Another Character
My first romance novelwas about Wanda, who had been very comfortable with her life before the readersmeet her. She was very happily married, with a husband, Hank, who thoroughlysupported her efforts to be a full-time author. Wanda wasn’t sure how muchmoney Hank was making with his IT job, but he paid the bills without complaint,and he told her he was saving ‘as much as he could’ in case they ever had anyemergencies. They had friends they got together with regularly and life waspleasant in their apartment in Chicago.
The reader meets hershortly after Hank has died in a traffic accident going to work in a blizzard.She is deep into grief, not just because Hank is dead, but because she knowsshe can’t pay the rent on their apartment on her own. She will have to move.
As she is going throughHank’s papers, wondering what she can get rid of, Wanda comes across a deed fora house in a tiny town in Nebraska. The house was an inheritance from Hank’sgrandmother, given to Hank and somebody named Charles. Charles had apparentlysold his half to Hank, or gifted it, but whatever, it looked like the house wasentirely Hank’s. It seemed strange that Hank had never mentioned the house, buthe didn’t talk much about where he grew up. Except happy memories of hischildhood.
Wanda contacted a realestate agent in Nebraska who might be able to answer questions. The agent knew thevillage of Belgrade well and assured her that the house was in decent shape andfully furnished, although it was likely to be dusty, since it had been empty acouple of years.
So Wanda moved, withouteven seeing the house she was moving to. Or the town where she would be living.Not having rent or a mortgage to make payments on, she was confident she couldmake ends meet. She took herself from a place where she had been happy to aplace where she was an outsider.
The first person shemeets in Belgrade—a bartender at one of the two local bars—looks an awful lotlike Hank. Besides fixing her some lunch, he makes phone calls on her behalf toget her utilities turned on.
It only takes a fewdays for Wanda to realize there are 3 men in Belgrade who look like brothers toHank; Bob (the bartender), Charles (who had briefly owned ½ of the house shenow owned), and Lyle, a drunk womanizer. Bob tries to make her feel welcome.Chuck seems too busy to run into her very often. She wants nothing to do withLyle.
But this is a romance I’vewritten, and it takes place in a very small community, where gossip is thenormal method of entertainment for the residents. It isn’t long before peopleare wondering which of the town’s young men will catch Wanda’s eye. Even thoughWanda is still grieving and trying to keep her distance from the men, in a townof less than 200 people, that doesn’t seem to be possible.
If I’ve piqued yourcuriosity, you can get an e-copy of Hank’s Widow at www.smashwords.com/books/view/1090836Use the coupon code JN73Qwhen youcheck out to get it for half off.
And just to put a little icing on the cake, so to speak,you can also get “The Game”, a story that explains the relationship between Hankand his look-alikes. This short story is free at www.smashwords.com/books/view/1091675.
