#MFRWhook Blog Hop - An Excerpt from TAKE A CHANCE ON ME - Meeting the New Stepfather

Hello! Today on the blog hop I'm offering an excerpt from TAKE A CHANCE ON ME - Meeting the New Stepfather. Darcy is meeting Isaac Bloom, her mother Shannon's new husband, for the first time. Darcy and Shannon have had a strained relationship for years and she's had several stepfathers since her father died when she was eight. So she's not really excited to meet her mother's new man:

Excerpt:

The kitchen was a large sun-filled space adjacent to a spacious family room. Two sets of French doors in the family room led onto a covered brick patio, and beyond, the water in a swimming pool glistened in the sunshine. Darcy slid onto a stool at the kitchen island while Isaac squeezed lemons and added sugar to his lemonade.

“You have a beautiful home,” Darcy said.

“Thank you. I’ve owned this house for a number of years, but it’s time for a change. Your mother and I are looking for a new home, one that belongs to both of us that we pick out together.” He poured some of his mixture into a glass and tasted. “Ah. Perfect. Can I offer you some lemonade?”

“I’d love some.”

Isaac added ice to a couple of glasses at the fridge, filled both with lemonade and handed one to her. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks.”

Isaac’s lemonade danced over her tongue in a medley of sweet and sour notes that together made beautiful music. “This is delicious. I can’t remember the last time I had lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons.”

“It’s important to take the time to savor the best life has to offer, Darcy. Even if it’s a simple glass of lemonade.”

That made her smile. “I’ll drink to that.” She clinked her glass against his and drank again. “So, you’re looking for a new house. Do you plan to stay in this neighborhood?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve lived in Rosedale for years and I enjoy it here, but we’re looking at several different neighborhoods. The main thing is that Shannon is happy. I’d hoped we could buy a new place before we got married last month, but we couldn’t find anything that suited us. I didn’t want Shannon to be uncomfortable in the house I’d shared with my first wife.”

“Your first wife?”

“Maxine. A wonderful woman. She died over five years ago. Your mother reminds me of her.”

Darcy couldn’t help wondering if he was trying to replace his dead wife with her mother. If Shannon didn’t live up to the high standards of the sainted Maxine, would she get kicked to the curb? Though she and Shannon didn’t always see eye to eye, Darcy didn’t like the idea of her mother being used.

She set her glass on the marble countertop. “Do you have any children?”

Isaac shook his head. “Sadly, no, Maxine and I weren’t blessed with children.”

“What do you do for a living?”

If Isaac recognized she was interrogating him, he didn’t show it. “I’m a lawyer. And I dabble in real estate.”

Shannon entered the kitchen, and her face broke into a smile as soon as her eyes met Darcy’s. She held out her arms. “There you are! I’m so happy you dropped by.”

Darcy slid off her stool and allowed her mother to embrace her. The scent of Chanel Number Five transported her straight back to her childhood, back to a time when she was secure in the knowledge that her parents loved her, and all was right in her world. She luxuriated in the happy memories before gently pushing away from Shannon.

“Gramma said you and Isaac visited her. She insisted I meet him.”

Shannon’s smiled dimmed. “So, Jenny guilted you into visiting. It would have been nice if you’d actually wanted to see us on your own.”

Isaac clasped Shannon’s hand. “Sweetheart. Darcy’s here now. That’s all that matters.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. She gave him a smile before turning to Darcy. “Isaac’s right. I’m sorry, honey. Don’t mind me. I’m really happy to see you.”

Darcy nodded, her stomach knotting with anxiety. This visit was going pretty much the way she’d expected, filled with tension like every other visit with her mother over the years. An uncomfortable silence settled over them.

Universal Buy Links: https://books2read.com/Take-a-Chance-on-Me

Blurb:

Teacher Darcy Ferris loves travel almost as much as she loves her Toronto neighborhood. But no matter how far she roams, she always returns to the genteelly shabby Victorian mansion where she grew up, the last place her father lived. Darcy’s world is turned upside-down when the Victorian is slated for demolition.

Since the death of architect Nick Cummings’ mother, his father has retreated from his real estate development business, and from life. In a desperate attempt to interest him in something once more, Nick buys a beat-up Victorian mansion and draws up plans to replace it with a Victorian-inspired condo. He hopes his father’s old spark will return if he helps him build the new condo. But he doesn’t expect such opposition from his new tenant, Darcy Ferris. Nor does he expect to fall in love with her.

Nick and Darcy must come to terms with the past before they can forge a future together. And they’ll need to take the biggest chance of all – on love.

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