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Authors: Barbara Delinsky

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‘I’m not,” Jamie said and realized that she meant it. “I’m really not. Not that
Gut It!
doesn’t matter. I mean, I love that we’re still doing the show, and the new coffee table book is going to be amazing. But it isn’t the only thing in my life.”

“That’s an understatement,” her mother drawled and asked, “I take it you’re happy with the latest new architect?” Jamie had actually been through two before finding a woman who could execute a similar architectural vision. Moreover, she had kids of her own, which meant that she was comfortable, in essence, job sharing with Jamie.

“Like her a lot,” Jamie declared, more concerned about dinner on the deck. Wanting to make sure everything was where it should be, she linked her arm through Caroline’s. They had no sooner left the kitchen, though, when her attention caught on her grandmother’s Victorian lace, which now hung on her own dining room wall.

“I feel guilty having this here, Mom.”

“Oh, no no no. Do not. This is where it’s supposed to be, one generation to the next.” They stood together before it. “What do you see?”

“Maybe it’s laughing at me and my cole slaw, because I see a bunch of big wide grins.”

“Those are happy grins. Satisfied grins.
Fulfilled
grins. I see them, too. What do you think that means?”

Jamie didn’t answer. Her throat was suddenly tight. She had her mother back with an even greater appreciation of their relationship, but that was just the beginning. Looking past the dining room, through the great room and out the French doors to a colorfully food-filled deck, where her husband was standing with Caroline’s would-be husband, flipping burgers on a huge gas grill, while the boys wandered from adult to adult eating hot dogs and chips, she was overwhelmed.

Then Theo looked their way. His wrinkled face broke into a grin, seconds before an arthritic hand gestured them out.

Neither was about to refuse.

 

acknowledgments

Do I seriously have to write about things I don’t know? How easy it would be to stick with the tried and true! Unfortunately, it would also be boring. I’ve always prided myself on making every one of my books different, so I naturally gravitate to the new. Or maybe I simply like new things, and if I do, I feel my readers will, too. Writing about new things is slightly scary at times. Trust me, there was plenty of insomnia where
Blueprints
was concerned.

My medicine for that? Good people, willing to share their expertise with me. I start by thanking Susan Wornick, television personality extraordinaire, who gave me enough information on how the real thing works to make
Gut It!
credible. I also knew nothing about architecture until Jenne Whitelaw and Peter Darlow filled me in enough so that I could picture a real architect’s life. My thanks to them. In the field of construction, huge thanks to Bob Gavill and to Ed Foran, for answering my questions. And Ed’s crew, which unwittingly made my book real. They were here in my house doing renovation work while I watched and asked questions. And they thought my curiosity was idle. Hah! My apologies for any deception, along with admiration and thanks.

Writing about these fields, I’ve taken liberties in the name of fiction. All mistakes are mine and mine alone.

My thanks, as always, to my agent, Amy Berkower, and to my editor, Hilary Rubin Teeman, and her talented and dedicated team at St. Martin’s Press. Thanks to my assistant, Lucy Davis, whose work exceeds assisting, to Linda Kay, for references and a ready ear, and to Eric MacLeish, for sharing child custody info in answer to every last question I posed. And to my family, truly the footprint on which my own personal blueprints are drawn. Much thanks and love forever.

Finally, my readers continue to be my greatest professional pleasure. With the landscape of the book world constantly changing, they continue to read my books. I never forget that.

 

about the author

BARBARA DELINSKY
is a
New York Times
bestselling author with more than thirty million copies of her books in print. She has been published in twenty-eight languages worldwide. A lifelong New Englander, Delinsky earned a B.A. in psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in sociology at Boston College. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, more books than she’ll ever be able to read, two tennis racquets, and enough electronic devices to keep in close touch with her children and their families.

Visit her at
wwww.BarbaraDelinsky.com
or
www.facebook.com/bdelinsky
. Or sign up for email updates
here
.

    

 

ALSO BY
BARBARA DELINSKY

The Invitation

The Real Thing

Crossed Hearts

The Dream

The Dream Unfolds

The Dream Comes True

Heat Wave

Sweet Serenity

A Special Something

The Right Wrong Number

Up All Night

First Things First

The Forever Instinct

Straight from the Heart

The Scent of Jasmine

Home Fires

Don’t Tempt Me

What the Waves Bring

Pictures of You

Silken Sands

Hold My Heart

Call My Name

Amber’s Embrace

 

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here
.

 

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Barbara Delinsky

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

BLUEPRINTS.
Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Delinsky. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Michael Storrings

Cover photographs: ladder leaning against wall © Ojo Images/Getty Images; blueprints © Comstock/Getty Images

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to  ankoress 2015 [email protected].

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-250-00704-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-7885-3 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781466878853

First Edition: June 2015

BOOK: Blueprints: A Novel
3.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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