The Monroe Decision

by Patrick Clark

  Sarah leaned her head on Aaron’s chest.

  “Now that you’ve been cleared of all the charges against you and now that you’re the owner of your own vineyard, are you going to stay here?” She gazed up at him and their eyes met. “Piero and Enrica would have liked that and, if you do, I would like nothing better than to live here with you for the rest of my life.”

  “I would like that.”

  They held hands and turned to walk back to the villa and Aaron felt his new government-issued cell phone vibrate. Aaron reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone and gazed at the screen. The caller was Nigel Stafford and the call required Aaron to code in.

  Aaron let the call go to his voicemail

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To Candy, for always being in my corner and being supportive. And, to Brandon, for always making your dad proud.

  My sincere thanks go to John Koehler and all the folks at Koehler Books for making this book a reality.

  Arthur Plotnik wrote, “Writers write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside. Editors let the fire show through the smoke.” To Joe Coccaro, thank you.

  It needs to be said this story never would have been written without the guidance, support and enthusiasm of my friends and members of the East Beach Writer’s Guild. Special thanks to Sally Parrott (writes as Jayne Ormerod) for her steadfast encouragement and leadership. To Gina Buzby, Jenny Sparks, and Randi Klein for their time and effort to organize the guild and provide literary momentum. To Karen Harris, Jamie McAllister, Skip McLamb, Mary Jac O’Daniel, and Will Hopkins for their sincere and candid critiques.

  A special bow to Mike Owens for reading, recommending, re-reading, and re-recommending.