Peggy Jaeger, Author

I’m getting all the final edits together for LOVE MATCH to release on May 21st so I decided to give you a little tease today on what’s to come between the pages.

First, this is a slow burn, small-town, small-town boy, cinnamon roll hero, careerwoman heroine love story. The intimacy is behind closed doors and the emotions are high.

But…it still has some lightheartedness, lest you think it is a heavy tome. LOL

This scene is Layla’s re-introduction to the home she spent many happy childhood summers in. The place needs some…fixing up, to say the least.

Her expectations of a hot shower went out the window after two minutes, naked and lathered up inside the claw-footed tub when the water suddenly switched to ice cold. Shrieking like a banshee running for the hills, she turned the knob all the way to the left, then right, in a feeble attempt to heat the stream up again.

No luck.

Switching the shower off, she grabbed a towel, shaking like a naked maraca, her hair still dripping with shampoo, some of it running into her eyes, wrapped herself into it and climbed out of the tub. She flipped on the sink hot water tap and as soon as she felt the temperature go warm, shoved her head underneath it to rinse her hair. She considered it an actual miracle she got the shampoo all out before the tap went icy like the shower.

Layla never got toweled off and dressed so fast in her life. With her hair slung up in a twisty towel and her cold and still shaking body now clothed, she turned the shower hot water tap again just to see what would happen. Cold water continued to flow even after three minutes.

“So much for that promised hot shower,” she mumbled as she donned thick socks.

Down in the kitchen, the unwashed dishes and wine glasses from last night’s dinner were propped on the counter. She tried the sink tap and found the same issue. No hot water.

Back in her bedroom she tugged her laptop case from the floor and pulled out the notebook she routinely used when making notes for a client and wrote at the top of a clean page hot water tank.

Might as well see what else needs fixing.

“But first, tea.”

Back in the kitchen, she found her grannie’s old metal teapot, the one she remembered using as a teenager, filled it with the cold water and then put it on the stove. When she turned on the flame knob, the persistent clicking sound indicated the pilot light needed to be engaged.

Rolling her eyes, she found matches in a side drawer, struck one, and then lit it, forgetting that she’d turned the knob to high heat status. A burst of red-hot flames ringed around the burner. Jumping back with another shriek, Layla lost her grip on the match, and it fell, still lit, to the floor. Before it could damage the faded linoleum, she stomped it out with her foot, forgetting she wore only socks.

As the subtle burn scorched through the wool, stinging her foot, she jumped up on the other and grabbed the now scorched one, letting loose with a stream of curses her mother would have fainted at if she’d been within hearing distance.

Once the stinging stopped, she dropped her foot and placed the tea kettle on the now-lit burner after regulating it down to a medium/low flame.

On a sigh, she muttered, “Why the heck did I think this was a good idea?”

While the water heated, she wrote stove on her list, then added linoleum under it.

Watching a kettle boil wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, so Layla puttered around the kitchen to discover what else needed attention or updating.

Before the water came to a boil, she’d discovered the wood was rotting under the sink, the cabinet shelves above the stove were all warped, and the microwave, which looked like it had been an original model back in the 80s, didn’t work.

Reinforcing herself with a strong cup of tea, she carried it about the house with her to see what else needed attention. Now, her tea long gone, the cup sitting somewhere in Grannie’s parlor, she considered her list.

Her two-page list.

It’s gonna be a fun challenge to fix this place up!!

You can preorder your copy here: AMAZON

Or directly from me, if you want. ( save money with this option, plus get it autographed!) Order form

Put it on your Goodreads WANT TO READ LIST here: GOODREADS