Stand (Southern Heartbeats Vol. 1)
Page 13
Whiskey Lullabye, Vol. 2 (Coming Soon)
Just A Dream, Vol. 3 (Coming Soon)
The Funerals and Obituaries Mysteries
Dead and Buried, Book 1 (Coming Soon)
First and foremost, thank you. Thank you for reading this book. Thank you for following me on this journey. And thank you for giving me this opportunity to thank the people in my life that have made this moment possible.
Thank you to Alyssa Garcia at Uplifting Designs for creating the gorgeous cover and formatting. She is so talented and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
Thank you to my awesome editor, Vicki Pierce, who also happens to be my mom. She graciously took time out of her busy schedule of being a grandmother to edit this book. But also for loving it and not just because she’s my mom, but for the story that it is. Thank you for thinking this is cool and not that I lost my mind.
Thank you to my dad, Col. John Pierce, USMC Retired, for all of his military advice. He makes research easy and he has the best stories just waiting to be told. He is a great sounding board for plotlines and I love that. And also, because when I told him I was writing romance novels, his response was, “I’m not surprised.”
Thank you to Alyssa Garcia and Stacy Garcia at GSBB, they are my OG Betas. This story was really written for them before anyone else ever saw it. They believed in me before anyone outside of my husband even knew I was writing and encouraged me to put myself out there. Not to mention, they are the best roommates on a girls’ book weekend. Special thanks to Kellie for jumping on this crazy train to help me figure out what is good, but also what isn’t. And for being one of the kindest people I have met on the book work journey.
Thank you to my dear, sweet, funny, and sometimes filthy Mixens. You all have welcomed me into the fold this year with kind hearts and open arms and there are not enough words to express how much I love and value these friendships. Thank you for answering my questions, for holding my hand, and also issuing a swift kick in the pants when I needed it. And also, you guys can rock a blurb like nobodies business. You guys are truly amazing.
Thank you to my husband, Sean, for everything. For celebrating harder than me when I was finally able to type the words “the end.” For loving me. For always laughing when I say the phrase, “This still isn’t the craziest thing I have done in ten years of marriage….” For supporting this dream whole-heartedly. For listening to my words. And for understanding how important this journey became September 2015.
Thank you to my children for being so awesome and so funny. I swear, we’ll eat more creative meals than spaghetti this week…maybe. And also, may you never read this before age 30. I would hate to have to explain to the elementary school the new vocabulary you picked up from mommy’s books.
Aliza
The warm, late spring sun is shining through the window when I wake up softly this morning. Sam is pressed up behind me. Close enough, I can tell he’s feeling playful. He’s left hand is at my breast and I feel his morning beard across my cheek as he leans down to kiss the side of my neck, just under my ear. I hear the soft smile in Sam’s morning scratchy voice as he says, “Morning, baby,” I love quiet moments like this.
“Good morning, handsome,” I give back as Sam’s hand trails over my belly. Softer than it was when we first met as teens, but it did carry his two babies, so he loves it, and moves down to greener pastures. I rock into him. Not once in the last fifteen years, have I gotten tired of him. Sam grabs my long brown ponytail tipping my head back so he can thoroughly kiss me. I love his kisses. The soft sweet ones, the teasing one, and the ones like this that get down to business. I moan into his mouth and Sam meets it with a growl of his own.
Things are just starting to get good when I hear two little voices chanting down the hallway, “Let’s go Blazers. Let’s go Blazers. Let’s Goooooo!!!! The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don’t need no water let the mother effer burn!!!!” Sam’s forehead is pressed down on my shoulder and his arms are wrapped tight around my belly. So tight, I can feel him shaking with laughter.
“Sam!” I screech when the shock of my precious angels chanting an inappropriate song from the 80’s. I know exactly where they got it, that rat! I reach over to swat the stinker with a pillow from my side of the bed, but he’s already moving. Throwing his shorts on the floor as he struts to the shower. Letting me see exactly what I will be missing today and I will be missing it. Damn, my man is good looking.
“What?!” Sam says on the run. “Soccer waits for no one!!!” He’s laughing as he runs in the shower.
Twenty minutes later, my girls are pounding pancakes and bacon with tall glasses of orange juice. Fueling up for the big game. Six and under soccer is no joke. Sam walks in and I feel my breath catch in my throat. These are the moments I live for. My kids doing normal everyday things, the sexiest man I know, who after all this time, still looks at me like he won the lottery.
I catch Sam’s secret smile as he walks over to the coffee pot and pours himself a cup. I catch a kiss on the cheek as he passes.
“I’m sure going to miss you guys today,” I say and it’s true. I never miss a game, but my best girlfriend from college is coming in today and I need to get to the market and prep dinner, put clean linens on the guest bed, and pick up any wayward toys that have made their way back out of the girls’ rooms. Really, the things I need to do without a five and a three year old under foot.
“Don’t even worry about it,” Sam reassures me. “We’ll be fine today, right girls?” Who throw their fists in the air with a “Heck, yeah!” Sam’s influence and personality are all over those two. Sometimes, I think I was just the oven that baked the cake. “Plus, it’ll be totally worth it at supper time when I get to dive in to your famous pot roast and green beans,” he says while patting his stomach which is just as flat as it was at twenty when I got my first glimpse of him.
“Alright girls, you about done?” I ask them. “You don’t want to be late for the big game.” I smile at the three most important people in the world to me. This moment, like so many others, is why I breathe, why I wake up in the morning.
Sam gives me one more, soft kiss and the girls each hug me fiercely on their way out the door. Those three are going to have such a fun day.
I shut the door behind them and go back to the kitchen to clean up my mess from breakfast. I love to cook but I am not the cleanest cook either, but my family loves it. And is there really anything better than cooking for the people you love? Nope, I didn’t think so. At least not to me.
After I have put the last of the dishes away, I clean up the girls’ toys and pajamas they’ve left all over in their wake for soccer glory. I make the beds and wipe down the bathroom counters. I throw on jeans and my favorite slouchy sweater. I have just enough time to run to the market and get home before Hannah gets here when there is a knock at the door. I run down the stairs with a smile on my face. Sam is amazing, but he’s a mess sometimes. Always forgetting something.
“What did you guys forget this time?” I shout as I throw open the door. But it’s not Sam I see standing there. It’s his best friend, Holt, and by the devastated look on his face, I know why. Everything changes in a moment.