Love at First
Page 31
When it was Will’s turn, finally, Nora was dabbing a tissue under her eyes and the masses were getting restless, Benny jokingly calling out for the big finish, Mr. Salas rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Will stood and thanked everyone, and then he looked at Nora and wasn’t nervous at all. He saw this one so clearly in his mind; he knew this one by heart. Eight lines, even shorter than the first poem he’d ever read for her.
“This one’s by Mary Oliver,” he said. “So I’m pretty sure Nonna would approve.”
And when he got to the very last line—“no more words now”—he dropped to his knee in front of Nora, and she whispered his favorite words, I love you, and followed up with the answer he’d been waiting all night, all his life, to get.
Yes.
Acknowledgments
Something that always keeps me going when I am writing a book is the prospect of getting to write this specific section—a joyful part of the process where I get to express some of my gratitude to the many people who make it possible for me to do this work. The list is long and by necessity incomplete, especially for this book, which I wrote during what I would call a . . . very difficult time. So before I begin, what I would say is that I end this book with a heart full of gratitude and a head full of names, many of which cannot appear here.
That includes the names of so many readers, bloggers, booksellers, and librarians—you are always the first! Thank you so much for the pleasure you take in books, and thank you for the work you do to share them with the world. Thank you for your notes of encouragement and excitement, which mean more to me than I can say. I hope you loved Will and Nora, and I am so grateful for the support you have shown to me and to my work.
Every time I finish a project, I send it along to my editor, Esi Sogah, and my agent, Taylor Haggerty, with a happy closing line of “We did it!” Both of these incredible women usually try to correct me, to say that I’m the one who did it, but I’d like to state for the record (it’s in print now!) that they are both incredibly wrong. In the first place, both of them usually have to spatula me off a parking lot of despair at the halfway point; in the second, both of them are sharp readers and savvy coaches, and I am so grateful to them both. Taylor, thank you especially for your total faith in me and your regular, cheerful reminders that I am, in fact, doing okay. Esi, you belong in many places of this acknowledgments section but I know you’ll edit me to keep it all up here, so I’ll just say: you’re the best “quaranteam” partner a gal could have, and I treasure you as a colleague and as a dear friend.
Friendship and family carried me through a great many rough patches as I finished this book. I offer special thanks to a few who saw this one come together up close. Sarah MacLean and Jennifer Prokop were always a phone call away; Sarah in particular helped in the earliest and latest stages of plotting this book (“You just have to write it,” she would say, which is very good advice), while Jen stood at the ready for my weird, highly specific Chicago-related questions and for my weepy moments of insecurity. I love you both so. Lauren Billings was an absolute champion: Lauren, you crash-landed into my life (or I crash-landed into yours?) at a supremely weird time in this world, but it sure does feel like fate, and I hope you know that I couldn’t have finished this one without your texts and GIFs and your total belief in me. Therese Beharrie, Alyssa Cole, Olivia Dade, Ruby Lang, Elizabeth Kingston, Kennedy Ryan, and Jill Smith were all generous and patient friends at various stages of the process. My longtime first reader, Amy, was heroic for this one—particularly for the last part of my drafting, reading at all hours and always live-texting her reactions.
Kensington Books has been my publishing home since my debut, and I send my most sincere thanks to the entire team for their support and enthusiasm for my books, and for working on them until they (sometimes literally!) sparkled. I extend special gratitude to Michelle Addo, Lynn Cully, Jackie Dinas, Vida Engstrand, Susanna Gruninger, Norma Perez-Hernandez, Lauren Jernigan, Alexandra Nicolajsen, Kristine Noble, Adam Zacharius, and Steve Zacharius. I also extend thanks to the Kensington team for working with people like Erica Ferguson, who deserves my gratitude for her careful copyediting in the final stage of this book’s development. You all have made so many of my publishing dreams come true.
A final word for my husband, for this book especially: how fortunate was I to first see you when we were only fifteen, and how sensible were you to know first that we had something rare and special. Thank you for growing up with me, and for always seeing clearly in me the things I struggle to see for myself.
Want more Kate Clayborn?
Be sure to read
Love Lettering
Beginner’s Luck
Luck of the Draw
and
Best of Luck
All available now
from Kensington Books
LOVE LETTERING
In this warm and witty romance from acclaimed author
Kate Clayborn, one little word puts a woman’s business—and
her heart—in jeopardy . . .
Meg Mackworth’s hand-lettering skill has made her famous as the Planner of Park Slope, designing custom journals for her New York City clientele. She has another skill too: reading signs that other people miss. Knowing the upcoming marriage of Reid Sutherland and his polished fiancee was doomed to fail is one thing, but weaving a secret word of warning into their wedding program is another. Meg may have thought no one would spot it, but she hadn’t counted on sharp-eyed, pattern-obsessed Reid.
A year later, Reid has tracked Meg down to find out how she knew that his meticulously planned future was about to implode. But with a looming deadline and a bad case of creative block, Meg doesn’t have time for Reid’s questions—unless he can help her find her missing inspiration. As they gradually open up to each other, both try to ignore a deepening connection between them. But the signs are there—irresistible, indisputable, urging Meg to heed the messages Reid is sending her, before it’s too late . . .
BEGINNER’S LUCK
When three friends impulsively buy a lottery ticket, they never
suspect the many ways their lives will change—or that for each of
them, love will be the biggest win of all.
Kit Averin is anything but a gambler. A scientist with a quiet, steady job at a university, Kit’s focus has always been maintaining the acceptable status quo. A sudden windfall doesn’t change that, with one exception: the fixer-upper she plans to buy, her first and only real home. It’s more than enough to keep her busy, until an unsettlingly handsome, charming, and determined corporate recruiter shows up in her lab—and manages to work his way into her heart . . .
Ben Tucker is surprised to find that the scientist he wants for Beaumont Materials is a young woman—and a beautiful, sharp-witted one at that. Talking her into a big-money position with his firm is harder than he expects, but he’s willing to put in the time, especially when sticking around for he summer gives him a chance to reconnect with his dad. But the longer he stays, the more questions he has about his own future—and who might be in it.
What begins as a chilly rebuff soon heats up into an attraction neither Kit nor Ben can deny—and finding themselves lucky in love might just be priceless . . .
LUCK OF THE DRAW
Buying a Lotto ticket with her two best friends didn’t change Zoe’s
life. Only following her heart would do that . . .
Sure, winning the lottery allows Zoe Ferris to quit her job as a cutthroat corporate attorney, but no amount of cash will clear her conscience about the way her firm treated the O’Leary family in a wrongful death case. So she sets out to make things right, only to find gruff, grieving Aiden O’Leary doesn’t need—or want—her apology. He does, however, need something else from her. Something Zoe is more than willing to give, if only to ease the pain in her heart, a sorrow she sees mirrored in his eyes . . .
Aiden doesn’t know what possesses him to ask his family’s enemy to be his fake fiancee. But h
e needs a bride if he hopes to be the winning bid on the campground he wants to purchase as part of his beloved brother’s legacy. Skilled in the art of deception, the cool beauty certainly fits the bill. Only Aiden didn’t expect all the humor and heart Zoe brings to their partnership—or the desire that runs deep between them. Now he’s struggling with his own dark truth—that he’s falling for the very woman he vowed never to forgive.
BEST OF LUCK
Winning the lottery is the biggest ticket to freedom
Greer Hawthorne’s ever had.
Until her best friend’s brother comes to town . . .
Greer Hawthorne’s winning lottery ticket doesn’t just bring her wealth, it also means her chance at a long-postponed education. She’s finally on the cusp of proving to her big, overprotective family that she’s independent—until a careless mistake jeopardizes her plan to graduate. Lucky for her, there’s someone in town who may be able to help . . .
Alex Averin plans to show up for his sister’s wedding, then uickly get back to his job as a world-renowned photojournalist. But when gorgeous, good-hearted Greer needs an assist with a photography project, he’s powerless to say no. Showing Greer his professional passion ignites a new one, and rouses instincts in Alex he thought he’d long set aside.
Can a ceaseless wanderer find a stopping place alongside a woman determined to set out on her own . . . or are Alex and Greer both pushing their luck too far?
A SNOWY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
Sometimes love needs a little help from Mother Nature—and
what better time than the holidays to let it snow . . . and
snow . . . and snow . . .
STARRY NIGHT * Fern Michaels
As the host of a radio program for the lovelorn, Jessie Richmond is surprisingly lonely, especially with the holidays approaching. So she decides to make the trek to her uncle’s bookstore in rural New York state and hold a speed dating event—only to find herself snowed in, with one very special single . . .
MISTLETOE AND MIMOSAS * Tara Sheets
After years of hard work, real estate agent Layla Gentry has her dream home on Pine Cove Island. She’s perfectly content to be on her own. Until her childhood nemesis, Sebastian, comes to town. When a snowstorm and a stranded kitten bring them together on Christmas Eve, Layla discovers he’s all grown up—and she may have one more dream left . . .
MISSING CHRISTMAS * Kate Clayborn
It’s all work and no play for two longtime friends-turned-business-partners Kristen and Jasper—until an unexpected kiss turns things personal. Will it mean the end of something, or the beginning? With a major contract in the balance, Christmas around the corner, and a lot of unspoken feelings, it may take