ACCORDING TO PLAN (16 page)

The phone vibrating in his hand jerked him back to his office. So
engrossed with watching Lindsay, he’d terminated the call with Daran. What was
wrong with him? It’s not like he hadn’t seen beautiful women sun tan before.
With one last glance at the vision in pink, he answered his agent and paced
back to the desk hoping she hadn’t seen him through the window.

“Sorry, Daran. I must have hit the end key.”

“No problem.” A tight chuckle came from the other end. “Thought for
a minute you’d cut me off on purpose. I
have
been riding you pretty
hard, but if you don’t produce, you’ll lose your fan base and the publisher’s
good will.”

“I know.” Jared sat and faced the blank screen of his laptop. “I’ve
got some chapters written and a rough outline of the rest. How ‘bout I send you
those and we’ll go from there?”

After ending the call, Jared stretched back and stared at the
ceiling. Five chapters into
‘Double Crossed
, he knew where the story was
going, but words weren’t flowing. This time there was – nothing. It was like
Homicide Detective Aiden Beaumont, his main character, had retired with no
notice.

Frustrated, Jared shoved away from the desk and headed downstairs.
What he needed was a fresh perspective. The past six years, ever since making
the New York Times Bestseller list with his debut novel,
At the Crossroads
,
his life had become a constant stream of conferences, speaking engagements and
publicity appearances. Everybody wanted to know how he came up with his ideas.
How could he explain the process when he no longer knew the answer himself?

So he’d moved to Ravenwood, a speck on the map west of Chicago, to
recharge his batteries and take stock of his life. His grandmother had been
born and raised here, and he always loved hearing her stories of community and
how neighbors looked after each other.

He returned to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of pizza. Leaning
against the counter, he studied the run down room. Peeling paint on walls and
cupboards complemented curling linoleum and outdated countertops. A large
five-burner Moffatt stove dominated one short wall, and a green Admiral fridge
struggled to keep his milk cold.

Much like his dried up brain, this kitchen needed a complete
overhaul. Luckily, he knew the perfect person for both jobs, and she happened
to live next door.

About the Author:

Sue Barr was born in Shellbrook, Saskatchewan,
population 1300 + one or two. Her love of reading began at the tender ager of
four and by the time she turned ten, she’d read almost every book in the tiny
library tucked away in the back of the local carpet shop. Her father once
stated that she’d better marry someone who could afford to keep her in books.
After raising her family she decided it was time to put fingers to keyboard and
write her own stories.

Her dreams came true in 2010 when she sold her first
book to Turquoise Morning Press and quickly followed up with several successful
sexy novellas under a pen name. In 2014, Sue made a personal decision to follow
Christ and focus on writing Sweet Contemporary Romance. She regained the rights
to all her works and the first thing she did was go through the story you just
enjoyed, reformatting and editing the story line to meet the personal criteria
she’d set for herself.

Sue is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of
America and its satellite chapter Toronto Romance Writers. When not busy
writing, she loves to spend time with family and friends, amazing them with her
recall of completely trivial, nonsensical facts. She is also completely fluent
in Starbucks Spanish. Grande Latte anyone?

To find out more about Sue, please visit her website:

www.suebarrauthor.com

I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:13