Crazy Week, Plus...

Last week was one of those weeks you wish the universe would give you a heads-up about beforehand. I found out Wednesday that my youngest sister had had a stroke the night before. And she lives four states away from me. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will say her state evidently suffers from a shortage of neurologists, because she didn't get to see one for three days, in the fourth hospital along the journey. Hoping that now she's in the right place, they'll fix her up and get her home soon. My acupuncturist is going to have a lot of stress work to do when I get to his office this coming week. Haha.

Mother Nature has decided to give us a bigger taste of spring this week, too. The extended forecast has a couple days with temps near 80, which is entirely too warm for early March in Pennsylvania. But the magnolia tree is already sprouting new buds, and the pussy willow is blooming, so spring is definitely coming, so I'll take it while I work on booksigning prep for the 21st and 28th of this month.

Before I get back to that, I have a snippet for you this week from Light the Way Home.

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            Lucie didn’t argue when Nate refused her help with the dishes. Her insides still quivered from the realization that he was attracted to her.

            “I’ll see you in the mornin’, Lucie!” Hayden shouted, hopping on one foot.

            She smiled as she put her sweater on. “Yes, you will.” They’d already decided Hayden would join her after breakfast so Nate could cram in a few hours of work before he headed to the hospital to see his dad–and try to get his mother to come home rather than sleep on the less-than-ideal pull-out chair-bed in his dad’s hospital room again.

            She wasn’t sure that was a battle he would win, but she understood his concern.

            Hayden gave her a quick hug and then ran back to his book in the living room.

            “I really do appreciate this, Lucie,” Nate said from where he stood at the sink.

            “It’s nothing, Nate,” she said lightly. “Keeps me from having to spend endless hours on job search sites and getting more depressed than I already am.” She kept her head down as she buttoned her sweater up to her chin.

            “It isn’t nothing to me.”

            His firm, quiet tone snared her attention, and her mouth went dry. The shadows in his brown eyes made her curl her fingers around the edges of her sweater to keep from reaching out.

            “I’m not accustomed to asking for help.” He cleared his throat. “I appreciate it.”

            She swallowed. “It’s no problem,” she whispered. Dammit–hot, attracted to her, and vulnerable. Shit, that was trouble. She took a slow breath. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” She inched toward the door.

            A hint of awareness darkened his eyes, but he stayed where he was. “Good night, Lucie.”

            She took two more steps, clearing the doorway to the mud room, and a little relief sank into her belly. Until she heard footsteps behind her.

            Within reach of the back door, she whirled. He stood at the open doorway of the kitchen, undisguised desire in his eyes this time. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a quick rush of excitement that she tried to squash as he stepped into the mud room. She held her breath as he took another step. One more. Until he stood a foot away, and her breath rushed out.

            He studied her face for a long moment, and she wondered what he saw, what he was looking for. Impulsively, she moved closer to him, noting the way his eyes rounded, and she stretched up to brush a kiss on his mouth, lingered for a second, then stepped back.

            “Good night, Nate,” she whispered, reaching behind her for the doorknob.

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Now I need to get back to my prep list for the two signing events I have coming up this month. The first is the Romance, Mystery & Magic Fair on Sat, March 21 in Wyomissing, PA. The second is the Local Authors Fair at the Manheim Community Library, Sat, March 28 in Manheim, PA. I've got a newsletter in the works that's going out a little later with more details (are you subscribed?), and you can also find out more on the events link at the top of this page. Plus I'll be talking more about them in the next couple weeks, here and on my social media pages. It would be great to see you at one or both if you're near enough to join us!

I'm aiming to get in a little reading time later, and I'd love to hear about what you're reading!

Until next week, happy reading!