AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! :::::THUD:::::

It’s OUT! It’s already there on the website - LOOK!!

And last night my poster came from Café Press (I HIGHLY recommend -$5 and it’s STUNNING.)

Today, I’m blogging at Trish’s AND I’ve started my first contest on my website. I realized I didn’t put a deadline on there. What do you think? A week?

The champagne is chillin’ and we’re going out to dinner tonight (hopefully someplace casual so I can wear my book cover t-shirt) and if today wasn’t awesome enough, it’s the day before Spring Break, when all my possibilities are ahead of me.

:::happy sigh:::

Here's another excerpt:

She blew out an exasperated breath. “We’re different people than our parents, Seth. I am no more my mother
than you are your father.”

“I’ve been following in his footsteps for years. I’ve never been able to get involved with someone without wondering if someone better was out there.”

Double ow. She rubbed a hand over her breastbone. Even with her, he’d been looking elsewhere? Did he even realize what he’d said? Could she fight for this if that was really how he felt?

“All right,” she said softly, standing. She needed to get out of here, go somewhere quiet and listen to her heart break. “You know, you’re right. You’re following in your father’s footsteps, but it’s your choice to do it. You’ve colored all your adult relationships with the same brush. You don’t think you could be faithful to anyone because your father can’t be. From the beginning of each relationship, you saw it as doomed. Pretty convenient, don’t you think?”

He leaned forward, dropping his arms to the table with a thunk. “You’re twisting it—”

She shook her head, everything crystal clear now. “No, I’m not. I’m stating it plainly. You never gave any relationship a chance. You began each one knowing you would end it. From that point of view, your father is a
better man than you. At least he had hope his relationships would last.” She headed into the living room in search of her purse.

Seth followed. “You’d like it if it was true, wouldn’t you?” His voice was a low rumble, unlike any tone she’d
ever heard from him, like it came from a place of great pain.

She turned and saw something frightening flash in his eyes. What had she awakened? He paced the small living room in controlled strides, like a panther struggling for discipline before it struck its prey. “If you could just figure me out, everything could just go back to the way it was,” he said. “Everything could be the same and your little world wouldn’t be this twisted place, right? You hate change, Lauren, you fear it. The reason you think you love me is because I’m safe, I’m familiar. God forbid you risk anything, especially your heart. That’s why you never became a firefighter, Lauren. You don’t know how to risk anything.”

She was nose to nose with him before she knew it, trembling with anger and pain. She was dizzy with it. The
rolling of her stomach had nothing to do with last night’s whiskey. She and Seth had traded barbs for years and she
thought she’d developed some tough skin, but nothing ever hit so close to the bone.

“No, see, there you’re wrong, Seth. I risked everything with you. You’re the one who will risk your life in a fire, but not your heart to your best friend. Some kind of hero that makes you.”

End of excerpt.

As you can imagine, I haven’t gotten much writing done this week.