WAITING FOR THE STORM Excerpt #2

Tomorrow is the official launch of WAITING FOR THE STORM! I'm a bundle of excitement and nerves. Today I wanted to share another excerpt from the book. You can read the first excerpt here. Be sure to come back tomorrow because I'm going to have a big giveaway to celebrate the official release!

Charlotte O’Dell knows this summer is going to suck. Her beloved mother just died, her sister hates her, and her dad has completely checked out. Fulfilling her mother’s final wish, the family heads to Angel Island for the summer to stay in a beach house her mother once loved.

After a year of being shut away taking care of her mother, Charlotte is numb and practically afraid of her own shadow; she hopes going to the island will give her the time and space she needs to begin healing, and an opportunity to bring her family back together. When she meets her mysterious neighbor, Ezra, it doesn’t take long for Charlotte to confess the issues she’s developed. Ezra begins giving Charlotte assignments to get over her fears, and although she accepts his tasks, all she really wants is to be with him. When she’s with Ezra, she’s able to forget the hollow ache in her heart and the fact that her family is falling apart. But Ezra has secrets…

Can Charlotte pull what’s left of her family together, mend her broken heart, and allow herself to fall for Ezra? Or is it all just a storm waiting to happen?

A shrill sound pierced the silence. It was somewhere between a kettle shrieking and that incessant squeak of a swing set in desperate need of oiling. I pried my eyes open and blinked against the brightness of my room. The sunlight was soft and sparkly—early morning light—and I knew I couldn’t have been asleep long.

The noise came again, startling me further awake. I realized it was the sound of seagulls squawking and screeching. I winced; I hated that sound. Seagulls didn’t usually come this close to the house. I’d seen them occasionally waddling along the beach picking in the sand for some leftover morsel, but most of the time they stayed away from the houses, preferring to fly around the lake in search of their next meal.

I rolled out of bed, groaning when I saw it was only seven o’clock. Ezra had dropped me off just before four, and I’d gone to bed almost immediately. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, seven o’clock in the morning was my normal bedtime.

I stumbled to the window, blinking my gritty, tired eyes. I threw open the curtains and looked outside, my gaze landing immediately on Ella, who was standing under my window throwing pieces of bread into the air.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled.

Ella jumped and whirled around, looking up toward my window. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” she asked sweetly. She reached into the almost-empty bag of bread she was holding and broke a slice into pieces before tossing it in the air. “They just look so hungry, don’t you think?” She dropped the bag into the sand and brushed her hands off, watching as the gulls converged on the last of the bread.

She angled her head up to look at me again, her eyes flashing with malevolent glee. It was then I realized she was wearing the same clothes I’d seen her in last night at the diner.

“Hope you had fun last night,” she called up to me. “I know I did.” She gave me a little finger wave and sauntered toward the porch, disappearing inside the house.

I sank down onto the window seat, listening to her soft footfalls on the stairs, followed by her bedroom door closing. Was she just getting home now? What had she been doing all night?

I shuddered. I didn’t want to know. It was none of my business. Ella was a big girl and if she wanted to do stupid things with bad people, that was her choice to make. As much as I wanted to save her from herself, she didn’t want my help, and she wasn’t my responsibility. I wanted so badly to talk to Dad about the whole thing, but I was afraid it would be pointless and I’d just end up feeling worse.

It was a no-win situation.

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