Love and Other Things (Crystal Lake 4)
His life was no longer an unfinished puzzle, because all the pieces fit together perfectly, and with Sid at his side, he felt like he could face anything.
Life is good, he thought.
Life is good.
Love Me Forever
Coming July 2020
The summer Poppy Fairbanks turned sixteen she gave Boone Avery her virginity and he stole her heart. For a few blissful months she walked on clouds, until he left Crystal Lake without a word and she never saw him again. The fact that he’s back shouldn’t matter. But it does. And she finds herself thinking about that summer, about his hot kisses and what if…
Considering she vowed never to speak to him again, how inconvenient is that?
Boone Avery came back to Crystal Lake to raise his son. As a man who’s lived his life for everyone but himself, he’s hoping this time around he can do things right. He has no time for romancing a woman, hell, he’s still trying to figure out his own life. But what’s a guy to do when the one that got away is standing right in front of him? Especially when she makes it clear she doesn’t like him all that much.
If you’re Boone Avery you throw out the playbook and set your own rules, and to hell with consequence.
I’ve had a lot of emails about our Poppy, so I hope you enjoy her upcoming book! You can page through to preorder your copy!
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And for fans of the Barker Triplets, coming May 2020, Long Road Home. What happens after Happy Ever After?
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At the age of thirty-six, Bobbi Jo Barker is in a place she thought she’d never be—separated from the only man she’ll ever love. Disillusioned, she leaves her home to spend the summer in Louisiana, hoping the heat will heal her broken heart. It doesn’t take long to find out that running away makes things worse, and the secret she carries just might bury her.
Shane Gallagher has lost everything that mattered to him. Again. When his sister surprises him with a trip to a B&B in Belle Adair, Louisiana, he takes it, if only to get away, to paint and clear his head. What he doesn’t expect to find is his estranged wife staying in the room above him. The undeniable pull that exists between them used to be enough, but life has a way of demanding more.
As days pass into weeks, Bobbi and Shane will have to remember the past in order to fight for their future, and hope the long road home leads to each other.
I’ve been wanting to revisit this couple for years now, and finally had the time to do so. I hope you enjoy Bobbi and Shane’s continuation. For more information, page through and read a sneak peek of chapter one to LONG ROAD HOME.
Bonus Chapter, Long Road Home
Chapter one
Bobbi Jo Gallagher arrived in Belle Adair, Louisiana, at three in the afternoon on a hot, lazy Monday in mid-July. It was the kind of hot that baked the asphalt until bubbles of tar appeared. The kind that made the air shimmer across the horizon, and clothes stick to skin like paper on glue. It was in fact, a kind of heat she’d never experienced before.
She pushed her way inside the B&B and glanced up at the clock over the fireplace to her right, which is how she knew the exact time of her arrival. She wasn’t feeling great on account of all that heat, and more than a little disappointed that the B&B wasn’t much cooler than the humidity she’d just escaped. She made her way to the reception desk on her left, and waited while a woman, Mrs. Adelaide, conversed with another woman behind the desk. The receptionist looked like she’d rather be anywhere but standing behind the desk nodding politely at the aforementioned, Mrs. Coral Adelaide.
In the short space of time Bobbi stood there, the woman had mentioned her name at least twice (which is how Bobbi knew who she was) along with the fact that her people were the Adelaides from Charleston. Which sounded impressive to be sure, but Bobbi had no idea who they were, and hid a smile at the slight eye roll from the receptionist; Marybeth, according to her name tag. She had a dark brown bob shot through with silver, kind brown eyes, and was small in stature.
“I understand,” Marybeth murmured, nodding at Mrs. Adelaide. “And I’m quite confident you’ll enjoy the room we’ve given you.”
Mrs. Adelaide was dressed in a light cotton shirt of pale pink and cream colored Bermuda shorts cut exactly two inches above her knee. Her silver hair was set in large waves that didn’t move at all as she spoke animatedly about the size of her room, and Bobbi sighed inwardly. All she wanted to do was check in and have a nap. She’d been traveling for hours and was just about done in.
Restless, she took a step closer and exhaled just as her stomach rolled over. Her mouth watered. Sweat popped out on her brow. And at exactly two minutes after three she threw up all over Mrs. Adelaide’s pink and white canvas shoes.
Now, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Mrs. Adelaide, of the Charleston Adelaides, was the kind of woman who enjoyed a scene. She glanced down in horror, her corn-flower blue eyes narrowed onto Bobbi like laser beams about to explode, as her
bejeweled hands flew in the air with the kind of dramatic flair that under any other circumstance, Bobbi would have found enviable.
“Oh my God,” Bobbi whispered, a hand over her mouth, as she took a step back. “I’m so sorry. It’s the heat. I don’t know…” Mortified, she clamped her mouth shut, afraid she might add to the mess on the woman’s shoes, and took another step back just in case. She stared down at the ruined shoes, unable to move or utter another word and she began to shake.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“Oh my gosh, you look terrible. So pale.” The girl from behind the counter rushed forward with a glass of water and led Bobbi over to a chair in the corner. “Now you sit here and sip this water and don’t you worry yourself one bit.” Those kind eyes were gentle and Bobbi felt stupid because she wanted to cry, which was silly. But then throwing up all over some stranger’s shoes was the kind of thing that most days would make someone like Bobbi Jo lose her mind.