Welcome to February!
It’s going to be a great month. For lots of reasons, I’m sure. One of those reasons, though, is that the Easter in Gilead series is launching. Woot! Woot! His Runaway Crush is book three in the series, and it’ll be out March 28th – but book one (see Valerie Comer’s post) comes out February 28th.
I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at my hero. Dawson Bauer has a lot going for him, but he’s also an example of what happens when we fail to read the fine print. Thankfully, God is at the heart of Dawson’s story. Otherwise, this whole mess could have ended up very differently…
***
“Absolutely not.” Dawson Bauer held onto his self-control with an iron grip. Only his metaphorical palms must have been sweaty because his hold was starting to slip.
The man across from him — whatever his name was — blinked before running a hand over his sparse white combover. “It’s in your contract.”
“You’re mistaken. I would have seen it, and I wouldn’t have accepted the position here if that was the case.”
The head of human resources at the Gilead Bible College patted the pockets of his tweed jacket before pulling out a pair of reading glasses and slipping them on. How they stayed there, balanced precariously as they were on the tip of the man’s nose, was anybody’s guess. He thumbed through the papers in the crisp manilla folder he’d been wielding when he’d walked into Dawson’s office.
With a grunt, the older man set a copy of Dawson’s employment contract on the desk and jabbed his finger at the section labeled Special Events. “It’s right there.”
Dawson was familiar with the section. It was his employment contract, after all. He’d read it before signing. Still, he could at least humor the HR guy. He scanned the section before looking up again. “See, it’s exactly as I remember. There’s nothing about…”
Wait a second. Dawson dropped his gaze back to the page. What was that…?
The Head of the College’s Audio/Visual Department will oversee lighting and sound for the school’s annual Passion play. This includes but is not limited to all auditions, full dress rehearsals, and performances, and 80% of other (not full dress) rehearsals.
The force of the words pushed Dawson back in his chair. He looked up, stricken, his eyes searching out the watery grey ones peering at him over the top of those barely-holding-on reading glasses. “I don’t remember seeing this.”
The man pointed to the bottom of the page. “You initialed it.”
“I never would have taken the job.”
“Well, it’s too late for that. You’ve signed a contract, and auditions start this afternoon, so you need to be there.”
Dawson bit back the words he wanted to say. Though his grip was more aluminum than iron at the moment, he maintained enough self-control not to shout about just how much he hated Easter. Barely. Hating Easter wasn’t the sort of thing that one ought to yell, especially when sitting in an office in the heart of Gilead Bible College.
The school produced a passion play each year. Auditions started in a few hours, and he had to be there.
Best first day on the job ever. Not.
“You don’t want to be in breach of your contract.” The older man’s words weren’t harsh, but his stare was one that probably had most grown men shaking in their boots.
Dawson wasn’t most men, though, and his antipathy for Easter outweighed his sense of self-preservation. “What happens if I refuse?”
“You might never get a job at a Christian college or university again.”
The air whistled in its rush to leave his lungs. “You can’t do that.”
The man tidied the copy of Dawson’s contract and slipped it back into his manilla folder. “I can. I’m not sure if I would, but I absolutely can. Do not mistake my advanced years for weakness.”
Helplessness morphed into a ball of smoldering rage in Damien’s gut. “Why not just cut me loose?”
An age-spotted hand patted down the combover again. “You’re a man of your word, Dawson Bauer, and you gave us your word. Besides…” He rapped his knuckles against Dawson’s gargantuan wooden desk. “God has plans for you here. Letting you off the hook would be going against Him, and I try not to do that.”
On that cryptic note, the man slipped out the door, and Dawson was left staring at nothing as he contemplated the colossal mess into which he’d landed himself.
He hated Easter. Hated it. With the fire of a thousand burning suns.
Or, at least, he’d hated it for the first few years after…
Maybe he didn’t hate it so much anymore. It was more like indifference with a side of loathing. Enough loathing to make him avoid all things Easter.
He was a believer, and he was faithful, but…
Easter had too many ugly memories tangled up with it. He’d never been able to separate the darkness of those memories from the joy he was supposed to feel each year as all of Christendom celebrated the resurrection.
***
I hope you enjoyed the excerpt! You can preorder His Runaway Crush here.
Get it now before the price goes up. 😊
And let me know in the comments if there are any particular holidays that you don’t like – or that you particularly love. If you don’t mind, tell me why, too. One commenter will be randomly selected to receive a $5 Amazon gift card.
May the rest of your February be filled with fun reading and fabulous books!
Columbus day I don’t think we should be celebrating someone who transported slaves, was a thief and spent a lot of time in prison in italy and spain. I know that many are trying to get the name changed but many states still call it that. If the italians who pushed for the holiday only knew that the man I thought was great was not and that he was not even from italy.
Ah. I’d never thought of Columbus Day in that light. I always thought of it in terms of the fact that he didn’t actually “discover” America. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Heather! I enjoy ALL holidays. I enjoy researching and exploring the history, culture or reason why the holiday is significant. Every Thursday I volunteer in my granddaughter’s 3. grade class. I have a 15 German lesson. Yesterday was Ground Hog Day, which Pennsylvanian Germans brought the tradition to America. I had to chuckle, because Groundhog Phil saw his shadow, therefore six more weeks of winter. Which is true because the first day of spring is March 20. Six weeks from February 2 is March 16. As I told the students old time superstitions and sayings, usually explained something in nature that folks at the time didn’t understand the scientific reason.
Looking forward to the Easter in Gilead series. All 3 books are preordered. Is this a 3 book series? Happy Writing. Stay warm! Cold morning in Michigan.
I’m really looking forward to this series! It’s great to have an Easter series.
I generally enjoy all holidays. Here in the UK we have a spring Bank Holiday the first Monday in May, then a May Bank Holiday the last Monday in May. If Easter is late, this means an Easter Bank Holiday and 2 May holidays pretty close together, then nothing else for months – I’ve always thought this makes no sense and they should be spread out more!
Good morning. Congratulations. To m e all holidays are special for one reason or another. Some are just there while others are more enjoyable. When the kids were small and growing up, I would do things for the month of a holiday. Example: Valentines Day, I would have notes and baking and decorations and well just a lot of fun for the house hold. My husbands birthday is Feb 11. I was able to teach the our two kiddos in depth about the different holidays. So they became knowledgeable and understood why we celebrated them. For me, my two favorite holidays are Christmas and Easter. From the time I was little mom made these two days special and she taught us five kids why they should be celebrated. Because of this and them being moms favorite holidays, they are mine also. One way to remember and respect mom.
I like all holidays, really. I don’t even know when most of them are, except of course the biggies. When I was working full-time in offices outside of my house, I didn’t get all of the “small” holidays off. Now that I work from home, I don’t even know when the “small” ones are! Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas are some of my favorites!
I look forward to finding out why Dawson hates Easter! I got to read the ARC of Elizabeth Maddrey’s contribution to this series, so am eager to read the others too. My mom always had special celebrations for a lot of holidays – we’d dye Easter Eggs, have goodies for Valentine’s Day, etc, etc. My dad’s mom and sister always had fun on April Fool’s Day, which isn’t even a holiday :-)
The only holidays we celebrate are the bigger ones like Halloween thanksgiving Christmas Easter and then on memorial day we usually go to the the cemetery and bring flowers for people in my family that are barrier there .
I forgot to say we also do valentine day the kids give valentines to the neighbor kids and do it at school and veterans day.
I hate to say this, but even though I’m a Christian, I don’t love Christmas. Love Jesus, and His birthday should definitely be celebrated, but I hate the YOU MUST BE MERRY! YOU MUST LISTEN TO THESE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER! YOU MUST SPEND TOO MUCH MONEY mentality. My Grandma had the best Christmases, and it’s not the same without her. My daughter’s birthday is the 22nd, so I concentrate on that. I did actually decorate last year, for a change, but just a little because I have 2 cats.
I’d say Christmas is my favorite holiday. Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday.
How funny! As a kid, if I was still in school come May, I’d be pretty happy about all those holidays! As an adult…yeah. I think it’s lopsided. ^_^
Thanks for visiting today, Renate! I heard about Groundhog Phil today on the radio, and everyone was chuckling because we’ve had a very mild winter – but today is cold and blustery and actually *feels* like winter. ^_^ The Gilead series is planned for five books. The other preorders should be up soon. Stay tuned to the IR blog. I’m sure you’ll hear about the other books here. :-)
That’s a beautiful reason to find a holiday special! Thank you for sharing. :-) I think you’re spot on that a lot of times the way we feel about certain holidays is tied to the role those holidays played in our childhood and family of origin. I’m glad you have those good memories!!
Hahaha! When I homeschooled, I used to joke with my kids that they had it easy because they didn’t have to worry about silly things like snow days, teacher in-service days, or all the pesky little holidays that other kids had to deal with. For some reason, they were never completely sold on this being a “win” for them. ^_^
I’ve read Elizabeth’s, too! It’s a great book, isn’t it? And if you read hers, then you got to see a little bit of Letty and Dawson, too. :-) For the record, I love April Fool’s Day, too. I totally think it should be an official holiday. ^_^
It’s so nice that you do things together for those holidays. Memorial Day, especially, often gets overlooked for its significance and is instead celebrated as the start of summer and a time to grill outdoors. It’s good to remember the meaning behind the holiday.
I understand your feelings about Christmas. I’m a pretty cheerful person, so I do like the “merry” part of Christmas – but I don’t think I force that on people. At least, not too much. ^_^ The materialism that has become somewhat synonymous with Christmas is definitely a concern, and I think it’s something that we all need to guard against. When we celebrate Christmas for the One it is named after, it helps us to keep all that other stuff in check. Thank you for that reminder!
Thank you for stopping by today, Megan! What do you love the most about Christmas?
I can’t remember ever reading a fiction book with an Easter setting. That sounds fun and different. My husband and I are empty nesters and most of our grandchildren are either late teens or live quite far away, so we don’t really do much for holidays. I put up a few decorations for Christmas, but we keep it quite low key. I do enjoy celebrating “Fall'” with some fun decorations. I don’t really have a favorite holiday. Maybe Thanksgiving if I have to choose one.
If I’m being honest, I haven’t read anything with an Easter theme, either. I’ve read a book or two that happen to overlap with Easter, but it’s always seemed more accidental than intentional. Working with the other authors on this series has given me a new perspective on Easter as I’ve seen how each author kind of wove it into their stories. And I love Fall too! There’s something about the autumn air that’s worth celebrating all on its own. ^_^
Christmas has to be my favourite.
What a great excerpt! I can’t wait to read the rest. I ordered my copy. Congratulations on the upcoming release.
Your new book sounds fabulous. I do not have any holidays that I do not like. I like the premise of the 4th of July. I just do not like the fireworks going throughout the night. I also do not like the loud ones. It hurts my ears as well as our cats. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
all holidays to like
I really don’t like Halloween. I don’t see much of value to it. I would much rather remember All Saints Day.
I like all of the holidays.
I am late been packing the landladies stuff in the spare room (its all her stuff) then I can think of my own stuff as I have to find somewhere to live by Sept/Oct (could use prayer for a place to be available).
I am not sure I have one I don’t like Although I think Halloween is a considered a holiday? if so then that would be it. It’s increasing in popularity here but I cant say I want to celebrate it.
I’m so glad you could stop by the blog today, Mary! What do you like the most about Christmas?
Thank you, Angela!! :-)
Ah, yes. Fireworks. Where I live, people can buy fireworks. They go off throughout our neighborhood on the 4th of July, on New Year’s Eve, and randomly at other times of the year for people’s birthdays and whatnot. My cats don’t love the fireworks at all. I don’t mind them…unless it’s the night before I need to be getting up early to accomplish real life stuff. Invariably, the fireworks end up going off long after my bedtime. Zzzz…. ;)
Ha! Equal opportunity holiday liking, huh? I can get on board with that. ^_^
Halloween is one of those holidays that Christians can be pretty divided on. I was teaching a ladies’ class one time, and one of the ladies was going on about how un-Christian it was to celebrate Halloween. What she didn’t realize was that the woman sitting right next to her was already planning her son’s Halloween costume and that it was a big deal in their family. Go figure. ^_^
Thank you for visiting the blog, Linda! Holidays are all special in their own way, aren’t they? And for many people, holidays are cause to spend quality time with family, which is always an added bonus. :-)
I’m so glad you were able to take time out to visit the blog today! I’ll be praying for your living situation. The housing market is crazy right now, and it doesn’t seem to matter what part of the world you live in – rental prices are sky high, and home prices aren’t much better.
I’d never thought of Halloween before as being specifically American, but you make a good point. It’s not something that’s recognized everywhere – and honestly, that’s probably for the best. I’m sad to hear that we’ve exported Halloween to other parts of the world.
its the same with Valentines day. when I was in school it was nothing here. in the 80’s I had a few penpals and probably around 86 I got a few new ones and one sent me a valentines day card. First one I had ever had. She explained how they use to give them to the other kids in the class etc. I got a few over the years from American penpals.
Probably mid 90’s it started to become more popular here and even more so this century. I have friends who married Feb 15 and cos of Valentines day the day before the cost of flowers tripled. While the kids don’t give the cards like in the USA it is becoming very popular.
Again doesn’t mean a lot to me except yet another reminder I am single and no one is going to send me a flower or card. (although this year we are having a morning tea and I may buy myself one of the boquets used for table decorations)
ps not a pity party. I just like flowers
I am not big on Halloween, I don’t do the costume thing as an adult. I do love Thanksgiving, its my favorite holiday. I love getting together with my family and friends and having a great food.
Beautiful cover <3
I don't like Halloween. Yes…I'm one of those who considers it un-Christian lol (I do).
Hmm…I’ve tried to post a reply twice and failed twice. Third time may be the charm.
I LOVE the idea of a series set at Easter. There are too few of them and the possibilities for deep spiritual arcs are right there. I can’t wait to read all of these books! Your cover is beautiful and the premise is very realistic.
As for holidays, I hesitate to rain on the parade, but I struggle with most of them because of a family break-up many years ago that was not my choice. Until new traditions are made, holidays can be lonely and painful, some more than others. I would guess that more people struggle than we realize.