Save the Date - Softcover

Jones, Jenny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1595545395 ISBN 13: 9781595545398

Verlag: Thomas Nelson, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

“Save the Date is a sweet romance filled with laugh-out-loud moments. Jones breathes new life into the clichéd ‘relationship of convenience’ plot with characters to root for.” —RT Book Reviews

You are cordially invited to the wedding of the year with the most unlikely bride and groom. Save the date . . . and say your prayers.

When funding for Lucy's non-profit job is pulled, she is determined to find out why. Enter Alex Sinclair, former professional football star and heir to Sinclair Enterprises—the primary donor to Lucy's non-profit organization.

Both Lucy and Alex have something the other desperately wants.

Alex has it all . . . except for the votes he needs to win his bid for Congress. Despite their mutual dislike, Alex makes Lucy a proposition: pose as his fiancée in return for the money she desperately needs. Bound to a man who isn't quite what he seems, Lucy finds her heart—and her future—on the line.

Save the Date is a spunky romance that will have readers laughing out loud as this dubious pair try to save their careers, their dreams . . . and maybe even a date.

“There are few things I love more than curling up with a Jenny B. Jones cast of characters. Save the Date was no exception.” —Kristin Billerbeck, author of The Theory of Happily Ever After

“Jones’s sassy style is merely one of this romance novelist’s many endearing talents . . . Some subtle faith messages about trusting God despite painful pasts round out this fast-paced, lighthearted romantic escape.” —Publishers Weekly

“If you love novels with real characters wrestling with life and faith while they find love, this is the book for you.” —Cara Putman, author of Delayed Justice

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jenny B. Jones is the two-time Carol award winning author of Just Between You and Me and the Charmed Life series.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Save the Date

By JENNY B. JONES

Thomas Nelson

Copyright © 2011 Jenny B. Jones
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59554-539-8

Chapter One

Two years later

Outside the birds sang happy little tunes as they sat on magnolia limbs old enough to have shaded Robert E. Lee. The May sunshine hovered over treetops and steeples, sending the good people of Charleston away from their porches and inside to the cool. Saving Grace occupied an old home downtown, wedged in tight next to an Italian restaurant that put out more than its share of trash and basil-scented air. But inside the house, Lucy sat in her swivel chair and wondered how many times a world could fall apart.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly." She stared at the slender woman sitting in her office.

"Sinclair Hotels will be cutting our funding to Saving Grace by forty percent, effective immediately."

Lucy had barely had time to put down her morning cup of coffee before the PR representative from Sinclair was knocking on her office door. Loosening the garage-sale Hermes scarf at her throat, Lucy tried to recall if she had put on deodorant that morning. It was all a blur. Surely she had. But she needed all her wits about her. And her Dry Idea.

"Miss Pierson," Lucy said. "I was promised this amount six months ago."

"Unfortunately, tough economic times sometimes necessitate cutbacks. I'm sure you understand." Miss Pierson speared her with a snotty gaze she had probably perfected in junior high. Lucy immediately had a memory of walking through the halls of her high school. The stares. The ridicule. Her classmates doing everything they could to make the poor scholarship girl feel inferior at that ridiculous private school her mother had made her attend. "Marcus Sinclair and the board are grieved over these decisions as well, which is why I was sent to personally deliver the news."

"And I am very grateful," Lucy managed to say. "Sinclair has been very generous. But if I can't guarantee the funds you initially quoted, I'll lose my federal and state grants."

"As you've probably read, Sinclair Hotels has suffered setbacks these last three years under the previous CEO. So Mr. Sinclair has come out of retirement and returned to the helm."

Miss Pierson had to be a size double zero. What a shame Sinclair didn't pay this woman enough to feed herself. Meanwhile Lucy's own size-ten skirt was about to cut her waist in two.

"Isn't there anyone I could talk to?" Lord, help me be calm. Claiming your peace here. I'm breathing in. Breathing out. Breathing—oh, seriously, her arms are no bigger than toothpicks.

"It was a board decision."

"Maybe I could speak with Mr. Sinclair?"

"That will not be possible. He's very busy with his duties as CEO, as well as campaigning for his son."

Lucy didn't even let herself think about Alex Sinclair, heir to the family fortune. Not that he needed anyone else's money. He had made his own as a quarterback for the New York Warriors. And she had gone to school with him, though she had been a year behind him. If he was still treating people the way he'd treated her, it's a wonder someone hadn't smothered him with a jersey in his sleep.

"You are still invited to the gala Friday night." Miss Pierson's eyes flitted over the walls of Lucy's office. Decorated with black-and-white photos of past and present girls of Saving Grace, it wasn't exactly art. But to Lucy, the pictures were more precious than any Van Gogh.

Tomorrow was the annual event when she would normally receive her donation check, happily assured that Saving Grace would carry on another year. Girls getting their educations. Gaining employment skills. Having a roof over their heads. Now she didn't know how they would continue through the winter.

Miss Pierson stood, her body gracefully rising from the scarred wooden chair. "On behalf of Sinclair Hotels, we appreciate you letting us participate in serving our community." Offering her hand in a limp handshake, Miss Pierson gathered her purse and exited the small office.

Lucy's head dropped to her desk. "Why me?" There had to be something she could do. She couldn't just sit there and let Saving Grace die simply because of one donation, substantial though it was. Lord, what am I going to do? I need some colossal help here.

She returned to pounding her head and muttering.

"Is this a private mental breakdown or can anyone join?"

Lucy's blonde curls flounced as she sat at attention. "Hey." The sight of her best friend Morgan should've been a welcome comfort. But spotting a young woman standing behind Morgan, Lucy knew there would be no time for her to pour out her heart.

"I was just telling Marinell here what a calm, sane person you are." Morgan sat in the chair Miss Pierson had just vacated and motioned for the girl to take the other vacant seat. "But that's after you've had your coffee."

Lucy barely withheld a glare from her smiling friend. "I'm giving crazy a try today. And so far ... I'm rather good at it." Lucy turned her attention to the girl who looked like a young Salma Hayek. "Hello, Marinell. I'm so glad you've decided to meet with me."

As the foster-care caseworker, Morgan had shared with Lucy the contents of Marinell's file. Age eighteen. Spent the last year and a half in four different foster homes, the last one being so difficult she had dissolved ties with the system and moved out on her own. Getting ready to repeat her senior year, Marinell was homeless and living who knew where on the streets.

"I told Ms. Morgan I would hear you out, but I don't plan on moving in," Marinell said. "I'm fine right where I'm at."

"And where is that again?" Lucy asked.

"With a relative."

Most of the girls they saw were so beaten down by their circumstances, they were almost afraid to hope there was something better. Lucy knew Marinell had no family in Charleston but her mom, whose parental rights had been dissolved. Her younger brother had yet to be placed and stayed in a boys' home. "A relative, huh?"

She shrugged. "A friend."

"Then I guess it's my job to convince you to stay." Which would be fine except for the small detail of Saving Grace closing down if Lucy didn't find some financial support. "Morgan went over the expectations, right?" Marinell just stared in response. "We're a faith-based operation here. You simply have to go to school, work hard, and follow our rules." There were curfews, Bible studies, life-skill classes, and responsibilities in the house that the girls had to adhere to. Between Lucy and the two resident assistants, a supervising adult was always at Saving Grace, making sure the rules were followed.

She and Morgan worked closely together. As a caseworker for the county, Morgan had contact with girls who had aged out of the foster-care system. Once they were eighteen and out of school, the state considered them adults. Saving Grace provided transitional housing for those with nowhere to go. While the state provided some assistance until they turned twenty-one, few young adults took advantage of it and simply struck out on their own. And with foster kids far outnumbering willing homes, the chances for a kid to be out on the streets was shockingly high. It was a national epidemic that the average citizen knew nothing about, and the injustice never failed to light the fuse of Lucy's temper.

Morgan would expect Lucy to give the girl the selling points. "Why don't we take a tour?"

"I guess."

Leaving Morgan behind in the office, Lucy and...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Thomas Nelson
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1595545395
• ISBN 13: 9781595545398
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irland