The Weather Girl
by Amy Vastine
The Weather Girl
by Amy Vastine
Clean Adult Contemporary Romance
January 1st 2014 by Harlequin
Turbulence is in their forecast.
Summer Raines knows when it's going to rain. She can feel it. That's why the local weather girl's so good at her job. Too bad she couldn't have foreseen the tumultuous arrival of Travis Lockwood, everybody's favorite star NFL quarterback. Make that former star NFL quarterback. Sidelined back to Texas after an injury, the golden boy is trying to steal her precious on-air time. Summer is reduced to reporting from…football games. It's enough to make her quit and become a storm-chaser like her parents. She's stuck with a career that's going nowhere and a man who delights in her refusal to be charmed. Falling in love isn't nearly as easy as predicting the weather.
Excerpt #6
“I’m
not going anywhere, Mimi,” Summer said, attempting to ease at least one mind.
They sat on Summer’s sky- blue couch. Mimi, with her
bright yellow sundress and her white-blond hair pulled up in a bun, looked like
an unhappy sun.
“Because of me?”
“Because of a lot of reasons,” Summer replied.
“But mostly because of me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Because of me.” Summer pressed a hand over her heart. “Everyone I love is here. You, Big D.” Travis. She thought it but didn’t say it. She’d been thinking it all week long. She was in love with him. She wasn’t sure how or when it happened, but it had. “Even Mom and Dad are here.”
“Because of a lot of reasons,” Summer replied.
“But mostly because of me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Because of me.” Summer pressed a hand over her heart. “Everyone I love is here. You, Big D.” Travis. She thought it but didn’t say it. She’d been thinking it all week long. She was in love with him. She wasn’t sure how or when it happened, but it had. “Even Mom and Dad are here.”
Mimi shook her
head. “Your daddy and mama aren’t here. I might
have put their bones in Texas
There was no
arguing with that. “Well, you and Big D are reason enough, then.”
Mimi’s
eyes welled with tears. It was too much for Summer. Her gaze dropped to her
lap, but Mimi’s
voice was thick with the same emotion. “You’re
like my pretty little caged bird, convinced you don’t
want to fly when it was what God put you on this earth to do.” Mimi lifted her
chin. “Listen to me, sweet girl. I’ve selfishly
kept you here since your daddy died. It’s about time I
let you go and let you live your life for you.”
Summer swiped at
her own tears before they fell. Fear and doubt overwhelmed her. She was
terrified of making the wrong decision, but she knew one needed to be made. It
was like being asked to choose between divorcing parents. How did someone
choose one love over another?
“Summer, we love
you,” Mimi said, taking hold of her hands. “We want you to be happy. Tell me
this job with Ryan won’t make you happy.”
“It will and it
won’t.”
She couldn’t
ignore the way her heart ached when she imagined telling Travis about the other
job. It would have been hard enough to leave her grandparents, but Summer had
to go and fall in love with a man who had broken down all of her walls so
effortlessly.
“Any of this
indecision have to do with that mighty fine looking man who’s
walking your dog with Big D right now?”
Summer shrugged,
unable to speak around the lump in her throat. Maybe it had more to do with
Travis than she wanted to admit.
Mimi nodded as
one side of her mouth smiled. “He’d probably go
with you if you asked. Something tells me that boy would follow you anywhere.
The way he looks at you reminds me of the way your mama used to look at your
dad, and we know how that worked out.”
That was
impossible. How could she ever ask Travis to give up everything to follow her
dreams? The man deserved to figure out what his own dreams were first. “Maybe I’m
too afraid to do any of this,” she admitted. “Maybe Big D is wrong. Maybe I’m
not brave enough.”
“Try,” Mimi said
softly. “Try it and see. We’ll all survive
here. You won’t
be gone forever.”
Amy Vastine has been plotting stories in her head for as long as she can remember. An eternal optimist, she studied social work, hoping to teach others how to find their silver lining. Now, she enjoys creating happily ever afters for all to read.
In September of 2012, she saw a tweet about Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write contest. She entered, hoping for nothing more than a little feedback from some people in the business. Amazingly, The Weather Girl made it into the semi-finals, thanks to the many wonderful voters out there! The manuscript didn't make it to the finals, but the editors over Harlequin were still interested. A few revisions later and The Weather Girl was contacted for publication with Harlequin Heartwarming - a dream come true!
Amy lives outside Chicago with her high school sweetheart-turned-husband, three fun-loving children, and their sweet but mischievous puppy dog.
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ReplyDeleteSounds like a great story.
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