The night before, she’d gone out to the market to pick up a few last minute items. When she returned home, she found that Ben had set up candles around the living room. He’d even put some inside the fireplace since it was too warm for a fire. In front of the fireplace he’d spread out his sleeping bag. On the coffee table, a bottle of sparkling cider was chilling in an ice bucket, and next to it was a platter of gorgeous sushi.
“I thought we might have our own housewarming party tonight,” he’d said, taking the groceries from her.
After eating, they’d made long leisurely love on the sleeping bag and had spent the night there.
“Thank you for all this,” she said to him, still keeping her eyes facing out the front window, “especially for last night. It was perfect. It’s all perfect, except for one thing.”
Ben squeezed her tight and whispered, “I know.”
“She’s not coming,” Winnie said more to herself than to Ben.
“Maybe not today,” he told her in a soft voice, “but one day Tiffany will come back to you. You watch.”
Winnie hoped that was true.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A big shout out to all the people who helped make this book possible through their support of the Winnie Wilde Kickstarter campaign.
Sometimes it takes a village to create a new series.
Anonymous Donor #1
Anonymous Donor #2
Helen Bender
Marge Burglund
Kay Butler
Vikki Cleveland
Pam Del Monte
Ann Fernan
Carla Garnett
Susan Groeneweg
Beth H.
Jane Harada
Ann Marie Hattersley
Amanda Hayes-Kibreab
Trudie Levins
Alisa Loudner
Paul and Amy Marks
Barbara Marracino
Stacie Neroni
Arlene Nieves
Alan S. Orloff
Heidi Orndorff
Doug and Shirley Pearson
Peter Peng
Bonnie Peskoe-Smith
M. Carolyn Proctor
Jennifer Rader
Keith Raffel
Cyn Rielley
Colleen Ringel
Katherine and Pat Sanger
Kevin Shingatok
Patricia Silver
Heide van den Akker
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meg Chambers is a pen name of best-selling author Sue Ann Jaffarian. Running Wilde is her first Winnie Wilde novella.
Other works of fiction by Sue Ann Jaffarian include:
The Odelia Grey Mystery Series
Novels
Too Big to Miss
The Curse of the Holy Pail
Thugs and Kisses
Booby Trap
Corpse on the Cob
Twice As Dead
Hide and Snoop
Second-Hand Stiff
Hell On Wheels
A Body to Spare (coming October 2015)
Short Stories
Ho Ho Humbug
The Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series
Novels
Ghost à la Mode
The Ghost in the Polka Dot Bikini
Gem of a Ghost
Ghost of a Gamble
Ghost in the Guacamole
Novellas
The Silent Ghost
Dummy of a Ghost
The Ghost of Mistletoe Mary (coming November 2015)
The Madison Rose Vampire Mysteries
Murder In Vein
Baited Blood
The Holidays From Hell Short Stories
The Rabbit Died
Pull My Paw
Where’s Your Daddy
Rockets’ Red Glare
Other Short Stories
Love Bytes
Early Retirement
In addition to writing, Ms. Jaffarian is a full-time paralegal in Los Angeles, California, and a motivational speaker.
You can visit her on the web at:
Official Website for Meg Chambers
Meg Chambers on Facebook
Meg Chambers on Twitter
Official Website for Sue Ann Jaffarian
Sue Ann Jaffarian on Facebook
Sue Ann Jaffarian on Twitter
Sue Ann Jaffarian Fan Club
RUNNING WILDE
by Meg Chambers
Copyright 2015 Meg Chambers
Cover Design by The Killion Group
Formatted by The Killion Group
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Running Wilde (The Winnie Wilde Series Book 1) Page 10