by Abby Brooks
Dad was gone.
After all these years, after all we’d been through and run from, the news was anticlimactic. The sun still shone. The ocean still roared. The gulls still squawked and circled.
Life still ticked by for the rest of the world, their existence unaffected by our tragedy. While I fought for my life in a hospital bed in Germany, the Pats won the Super Bowl. Fans celebrated. Babies were made. No one but a small circle of people knew or cared about my struggle.
As of last night, my mother’s life was shattered, my siblings and me dropping whatever we had going on to help her figure out how to move forward. While we scrambled, life kept on keeping on for the rest of the world. The realization, while sobering, also freed me from a shit-ton of anxiety. Even the most groundbreaking events of our lives were nothing more than blips on the radar. No matter how hard things seemed while we were living them, we would move past them and find better times. We all carried scars. We just had to learn not to limp.
The thought of going home intrigued me. Some of my best and worst memories lived in the Keys, trapped in the walls of that old house. As much as I liked the thought of seeing Mom, Eli, Caleb, Wyatt, and Harlow again, I wondered how being around them would affect me. How it would affect all of us, really.
Can you survive a war and return to the scene of the bloodiest battles without consequence? I thought of explosions. Of smoke. Of the bodies of friends flying through the air. Of pain spreading like ice and fire in my side, my leg, my hip. I pushed the memories away as I shivered, even as a fresh sheen of sweat broke across my brow.
A car pulled up beside me. The doors opened and teenagers poured out, laughing and joking in their swimsuits and sun-streaked hair. They had so much in front of them. So much to learn. I sent a silent prayer to anyone listening that they learned more about the good than the bad.
As they made their way over the sand, a gull fluttered to the pavement a few feet away, nearly tame after years of being fed scraps. He strutted around, watching me with his shiny black eyes. I dug through my bag and found some old chips to toss his way before unlocking my phone and checking for flights to the Keys.
READ BEYOND WORDS NOW!
From Abby
Dear reader,
When I started this book, I fell in love with Joe and Kennedy so hard, I made my daughter and husband read the first two chapters the second I finished them.
This was a mistake. I knew better.
I never let anyone read a draft, but I was so freaking excited, I did it anyway. Of course, they couldn’t see what had me wiggling around my office, yet. (But they would.)
A week or two later, I got very sick. I’m talking down for two months, stuck in bed, away from family, and kind of scared. Being the terminal optimist that I am, I tried to pretend like everything was okay and I’d still write. When I’m healthy, I get 3-5000 words done a day. While I was sick, I’d manage 250.
My brain felt like soup and the story was tossed salad. The ingredients were there, but man, where they all jumbled up. I was terrified I’d ruined this beautiful book that had so much magic at the start I forced it into my husband and daughter’s lap. (You know what? Now that I think of it, I even made my sons read Joe’s first chapter… Talk about being excited…)
Thankfully, time passed and I got better. It took some work, but, with my husband and beta reader’s help, I sorted out the mess I made of the words while I was sick.
I still feel the magic.
I still want to drop this book in people’s laps, wiggle like Delores, and say READ! I SWEAR YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT!!!!!
And I really hope you loved it. Like, given how much I love Joe and Kennedy, I have to assume you did, too. And if you’re reading this rambling note, then obviously, you felt something, or you wouldn’t have come this far with me, would you?
Anyway, if you did love them, please leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or BookBub. It’s the virtual equivalent of dropping the book in people’s laps and telling them to READ IT I SWEAR YOU’LL LOVE IT!
If this note made you smile, sign up for my newsletter on my website. I’ll land a new smile in your inbox every week.
Thank you for taking this journey with me. I appreciate the heck out you.
Have a lovely day!
XO
Abby
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my husband. This is one of those _ _ _ _/_ _ _ _ _ mess arounds that will forever make me smile. Your insight spurs me to higher ground in all things. I’m better because of you. Hell, this whole dang world is better because of you and if you don’t believe me, then you’re just not paying attention. Thank you for being my white knight, my best friend, and the reason I wiggle dance when I cook. When I needed you the most, you were there, digging into energy reserves you didn’t have to keep our family going.
Thank you to my children. I used to call you the mini-wonderful, but I can’t do that anymore. You’re all so big, it breaks my brain to look at you. As usual, I’m sure you’ll never see this—and if you’re reading this, OMG GO WASH YOUR EYES!—but the three of you bring me such joy. It’s my honor to watch you grow into the kind of people I can’t wait to hang out with.
Thank you to Joyce, Linda, Nickiann, and Candy. Your feedback is everything I need. YOU ROCK. THE END. THANK YOU ALL THE THANK YOU’S IN THE WORLD.
To A, L, M, & C. You superstars. Thank you.
STANDALONES
It’s Definitely Not You
THE HUTTON FAMILY
Beyond Words
Beyond Love
Beyond Now
Beyond Us
Beyond Dreams
A BROOKSIDE ROMANCE
Wounded
Inevitably You
This Is Why
Along Comes Trouble
Come Home To Me
A Brookside Romance - the Complete Series
WILDE BOYS WITH WILL WRIGHT
Taking What Is Mine
Claiming What Is Mine
Protecting What Is Mine
Defending What Is Mine
THE MOORE FAMILY
Finding Bliss
Faking Bliss
Instant Bliss
Enemies-to-Bliss
THE LONDON SISTERS
Love Is Crazy (Dakota & Dominic)
Love Is Beautiful (Chelsea & Max)
Love Is Everything (Maya & Hudson)
The London Sisters - the Complete Series
IMMORTAL MEMORIES
Immortal Memories Part 1
Immortal Memories Part 2
AS WREN WILLIAMS
Bad, Bad Prince
Woodsman
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