I’m so excited! I just checked with Barnes and Noble and Luck Be a Lady is live! Go forth and NOOK. 🙂 To celebrate our book branching out, I’m giving away two autographed copies (As in by me AND Gemma!) and a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card to three lucky commenters. Make sure I have an email address (It can be the one that no one else sees when you sign in to comment. Just make sure I can find you.) To each and every person reading this post, thank you so much for your support. This truly has been a dream come true. I’m leaving you with one of my favorite scenes. I had so much fun with Tate. 😉
Tessie is trying to come to terms with losing her father and Tate is helping…sort of. Enjoy!
I wavered between loving and loathing my father but jumped at the chance to make Tate smile for real by changing the subject. “How about we toast to the fabulous individuals we are now despite our jacked-up childhoods.” We raised our glasses, clinked them together, each enjoying a big sip. Okay, so mine was more like a chug, but I’d earned it.
“Oh, fun fact!” Tate blurted. “Did you know this very table was your dad’s favorite? He came up here almost every evening for a cigar, a drink, and to enjoy the fabulous view.”
I turned just in time to watch the last deep orange glimmer of daylight fade behind the mountain. Had my burger not showed up at the same moment, it might have prompted some deep connection with my past. As it was, my stomach won out, and I practically dove into the plate.
Tate stared across the table as I devoured my burger, his eyes wide and a slight Elvis tic tugging at his upper lip.
“What?” I asked between bites.
“Oh, just that I’ve never seen anyone as small as you put food away like that. I mean, I’ve watched a show on television where piranhas dissected a whole cow. I’m getting the same vibe here, sweetness. I hope you don’t eat this way on a date.”
I put the remaining few bites back on my plate and swallowed what was left in my mouth. I pondered retaliating with some of his more embarrassing moments that I’d witnessed once we had hit puberty. The slumber parties where I’d woken to see his hair pre-product-enhanced, the breakups I’d helped him through with red snotty noses and lots of tissues, the time he thought a Speedo was a good bathing suit choice and I had to warn him that his junk was on the loose. The options were nearly endless. I opened my mouth to rehash the highlights, but his cheeks were already rosy. He’d obviously just hiked the same memory lane.
“Touché.” He raised his glass, tossed me a playful wink, and took a sip. “You always have been more like family to me. You know, I think we need a girl’s night before you leave.”
“Sure, why not?” I finished my burger slowly, pondering what the week would hold for me as temporary owner of a casino.
Sue's Random Ramblings 