged.”
Foreign words? Well, he hadn’t lost his charming ways during his absence from Southern California. Not as muscled as when he’d played football, he appeared athletic and way too polished for her peace of mind. “Am I supposed to return the lie?” She adjusted the stack of plates a half inch to the left. Biting her tongue would have been better than snapping. She glanced again at his tall form and recognized the signature cut and details of a world-class tailor known for expensive, custom-made suits. The dove-gray color offset his tan. Those classes in fashion design hadn’t gone to total waste. She recognized quality when she saw it. Wherever he landed when he disappeared off the face of the earth, he’d done well for himself.
His eyebrows pinched, and he glanced around the immediate area. “Hey, I know we probably should talk.”
“Boss, how many stands?”
The voice came in her phone earpiece. Lorelei held up a finger to halt Wynn and tapped on the microphone with her other hand. “Four for now, please.”
“Coming right out.”
“Thanks, Amy.” She tapped off the microphone, then looked into those gray eyes that were so familiar—just like the ones she gazed into every day for the past five years. “Sorry, Wynn. I’m working this event and need to focus.”
He stepped closer, right hand stretched forward. A moment passed before he dropped it again to his side. “Promise me we’ll have a drink together tonight or tomorrow after the wedding.”
The effort to enact tomorrow’s reception would be huge. She couldn’t imagine meeting with him after her responsibilities ended. Following a wedding, she was always exhausted and just wanted to go home and crash on her comfy sofa. “Maybe tonight after this dinner or after Sunday’s brunch.”
“Tonight’s my choice.” He grinned and set his free hand on his hip. “I’m visiting family on Sunday.”
Family…if he only knew. “Your folks are still in the area?” She hadn’t meant to ask that question aloud. But when she’d been desperate to get in touch with Wynn shortly after their breakup, she’d gone to the house where he was raised only to find it empty with a For Sale sign in the front yard.
Shifting his stance, Wynn frowned and opened his mouth.
Footsteps approached.
Lorelei spun and stretched out her arms toward Amy. Here was a legitimate reason to end this conversation and stop blurting out too much information that she didn’t want to reveal.
As a young girl, Linda was often found lying on her bed reading about fascinating characters having exciting adventures in places far away and in other time periods. In later years, she read and then started writing romances and achieved her first publication--a confession story. Married with 4 adult children and 2 granddaughters, Linda now writes heartwarming contemporary and historical stories with a touch of humor from her home in the southern California mountains.
Find out more about Linda by visiting with her on her Blog, FB Page, Twitter, Amazon Author Page, BookBub, Good Reads and/or signing up to receiven her Newsletter!
Check out Linda's previous visit to our blog HERE and get your copy of Stained Glass Memories at Amazon, B&N, Apple Books, Google Play & Kobo. Read my review of the book HERE.
Hope you enjoyed this post and that we'll see you next week for more All Christmas thru Christmas on Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight!
Until then, take care and God bless.
PamT
