That Thing You Do
Whispering Bay # 1
Whispering Bay # 1
By: Maria Geraci
Releasing April 28th, 2015
TKA Distribution
Blurb
Allie
Grant doesn’t believe in second chances. She does, however, believe in the
power of a permanent paycheck. So when a tipster reports that the soon-to-be
demolished senior center in her hometown is haunted, Allie hightails it to
Whispering Bay to get the scoop that could secure her dream job at Florida!
magazine. What she finds, though, is far scarier than any ghost. Cue her
ex-boyfriend, sexy construction foreman Tom Donalan.
When
Tom catches Allie poking around his construction site, he quickly realizes his
former high school flame is just as feisty as ever. And, heaven help him, her
irresistible, mile-high legs still take his breath away. But Tom isn’t about to
delay the building’s demolition because of a silly ghost story.
With
neither of the stubborn exes backing down from their opposing positions, sparks
fly. And, underneath the surface, the fire of their old attraction burns as hot
as ever. When strange things start happening with increasing frequency around
town, even a tough skeptic like Tom is tested. The question is, can Allie and
Tom stop fighting long enough to get to the bottom of Whispering Bay’s ghost
problem—and the more important matter of mending their broken hearts?
Excerpt
A shiver skated up her
spine.
It wasn’t cold. Not
really. It was October and still seasonably warm enough for the Florida
panhandle, but the building was isolated from the rest of the ocean strip by at
least half a mile. That on its own made it creepy enough, and then of course,
there was that haunted thing.
Maybe she should
channel the lion from The Wizard of Oz
and begin chanting I don’t believe in
ghosts…I don’t believe in ghosts…
But there was
something to be said about Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore and that whole pottery
wheel scene.
Hopeless Hollywood
romanticism? No doubt. It was lovely to believe that even after death there was
something so powerful about the feelings we had while we were alive that they
pulled us back to the people and places we once loved.
But all corniness
aside, she was a journalist, and at the behest of Florida! magazine’s editor, Emma Frazier, Allie had just driven
nearly six hours to investigate a story on what most people (herself included)
would consider the flimsiest of leads. But if Emma wanted a ghost story, then
that’s what Allie would give her. Impressing Emma Frazier was the key to
landing her dream job, which happened to be Goal Number Three on Allie’s four
part Life Plan. So despite the NO TRESPASSING sign, she wasn’t leaving until
she got her story. A padlocked door was beyond her capabilities, but no
building this old could be burglar proof.
Using her flashlight
to guide her, Allie made her way through a patch of weeds to study the windows
on the side of the building.
Bin-go!
Jalousie glass panes. Popular in Florida during the last century before central
air-
conditioning became standard. Those windows might provide excellent
ventilation but they looked easy as all heck to break into. Not that Allie had
any experience sneaking in or out of windows.
Once upon a time, that had been
Zeke’s forte. Before he’d cleaned up his act, of course. Nowadays, there wasn’t
anyone more upstanding than her big brother.
She noticed the window
in the middle was missing several of its glass panes. Had someone already
broken inside? Maybe. Or more likely those panes had fallen out over time, and
since the building was scheduled to come down, it wouldn’t have made sense to
fix them.
Which brought Allie to
her third option—it wasn’t really a B&E if she didn’t actually break
anything. Yes, there was that big NO TRESPASSING sign but the window was
practically open. Some people might consider that an invitation.
Ha.
Her brother would call that delusional thinking. Fuzzy morality, at best. But
what were her options? Despite the late hour, she was now fully awake.
She sent up a silent
apology to Buela (Zeke, she would deal with later) and went into action. With
the flashlight tucked beneath her arm, she knocked the flimsy metallic screen
out of the way.
Balancing her bottom on the open window ledge, she lowered one
sneakered foot inside—when the tinny-sounding ring tone version of Adele’s Rumour Has It startled her into falling
butt first onto a hard wooden floor.
Her cell phone flew
out of her shorts pocket. Allie scampered on all fours to retrieve it, causing
her right knee to come in contact with something sharp. Ouch! She ignored the pain and glanced at her cell phone’s caller
ID telling her (warning her) that it was her roommate, Jen.
“Where are you?” Jen
asked.
“Check the fridge.”
Allie had purposely left Jen a note taped to the refrigerator door. It was the
first place Jen always went when she got home from her evening shift at the
hospital where she worked as a respiratory therapist.
After a slightly too
long pause in which Allie imagined Jen not only finding the note, but last night’s leftovers as well,
Jen said, “You’re in Whispering Lakes? Isn’t that where you grew up?”
“Yep, but it’s
Whispering Bay.” Allie went on to explain about the email that had caused her
to jump in her car and make the six hour drive to her hometown.
“So, let me get this
straight,” Jen said. “Someone sent you an anonymous email telling you there’s a
ghost inside the building? And you,
what? Jumped in your car and drove up there? Just like that?”
Reading Order
Author Info
Maria
Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The
Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club,
“immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl
Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA ®
award. She lives in north Florida with her family, which includes a very needy
chihuahua, an extremely needy dachshund and a not-so-needy cat (guess which one
she likes best?). You can reach at her www.mariageraci.com.
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