Lady Hawkeye: Desert Rose

Desert Rose

Seasons of Love Book 3

by Jayne Townsley

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Eight years ago, Sarah trusted Christopher on her 16th birthday, and it was trust misplaced. His abusive nature reared its ugly head, and Christopher was removed from her life so that she could raise their child in safety.

Eight years ago, Benjamin Reed told his girlfriend Pam that he couldn’t take any more of her physical abuse. He couldn’t handle any more betrayals. Pam either needed to get clean and commit or leave his life and never contact him again. She chose to leave and took with her the baby he knew nothing about.

As Ben and Sarah cautiously work their way to trusting one another, both Christopher and Pam come crashing back into their lives.

Christopher returns to Oklahoma, professing to be a changed man and hoping to reclaim both Sarah and Amber, the child he left behind. He is done missing his daughter, and Christopher swears he is ready to make things right.

Ben and Sarah are working their way through these rocky waters when Ben gets a call from Georgia that he never expected: Pam wants to talk to him about their son, Tristan. A son that Ben didn’t know existed. Pam’s clean, sober, and had a life-changing event that has her reaching out to him for help. Can he come to Georgia so she can explain everything?

Can two people newly in love and with significant trust issues overcome their fears to give each other the room they need to deal with such overwhelming circumstances?

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The phone was on its third ring from an unknown number. Sarah strongly suspected it was Ben, though, and she acknowledged to herself that she had maybe five seconds to decide before it rolled over to voicemail.

Swiping the screen, she gave a breathy, “Hello.”

Silence. She counted to five.

“Hello?” This one was not so breathy. More irritated.

Silence. She counted to five one. More. Time. Then she was hanging up.

“Hello?!”

“Hi, Sarah, it’s Ben.”

She felt the tension leave her body that she had not realized was there.

“Hi, Ben,” she whispered. Boy, this was sure awkward.

“How are you?” he asked so quietly she could barely hear him.

“I’m doing good. How are you?”

“I’m doing good, too.”

She took a deep breath and said, “We suck at this, don’t we?”

He responded with laughter, and it sounded beautiful to her ears. She had never heard him laugh before. “Yeah,” he agreed, no longer whispering. She could hear him just fine now. “We kind of do suck at this. Did Rin tell you why I’m calling?”

“No, even though I asked her. She said that we needed to learn to talk to one another without help.”

He sighed. “Rin’s right.”

More silence.

“So, what did you want to ask me, Ben?” Sarah prompted.

“I, uh. I. Well. I wanted to know if you and Amber would like to go with me to hear Crystal sing at Oktoberfest.”

Did Ben just ask her on a date? Was it a date if your child was with you?

“Uh, Sarah?”

“Yes, sorry. Yes. I was trying to figure out if you just asked me on a date.”

“I’m pathetic. I must be horrible at this if you didn’t know I was asking you on a date,” Ben said, chuckling.

“No! No, you’re not. It’s just that no one has asked me for a date since before I was pregnant with Amber. And I wasn’t sure if it was a date since I don’t know if people take kids on dates. It’s OK.”

And more silence.

“So, do you?” he asked.

“Do I what?” she replied.

“Do you and Amber want to go on a date with me…”

“Yes,” she interrupted. “Yes. Amber and I would very much like to go on a date with you.”

“OK. I’ll pick you up at 5 PM on Saturday if that’s OK?”

“It’s perfect. See you then.”

“See you then.”

Jayne Townsley lives with her multi-generational family in Northeast Oklahoma’s aptly named Green Country. A transplanted Okie from the Chicago suburbs, she has grown to love this state and its people with a passion, happily calling it home for the past 15 years.

Jayne shares her home with a rescued Shollie named Maui and two cats called Gamora and Nebula.

Jayne enjoys old-fashioned road trips and is in the process of planning one to tour Oklahoma’s Route 66.

She is also something of a Disney World addict.

Run to You is her debut novel. She writes clean romance with a sharp edge.

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