I am
pleased to be able to share with you today an excerpt from Sarah Alderson AKA
Mila Gray’s fabulous New Adult novel, Come Back To Me published by Pan
Macmillan.
Series: Standalone
Pages: 373
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release date: 19th June 2014
Synopsis: (Goodreads)
Home on leave in sunny California, Marine and
local lothario Kit Ryan finds himself dangerously drawn to his best friend's
sister, Jessa - the one girl he can't have.
But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.
What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.
When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.
Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.
A breathtaking, scorchingly hot story about love, friendship, family and finding your way back from the edge of heartbreak.
But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.
What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.
When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.
Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.
A breathtaking, scorchingly hot story about love, friendship, family and finding your way back from the edge of heartbreak.
JESSA
A whorl in the glass distorts the picture,
like a thumbprint smear over a lens. I’m halfway down the stairs, gathering my
hair into a ponytail, thoughts a million miles away, when the blur outside the
window pulls me up short.
I take another
step, the view clears, and when I realize what I’m seeing, who I’m
seeing, my stomach plummets, the air leaving my lungs like a final exhalation.
My arms fall slowly to my sides. My brain fights my body’s instinct to turn and
run back upstairs, to tear into the bathroom and lock the door. I’m frozen.
This moment . . . this is the one you dream about, play over in your mind, the
darkest of daydreams, one furnished by movies and by real-life stories you’ve
overheard your whole life.
You imagine over
and over how you’ll cope, what you’ll say, how you’ll act at that moment when
you open the door and find them standing there. You pray to every God you can
dream up that this moment won’t ever happen. You make bargains, promises, offer
pleas, demands, desperate barters. And you live each day with the murmur of
those prayers playing on a loop in the background of your mind, an endless
chant. And then the moment happens and you realize it was all for nothing. The
prayers went unheard. There was no bargain to make. Was it your fault? Did you
fail to keep your promise?
Time seems to
have slowed. Kit’s father hasn’t moved. He’s standing at the end of the
driveway staring up at the house, squinting against the early morning glare.
He’s wearing his Dress Blues. It’s that fact which registered before all else,
which told me all I needed to know. That and the fact he is here at all. Kit’s
father has never once been to the house. There is only one reason why he would
ever come.
He hasn’t taken
a step and I will him not to. I will him to turn around and get back into the
dark sedan car sitting at the curb. A shadowy figure in uniform sits at the
wheel. Please. Get back in and drive away. I start making futile bargains again
with some nameless god. If he gets back in the car and drives away I’ll do
anything. But he doesn’t. He takes a step, heading down the driveway towards
the house, and that’s when I know for certain that either Riley or Kit is dead.
A scream, or
maybe a sob, tries to struggle up my throat, but it’s blocked by a solid wave
of nausea. I grab for the bannister to stay upright. Who? Which one? My brother
or my boyfriend? Oh god. Oh god. My legs are shaking. I watch Kit’s father walk
slowly up the drive, head bowed.
Memories,
images, words, flicker through my mind like scratched fragments of film: Kit’s
arms around my waist drawing me closer, our first kiss under the cover of
darkness just by the back door, the smile on his face the first time we slept together, the blue of
his eyes lit up by the sparks from a Chinese lantern, the fierceness in his
voice when he told me he was going to love me forever.
Come back to me. That was the
very last thing I said to him. Come back to me.
Always. The very
last thing he said to me.
Then I see
Riley. As a kid throwing a toy train down the stairs, dive bombing in the pool,
holding my hand at our grandfather’s funeral, grinning and high-fiving Kit
after they’d enlisted. The snapshot of him in his uniform on graduation day.
The circles under his eyes the last time I saw him.
The door buzzes.
I jump. But I stay where I am, frozen halfway up the stairs. If I don’t answer
the door maybe he’ll go away. Maybe this won’t be happening. But the bell
sounds again. And then I hear footsteps on the landing above me. My mother’s
voice, sleepy and confused. ‘Jessa? Who is it? Why are you just standing
there?’
Then she sees.
She glances through the window and I hear the intake of air, the ragged ‘no’
she utters in response. She too knows that a military car parked outside the
house at seven a.m. can signify only one thing.
I turn to her.
Her hand is pressed to her mouth. Standing in her nightdress, her hair
unbrushed, the blood rushing from her face, she looks like she’s seen a ghost.
No. That’s wrong. She looks like she is a ghost.
The bell rings
for a third time.
‘Get the door
Jessa,’ my mother says in a strange voice, one I don’t recognize. It startles
me enough that I start to walk down the stairs. I feel calmer all of a sudden,
like I’m floating outside of my body. This can’t be happening. It’s not real.
It’s just a dream.
I find myself
standing somehow in front of the door. I unlock it. I open it. Kit. Riley. Kit.
Riley. Their names circle my mind like birds of prey in a cloudless blue sky.
Kit. Riley. Which is it? Is Kit’s father here at seven in the morning wearing
his Dress Blues and his Chaplain insignia, to tell us that my brother has been
killed in action or that his son – my boyfriend – has been killed in action? He
would come either way. He would want to be the one to tell me. He would want to
be the one to tell my mom.
Kit’s father
blinks at me. He has been crying. His eyes are red, his cheeks wet. He is still
crying in fact. I watch the tears slide down his face and realize that I’ve
never seen him cry before. It automatically makes me want to comfort him but
even if I could find the words my throat is so dry I couldn’t speak them.
‘Jessa,’ Kit’s
father says in a husky voice.
I hold onto the
doorframe, keeping my back straight. I’m aware that my mother has followed me
down the stairs, is standing right behind me. Kit’s father glances at her over
my shoulder. He takes a deep breath, lifts his chin and removes his hat before
his eyes flicker back to me.
‘I’m sorry,’ he
says.
‘Who?’ I hear
myself ask. ‘Who is it?’
About the
author: Mila
Gray is the pen name for Sarah Alderson, author of Hunting Lila, Losing Lila,
The Sound, Fated and Out of Control.
Originally from London she has lived in Bali for the last four years with her husband and daughter.
As well as writing young adult fiction under the name Sarah Alderson and adult fiction under the name Mila Gray, she also writes screenplays.
You can find out more at www.milagray.com and on facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahjalderson
Originally from London she has lived in Bali for the last four years with her husband and daughter.
As well as writing young adult fiction under the name Sarah Alderson and adult fiction under the name Mila Gray, she also writes screenplays.
You can find out more at www.milagray.com and on facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahjalderson
How amazing does this book sound! don't forget to add it to your Goodreads shelf.
I really liked this one, even though it was sad :)
ReplyDeleteNice, now I want to know what happens!
ReplyDelete