Remember your first crush? How your heart raced and your
cheeks flushed whenever you saw him? Jessie Baxter does, and it’s happening
again. Ten years ago, despite her best efforts, Lee Archer wanted to be just
friends. Now, he wants more, but Jessie's still recovering from a psycho
ex-husband. Can she learn to trust again and make her first crush into her last
love?
Elizabeth McKenna’s latest novel will have you remembering
the angst of high school, the grief of a failed relationship, and the happiness
of true love.
Excerpt
Jessie flipped on the foyer light and her nerves
relaxed until she saw the rug at the bottom of the stairs. It was askew. Her
eyes darted over the space in front of her. Everything else was in its proper
place. Besides the inability to pick faithful husbands, she and her mother
shared the rarely appreciated trait of compulsive neatness.
She thought back to when she had left the house
earlier. Maybe in her haste to meet Sarah, her foot had slid the rug out of
place as she came down the stairs. But she would have straightened it. Unless
she didn’t notice . . . but she would have noticed . . . because that’s how she
was.
She inched into the kitchen and picked up the
phone. She’d call the police and ask them to search the house. Because of a
cockeyed rug? Even in her paranoid state, she knew it would sound crazy. Their
first question would be, “How much did you have to drink tonight, Ms. Baxter?”
She shook her head. For all the bravado she showed
in front of Lee, here she was acting like a scared twelve-year-old, alone for
the first time while her parents were on a date night. Her mom had offered to
cancel her trip to London when Jessie told her the date of the class reunion, but
Jessie had insisted she go. Since retirement, these trips had become her mom’s
main source of entertainment.
She rummaged in her purse until her fingers found
her pepper spray. With the canister at arm’s length, she circled each room on
the first floor, testing the locks on the windows. Everything seemed in order.
She let out a breath and grasped the banister leading upstairs with her free
hand while her foot straightened the rug.
The steps to the second floor creaked under
Jessie’s weight. She shuddered at the eerie feeling the empty house gave off.
Still clutching the pepper spray, she checked the windows upstairs before
collapsing on the bed in her childhood room. The house was too big for one
person. She didn’t know how her mom stood it. Maybe tomorrow she’d move to
Sarah’s. They could have a slumber party like old times.
Old times. Lee Archer. Wow. Her smile turned into
a yawn. Something itched at the back of her mind, but after seven hours in a
car and a few more in the bars, she gave into heavy eyelids and fell into an
uneasy sleep.
At three in the morning, her eyes flew open and
she clutched the comforter to her chin.
Underwear. A pair of lacy, black underwear hung
from the top rail of the desk’s chair. No way in hell had she done that.
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/first-crush-last-love-elizabeth-mckenna/1126905867?ean=2940158645518
Love a book that has a Happily Ever After?
Then check out my alter ego, Elizabeth McKenna:
Novels are available in e-book and paperback format.
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