"You know you're better off without him, right?"
I nodded. "I do." I turned in his direction. "You know what's funny? I don't even want to be with him. I honestly don't. I just don't get how someone can fall in love and decide to get married—let alone plan the damn wedding—in three months." I shook my head, my teeth starting to clench. "Unless you can just throw gobs of money out there and people will do whatever you want."
He pushed his foot on the porch to start the rocker moving again. "I think it's possible. I feel like when you know, you know. Sometimes love just happens, even when two people barely know each other. It happens. Probably not to everyone, but it does happen."
I scrunched my eyebrows together and frowned. "You're not helping."
"I didn't know I was supposed to help. I thought we were just discussing it." He winked at me. "I'm not saying that's the case for your ex—what's his name?"
"Matthew."
"Matthew." He nodded once. "I'm just saying it's possible."
"I don't disagree with you on that, but you'd have to know Matthew to understand why it doesn't make sense to me. We were together for five years." I shook my head, still shocked by the fact that he was getting married. "For five years we talked about the things I wanted and the things he wanted and I thought we were moving along, you know? Well, sort of anyway, but then one day he tells me he doesn't see himself spending the rest of his life with me." I rocked harder in the chair. "I let myself believe he just wasn't the marrying type because he wasn't mature enough, but it turns out he was. He just didn't want to marry me."
"I'm kind of glad he's marrying someone else," Ben said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have met you." He showed me his sparkling whites again and my bones turned to jelly.
"And I'm a barrel of fun at the moment, aren't I?"
He tilted his head and smirked. "I have a feeling you're gonna let loose any second."
I held my lemonade out and twisted the glass in my hand. "Maybe if this had a little vodka in it, but otherwise the chances of me letting loose are pretty slim."
"Vodka can be arranged. So what do you do when you're not holed up in a bed and breakfast with a musician who's making you talk about the one thing you came here to forget?"
"I'm a graphic designer. I work in Atlanta."
"Graphic designer, eh? So what exactly is a graphic designer?"
"We're visual thinkers." I pulled my back away from the chair. "We create messages through visual mediums. You know, things like ads, presentations, you name it. I have three accounts I manage. You might know one of them if you're from the Atlanta area."
"That I am," he said. "Been there my whole life."
"Me too."
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe a world of thanks to my creative team at Booktrope Editions for their help, support and most importantly, patience! Clarice, Stephanie, Tatiana, Wendy, you all rock! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Many thanks to my Street Team for their help in getting the word out about my books and for thinking I'm somebody important. I have them totally fooled.
My family, always supportive and wonderful, deserves a big thank you. I promise if I ever make it rich as a writer, I'll treat you to dinner. :)
Oh, a quick not to my brother Kurt (AKA Paul). Your character is still alive. Maybe you'll get killed off in book four. Who knows?
Most importantly, thank you to my mom in Heaven. Without her, there wouldn't be a Fran. I hope they have books in Heaven.
And especially, a big thank you to my husband, Jack. I love you, forever and always.
—Carolyn
Get updates about Carolyn's new releases
and receive a free download of her holiday romance novella,
Santa's Gift, A Cumming Christmas Novella
at: http://carolynridderaspenson.com/?page_id=835
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Ridder Aspenson is the best selling author of the Angela Panther mystery series, The contemporary romance novel, The Inn at Laurel Creek, the holiday short, Santa’s Gift, a Cumming Christmas Novella and 8 To Lose The Weight, a lifestyle non-fiction book.
When not writing her own works, Carolyn is editing, ghost writing or hanging out with her family in the suburbs of Atlanta.
Find Carolyn at
Carolynridderaspenson.com
Facebook: Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, Author
Twitter: awritingwoman
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FROM
CAROLYN RIDDER ASPENSON
Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Mystery
In UNFINISHED BUSINESS AN ANGELA PANTHER MYSTERY, #1 AMAZON bestselling author Carolyn Ridder Aspenson introduces her now trademark blend of witty dialog and hilarious banter in the first book of her hilarious and heartwarming paranormal chick lit, cozy mystery, Angela Panther series.
When Angela Panther's mother Fran Richter wakes her up in the middle of the night ranting about stolen Hershey Bars, Angela thinks her mother's got a screw loose. And then it hits her. Her mother is dead. Just a few hours before, Angela watched as the funeral home staff nearly dropped her mother's body off the gurney while sliding her into the hearse. So maybe she's the one that's nuttier than a fruitcake?
But Fran keeps popping in and with a volcano full of drama already brewing at home—crazy or not—Angela's grateful for her mother's presence.
It's the other ghosts Angela can do without.
Seems Fran's return opened a portal between Angela and the other side and ghosts are hitting up the reluctant psychic medium for help. From the naked British guy juggling balls in the coffee shop parking lot to the woman desperately trying to save her sick child, Angela must find a way to balance her own life with the unfinished business of the dead.
Unbreakable Bonds An Angela Panther Mystery
"Be careful what you wish for because karma has a way of biting you in the butt." That's what Angela Panther's mother always said.
And boy was she was right.
When Angela first discovered her gift to gab with ghosts, she fought it tooth and nail. But the second she decided it wasn't so bad, tragedy hit and the universe decided to teach her a lesson.
Now she's unable to chat with the other side and is crying out for a re-do.
When her best friend Mel suspects her husband of cheating, she asks Angela to help her prove it. They concoct the perfect plan to get the goods on him, but to make it work they'll need help from Angela's mother, Fran.
There's just one tiny little problem--Fran's dead.
As the two best friends set out on a cheater-catching adventure, they hope Fran can use her celestial super powers to help, and prove that the bond between those who've crossed over with the ones they've left behind is never broken.
In UNBREAKABLE BONDS, AN ANGELA PANTHER MYSTERY, AMAZON and Barnes & Noble bestselling author Carolyn Ridder Aspenson’s snarky dialog and hilarious banter between psychic medium Angela and her best friend Mel will leave you laughing in tears, and the touching scenes between the living dead will tug at your heart strings.
Uncharted Territory An Angela Panther Mystery
Just when psychic medium Angela Panther thinks she's got her gift figured out, the universe smacks her in the head with a curve ball, or three.
When an unidentified fourteen-year-old boy takes a dive off an interstate overpass, Detective Aaron Banner asks Angela to find out what really happened, and to whom. Only, the boy’s spirit has other plans for her—help another lost soul and forget about him.
But Angela's never been good at taking orders.
With the help of her dead-but-not-gone mother, Fran, and her best friend, Mel, who’s now newly single and on the prowl, Angela sets out to discover the truth about both the jumper and the girl he wants to help.
And boy, is she out of her league.
Armed with little more than their double lattes and a tiny pink bottle of wannabe
pepper spray, Angela and Mel must venture far out of their comfort zone to solve two mysteries. But will it be enough to protect them from the dark side of Atlanta and its gun-toting teens and child abductors, so they can help the dead to finally rest in peace?
The Ghosts Page 6