Hey, everyone! I know you’ve seen the Whispers of Love boxed set mentioned around here a bunch and today it’s my turn! My novel is The Lifeguard, the Abandoned Heiress, & Frozen Custard. It’s book 2 in my Serenity Landing Lifeguards series (book 1 was in last year’s SPLASH! collection and is available as a single).
Today, I’m sharing the opening scene from Lifeguard and be sure to preorder your copy today if you haven’t already! It’s over TWO THOUSAND pages of new stories from twelve authors! At only .99, it’s a steal! Plus the set will only be available to purchase for a limited time, and the price will go up not long after release, so get it soon!
Without further ado… Adam and Gwendolyn…
“I need a job.”
Adam Wilkerson looked up from his phone. Was she talking to him? He glanced around the entry of the Serenity Landing Rec Center. Sure enough. The front desk gal had left. When had that happened?
“I. Need. A. Job.” Her exasperation came through loud and clear.
Adam looked at her. With that attitude she’d go real far. He smiled. A purely fake smile. “I’m sorry. I’m just sitting here for a few minutes. I don’t actually work the front desk.”
“Then why are you sitting here?”
He took a mental inventory of the girl. Blondish hair. Likely found in a bottle at a salon. It was too early in the season for it to be that sun-streaked. Blue eyes hidden behind glasses. Perfectly applied make-up. A filmy top that likely cost as much as half his wardrobe. And those fancy white tipped finger nails.
What was she doing looking for a job?
One of those fingernails tapped an annoying beat on the counter.
“Right.” He looked around the desk for an application. “You want a job.”
“Indoors and easy. Pays well.”
Because there were just tons of those jobs lying around. “Uh…” He didn’t see an application. “You’ll have to wait for Kaitelyn to get back. I don’t know where the paperwork is.”
Was that a sneer on her face? “Then why are you up here?”
Two people he recognized walked in. “Hey!” he called. “Meeting’s been moved upstairs.”
They both called their thanks.
“I’m directing them to the SLAC meeting.”
“SLAC?” she asked, almost to herself. “The aquatic center? Why do they have meetings here?”
“It’s our orientation. There’s not exactly a conference room at the pool.”
“Oh. You work for SLAC?” She seemed deflated somehow.
“Yeah. I’m a head guard this year.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Adam shrugged. “Kind of like a shift supervisor, I guess.”
“Oh.”
Before either one could speak again, Kaitelyn came back. “Can I help you?” she asked.
The girl immediately turned her attention to Kaitelyn. “I need a job.”
Kaitelyn gave her a sympathetic look. “Sorry. We’re not hiring right now.”
Adam sank back to his chair. No longer his problem. The slightly haunted look in her eyes would stick with him for a while though. Did he know her? She knew what the aquatic center was. Could she have spent time there over the last few years?
“Adam!”
He looked up to see Alivia waving him over. She wasn’t just his boss, but also a good friend. He’d even thought, briefly, about asking her out the summer before – until CJ showed up and stole her heart. He was happy for them, even though it meant he was the last one of the older guards without a significant other. “What?” he hollered back.
“Have you seen Patty? She’s not upstairs.”
Adam shook his head. “Nope. Haven’t seen her. I thought I heard she moved though.” He was friends with her older brother. Hadn’t Peter said his dad got transferred to Ohio?
Alivia groaned. “Great. We’re short two front desk people.”
The thought went through his head just as Kaitelyn spoke. “Livs, this young lady is looking for a job.”
Oh, please. Kaitelyn was at least a year younger than the other girl.
“I’ll take it!” The girl looked momentarily desperate. “Please.”
Alivia glanced at him, and he shrugged. He knew nothing about this girl. “Uh, sure. Kaitelyn, can you get her an application? Come on up to the meeting and fill it out. We’ll talk afterward.” She looked back to Adam. “I think that’s everyone else. Come on upstairs so we can get started.”
Adam went through the back room, talked to the director for a second to let him know the meeting was starting, and out the other door into the lobby to find the girl standing there. Was she waiting for him? Her weight shifted from foot to foot, and she wouldn’t meet his eye.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out.
“For what?” He started for the stairs.
“I was kind of rude to you, and I shouldn’t have been.”
“Kind of?” He couldn’t stop the words from coming out and immediately regretted them. “Sorry. Apology accepted.” They started up the stairs. He held his right hand across his body. “I’m Adam.”
She ignored it. “I figured that out when the other girl yelled at you.”
“That’s Alivia. She’s in charge of the aquatic center.”
“Good to know.”
He stood to the side to let she-of-no-name enter first. Maybe he should make one up for her. Before he could think of one, he did a double take. “Hoppy?”
His old friend turned around, a grin on his face. “Hey!”
“What are you doing here?” He held out his hand again, knowing it would be taken this time.
Hoppy grasped it and gave him a man hug. “I moved back last week. Livs hired me.”
“Moved back? What happened to…” Adam froze, not remembering the name of Hoppy’s fiancé.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Right. Instead of pressing his friend for more information, the two of them sat on a table at the back of the room as Alivia called the meeting to order. The new girl took a seat in the back. By herself.
Adam felt a little bad for her.
“Who’s that?” Hoppy whispered.
“New girl.”
“What’s her name?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“She looks familiar.”
Adam shrugged. “I guess.”
The glare from Alivia shut them both up as she held up a schedule. “The first lifeguard training is in two weeks. The water will still be cold. You’ll have to deal with it. This year, we’re going to bring in some of the swim team kids to be our rescue dummies.” She glared at Adam again. “Because we all know Adam can’t convincingly pretend to drown.”
“Hey!” He pretended to take offense. “I was a very convincing rescue dummy.”
She rolled her eyes and moved on, but Adam noticed she-of-no-name staring at him.
What was that about?
So there we go! Who’s the girl? Why is she so desperate for the job? Find out June 28!
And, of course, a giveaway! Anyone who follows me on social media knows that my happy place during the summer is at our local Aquatic Center (who kindly let me do cover pics there!) – but what about you? Do you have a special happy place that only works in the summer time? Anyone who comments before noon on June 11 will be entered into a drawing to receive a copy of Whispers of Love once it releases!
Today also turns out to be our first swim meet of the summer! So I’ll be around, but not until later today :).
Adam Wilkerson is a lifeguard at the Serenity Landing Aquatic Center, and looking forward to a summer of fun and freedom before settling into adult life. The sudden appearance of a young woman with secrets, but who somehow manages to stir in Adam emotions long dormant, threatens to change his summer plans.
Gwendolyn Cranston-Schmidt is looking for a fresh start, and her one hope at help – her cousin – is unavailable. Time to find a job and a place to live. For a girl who’s never worked a day in her life, the struggle is real. Plus, her secrets are going to find her out, sooner rather than later. What she didn’t plan on was a cute guy who easily finds his way past her protective barriers.
Adam and Gwendolyn find themselves spending more and more time together – and sharing their secrets. Can they find a way to get beyond both of their pasts – or will their pasts come back to haunt them before they can move forward together?
When she's not writing about her imaginary friends, Carol Moncado is hanging out with her husband and four kids in the big yard of their southwest Missouri home, teaching American Government at a community college, reading, or watching NCIS. She's a member of ACFW and RWA, President and founding member for the MozArks ACFW group, and a category coordinator for ACFW's First Impressions.
My copy is pre-ordered, so I’m anxiously waiting for it’s arrival into my Kindle. I’m so looking forward to reading all of these wonderful stories.
Thanks for sharing your excerpt, Carol!
Have pre-ordered a copy and waiting (I’m)patiently for it- your story looks fun, like the connection back to your other books. My special summer happy place- outdoors in the sun, though I do watching the Wind in the Willows with my kids at the Botanic Gardens:) Definitely a summer only activity!
I look forward to reading all the stories. I have already pre-ordered. I tried to have my friend pre-order a copy but unfortunately she couldn’t because Amazon wouldn’t accept her giftcard to do preorders. I hope the price doesn’t change when it’s released so she can make the purchase.
I’ve had it preordered for a while and am looking forward to it!! I love to hang out at the beach. We usually go for one week in the summer.
I think June 28th can’t come soon enough.. everyone is writing about it and if I hadn’t yet preordered my copy, I sure would have after reading about them in details in the past few weeks. Thanks for sharing and contributing to build up our interest.
Like many of these ladies, I’ve had my copy pre ordered for a while. Now I’m just trying to wait patiently. My go to place to relax is sitting on our back deck listening to the water fall in our pond and reading a good book.
I’ve preordered and can’t wait!
It sounds like we’ve all pre-ordered! You’re not going to have many people on your list to win a copy :-) I can hardly wait! I’m not sure I have a happy place that’s only good in the summer. Living in northern California, the beach can actually be warmer in the winter, because in the summer we get fog if it’s hot inland! We tend to avoid going to the mountains in the winter because we don’t like driving in the snow, but it sure is pretty if we don’t have to do much driving.
I have also preordered the book and looking forward to the release date. My happy place in the summer is our backyard. I am surrounded by trees and can take in the clean mountain air as long as it isn’t too humid here in the mountains of West Virginia. I enjoy reading while relaxing in our backyard.
I’ve been able to glance through the comments but I’ll be back later to answer in detail. Our first swim meet is today!!! I may die :p. It’s incredibly hot and humid here today. What’s it like where you are?
That makes me happy, Jill! Thanks! I finally got an early copy next week. Need to work my way through them!
That’s awesome! All of my books take place in the same “universe” so characters do pop in and out in all of them :). I love that in books :D.
Sigh. Yeah Amazon doesn’t let you use gift cards for preorders. But it will be .99 for a week or so after release so she’ll need to get it quickly but she can still get the fantastic deal on it!!
That’s awesome, Diana! I’m not a fan of the beach. It’s not bad but not fan of all the sand…
Hey Priscila! That’s awesome! I haven’t had a chance to read my early copy yet! I can’t wait either!
Oooooo! That sounds nice! One of our plans for the next year is to tear our deck off and replace it w one at least twice the size. Right now it’s not really big enough for anything but the new one will be! I can’t wait!
Yay!
LOL! We’ll come up with an alternative then! That does sound a bit counterintuitive but I guess it makes sense. I love the snow. I hate driving in it too!
Oh that sounds fantastic! I think I would love to read in your backward!!
I survived the swim meet. But we stopped for slushies on the way home and then I basically collapsed. I survived Phoenix summers but the hot and humid just zaps you. So now…hubs took two kids to practice tonight (only two kids were there this morning and two didn’t go to practice tonight) and it’s time to edit a fun project I’m loving!
I’m waiting for Whisper’s of Love to arrive on my kindle…looking forward to some great summer reading and as you mentioned, Carol, the price is excellent.
I already preordered! Going to be another great collection!