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| Harper's Rock perhaps? |
Hi there everybody! Here is a sneak peek at chapter one of Russell's Return that TA and I hope to have out soon! As always this excerpt is unedited but still will be enjoyable. This book is about Russell Harper who returns to his home town with his troubled daughter. But then he runs into the girl who used to crush on his best friend. She's all grown up and living in Harper's Rock again. Well, needless to say, the sparks really fly...Oh and did I mention that she is the School Counselor at his daughter's new school???? Stay tuned!!!
Russell was so taken aback by Miranda’s
calm behavior that he didn’t hear delicate footsteps approaching until they
were right next to him and he heard the voice calling his daughter’s
name. His heart started racing, a million emotions flashed through his mind and
that ever annoying sense of doom was there too, albeit briefly. Emily Zane had
indeed shown up for the picnic. Russell
hadn’t seen her since their kiss over a week ago, but she didn’t look like she
was holding it against him now. He felt oddly relieved even though he shouldn’t
care one bit. Their delicious, passionate kiss was a mistake never to be repeated.
“Hello
Miranda, how are you today?” The little girl dropped her book and hurried to give her school counselor a hug. Emily returned
it. “Hello Russell.”
“Emily,”
he nodded his greeting to her. He wasn’t sure what else to do, he felt like a
school kid whose crush had just found out he liked her. But that couldn’t be right because he didn’t like
her, he’d just been momentarily physically attracted to her. Russell Harper wasn’t capable of liking or
even loving anyone right now. His
daughter was his life and there was no room in it for anyone else.
“Miss
Emily, can you have a picnic with us, please.” Miranda looked adoringly up at
her new favorite person.
“I’m
here with my mom sweetheart. We have our own picnic, but I think we’ll be
setting up real close to you, right over there.” She pointed not two feet away.
“I bet after lunch you could come over to my spot and have some of my mom’s
famous chocolate chip cookies with me.”
“I guess I could do that,” was her
quiet response. No tantrum though so all was well. Miranda skipped back over to her spot on
their blanket and picked up her book again.
“She
seems to be doing well,” Emily stated as she was spreading her blanket on the
ground.
“She
is. Here, let me help you,” Russell leapt up and grabbed one side of the
blanket to help her get it spread out evenly. “She still has a multitude of
problems, but she seems to have evened out a bit. There aren’t so many ups and
downs.
“I’m
so glad. I think she is actually starting to like school and that makes a world
of difference.
“It
does,” he agreed as he watched a tiny blond woman of about sixty walk up beside
Emily and grab her hand.
“Oh,
Russell Harper, this is my mother Margaret Zane, I don’t know if you remember
her.”
He
held his hand out to the pleasant looking woman. “Let’s see, Margaret Zane, ER
nurse extraordinaire, helped me through a broken arm, a bloody nose, a sprained
ankle and many other childhood mishaps.” He ticked the incidents off on his
fingers one by one. “How are you Mrs. Zane?”
“Please,
call me Margaret, and I’m just fine. How are you?”
“I’m
good ma’am, all in one piece and have been for quite a while. Sweetie, come
here,” he called to his daughter. “This is my daughter Miranda, Miranda this is
Mrs. Zane, Miss Emily’s mother.” The little girl looked at her feet and mumbled
a hello.
“It’s
nice to meet you Miranda,” the woman said with a smile. Thank goodness Margaret
Zane had kept it short and sweet so Russell could let his daughter sit down and
read again.
“Well
Emily, Margaret, it was great to see you, but my little one is probably getting
hungry so I’d better go see about feeding her. Enjoy your picnic.” He turned to
walk back to where Miranda was.
“You
too Russell,” Emily smiled.
Her voice made his
heart skip what seemed like a hundred beats and his hands shook the whole time
he was setting out the dishes for their mini feast. Russell worked diligently
to get all of their food put out and the two plates filled with fried chicken,
his mom’s famous potato salad, garden fresh veggies and baked beans.
“Mind
if I join you after all?” 
Russell’s heart was
doing that strange skipping thing again as he looked up into her eyes. He
quickly looked away so she couldn’t work her evil magic on him again.
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