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.