I decided to a marriage on the brink of divorce would be an interesting subject to tackle. I talked to a few friends who have divorced their spouses. It was interesting to hear their take on the marriages looking back on what went right and what went wrong.
Up to this point in my writing career, I hadn't written any babies in my books aside from cameo appearances in epilogues. The reason was simple, I was having babies myself. Why would I want to write about them? But it was necessary in this story, so I used my experiences with my children to write the character Cassidy. I wanted her to be somewhat realistic and not simply a smiling cherub who occasionally drools and wets her diaper. One incident in the book where the hero puts Cassidy's clothes on backwards actually happened to my husband when our oldest was four months old. It was at the Romance Writers of America National Conference, too, in front of writers, editors and publishers!
EXCERPT
Standing on the sidewalk outside the lawyer's office, Kate Malone stared at the double glass doors. She still had a few minutes until her appointment. No reason to rush inside.
She raised her face to the cloudless, blue sky. The spring sunshine heated her cheeks. Sun kisses. That's what Susan called them.
Susan.
The unusually warm April temperature reminded Kate of their college graduation eight years ago. She had approached the proceedings as a necessary step, one more thing to mark off her To Do List on the way to the top, but not her best friend, Susan. Unlike Kate, Susan had relished every moment of the drawn-out ceremony in the sweltering ninety-degree heat. She'd bounced across the stage, tossed her University of Oregon diploma box in the air and twirled around.
A smiled tugged on Kate's lips. Susan always lived life to the fullest. Or rather...
Had lived.
Until a driver fell asleep at the wheel and collided head-on with Susan's car two days ago here in Boise, Idaho.
Tears stung Kate's eyes. Grief slashed through her. How could Susan be dead? Susan, so full of life, so full of love. Susan, with her adoring husband, Brady, and their cute baby, Cassidy...
All three had died in the crash.
Kate swallowed, hard.
No. She couldn't lose control now.
She didn't have a tissue. Or the time.
She needed to hold herself together during the meeting with Susan and Brady's attorney. Once Kate checked into her hotel, she could fall apart, but not until then.
Squaring her shoulders, she pushed open one of the doors to the law office and stepped inside. A blast of cool air hit her. Goosebumps prickled on her arms. The sight of the empty receptionist desk deflated her resolve. Her composure slipped a notch. Now that she was inside, she wanted to get this over with.
"Kate?"
The familiar male voice made her stiffen. Jared. She wasn't ready to face him. Not now. Possibly not ever. And yet she found herself turning in the direction of his voice.
As Jared rose from a leather club chair, her breath caught in her throat. He wore a tailored gray suit and the multi-colored silk tie she'd given him for his thirty-first birthday.
Five years ago when Brady and Susan had introduced them, Jared Reed had been a twenty-something single woman's fantasy. He'd gotten only more handsome. Kate's heart thudded. She wished she still didn't find him so attractive.
His square jaw and slightly crooked nose--from a snowboarding accident when he was a teenager--gave his face the right amount of rugged character to offset his long lashes and lush lips. She couldn't believe how much his hair had grown in the last three months. Normally he went for the short, corporate cut, but the wavy, carefree style suited him better.
Not that she cared.
Much.
