Donna Gartshore - Instant Family

The Single Mom Next Door

Summer at a picturesque Silver Lake resort marks a new beginning for Frankie Munro and her daughter. After a painful marriage, the single mom shies away from any personal connection—though she admires the tender care handsome neighbor Ben Cedar shows his dad. Ben wasn’t there for his mother when it counted, so he’s determined to help his father cope with Alzheimer’s. Yet it’s Frankie’s shy ten-year-old daughter, Rae, who really gets through to his dad. As their relatives bond and flourish, so do Ben and Frankie’s feelings for each other. Before the season ends, can they let go of their pasts and fight for a second chance...together?

“What are you thinking about?”

Why, Ben wondered, did her radar always zero in on him when he least wanted it to?

He hesitated. It wasn’t likely that he could put his conflicting thoughts into a coherent explanation even if he wanted to. Frankie remained silent, sipping her own coffee and looking away from him.

Finally he answered, “I’m thinking about Dad and wondering what I should do.”

Frankie did look at him then, and her eyes—beautiful eyes, Ben thought, not for the first time—were filled with understanding.

“Maybe I can help?” she offered. “I mean, I can’t make the decision for you, but I’ve observed a lot of seniors and I’ve seen what their families go through. It might help even to just talk about it.”

“It might,” Ben conceded. But he stayed silent. And while it was true that his thoughts were always edged with worry about his father, he was also trying to comprehend the mixture of traits—hard and defensive, soft and empathetic—that composed his summer neighbor.

Dear Reader,

I’m so excited to share my debut novel with you! Thank you for coming on this journey with Ben and Frankie.

It meant a lot to me to write this book for a few different reasons. My father suffered with Alzheimer’s disease before he passed away and, like Ben says, I missed the person he had been long before he actually died. He wasn’t a pastor like Ben’s father, but was a journalist who taught me my love of books and writing and always encouraged me to write. Many of Al’s behaviors are modeled on my dad’s, but I know that it’s a complex disease that can affect people in many different ways.

I am also a single mom like Frankie—my husband passed away of heart disease several years ago. In writing about Ben, I thought about my husband’s kind heart, sense of humor and work ethic.

More than anything, though, I wanted to write a book about second chances. Of course, I thought a great deal about my dad and my husband, and sometimes had a few tears, but more than anything I thought of the many blessings that I’ve been given as life has continued on—my daughter, my family, my friends, my writing community and, now, readers like you.

Life has unexpected turns, but I believe in God and I still believe in happy endings!

I’m active on social media. Find me on Twitter at @gartshoredonnaand on Facebook at facebook.com/dlgartshore. Feel free to email me at deelynn1000@hotmail.com. Come find me—I love to talk about books and writing and hear what people’s goals and dreams are.

Thanks again!

Donna

DONNA GARTSHORE loves reading and writing. She also writes short stories, poetry and devotionals. She often veers off to the book section in the grocery store when she should be buying food. Besides talking about books and writing, Donna loves spending time with her daughter, Sunday family suppers and engaging online with the writing community.

Instant Family

Donna Gartshore

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him,

and He shall direct thy paths.

—Proverbs 3:5–6

This book is dedicated in memory of my father,

Ian Franklin Bickle, and my husband,

James Douglas Gartshore.

And it is for Sara Gartshore, who has made

every single day of being her mom a blessing,

and for my family, near and far, who mean more

to me than I can express.

Thanks also to my wonderful editor,

Melissa Endlich, for giving me this chance.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Is this the surprise you talked about, Mom?”

Somewhere in her mind, Frankie Munro registered her daughter’s tremulous question and felt Rae’s small, sweaty hand clutching her own. But she couldn’t find the words to answer her.

A surprise, indeed, but not a pleasant one and not at all the one she had been planning to share.

The cabin that she had booked for the summer was covered in violent-looking splashes of paint and offensive graffiti. In no way did it represent the rustic yet pristine atmosphere she had pored over in the brochures advertising Silver Lake Park in Saskatchewan, Canada. It had been a six-hour drive from their home in Regina, Saskatchewan, and they had passed the time talking of the possibility of bear sightings with a kind of gleeful fear, and speculating how cold the water would be.

Since Frankie’s husband walked out on them several months ago, she wanted to do something to return the light to Rae’s eyes. Rae was an intuitive ten-year-old with an advanced talent for art, but it had been months since Frankie had seen her enthusiastic about drawing or painting. She hoped that spending the summer together, away from their house and the memories it held, would help return a spark of artistic interest to Rae, and with that would come a return to the happy, inquisitive girl she had been.

She hoped the time away would help restore some of her own motivation, too. She’d had goals—she wanted to be a nurse—and although those goals had been put on the back burner due to her ex-husband’s demands, they still simmered within her. Frankie wanted to use the summer to rediscover the woman she had been before Trevor left: the woman who’d had goals...the woman who’d had faith.

Frankie worked as a nurse’s aide at a senior-care home in Regina. She usually liked her job very much and had a true affinity for the seniors she worked with. But in the months after her husband left, she’d been a mass of nerves, mistakes and indecisions, until the manager of the home had called her in and explained that she had to take some time off and find an effective way to deal with her obvious stress.

Thus, a paid leave of absence, combined with financial help from her parents, which Frankie had accepted only after they signed a note saying she would pay them back in full as soon as she could, cleared the pathway for her to plan this summer getaway with Rae.

Research and word of mouth had brought her to the conclusion that Silver Lake looked like a positive place with the right balance of nature and town activities. The beautifully scenic photographs of trees, flowers and local animals gave her hope that Rae would feel compelled to capture them on canvas. As the plans came together, her hope for a new start began to grow tentatively. She had not yet decided if that new start would include a church.