Homecoming (28 page)

When I was first working with the idea for HOMECOMING, I decided I wanted to have “lots of cats.” I cut out cat pictures from magazines and I ended up with nine distinct cats with very different personalities. It was fun creating them as characters! I’m also kind of a nut for cat pictures, and I’d love it if you’d email me yours:
[email protected].
I just might use them in a future blog or website!!

Cory is my Cinderella character—one I’ve always wanted to write. I love love love the idea of taking someone who is plain (or thinks she’s plain) and transforming her. Who wouldn’t want that? I hope Cory’s reunion with Jake and a second chance at love stirred some good memories for you.

The setting for HOMECOMING is a part of Wisconsin where my family went camping every summer. We loved spending time in Door County, Peninsula State Park, and especially loved it when the sour cherries were in season.

Peninsula State Park is a 3,776-acre Wisconsin state park with eight miles of Green Bay shoreline in Door County. Peninsula is the third largest state park in Wisconsin, and is visited by an estimated 1 million visitors annually. (source:
Wikipedia)

I love to hear from readers, so feel free to send me a note. And if you’d like to be on my once-in-a-while contact list, please email me….

[email protected]

That’s all for now,

Janet Wellington

Other books by Janet Wellington

Previously print-published (soon to be available as ebooks):

Bachelor for Sale

Sweet on You

Forever Rose

Dreamquest

Coming attractions:

Up Close and Personal

Dreamhawk

Losing Louise

To stay in touch and to receive announcements, email me at:

[email protected]

Cat Quotes used in
HOMECOMING:

We can judge the heart of a man

by his treatment of animals.

18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant

In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.

English proverb

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

Sigmund Freud

I have studied many philosophers and

many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely

superior.

Hippolyte Taine

If we treated everyone we meet with

The same affection we bestow upon

Our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.

Martin Buxbaum

There are two means of refuge from

the miseries of life: music and cats.

Albert Schweitzer

People that hate cats will come back

as mice in their next life.

Faith Resnick

One must love a cat on its own terms.

Paul Gray

Thousands of years ago, cats were

worshiped as gods. Cats have never

forgotten this.

Anonymous

A meow massages the heart.

Stuart McMillan

Cats seem to go on the principle that it

never does any harm to ask for what you want.

Joseph Wood Krutch

No matter how much cats fight, there

always seems to be plenty of kittens.

Abraham Lincoln

The cat has too much spirit

to have no heart.

Ernest Menaul

You will always be lucky if you know

how to make friends with strange cats.

Colonial American proverb

One cat just leads to another.

Ernest Hemingway

There has never been a cat

Who couldn’t calm me down

By walking slowly

Past my chair.

Rod McKuen

No heaven will not ever Heaven be,

unless my cats are there to welcome me.

Unknown

If there were to be a universal sound

depicting peace, I would surely vote

for the purr.

Barbara L. Diamond

I love cats because I enjoy my home;

and little by little, they become

its visible soul.

Jean Cocteau

…and
MORE
Cat Quotes:

Authors like cats because they are such quiet lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons. Robertson Davies

If animals could speak the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much. Mark Twain

There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat. Tay Hohoff

The smallest feline is a masterpiece. Leonardo da Vinci

Cats never strike a pose that isn’t photogenic. Lillian Jackson Braun

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia. Joseph Wood Krutch

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through. Jules Verne

I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat. Edgar Allan Poe

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats. Unknown

Some people say cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well. Missy Dizick

If you feed a cat, it’ll bring you a prize — a dead mouse. Unknown

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast. Unknown

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. Jeff Valdez

After dark, all cats are leopards. Native American Proverb

What greater gift than the love of a cat. Charles Dickens

…and here are my rescued cats, Max and Gracie:

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL/an excerpt

Janet Wellington

Chapter One

From the instant her bedroom’s mango-peach walls glowed with the morning’s first light, Angie Fletcher knew she was about to begin one of those absolutely perfect, I’ll-remember-every-detail-forever days.

She gave Max and Gracie each a head-scratch. In predictable response the cats purred and snuggled deeper into the pillow next to her head.

“Don’t you two know how important today is?” Gracie yawned, then rolled onto her back hoping for a belly rub while Max simply opened one eye, just in case a treat was being offered. Neither seemed particularly interested and didn’t move from their soft throne as Angie climbed out of bed to begin her morning routine.

Gathering her wavy blonde hair into a ponytail, she paused in front of the mirror. She’d need to act surprised at the staff meeting even though Derek had leaked the news of her promotion two nights ago over their usual Saturday night dinner at The Chart House.

The man never could keep a secret. A couple of months ago, even news of their engagement had spread through the office before she was able to make an entrance the morning after his proposal. She’d walked into the staff meeting to applause before she’d even had the chance to strategically position her left hand to show off the big-as-Texas pink diamond solitaire that graced her ring finger.

Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, she widened her eyes and opened her mouth into a perfect “O”.
Fake
. Definitely a certifiably fake expression. Probably better to just let the moment happen and go with it.

She pulled her ponytail tighter, then tucked an escaped spiral tendril behind one ear. Her hair had reverted to its normally very wavy state, all because of the increased humidity from the tropical storm that had been pounding Baja for the last few days. If she chose her shorter walking route, though, it should give her enough time to smooth her wild hair into a controlled twist before work. It would have to do.

Besides, she probably shouldn’t look
too
ready to step into her new role as KSUN’s community reporter. A deep sigh escaped, and she wrinkled her nose at herself.

Opening her mirrored cabinet she glanced at the photo she'd’ taped on the inside of the door. In the picture she stood next to her best friend, Gretchen, an emerald green background behind them of elephant’s-eye-high field corn.

She’d had the photo enlarged so she could see her friend’s infectious smile each morning, its other purpose to give her a daily “before” image of herself. The image she’d so successfully changed. It showed the “old” her, before she’d learned to cover up her freckles to achieve a peaches and cream complexion, before she’d learned how to tame her wild curls into a more sophisticated style.

Every day she transformed herself from farmer’s daughter to California chic. She had it down to a science.

She smiled at Gretchen’s image, then grabbed a few essentials—applying a quick sweep of foundation powder over her nose and cheeks, and a dab of Peony Pink gloss to her lips. As a final step, she retrieved a pair of sunglasses to hide her un-lined eyes and un-mascaraed lashes.

Walking through the tiny living room, she found the remote and clicked on the television just in time to hear the KSUN morning weather forecast
.
According to Weatherman Will it was already a pleasant sixty-five degrees outside and he told San Diegans to expect pristine air, blue skies with a few moisture-laden clouds to the south, with a high of mid-seventies at the beaches and low eighties inland.

Even Will forecasted a perfect day. But it was so much more...this was the day she would actually begin living the dream she’d had since she was sixteen. At twenty-nine, her life was as perfect as the day promised to be.

Stepping out of her condo, she locked the door behind her and began to stretch her legs. She took several deep breaths, then added some head rolls to unkink her neck while she stared up at the tops of the tall palm trees waving in the strong winds coming off the ocean.

Will’s forecast had neglected to mention the southwesterly breeze. She’d tease him about it later. Will had been at KSUN for his entire career and every day, without fail, he’d put his arm around her in a fatherly way and declare being a meteorologist in San Diego was the easiest job in broadcasting and that he was the luckiest man on the planet to be doing exactly what he wanted to be doing. Will had been assigned as her “orientation buddy” when she’d first started at the station and they’d been best pals ever since. When everyone else groaned as silver-haired Will started telling a well worn story, she simply smiled and listened as though it was the first time.

And, unless she was sick, she never missed his on-air appearance in the early hours of the morning. It was another ritual of her weekday.

After a few more lunges and knee-bends she began her usual walk on the day that was destined to go down in her personal history somewhere at least in the top five best days ever.

The fuchsia-colored bougainvillea draped over tall wooden privacy fences that bordered the beginning of the path was always a treat. And today was no exception. She loved her ritual of early morning exercise and had partly selected the condo complex because of the pleasant walkway that surrounded the coastal property. Her other reason was the attraction to live by the ocean. To a flat-lander from Illinois, the draw had been irresistible.