Excerpt:
The days
and weeks after my run-ins with Rhea and Ty floated by in a haze of tears, ice
cream and anything else I could shove in my mouth. I’d never in my life been so
in the dumps over a man but repeated self-scoldings and peptalks did no good.
I had come
to think of my life in terms of BT—before Ty and AT—after Ty.
The first
few weeks AT, I’d alternated between nausea and binge eating. Definitely not
like me; however, I’d never had my heart well and truly broken before. Squashed
and beaten like a flower in a South Texas flash flood. This was unquestionably
new territory for me and at first, I allowed myself to mope, eat, and cry. But
things didn’t seem to improve. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull
myself out of my funk, and continued eating and crying...and sleeping. I was
depressed.
My
depression lifted at the oddest incident. But even that didn’t last long. The
week after I blacked Rhea’s eye I came home to find my grass had been cut.
Totally not out of the ordinary since I paid my neighbor’s sons to cut and bag
for me. The Jackson brothers—a couple of twelve year old, fair-haired imps were
always looking to make a dime.
About
time, too. They were a week past due.
On my way
to work the next morning I stuffed an envelope with their pay in the mailbox,
figuring their mother would give it to them. And a couple weeks later we
repeated our song and dance.
Late in
August, just before school started, their mom, who was the source of their
blonde hair and always looked frazzled, showed up on my doorstep with both
envelopes. And that’s when I got
tickled.
"Betti,
I’m sorry to bother you, but I found these in my mail."
"Oh
Bev, that was for the boys mowing my grass. I hadn’t seen you around, so I just
left their money in your mailbox."
"Well,
see now, that’s the thing. The boys left July 1 to go spend the rest of the
summer with their daddy up in Wichita Falls. Then my mama got sick a week
later, and I’ve been in Alabama. Sally Truesdale’s been collecting all my mail
and watering my yard. I just got back last week, and I’m still trying to set my
house straight."
"So,
who cut my grass?" Frowning, I stepped out on my porch and looked around.
Like the mysterious grass cutter would still be nearby.
"I
have no clue, but Sally did mention she’d seen Ty Boudreaux pass through here
quite a bit lately."
What in
the hell was Sally Truesdale smoking? Bev wasn’t one to gossip...but she was a
woman. And Sally was always in the
know. We eyed each other in the porch light, both of us fully aware my response
would be reported to Sally and then repeated all over town.
"Why in the world would Ty
Boudreaux come around here?" Least
said; least spread was my motto. "This isn’t his side of town." I
put on my best "I have no clue," frown and crossed my arms. Thank God
it was dark out.
"She
said she saw him more than once." Bev could fish ‘till the cows came home.
"I hear he’s been having a lot of trouble since Rhea up and left
him."
My lips
were sealed.
But if
Sally had seen him, then who else had? No way was I going to try and find out
first-hand what Sally knew, or worse, canvas the neighbors to find out if
anyone had actually seen Ty mowing my
grass. And honestly, why would he?
Mowing a
woman’s grass while she wasn’t home
had to be the most insane thing I’ve ever heard of. Right?
Book &
Author Details:
Once in a Blue Moon by Amie Stuart
Publication date: May 19th 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publication date: May 19th 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
At eighteen,
Ty Boudreaux married his high school sweetheart and planned to live happily
ever after on the family ranch. But after twelve years in a volatile, one-sided
marriage, this gentle cowboy is struggling to put his life back together.
At eighteen,
Bettina Blanchard’s goal in life had been to shake the dust of Bluebonnet,
Texas off her heels, and with her baby sister now safely in college, that dream
is within her grasp. But underneath Bad Betti’s tough exterior beats the heart
of a woman with hopes and dreams, and she’s loved Ty almost as long as he loved
his ex-wife.
When fate
drops Ty in her lap, one night of passion leaves them dealing with a pregnancy
and a marriage both have reservations about. Can a girl from the wrong side of
the tracks and Bluebonnet’s favorite son find common ground outside the
bedroom? Despite the interfering in-laws, a jealous baby sister and a holiday
no one wants to remember, Betti and Ty discover that even though their happily
ever after doesn’t come easy, anything worth having is worth working for.
Purchase:
AUTHOR
BIO:
Amie Stuart is the last of a dying breed, a native Texan,
and still makes her home there, where cowboys and music (her other two loves)
abound. Growing up, she wanted to be a lawyer and a psychologist. No
doubt the shrinks would have a field day with her head, but she's seen the
error of her ways and considers all those other jobs 'research' for
the writing gig.
She's a multiple contest finalist as well as a trained contest judge and is affectionately know as The Terminator by her critique partners. She's written as CELIA STUART for Black Lace Books, & Liquid Silver Books, and as AMIE STUART for Kensington Aphrodisia, she has a short story (PEACHES 'N CREAM) in Zane's CARMEL FLAVA 2, and launched Cobblestone Press's short erotica line,Wicked in 2007.
She's a multiple contest finalist as well as a trained contest judge and is affectionately know as The Terminator by her critique partners. She's written as CELIA STUART for Black Lace Books, & Liquid Silver Books, and as AMIE STUART for Kensington Aphrodisia, she has a short story (PEACHES 'N CREAM) in Zane's CARMEL FLAVA 2, and launched Cobblestone Press's short erotica line,Wicked in 2007.
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