Cassie's Tale is coming!

It’s coming, it’s coming! One week from today - Cassie’s Tale is coming out on February fifth. Bringing Cassie to ‘life’, having others read about the adventures she shares with her beloved Tom, has been a life long dream for me. I was so pleased and excited with I was able to publish the first book, Cassie’sSpace. But having the second one, well that almost makes me feel like a writer. I really hope you will like this one too. It’s supposed to be up at NewGally today is you want an early sample.

Here’s an excerpt from Cassie’s Tale. Cassie and her friends took an impromptu trip without telling the husbands. Finding out where they are, Tom joins them as they lounged around the pool.

I still hadn’t said a word. My heart thudded in my chest when Tom turned to Sue and said, “I came because I missed my wife. I like being with her, I missed talking to her.”
That shut Sue up.

Tom and I do love spending time together, and we seem to talk all the time. Honestly it warmed my heart to hear him say it. But when he added, “Cassie, let’s go to the room and talk now,” I suddenly realized just how intense that warm feeling was likely to get. I knew I couldn’t talk my way out of this one, but that didn’t stop my mind from racing as we gathered my things and headed toward the room. My mind grasped desperately for anything to say that might forestall what would surely happen. By the time we reached the room, nothing creative had occurred to me. However, that didn’t stop me from trying.

“Now Tom, I know you’re mad but, honestly, it all just happened on the spur of the moment. Honey, if I had known we were coming this far I would have...” I could easily tell this was going nowhere so I just trailed off.

Tom let the silence build for a minute, then he said, “Cassie I’d like you to take a shower please.” I stood looking at him a minute longer until he added firmly, “Right now.”

I sighed and nodded, trying to seem as agreeable as possible. As I undressed in the bedroom, I heard a knock on the outer door of the suite. I peeked out the bedroom door as Tom opened it and all the girls rushed in, everyone talking at once.

“This wasn’t Cassie’s idea...We made her come... She didn’t want to... She thought we should call you guys first ... She tried to talk us out of it... We practically kidnapped her...”

What a sweet combination of lies. I was cheered by their efforts, although I knew nothing would change Tom’s mind.

“Thank you, ladies.” Tom ushered them to the door. “Yes, yes that’s fine, I hear what you’re saying. Why don’t you join us for dinner? We’ll be in touch later.”

He tried in his gentlemanly fashion to shove them back in to the hall when Sue rounded on him menacingly. “Tom, don’t you dare be mean to Cassie.”

“Sue,” Tom answered. “I have never been mean to my wife and I don’t plan to start now. Good day.” And he closed the door in their faces. Turning, he spoke to the door where I stood peeping at the activity.

“Cassie, are you in the shower?”
I jumped and said, “I’m going right now, honey.”
Minutes into my shower Tom came in. I had a fleeting hope that he would be joining me, but he went right back out. When I stepped from the shower I realized that he had come in to get my robe and all the towels except one small one, not even large enough to go around me, the old devil.

I dried off the best I could, took a deep breath, and came out. Tom sat in the chair holding the ivory brush. That damn brush. He just sat there not saying anything, so I crawled up on the bed. I had nothing to lose, so I started, “Tom, you were the one who backed out on our plans. All I did was come on a quick vacation to a safe place with my friends. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You really don’t think you did anything wrong?” he asked. “If this trip was such a good idea, why didn’t you call me to let me know about it?” I felt like I could have argued my point better if I weren’t sitting naked while he sat there fully dressed. But such was my situation.

He came over to the bed, shaking his head. “I don’t even think you’re buying what you’re saying, I certainly don’t. Girl, you left the country. You flew nearly three thousand miles from me without so much as a word.” He shook his head again and, gently pulling me to my feet, he sat on the bed and firmly pulled me across his lap.

Resting that hateful brush against my bottom he said, “You know how I feel about not knowing where you are, and leaving the country...” Then he started with that brush so hard, I thought I’d leap out of my skin.

I hope you’ll come by Saturday for another snippet.

Blurb: Cassie continues to live life to the fullest, from wheeling around in her new sports car to mastering the art of riding a motor scooter with no hands, she manages to keep Tom on his toes. The fly in the ointment is that Tom’s firm wants him back for a project and Cassie wants him all to herself.  When Tom takes the job, Cassie is left lonely and bored – never a good combination for her.

Left to her own devices Cassie makes some poor decisions, frightening Sue and causing Tom to lower the boom. Tom's new schedule for Cassie, including her getting a job, leaves her little time to get herself in trouble – yet she still manages.