Coming July 1 from New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Julie Ann Walker, the all-new, emotional trilogy, IN MOONLIGHT AND MEMORIES. We are thrilled to share a sneak peek of this epic story about sacrifice, friendship, and the awe-inspiring power of love with you today!
From NYT and USA Today bestselling author Julie Ann Walker comes an epic tale of sacrifice, friendship, and the awe-inspiring power of love.
Maggie: Ten years ago, Cash Armstrong stole my heart. Then he promptly joined the army—dragging my best friend with him—and left me crying on the front porch in a red sequined prom dress. Now he’s back. They’re both back. Cash, the one who still has my heart. And Luc, the one who saved my life.
Cash: How do you know if you’re at the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out since a traumatic brain injury made me “unfit to serve.” I’m back in New Orleans, and picking up the shattered pieces of my past means I must confront where my life’s journey began… and where it all might end.
Luc: Long ago, Maggie May was mine. Not mine in the way you might think. She was mine because she was my only friend. Then Cash came along and we became brothers by something stronger than blood. We became brothers by choice. When tragedy struck, I was forced to make a decision that changed all our lives. I thought, after ten years, it was safe to come back home. I was wrong…
The “In Moonlight and Memories” trilogy debuts July 1st!
And always remember, “The greatest of loves can begin in the simplest of ways…”
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY!
Volume One
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Volume Two
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Volume Three
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Sneak Peek:
My mind isn’t really on the lack of foot traffic. It’s on the second reason I headed here. No use putting it off any longer. “So, about the other night…”
Her hands fall still. When I don’t immediately go on, she sets the pilsner glass aside and tosses the towel over her shoulder. “What about it?”
“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
Her chin jerks back. Did I mention she has a particularly expressive chin too? “I seem to recall that I kissed you,” she says.
“But I kissed you back.”
“Which is pretty much what every girl hopes for in that situation.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
Her frown deepens. “For heaven’s sake, why?”
“Because…” I swallow. There’s no easy way to say this. “I think it gave you the wrong impression.”
Her expression is the facial equivalent of a chalkboard that’s been wiped clean. “And what impression would that be? That you still want me?”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean, no. Dammit!” I’m more addled than that time I woke up with Luc’s dick in my face.
We’d been bunked down in a mud hut seventy clicks from friendly territory. A deathstalker—an especially gnarly species of scorpion—had crawled into Luc’s pants while he was sleeping. He woke up in time to shuck his drawers before the fucker could sting him, but his striptease in the tiny hut meant I had the dubious honor of getting up close and personal with his nightstick.
“You’re an incredibly attractive woman, Maggie,” I admit slowly. “But—”
“Do you still love me?” she interrupts.
“I…” The words strangle in my throat.
That’s Magnolia May Carter for you. One minute, she’s the picture of easy Southern manners. The next, she’s in your face, demanding you cut the crap and give it to her straight.
“I mean…” I shake my head, my thoughts stumbling over themselves like they have two left feet. This isn’t how I envisioned this conversation going. “Yes. I still love you. In fact, loving you was the easiest decision I ever made. You’ve always been the best thing about me.”
A slow smile stretches her mouth and makes her eyes twinkle. There she is, my sparkly, shiny girl.
The ache in my heart translates to my head, and I reach for my flask. After adding a generous shot to my coffee, I take a long sip and try to arrange my thoughts into order.
“But that doesn’t change anything,” I mutter. “This thing with my head, it’s—”
“We’ll get through it.”
I close my eyes. We’ll get through it. We.
I have to stop this crazy train before it goes off the rails. “There’s no we about it. It’s me. I don’t want you involved.”
“Too bad. I already am.” She grabs the dish towel and goes back to polishing. She might look like a sweet, pink cupcake, but she can be as stubborn as a jawbreaker.
“I mean with me,” I clarify. “I don’t want you involved with me. I don’t want—”
The door bursts open, and Earl blows into the bar like he’s been shot from a cannon.
“You’re late,” Maggie declares.
“Woke up this morning with my old bones frozen stiff.” His mustache twitches with distaste. “This weather has me fit to be tied.”
“It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow.” She pours him a cup of coffee, but hesitates with the half-and-half. “I hate to ask, but… are you back on dairy?”
“Yep.” Earl pats his flat belly at the same time he hops atop his usual stool. “I been adding prunes to my diet for the last two weeks. It’s been hit or miss for the most part. But they came on with a vengeance this morning and really got things moving. I swear, when I stood up from the toilet, I felt ten pounds lighter.”
Maggie turns to me, and her expression is priceless. “This is my life,” she says. “I can see you turning green with envy.”
Despite my annoyance at Earl’s ill-timed arrival, one corner of my mouth twitches.
Taking a sip of coffee, Earl closes his eyes and hums. “That’s good enough to make you want to slap your granny.” Then he pins me with a look. “So what brings you here this morning? Don’t tell me you had the bad sense to stand Maggie up again.”
“No, sir.” I shake my head.
“Good to hear. I was beginning to think you ain’t got enough brains to pour piss out of a boot.”
Before I get a chance to respond, the door opens, and a quintet of tourists pushes in. They’re all middle-aged women, bundled up as if a nor’easter is set to blow through.
I don’t know what it is about this city, but you feel the cold here so much more than in other places.
“Brrr.” The woman leading the pack shivers. She has that quintessential mom hairdo, a short brown bob that frames her face. “Please tell me you serve coffee.” She looks at Maggie beseechingly.
Maggie holds up the pot. “Freshly brewed.”
“Oh, thank God,” Mom ‘Do gushes. “Make mine Irish. I need a little hair of the dog.”
My cell phone vibrates in my pocket, an indication that Luc has arrived at the house and is wondering where I am.
Damn. Hell. Piss. And shit. But it’s not like I’m going to get a chance to talk with Maggie alone again anyway.
Taking out my cell, I shoot off a quick response to Luc. Then I wiggle the phone at her. “And that’s my cue. Thanks for the coffee.”
She looks up from arranging four mugs on the bar. “So I’ll see you Thursday night?”
I nod. “Should I catch a ride with you or Luc?”
“I’m driving. I told Luc I’d be the DD since he’s never sampled Uncle Homer’s moonshine and is sure to get browbeaten into giving it a shot. Or many shots. Pick you up at six?”
“Looking forward to it.”
The smile she gives me is so bright and sweet that I use the excuse of hopping from the barstool to look away from it.
“Leave your wallet at home!” she calls to my back as I head for the entrance. “You remember what happened last time we went to a fais do-do?”
“I lost sixty bucks at the card table,” I admit with a put-upon sigh. “In my defense, those old men cheated.”
“They always do.” She waves as I push through the door.
Turning up the collar on my leather jacket, I walk by the front window and peek inside to see her laughing at something one of the women is saying. I’ve never known anyone so animated. Or anyone who seems to possess the ability to listen with all her senses. I could spend all day watching her.
Unfortunately, I have a list as long as my arm of things I need to do. Not the least of which is coming up with a way to dissuade her from thinking we can pick up where we left off. You know, since my idea to simply talk her out of it just crashed and burned like the Hindenburg.
About Julie Ann Walker:
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Julie grew up in a house full of women – she has three older sisters. As you can imagine, there was no lack of drama… or romance. Her mother enrolled her in a book club as soon as she began to read and it was the small spark that ignited her voracious appetite for the written word.
Because of Julie’s early immersion in literature, she found writing came quite naturally. In high school, she won multiple writing contests and was the proud senior editor of The Tiger’s Tale – her school newspaper.
During her college years, however, she longed for a challenge. “Reading and writing felt like second nature to me, so I looked for a way to flex my mental muscles,” she recalls. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, Julie began teaching advanced high school mathematics.
“I loved working with the students and facing the challenges of the classroom, but I longed for the occasional snow day when I could race to the local book store, buy two or three new novels, and curl up in front of the fire to read.”
It wasn’t until a fortuitous move to Chicago that Julie once more returned to her first passion.
Now Julie loves to travel the world looking for views to compete with her deadlines. When she’s not writing, she enjoys camping, hiking, cycling, cooking, petting every dog that walks by her, and… reading, of course!
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