EXCERPT CHAPTER 4 - RUSSELL'S RETURN

Here is the excerpt from Chapter four of Russell's Return. This one has been edited.I truly hope you enjoy it and don't forget to join us for our triple cover reveal for the complete Harper's Rock Romance series on Nov. 3rd right here!

“Who would have thought we had the same favorite pizza?” Emily looked at him questioningly.

“Yeah, I haven’t met many people who actually enjoy mushrooms, olives and pineapple together. Vivienne hated it. She refused to get pizza with me because she didn’t want to have to even look at it.” Russell smiled apologetically. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bore you.” He didn’t usually talk about his ex-wife, especially to people he didn’t know well. But then again, he wasn’t sure if Emily fit into that category. Yes, he hadn’t spoken to her in many years, but they did grow up together so maybe that counted as knowing her well?

Emily finished chewing before she said anything. “First, you aren‘t boring me.” She wished he would stop thinking like that. She actually found his life quite interesting. “And second, I take it Vivienne is your wife.”

Russell smirked. “Ex-wife. And yeah that’s who I was talking about.”

Emily laughed at his expression. “She doesn’t sound like a very agreeable person. She doesn’t like Miranda’s difficulties, she doesn’t like your favorite pizza even to look at.” Emily shook her head. “Was there anything the woman did like?”

Russell paused staring at Emily and then burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he almost choked on his iced tea. It took him a moment to compose himself before he could speak again. “You know, now that I think of it, there wasn’t much that Vivienne Deveraux Harper liked. She hated Wyoming, she hated nature, she hated any pizza that didn’t have some weird gourmet cheese on it, she didn’t like houses that were under 3,000 square feet, she didn’t like getting wet in the rain, and she didn’t like eating ice cream on a hot day…” He shook his head and took a bite of his pizza.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. "Your life with her sounds like it was, well I don’t know, rough I guess? How on earth did you manage?” Emily took a sip of her soda and continued. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.” She often had to remind herself that she wasn’t in counselor mode.

“It’s okay, I’ve never really felt comfortable talking about her, but right now, it's kind of…kind of a relief.” Russell paused and toyed with his napkin. It took him a moment to figure out where to begin. “You asked how I managed?” he questioned and Emily quickly nodded. “Well at first it was great. She was everything I wanted, rich, powerful, only wanted the best of everything, but then after a while I guess it wore thin. My country roots started to show through.” He laughed and pointed at his hair as if he were talking about hair dye. “I don’t think she really liked me that much. She kept trying to change me and erase all signs of the Harper’s Rock Russell that I had left.” He paused and pushed his plate away. “Then when Miranda was born, I guess she kind of blamed me for the way she was. After all, I had grown up a country hick and therefore it was my fault that our daughter wasn‘t ‘normal‘.” He made quote signs in the air.

Emily sat silent with her hands in her lap. She really didn’t know what to say. People like Russell’s ex-wife made her so angry. She had seen similar adults completely mess up the lives of some really good kids. Thank goodness this woman was no longer in Miranda’s life. It would have killed her to watch Vivienne Deveraux Harper continue to wreck the lives of two such wonderful people.