by Lyssa Layne
The driver side door opened and Tiffany slid into the seat. She grabbed Katy’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. Everyone else mingled outside the parked cars, waiting for Katy before trekking over to visit the loved ones.
“Today sucks, doesn’t it?”
Katy nodded.
“Everything happens for a reason.”
Katy rolled her eyes and pulled down the visor to fix her make-up. “You know I hate that saying.”
“Think about it, Kit Kat. Jeremiah came into your life to be there when your father died. Nick came into your life to make you believe in love again and to give you that handsome little boy.”
Katy looked out the window at Nicky who was roaring and acting like a tiger much to the entertainment of everyone.
“Yeah, and now I’m a widowed single mother, an untouchable.”
Tiffany shrugged. “Are you?”
Katy followed her gaze. Jesse was crouched down in the tiger position beside Nicky showing him how to roar. Katy’s lips turned into a smile.
Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “He’s pretty great with him, isn’t he?”
Katy looked at her wondering where she was going with this line of thinking.
“You’re blind, Katy! You have a great man that loves you and your son right in front of your eyes and you don’t even see it.”
Katy was shocked at what Tiffany said and chewed on her lip pondering it. Jesse loved her? No. Sure, he loved Nicky, but Katy was part of the packaged deal. He hadn’t ever made a move on her or even hinted about them being anything more than friends, roommates…what exactly were they? Besides after losing her father and her husband to the trade, she wasn’t about to go down that path again. She and her son needed stability in their lives which did not include another firefighter.
Katy reapplied her lip gloss and got out of the car. Tiffany held her hand as they walked toward the crowd and whispered, “I know what I’m talking about.”
Tiffany released Katy’s hand as they got to Jesse and Nicky. Jesse slipped his arm around Katy’s shoulders, pulling her close as he held Nicky in his other arm. Father Galloway had come along and said a prayer at each of the tombstones. Katy surprised herself and didn’t shed a single tear. She figured after a year of crying, she was probably cried out.
Andy swept Nicky into his arms, carrying him like an airplane back to the car so they could head back to the house. Katy lagged behind to have some alone time with Nick. She had given up on being angry at him but it didn’t help her aching soul. She wondered if her heart would ever stop hurting and if she could love again. She looked over and saw Jesse leaning against his truck watching her. Katy smiled and her butterflies immediately attacked her stomach.
She walked over to the truck as a cool breeze blew through the cemetery. Jesse pushed a stray hair over her ear and rubbed her arms. The wind brought goose bumps to the back of her arm. Or was it Jesse’s touch?
“You did great today.”
“Thanks…”
He smiled and nodded.
“No, thank you…for moving in, giving up everything, taking care of us, loving Nicky….for loving me.” Katy bit her lip and looked up into his eyes.
Jesse was taken aback by her accusation. He wondered if it was that obvious and if it was possible that she could love him the same way.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Taking a simple idea and turning it into an entire novel is quite the task! And there’s no way I could have done it without the help of lots of patient friends and fellow authors.
First off, a huge thank you to Rachelle Ayala and all the indie authors out there. You are the ones that got the ball rolling and made me realize that I could do this myself.
To all my critiquers at Critique Circle, thank you for the valuable input chapter by chapter and helping me realize my dirty habit of head hopping. A thank you to Katerina Baker who meticulously combed through every word of this story and helped me along in this process.
A shoutout to my cover artist Denny Blackwell, my beta readers, Jo, Candace and Cece, and formatter Melissa Keir. You are all awesome and I appreciate all that you’ve done for this book.
The biggest of all thank you’s to my editor Jimmy Britton! While romance isn’t your forte, you gave me endless ideas to enhance this story and make it even better than where it began. You also put up with my random texts and tweets whenever I’d want to run an idea by you or just tell you something reminded me of one of my characters.
And of course, thank you to all of my friends and family for your never ending support no matter what challenge I’m working on. I hope everyone enjoys this story and will continue reading more of my works in the future. Happy reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lyssa Layne is first, and foremost, the proud momma to her precious daughter, AR. In addition to working full-time and being a mommy to AR, she is also an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, a runner, blogger, and an infertility survivor.
Having watched one too many medical dramas and being inspired by author Rachelle Ayala, who introduced her to the world of indie writing, Lyssa decided to try her hand at writing a romance story. Her attempt turned into the Burning Lovesick series. You can find Lyssa’s own interests throughout her stories although all stories are fictional.
You can visit Lyssa’s writing blog at http://www.lyssalayne.wordpress.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @layne_lyssa or check out her Facebook page at Lyssa Layne