Excerpt from the Book
They left for the dance, and Mason continued to do every-thing a gentleman would. Or tried.
“Let me get the door.” He slipped on ice near the car, and she grabbed his hand before the snow pile caught him.
“I can take your coat.” And knock a drink over in the process.
Though all his efforts backfired, Clare couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.
At their table, he scanned the high school gym. “Do you want to talk to your friends?”
Warmth washed over her. If only Mason knew how special he was. Clare took his hands. “I love being with you. Everything’s perfect. How about we stay here?”
He stared at their joined hands before meeting her gaze with a boyish grin. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
After a handful of faster songs which she could never picture Mason dancing to, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran played through the speakers. Clare held her breath.
I love this song. Would he ask her to dance?
She shifted in her seat and observed him out of the corner of her eye. Mason sat poker straight with his hands balled into fists, pushing into his thighs.
Maybe he needed a little help. Clare nudged him and whis-pered. “If you ask me to dance, I’ll say yes.”
With a pronounced swallow, he turned to her. “Do you wanna dance?” His words came out shaky, but sweet.
Fighting the urge to squeal, she steadied her voice. “I’d love to.”
Mason took her hand and led her to the dance floor. “You might regret this. I don’t dance much.”
She laughed as she placed her hands on his shoulders. “It’s easy. Just sway back and forth.”
“Easy, eh?” His left eyebrow raised and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Sway like this?” He leaned so far to the right they both almost toppled over.
“Mason!” Clare giggled and pulled him upright. That’s what she got for telling a guy something was easy.
Her gaze rested on his, and the jokes subsided. If Clare ever
wanted to know Mason’s heart, she didn’t need to search any fur-ther than his eyes. Beneath any insecurities he might have lay a heart that cared.
As the song filled the air with words about lifelong love, any tension melted away. The gym filled with dancing couples faded, leaving them alone in their magical world. Under the glow of shim-mering lights, in the arms of the guy who’d barely choked out the words to ask her to this dance, Clare had earned her princess gown. They moved together as if God designed the dance for them alone. She gazed into Mason’s deep brown eyes, sealing this moment in her memory forever.
She pulled him a little closer. “Mason, are you going to kiss me.”
Want to know more about the book?
Sometimes the love you need most looks different than you imagined.
Clare Martin thought nothing of agreeing to live with her dementia-ridden grandmother when her parents left on mission. Balancing that with her job as a social worker and the expectations of her career-driven boyfriend proved doable—until Grandma started a house fire.
Mason Hughes has loved Clare for years, but the time was never right to tell her and now she’s dating someone else, fixing Mason firmly in the friend zone. He’s working to be a pediatric neurologist, a dream inspired by a special boy with a terminal brain condition, and must choose a medical school. Finances are so tight he’s forced to consider a program across the country, a troubling fact he’s kept secret.
Lucia Roberts, a seventeen-year-old on Clare’s caseload, loses her foster home and is placed in an unwelcoming group home. At every turn she’s met with rejection and becomes desperate for any proof she has value—enough to make choices that could affect the rest of her life.
When Grandma Dottie and Lucia’s paths take a dangerous turn, Clare frantically tries to save them. As their lives knit together, will they find the love that’s right before their eyes?
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About the Author
Carrie Walker is an award-winning author who lives in Michigan with her husband and seven children. As an avid reader, she pens what she loves to read, stories that bring hope to a hurting world. Besides writing, Carrie enjoys board games, time with family and counting down the days ’til Christmas.
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