by Kathryn Shay
“Her sister’s publishing party was all over the TV here. Princesses With Their Princes I think was the quote. Three sisters were pictured with guys. Evvie was one of them.”
So she moved on. “Huh. Luke, I gotta go. Talk to you soon.”
He drove home. How could she be with another guy? It hadn’t been that long. He was still pining over her, so he figured she was still thinking about him. Guess not. Shit. Why did this hurt so much?
* * *
All her sisters gathered in the room Evvie was sharing with Raven. Dressed in a variety of pajamas and nightgowns, they bombarded her with questions.
Frankie: “I don’t get it. If you hurt so much, why did you break up?”
Mari: “Evvie, don’t give up on a guy you love. If I had another chance with Arturo...”
Calla: “You can do great things in this country, honey.”
Brie: “I’m still sworn off men, but I’ve seen you suffering up close and personal.”
Raven: “Hell, even I think you belong together.”
At the end of their interrogation, Evvie burst into tears. Finally, Raven shooed the others out. She and Evvie climbed into their respective beds and turned off the lights. Soon, Evvie got up and went to Raven’s side of the room. Raven lifted the covers.
After she slid in, they grasped hands, facing each other.
“Are they right, Raven? Am I being stupid about this?”
“Not stupid, sweetie. Mixed up, maybe. Why don’t you take some time off, go away by yourself and get your head on straight? That always helps me.”
“Maybe. Can I sleep here?”
“Of course. ’Night, honey.”
“’Night, Raven.”
* * *
Mike took the weekend to get his head on straight. After each game, he spent time alone pondering what he wanted in all this mess with Evvie, and how to get it. He even talked to his sister on the phone who gave him good advice. But it was Luke Prescott who’d really set him straight. He’d come to Mike’s house with a six-pack of beer and read him the riot act.
Man, Mike, I wish I could find somebody like her.
You date tons of women.
I’m lonely as hell. So are you, I think. But you’ve got somebody you love right now. Do something about your situation!
On Monday morning, Mike called Evvie. No answer. So he phoned the hospital. Asked for her floor.
“NICU.”
“This is Mike Jagielski. I need to talk to Evvie Gentileschi.”
“Oh, hi, Mike. This is Leah, her supervisor. I’m not sure exactly where she is. She’s wrapping up work before her vacation.”
“She’s going on vacation?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where?”
“I have no idea. She said she needs some downtime.” Leah hesitated. “If you ask me, she’s right. The last couple of weeks have been rough for her. I’ve never seen her so sad. Do you have something to do with all that?”
“I’m afraid so, Leah. Could you do me a favor?”
“Maybe.”
He was halfway to his car before he disconnected. He made it to the Children’s Care Center in forty-five minutes. He quickly paid the valet and walked up to the reception desk. “Hi, I’m—”
“Oh, wow. I know who you are.” The fresh-faced woman practically swooned. Her reaction meant nothing to him.
“I’ve come to see a nurse. Her supervisor, Leah Camp, said she left a pass for me to go up.”
“Let me check.”
His name was there.
* * *
Evvie blew back the hair that had escaped her braid, exasperated by Leah’s hovering. For some reason, today she checked everything Evvie did, and gave her tedious chores until Evvie was about to blow her top. But after nearly an hour, she’d had enough. She marched to the desk, said, “I’m done, Leah. See you in a week.” She was signing off on some charts when the elevator across from them pinged open.
A hush fell over the nurses who were by the entrance. Come to think of it, there were a lot of them in the relatively small space, staring ahead. Evvie turned.
And there he stood. Big and beautiful, but tired and stressed. He stepped off the elevator.
“Hi.”
She cleared her throat. “Hi.”
Still five feet from her, he said, “I’m not letting you leave me, Evvie. I know what you have to do, but we can’t end our relationship. We’ll work out something.”
When she just gripped the edges of the counter, he went on, “I love you. I need you in my life.” His voice was full of emotion, something rare from him. When she didn’t respond, he added, “Sweetheart, please!”
She arched a brow. “To paraphrase a movie, you had me at hi.”
He covered the distance between them and hugged her. Then he seemed to see their audience for the first time. “Too many people,” he murmured as he leaned over and scooped her up in a carry just as he had at the ballfield the night they met.
Every single nurse in the area seemed to sigh all at once.
Evvie nestled into him and sighed herself. “Hmm. You really are my Prince Charming.”
* * * * *
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Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
This is a true story. Picture a beautiful, sunny day at at George Steinbrenner ballpark in Tampa, Florida. The New York Yankees are there for spring training, playing the Boston Red Sox. I am sitting up high in a row with my family: my brother, his wife, his mother-in-law, me, my sister and my husband, in that order. The stadium is about 15,000 fans full. The Yankees pitcher clocks in at 103 m.p.h. The ball is hit and goes up. And up. And up. I see it coming down. I know it’s headed in my direction. But I think, “That’s not going to hit me. Fate isn’t that cruel. I’ve been having too many back problems.” It falls and falls. A man two rows in front of me reaches up to catch it, misses and the ball comes down at an angle and—hits my ankle.
No, the batter didn’t leap over the dugout and climb up to rescue me. But someone from the ballpark came up to see if I was all right. My husband told the man no one was hit. When everybody did realize I was hurt, there was scurrying around to get ice, to see what else I needed. We ended up icing my quickly-bruising ankle for the rest of the game with bags of ice braced right on my foot and my sister-in-law’s foot. The story ended up fine. My ankle stopped hurting before the end of the game. In the days following, it turned a million different colors but never hurt again.
Unlike Evvie, I was mad about what happened. Eventually, I got over my snit, and decided to do what a lot of authors do: use my misfortune in a book. CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE was born that day.
Didn’t you just love Evvie? What an upbeat, kind and sincere person. I wish I was more like her. She was so nice to Mike throughout the book, even when he was a jerk. I tried to have him redeem himself in the course of the story, and hope I was effective. He was a difficult man, because of his difficult past, and finally learns how to cope better, because of love, of course.
I’m anxious to hear what you think. Please email me and let me know.
Best,
Kathy
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Don’t miss the rest of the books in
THE GENTILESCHI SISTERS Series
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, Book 1
Lexy Marcello Gentileschi may be a princess, brought up in a sheltered world, but she knows how to fight Ryder Reynolds in negotiations for her book contract. However, falling in love with the boss is a very different thing!
THIS GUY'S IN LOVE, Book 2
Detective Francesca Marcello Gentileschi can’t afford anothe
r screw up like the one she made at her last precinct where she fell for one of her colleagues. Unfortunately Detective Tyrell Beauregard Collingsworth has other things in mind for the lovely princess cop.
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE?, Book 4
The last thing grade school teacher Gabriella Gentileschi wants is a man in her life, especially not one who makes her flash back to the worst thing that happened to her. But gym teacher Dante Federico is determined to make Brie like him—and maybe more.
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER, Book 5
Widowed at twenty, Mariella Gentileschi Moretti came to the U.S. to get her law degree and plans to return home to help her father run the country. But Dr. Jordan Dubois, one of her professors, threatens all that when he takes an interest in her that is anything but ethical.
I THINK I LOVE YOU!, Book 6
Ravenna Marcello Gentileschi badly wants a show at the prestigious Parkers, a top-notch art gallery in Baltimore. But can she put up with stiff and starchy Blake Parker, the owner, long enough to have her paintings displayed before the world?
Take a look at Chapter 1 from the next book in the series, HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE?:
Praying she’d be able to keep her eyes open for the drive home, Brie Gentileschi started her Volvo’s engine, checked the mirrors for any traffic in the teacher’s lot and backed up slowly. Oh my God! Another car was barreling down at her from the left. Her heart pounding, Brie shifted back into drive and…
A loud crash.
A jarring bump.
The impact threw Brie back, then inertia thrust her forward into the steering wheel.
What happened?
Releasing the seatbelt, she bolted out of the car. A coworker leapt out of the oncoming vehicle that had halted a few feet away and rushed to Brie. “I’m so sorry, Brie. I was in a hurry because my kid’s sick. Are you hurt?”
“I’m, um, no I’m not hurt, Barb. I was only going a few miles per hour. It’s my fault anyway. I put the car in reverse instead of pulling back in when I saw you coming. Are you hurt?”
“No. I stopped short but I’m fine.” She glanced at her watch. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. The near accident wasn’t your fault. Go pick up your son.”
Barb nodded to the side. “I don’t recognize the car you hit. I’ve never seen it here before.” The staff was small at Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School. “Whose is it?”
“I--”
A deep voice came from behind. “It’s mine.”
Brie glanced over her shoulder.
Barb said, “Dante?”
He crossed to them. “Are either of you hurt?”
Barb shook her head.
“No. But your car…” Brie looked at the white vehicle more closely. “The whole back end is smashed in.”
“What happened?” Dante asked.
Barb explained about her rush.
“Go then. You can get around Brie’s Volvo.”
After Barb left, he said, “Gabriella, don’t worry about my car.”
“Are you kidding? This is going to cost a bundle. Your car looks like a classic. I hope it can be fixed. I’ll pay for repairs.”
“My sisters and I own a collision shop. One of them will come tow it and we’ll do the work.”
She stared at the crumpled back end. “I’ve never seen this one in the parking lot.”
He ducked his head. “First time I’ve driven it to school. My Chevy wouldn’t start this morning so I took this one.”
“And I crash into the trunk.” She felt tears in her eyes but willed them back. She’d spent sixteen months building up her confidence and inner strength and she wasn’t going to be fragile ever again. Especially for something like this.
Reaching out, he touched her arm. “You okay?”
“Definitely. I’m so sorry, Dante. I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep well and barely made it through the day. I should have called an Uber to get home.”
Leaning back on his heels he jammed his hands into his pockets. “Back-to-school this year has to be hard for you.”
“It shouldn’t be. So, how do you want to handle the car?”
“I’ll phone Tris right now. She’ll have somebody out here in no time. I hope your car is okay. Why don’t you try to pull it away and see?”
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking.
“Want me to I do it?”
“No. Call your sister.” She fished out her remote key and went to her car, pulled open the door and slid inside. He’d turned his back to her so she breathed in deeply for a few moments to calm herself, then started the engine, made sure the car was in drive, and moved forward into the space it had occupied.
When she got out, he was still on the phone. “Yeah, I know, honey. Just send somebody. It isn’t drivable.”
“I’m so sorry,” Brie reiterated when he clicked off. “As I said, I’ll pay for everything.”
“Not necessary. Like I said, my sisters and I...”
“Stop it, Dante.” Her words were sharp so she softened her tone. “I have lots of money and I insist.”
His dark chocolate eyes twinkled, a bright spot in this dismal situation. “Yeah, somebody told me about the princess stuff.”
“So I’ll take care of the cost.”
“I have another idea. You can pay me back by having coffee with me every day in school for the rest of the week.”
She was about to object but she remembered what he told Lexy last spring when she came to talk to the Brie’s students about her books….
I replaced him, you know.
Eddie Smith?
Yeah.
That’s right, he taught physical education.
I’m afraid nobody here likes me.
I’m so sorry.
That’s okay. I’ll win them over.
Ashamed that she hadn’t done anything last year about the shunning, she said, “I’ll have coffee with you if that’s what you want, but I’m paying for repairs.”
“That’s something we can discuss when we meet tomorrow.”
She hoped agreeing to spend time with Dante Federico wasn’t a mistake. In all honesty, she’d avoided him because he caused her to flashback to when she was kidnapped. The last thing she needed was to make the nightmares return.
About the Author
A NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written dozens of self-published original romance titles, print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won many awards for her work: five RT Book Reviews awards, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” One of her firefighter books hit #20 on the NEW YORK TIMES list. Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over ten million copies of her books in print and downloaded online. Reviewers have called her work “emotional and heart-wrenching.”
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